What would you prefer to be manual in your car?

[insightful]

The key to hand cranking or propping is that the timing is retarded to TDC or later. Rotate past TDC with fuel/sir in the cylinder and vroom…

;-]

[RandomTroll]

@BillRussell

10 minutes of vigorous cranking to charge the battery to start your car? no one is going to do that.

I’ve taken a lot longer than 10 minutes to start vehicles when the battery wouldn’t do it. It’d take longer to wait for a wrecker. I drive way up dirt roads in wilderness areas: 10 minutes would be a blessing, if I knew it would work.

@B.L.E

I do remember a hand crank kit for the old VW Beetle. It was a special generator pulley that was designed so you could wrap a rope around it and start the engine lawn mower style.

@Triedaq

Anyone besides me remember a starter kit for VWs that allowed person to start the engine with a rope? I remember seeing these kits in the J. C. Whitney catalog.

A friend told me about rope-starting; I think I heard a puzzler (or puzzler-like) question to which the answer was rope-starting. I didn’t know you needed a kit, just access and a rope.

[shanonia]

I prefer manual transmissions, but I realize they are less and less available. My next car will probably take me into my 70s and beyond, and clutching might become too hard to do at some point, so I may outgrow that preference.

I prefer a manual rotary knob for the radio’s volume control. I see some now have it on the back of the steering wheel, which may be OK for me. Any car that needs a touch screen to be manipulated to control volume is off my shopping list.

I prefer hands-on knobs and levers to control HVAC. Don’t need automatic temperature controls.

I prefer a shift lever on the right side of the steering column, or between the seats. They can be operated even with a mitten or cast on the hand. I would avoid a car that requires one to grasp and rotate a knob for gear shifting.

I prefer a hand brake lever between the seats, rather than a step-on parking brake, or, even worse, an electrically controlled parking brake.

[always_fixing]

1. ABS (turn off/on at will; default on).
2. Traction and/or Stability control (turn off/on at will; default on).
3. Airbags when carrying items, not passengers (turn off/on at will; default on).
4. No drive by wire items (gas, shifting, steering and brake).
5. Hand crank power window override in case I drive into a lake.

[VOLVO-V70]

@always_fixing

Hand crank power window override in case I drive into a lake.

Two easy solutions for that problem: keep seatbelt cutter and window punch tool in console, don’t drive into lake.

[kolby12309]

You wouldnt be able to open the window, electric or manual. Water is heavy.

[bing]

Nothing against good exercise but the motor club is your friend. I guess in the last 40 years I’ve called them three times for a dead battery. Once when the wife was stranded so I don’t imagine she would have pulled the crank out to start the V8. Still I invested $50 in a battery pack instead of sucking my thumb. I’ve used it once for my lawn mower. The mower doesn’t have a crank or a rope starter so if the battery dies you are out of luck. Reminds me I should charge up the battery pack again just in case.

[Propane_Car]

My old motorcycles have 4 carburetors and a kick starter. I am changing the aftermarket electronic ignition out for a 40 year old magneto so I can eliminate the bulky battery. There is no modern comfort on my bikes.

[meanjoe75fan]

@common_sense_answer

There is another way. I was the go-to-guy for the owner of a Stearman biplane with a radial engine.I would stand on the lower wing and insert a crank handle. I would get a hand-cranked flywheel spinning and then pull a clutch handle to engage the engine to start it, worked great.

CSA, somewhere there’s a video of a person hand-cranking a Tiger tank with a similar flywheel setup.

Here it is:

🇩🇪 Tiger Tank " Hand Crank Engine Start Up "

[sgtrock21]

By the time I remember the radio volume control on the steering wheel I’m already turning the knob. 100% of the time.

[meanjoe75fan]

FYI, for those times the battery dies and can’t get the engine started, what I really want is a Coffman “shotgun” starter. 12-ga blank, plus tap of hammer = running engine!

[sgtrock21]

My seat belt cutter and spring loaded window punch is clipped in my driver door map pocket. That insures I will never need it just like the spare key in my wallet ensures I will never lock the main key in my car. I think it may be a way of reversing Murphy’s law.

[sgtrock21]

You’re supposed to stay calm and wait for the water to rise high enough to equalize. Riiiiight!

[common-sense-answer]

@meanjoe75fan

CSA, somewhere there’s a video of a person hand-cranking a Tiger tank with a similar flywheel setup.

Thanks. I tried running the video, but my PC won’t handle it.
CSA

[common-sense-answer]

Back when I worked at the Volkswagen dealer we had two Germans working there, one was the service manager, Helmut, the other a mechanic.

The two guys talked about using the VW bug’s jack and raising one side of the car (rear wheel clear of ground) and with the car in gear and the key turned to “on,” spinning the tire by hand to start the engine.

I never tried that, but on more than one occasion I ran with the car and jumped in, put it in gear, popped the clutch and started it that way.
CSA

[VDCdriver]

@common_sense_answer

on more than one occasion I ran with the car and jumped in, put it in gear, popped the clutch and started it that way

Yup!
On more than one occasion, that is how we started my brother’s “elegant” '64 Bug.
The fact that we lived on a hill helped a lot.

[shanonia]

Yes, to be able to roll start a car with a discharged battery is one of my reasons for preferring a manual transmission. I’ve done it a few times with some preplanning involved: parked it facing level ground or preferably a slight decline. Ran a 12V cooler overnight. Battery “dead” in AM, but the car fired right up when rolled.

[Rod-Knox]

Is there a ‘morotized man cave’ vs ‘it’s just transportation’ dichotomy in the world of automobile preference? If so I’m hard core ‘just transportation.’

A bare bones Vega wagon was the last car that I financed and it turned out to be a disaster mechanically but if they built that same vehicle today with a 2.8L 4 cylinder and manual transportation, totally bare of luxuries and performance extras it would probably suit me today. Or better yet someone years ago was cutting down Vegas into Jr El Caminos. That would be great for me.

[RandomTroll]

@bing

Nothing against good exercise but the motor club is your friend

They don’t go off paved roads.

@common_sense_answer

The two guys talked about using the VW bug’s jack and raising one side of the car (rear wheel clear of ground) and with the car in gear and the key turned to “on,” spinning the tire by hand to start the engine.

That’s the rope start I remember: jack up the rear, loop a rope around one of the tires, pull with all you’ve got. I think that was a ‘Car Talk’ puzzler.

I roll-started a 10-ton cube truck once, in reverse. I pushed it out onto the road, got ir rolling, ran and jumped in, missed hitting a parked car by feet. I was 22. I’ll never be that stupid again - or, If I am, I’ll be institutionalized

[common-sense-answer]

A lasting “elegant” memory…
I needed to get to Community College class (era: $9/credit hour) and my 64 bug wouldn’t turn over.

Ordinarily, I would have run with it and jumped in. However, it just quit freezing raining and the ground was a skating rink.

I had a plan! I got out a 2" x 8" and placing the end repeatedly under the front bumper, while intermittently running around and turning the steering wheel, proceeded to “pry” the car backwards up our inclined driveway, a few feet at a time.

I was exhausted and sweaty at the top of the driveway, but it felt rewarding to jump in the car, gain speed on the trip down and finally pop the clutch!

Nothing. I had forgotten to turn the ignition key to “on.” Repeating the whole procedure over again had a way of reminding me to turn the key!
CSA