# Manual Transmission for Dummies! **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [January 17, 2012, 6:00am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/manual-transmission-for-dummies/70498 "2012-01-17T06:00:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dadoctah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee59a6/32.png) [@dadoctah](https://community.cartalk.com/u/dadoctah)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 11:02am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/manual-transmission-for-dummies/70498/21 "2012-01-18T11:02:55Z")
Friend of mine in college picked up a VW bug real cheap and didn’t bother to learn the shift pattern. For a couple of days, he kept insisting on parking spaces he could pull through (we were in a small town in the mountains so it was actually possible to get away with that for a little while). Finally I told him to just _try_ looking for reverse where I said it was instead of insisting it was on the other side of the H, and he suddenly knew how to back up. And his dad owned an auto-parts store. ---
**Author:** ![katidid79](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@katidid79](https://community.cartalk.com/u/katidid79)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 10:32am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/manual-transmission-for-dummies/70498/22 "2012-01-19T10:32:42Z")
My Dad had a 1963 Chevelle That had the “Three on the Tree” type tranny. Then when I was 17, my dad got my mom’s 1992 Plymouth Laser in the divorce because she didn’t want that car anymore and then I bought the car off my Dad and it was a stick and at the time I didn’t know how to drive a stick shift…I was used to driving Dad’s 1990 Dodge Pickup which was automatic. My Dad was like “better learn how to drive a stick! You know how to drive a stick, you can drive just about anything!” Piece of cake! I lived out in the country so I could drive up and down the country roads (at least the ones that were paved or had gravel on them) and learn to shift gears properly. But being a typical little sporty car, the plymouth had a tiny pedals and I have big feet (ladies size 10) [Previous page](https://community.cartalk.com/t/manual-transmission-for-dummies/70498.md?page=1)