Two driving skills that seem to be dying out

[WinterBorn]

They may not be able to drive stick, but at least they text and post pictures to Instagram while killing you in a head-on collision, so there's that I guess. lol

Dopey broads constantly on the road with phone in hand looking down ....theyre everywhere

Stick no problem
Backing up trailer ...I can manage...
When I had the warehouse we had an independent driver who would deliver from fall river ...that mofo could swing a trailer into just about any space

Watching someone who has completely mastered backing a trailer is a thing of beauty. I'm pretty good, but I know a few guys who put me to shame.

 

[toobfreak]

It seems fewer and fewer people can drive a straight shift. And backing a trailer is getting to be more and more of a rare skill.

How about it?

I taught my teenage daughters to drive stick, and it amazes their friends. LOL! I call my stick shift a "millennial anti-theft device", too! (thanks Sunni Man)

I gave a slide rule to my neighbor's teen daughter, thinking she had an aptitude for science and math, but no matter what I said, she found it incomprehensible how the 2 on the C scale could represent a 2, a .2, a 20, 200 or 2000, had no idea what to do with it and thanked god for calculators. There were no calculators much less allowed when I was in school!

So is it really any wonder kids these days can't manage a stick?

 

[WinterBorn]

I recall driving a forklift was pretty damn fun.

A forklift is a completely different animal. Steering with the rear wheels makes it both handier and more dangerous.

I taught forklift driving for years. I am a master at that ride.

 

[Unkotare]

I recall driving a forklift was pretty damn fun.

A forklift is a completely different animal. Steering with the rear wheels makes it both handier and more dangerous.

I taught forklift driving for years. I am a master at that ride.

No one ever taught me. Some dopey warehouse manager just said "Hey kid, put those crates way the hell up there." I loved it.

 

[DrLove]

It seems fewer and fewer people can drive a straight shift. And backing a trailer is getting to be more and more of a rare skill.

How about it?

I think there's a lot of truth to that WB. When I got my Midlife Crisis Mobile 15 or so years ago (Mercedes SLK 350) it had to be custom made in Germany because to me, a sports car just isn't a sports car without a 5 or 6 speed manual tranny.

So I waited 3 months but was able to pick my sound system, leather color, lighting options, etc etc. Apparently there is no demand with younger folks for such a thing. I've now got an auto in my truck, but that's a different beast.

 

[WinterBorn]

It seems fewer and fewer people can drive a straight shift. And backing a trailer is getting to be more and more of a rare skill.

How about it?

I think there's a lot of truth to that WB. When I got my Midlife Crisis Mobile 15 or so years ago (Mercedes SLK 350) it had to be custom made in Germany because to me, a sports car just isn't a sports car without a 5 or 6 speed manual tranny.

So I waited 3 months but was able to pick my sound system, leather color, lighting options, etc etc. Apparently there is no demand with younger folks for such a thing. I've now got an auto in my truck, but that's a different beast.

If you want a sports car, you need a manual transmission. But for daily driver pickup truck, I want an automatic. The idea of being stuck in Atlanta rush hour traffic with a straight shift doesn't appeal to me in my old age.

 

[Cecilie1200]

It seems fewer and fewer people can drive a straight shift. And backing a trailer is getting to be more and more of a rare skill.

How about it?

I think there's a lot of truth to that WB. When I got my Midlife Crisis Mobile 15 or so years ago (Mercedes SLK 350) it had to be custom made in Germany because to me, a sports car just isn't a sports car without a 5 or 6 speed manual tranny.

So I waited 3 months but was able to pick my sound system, leather color, lighting options, etc etc. Apparently there is no demand with younger folks for such a thing. I've now got an auto in my truck, but that's a different beast.

If you want a sports car, you need a manual transmission. But for daily driver pickup truck, I want an automatic. The idea of being stuck in Atlanta rush hour traffic with a straight shift doesn't appeal to me in my old age.

For being in control of the vehicle, I prefer a manual. However, the arthritis in my knees and hands says I'd far rather have an automatic.

 

[Sunni Man]

jbrownson0831 I'd have to park the car and walk!! ...

 

[whitehall]

Parallel parking.

