Ah, Discount Tire....

[Gabe8810]

i do not know bout discount tire. they have good prices but i will never take my truck there. i use to work at midas, which was across the parking lot from discount, and no joke every day i would replace at least two studs on the wheels cause the dummies put the lug nut in the gun and cross thread it on the stud and break them off. they would bring them to us and we'd have to fix it of coarse we charged cash only for whoever had to fix it. you think they would learn but nope they don't.

 

[Apollo]

I blame the automatic transmission for the wussification of America.

what happend to good ol days when your old man told you to hop in the old standard when you where 10-16 years old and head down to A)Feed the animals on the farm (B)Pick something up from the hardware store or (C) Drive me to the hospital cause im drunk and cut my leg off with the chainsaw. Ahhhh, memories.

 

[human5]

I remember in Drivers ED I was the only kid who knew how to drive a stick out of the 10 or 15 that knew how to drive. The cars were all automatic and I had been driving for 2 years already. When we got to the driving part I hit the break peddle with my left foot when I felt it was time to shift. My teacher started laughing and said "yep, you can drive a stick, most guys lie about it".

I did teach a few of my friends to drive a stick. One girl thought that after you take off you don't need a clutch anymore and grinded ssssssllllllooooowwwwwwwwllllllllyyyyyyyy out of 1st. The whole time I was screaming "use the damn clutch!"

Recently though, I drove my mom's car (an automatic) out of town and I felt like I was going to fall asleep, there was nothing to do. Her car is actually the first automatic either of my parents have ever owned.

One thing I hate is the "shiftable" automatics. We got a lot of those at work (I work for Dollar rent a car) and if you don't shift it shifts for you. There are a bunch of customers who drive the Caliber and say the car dosn't shift. I tell them I'll get a mechinc to look at it, but I just wash it and park it on line knowing the idiot used the shiftable portion of the gear select.

 

[AllanD]

I remember long ago, back in the dark recesses of the early 1980's
when the father of the girl I was dating at the time took me aside
one night... I'm thinking "Oh Shit, what now"... but as it turns out
he wanted me to teach her how to drive a stick shift (I had to bite
my cheek to avoid saying anything about the other kind of stick she
handled with skill, but that's another story...)

Anyway he asked me what it would take to teach her...
I replied instantly "A New Clutch in the box waiting to be installed
AFTER she got the hang of it"

she was probably one of very few women ever to have been given
4sp manual lessons in a 340GTS Dart....

Dammit I shoulda' asked for a pair of tires too!

I have owned very few A/T cars over the years
and all of those under what I considered to be "emergency" conditions.

AD

 

[exbass94]

Before I started working at Napa making deliveries, I had only driven stick about 3 times. First 2 was practicing on my buddy's Ranger in his driveway, and third time I got to drive my cousin's Mustang GT on the road. I always knew how to drive stick, but simply never got that much practice. Then I started working at Napa and most of the vehicles they have are automatic. Eventually they made me work at a store in another town once a week. That store has a 95 S10 that's manual. Manager asks me, "You know how to drive a stick?" Me: "Sure, no problem. " So I got to drive that all day long. Stalled it I think about 5 times that day, (and shortened the life of the clutch by about 10k miles) but after driving it for 8 hours that day, I was pretty damn good at it. The next time I drove it, I didn't stall once and I was able to start off on hills without cooking the clutch. The manual tranny is the only reason why I like driving that truck, god it's a piece of crap. (just like all the other delivery vehicles we have.)

 

[JFA_Spyderman]

Yo,
Yeah, I think expertly driving a manual is a lost art. All of my children will know how to drive a manual before they drive an auto. That being said, autos do have their places. I would be changing out my clutch every year if i lived on some of the hillsides around here.

 

[Totalled]

The best is when I took my 3 on the tree 61 Falcon in to have a tire patched.

Guy goes out to car. Hops in, starts car. looks at lever on column, looks at floor. looks at lever on column, looks at floor. looks at lever on column, looks at floor. Shuts car off and goes back inside. Another guy goes out to car, pulls it into the garage, hazes stupid newbie. That was funny.