My first experience with driving a manual (stick shift) transmission vehicle equation went something like this:

Start with a 70-something Ford Pickup (column shift) plus a boat on a trailer; add my guide my Father (not known for his patience) and include the detail that the whole assembly needed to be BACKED someplace. I would love to say it equaled to a very nicely parked boat, but it didn't. The truck and boat survived unscathed, I wasn't long in the driver's seat, however.

Fast forward a few years. I am now in Driver's Education in high school. The local Ford dealer would provide a vehicle to the school for new drivers to learn to drive on. We were supplied with a Ford Fairmont; the ugliest peach color I have ever seen. It was a 4-door and it had a standard (manual) transmission.

To successfully complete our class and be able to get our driver's license, we had to drive 6 hours each behind the wheel of the car.

We would drive from Arizona into California. There was a little place on that side of the border that was full of small hills. The Driver's Education instructor would take two students and we would drive an hour each.

My best friend and I were in the car and for some reason, with me behind the wheel, the teacher decided to teach me how to get the car going on a hill using the parking brake and not using the clutch. I stalled that car 27 times straight trying to do it his way.

Stop the car facing up on a hill. Engage the parking brake. On this car it was a hand lever on the right side of the driver's seat. Then, without using the clutch, I was supposed to have the car in gear and giving gas at the proper moment release the emergency brake and drive off.

Right; 27 times later I was able to convince him to allow me to try my way. I had the clutch in and my right foot on the brake. I shifted from the brake to the gas and gave it gas then released the clutch. It only took one try my way without stalling.

The teacher asked what would I do if I lived someplace like San Francisco with rolling hills. I replied I wouldn't live in a place such as that and I am happy to report that 28 years after graduation, I never did.

Fast forward to today. My pickup is 22 years old. It is a Nissan 4x4 and has a manual transmission. The clutch was replaced for the first time at 132,000 miles, not because it needed it but because I found someone I trusted to do the work and figured it was a matter of time before it would

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