 

[toobfreak]

It seems fewer and fewer people can drive a straight shift. And backing a trailer is getting to be more and more of a rare skill.

How about it?

I think there's a lot of truth to that WB. When I got my Midlife Crisis Mobile 15 or so years ago (Mercedes SLK 350) it had to be custom made in Germany because to me, a sports car just isn't a sports car without a 5 or 6 speed manual tranny.

So I waited 3 months but was able to pick my sound system, leather color, lighting options, etc etc. Apparently there is no demand with younger folks for such a thing. I've now got an auto in my truck, but that's a different beast.

If you want a sports car, you need a manual transmission. But for daily driver pickup truck, I want an automatic. The idea of being stuck in Atlanta rush hour traffic with a straight shift doesn't appeal to me in my old age.

Atlanta has a rush hour?

When we were there in '96 to set up the communications for the Olympics, every time we got out on the highway going anywhere (we were staying at the Omni hotel next to CNN headquarters), there were ALWAYS people rushing at like 100 mph on Atlanta's 16 lane (or whatever it was) highway!

If we were driving 70 mph, people were still passing us like a turtle and zooming across the lanes to make the exits.

 

[Sunni Man]

I know a guy who sells new and preowned high end sports cars at a dealership.
He told me he will sell a dozen new automatic sports cars for every new stick shift of the same model.
But when those same sports cars go on the used car market in a few years. Everybody wants to buy the stick shift model because they are hard to find, and they sell for more money than the automatics. ...

 

[petro]

I have had motorcycles and stick shift cars.

Even though my vehicle is now an auto, I still use boat and snowmobile trailers.
Typically at the boat launch I am quicker alone than most are with a couple of people.

 

[petro]

I recall driving a forklift was pretty damn fun.

A forklift is a completely different animal. Steering with the rear wheels makes it both handier and more dangerous.

I taught forklift driving for years. I am a master at that ride.

I operate these every day framing houses. Telescopic boom. Does damn near everything for us including roof truss setting...

Boss owns three of them.
A little mud though and that heavy pig isn't going anywhere without tire chains.

 

[Remodeling Maidiac]

I can do both. I was backing trailers up on a golf/utility cart when I was 12 years old picking up limbs and such.
Sticks arent that hard. I taught my sons mother how to drive a stick and she is dumber than a doornail.

Same but 9 for me. Hay trailer on a flatbed. Country roads and fields but learned quite quickly nonetheless. I sold all my stick shift trucks when I moved to KC. Manual transmission in rush hour traffic sucks

 

[Crepitus]

It seems fewer and fewer people can drive a straight shift. And backing a trailer is getting to be more and more of a rare skill.

How about it?

It ain't a sports car if it ain't got a clutch.

 

[deannalw]

It seems fewer and fewer people can drive a straight shift. And backing a trailer is getting to be more and more of a rare skill.

How about it?

Yeah, I can back a trailer.

If you want it in a ditch or tree.

 

[Likkmee]

If I cant drive it there must be an electrical problem,which i can fix.
I can back a 24 foot bed boom truck onto a barge...while towing a cat backlift(towable) behind it....with vehicles on both sides...a couple feet apart.Only assholes can't drive anything that will start and has a seat

 

[Lastamender]

It seems fewer and fewer people can drive a straight shift. And backing a trailer is getting to be more and more of a rare skill.

How about it?

Do you need help moving? Just ask.

 

[WinterBorn]

Do you need help moving? Just ask.

No, I don't need any help. But thanks.

For one thing, I can back a 26' livestock trailer up a long curvy driveway and miss the planters flowerbeds and vehicles. Or I can back a 12' cable trailer into a parking space in urban areas.

For another thing, I have sworn that if I move I am selling everything and only taking a backseat's worth of personal items.

 

[Lastamender]

No, I don't need any help. But thanks.

For one thing, I can back a 26' livestock trailer up a long curvy driveway and miss the planters flowerbeds and vehicles. Or I can back a 12' cable trailer into a parking space in urban areas.

For another thing, I have sworn that if I move I am selling everything and only taking a backseat's worth of personal items.

Your welcome.