by Richard Serra

Created on: January 12, 2010

The first car I owned was a 1950 Mercury which was only three years old. It was my older brother's car, and since he was getting a new one, I got dibs on the Mercury. Not knowing how to drive yet, I couldn't wait to learn and get my licence to drive car. I couldn't stand seeing it just sitting there. Well, the first experience for a new learner was being able to understand the shifting order and position for first, second, third, and reverse.

This was pretty daunting for a sixteen year old who never drove before, but with a little rough going, I finally managed to find a smooth shifting pattern, and timing for letting out the clutch at the right time. Almost all cars had standard transmissions, but as an option, you could get an automatic offered in the more luxury cars.

After owning the car for about three years, I traded up to a 1953 Mercury, and there again, it had a stick shift. I didn't keep it very long because I was getting tired of the shifting, and wanted an automatic. So when a 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 was available to me for a great price, I couldn't resist. It had everything that I wanted, and best of all, it had an automatic transmission.

A manual transmission is just what it means. You manually shift gears at rpms you choose to do so. Its a much less complex transmission, and much easier to repair. An added perk with a manual transmission is that it is less costly for those repairs. In many ways, it can prove to provide better economy.

The automatic on the other hand, is extremely complex.  All the shifting is done relative to rpms that an on board computer chip, determines when to shift, relative to how much acceleration you are applying. Maintenance is crucial in that oil levels, filters, etc need to be clean so as to allow the many complex workings to function properly.

It's actually almost a brain of sorts, but mechanical. Automatic transmissions provide for a smooth acceleration throughout the entire shifting faze, but also is a bit more costly in fuel economy. Another really big difference is the cost of repair or replacement.

Manual transmissions are good for some situations like being stuck in the snow and you need to rock the car back and forth to get out. Doing so with an automatic is putting excessive demands on it. They both serve one purpose, and that is to efficiently move the car to a desired speed via of shifting at the proper rpms.

Learn more about this author, Richard Serra.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.