Even some years ago the wife was heading to Norway and needed to rent a car there. She didn’t know how to drive a manual so we went to the GM dealer to see if we could borrow one. They had exactly one well used used car on the lot with a manual. I think they were happy to see it get some use for a couple days. Everything else on the lot was automatic. I guess my point was just because something is rare, doesn’t mean it’s worth anything. Rare might mean no one wants it.
The automatic transmission became popular very quickly. When the Pontiac division of GM made the Hydramatic automatic transmission available for the first time for the 1948 models, 85% of the 8 cylinder and 50% of the 6 cylinder Pontiacs were equipped with the Hydramatic.
I used to think the stick shift was the way to go. My dad had a 1954 Buick with a stick shift–3 speed on the column. I learned to drive on that car. Much later, I bought a 1955 Pontiac with a stick shift. That Pontiac was a disaster. The shift linkage was terrible to try to shift smoothly. Sometime later, I bought a 1965 Rambler with a manual transmission. A snap ring broke in the transmission at 70,000 miles and the transmission had to be rebuilt. The shift linkage was never smooth. The mechanic at the independent shop that rebuilt the transmission advised me to stay away from the manual transmissions. He said that the design went back before WW II, when engines weren’t as powerful and that manufacturers were putting their resources into automatic transmissions. This was back in 1970.
Now I am sure the 4 speed floor shift and today’s multi speed transmissions are better than the 3 speed column shift transmissions in the cars I owned back in the days. Truck transmissions were a lot better. I had a 1950 Chevrolet 1 ton pickup with a four speed manual transmission. It shifted very easily.
The last three speed column shift I drove was on a 1977 Chevelle. I took the car for a test drive and that test drive convinced me that I didn’t want to go back to a " three on the tree" manual transmission.
Yikes, how could I forget that? The MX5 was basically the only true sports car (IMHO) left in the U.S. in that it’s a 2-seater that’s relatively cheap and is fun to drive. The big 3 cars are muscle cars, except for the Corvette which is now more or less an entry level supercar.
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Miata still has one. But by the time I finally decide to retire my MR2 in favor of a newer sports car, I’d be willing to bet it won’t anymore.
There’s a writer for the NY Times where I live in NH. They are all over. NY Times has writers in Detroit also.