I grew up in a family with stick shift cars, so the clutch genes run deep here in the Reynolds clan. My dad drag raced his 1968 Z28 Camaro forever, and still does, and it has always been a stick car. When I was in kindergarten the car was my mom’s daily driver, only the 2nd year it ever spent as a regular street car, and she drove it every day like a champ. Later she would drive other stick shift cars while I was growing up, including a 1969 Corvette Convertible and later a 1994 Corvette Convertible with a 6-speed. I drive a stick shift car daily myself, and am always annoyed by people saying that putting an automatic into a car makes it “nice to drive”. WTF people? How does a clutch pedal and moving the shifter yourself make the car not nice to drive? I promise, I won’t go on a big rant here about it, but it does piss me off.
The folks at Hagerty are so passionate about National Stick Shift Day that they sent out an email to all their customers asking them to help teach 500 people how to drive a stick shift car. I love it, and think too many parents fail their children, and have been let down by their parents themselves, when they don’t know how to drive a stick car and are never taught. My mom’s first car was a 1960 Chevrolet Sedan and I’m not sure if it had a 3 speed on the column or a Glide, but her second car was a 1966 Mustang GT with a 289 and a 4-speed. Even if she hadn’t had the Mustang, I guarantee she knew how to drive a stick before she got that car. You know why?
For the same reason he made my cousin Marilyn learn to drive one even when she didn’t want to and had trouble trying with her parents. Which is why I taught her, in 15 minutes, and then she drove a stick car for years. But you know why she needed to know how? It might sound a bit chauvinistic or sexist now, but if something happened and nobody else could drive and no car was available to get home safely in but one with a clutch pedal, wouldn’t you like you daughter to know how to drive a stick?
You owe it to your children people. They should never not be able to get in whatever vehicle could take them to safety and be able to drive it.
Oh, and if you do know how, or have just taught someone else, then please go out and dump the clutch and smoke some tires and grab some gears, because automatics are totally fine, but we don’t call this place BANGshift for nothing!
CHECK OUT THE INFO FROM HAGERTY BELOW
We’re on a mission to get more people shifting gears
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Help us reach our goal of teaching 500 drivers in 50 days how to drive a manual.
You can participate no matter where you are starting July 16 (National Stick Shift Day) through September 3. Spend an hour with someone who doesn’t know how to drive a manual—a family member, a friend or neighbor—and give them a lesson. Post a photo and we’ll send you two “3 pedals, no problem” hats. |
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I have 4 vehicles that I drive regularly. All are stick shifts. And it kills me to watch these so-called “stick shift drag racers” None of them can “Powershift “. I can shift a stick and make it sound just like an automatic trans. Tim McAmis ” race car builder,” said it best. None of these a-holes know how to drive a car with a clutch.
I’ve been driving, and shifting gears for 30 years… but have never seen or learned to powershift as KCR suggests. ( Have driven a spur gear trans, and done some clutchless shifting with a T19, but no drag strip experience)
Can I do it with an NV 3500 transmission with out destroying the tranny, or do I need a 1960 era 4 speed to do so?
This seems like a fun adventure to explore, and maybe a harmless parlor trick to have up the sleeve.
Chad, nice props to the Hagerty guys. A worthwhile quest, but sadly not one that’s going to move the market. I am a baby boomer, I think the last generation where it was a rite of passage (at least for men) to learn to drive a stick. My kids do know how, but don’t. My grandkids don’t see any reason to.
Banging gears is cool, but drag racing is about getting to the finish line first. The fastest cars are DCT’s or full on automatics. A look at the cars at Drag Week will tell the tale.
I have a ‘13 GT500 and I love driving it on open roads but it is no fun in stop and go traffic. Nevertheless, I am taking it on the Power Tour this year as a long hauler. Hope to see you there.