Seen in Print

[rogruth]

I don't wear t-shirts or necklaces and even though I think the t is funny I would be embarrassed to wear it.

Found a T-Shirt for you Roger.

If I looked that good maybe I would wear a t-shirt.

[HONDO74]

I don't wear t-shirts or necklaces

Roger
I never was a jewelry person. The most I ever had was a wrist watch and my wedding ring.

Since my wife passed away a year ago last December, I am now wearing a necklace with her and my wedding rings on it. She is my guardian angle.
Robert

[Rufus T. Firefly]

The most I ever had was a wrist watch and my wedding ring.

Same here until a few years ago when I developed an allergy to the metal - contact dermatitis, blisters, and bleeding.....

[rex desilets]

Your acid nature??

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Your acid nature??

Caustic nature....

But more likely the Ni in the alloys used.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

[HONDO74]

Interesting. I learned to drive on a stick shift. A 3 speed column shift. First car I owned I removed the automatic and replaced it with a 3 speed with a Hurst shifter on the floor. First new car we bought was a 65 Mustang GT with a 4 speed. My 92 GMC truck is a 5 speed. My wife was quite proficient at driving a stick shift.

I wonder how many others here started with a stick shift ??

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I wonder how many others here started with a stick shift ??

On a Farmall Cub and a 48 Ford truck......and lots of trucks thereafter, but no cars.

[aterry11]

VW 63 Kombi microbus, 69 Chevy Nova 3 on the tree.
It is becoming almost impossible to purchase new cars with Manual, or without electric windows.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

VW 63 Kombi microbus, 69 Chevy Nova 3 on the tree.
It is becoming almost impossible to purchase new cars with Manual, or without electric windows.

True. The vast majority of drivers have never seen a manual transmission car. And, they can barely drive an automatic -- there's already enough danger to me on the highways now w/o kids driving a manual car while texting......

[rogruth]

I learned to drive on a 1950 Ford 3 speed column shift.
My eighth grade principal decided that I should learn to
drive so he used his car to teach me.
My first car was a 1952 Chevy 6 with a 3 speed. It would
not go over 60 MPH downhill with a tail-wind.
I don't see why someone my age would want stick shift.
I also don't see why someone my age needs all the junk
that is now in cars.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I don't see why someone my age would want stick shift.

As I've only driven trucks with a stick, I have yet to have a desire or real need for that in a car. As it turns out, I can put my Subaru into a pseudo-manual drive with paddle shifters on the wheel - rarely use it except when off-road.

I also don't see why someone my age needs all the junk that is now in cars.

Your age, no. The children that can't drive either need cars that think for them or they need to get off the road entirely.

5 years ago when my Saab dies, there were still buttons and all that I had never used nor needed - can't imagine how much rubbish I'll have to ignore if/when I get a new car. Have to say that the Subaru is pretty basic on the gadgetry side of thing. Only one that really stands out is the split screen camera display in the back-up mirror - no center screen in the dash to distract you. has a bunch of buttons for Bluetooth and phones, but I don't own a phone that will work with that and I don't need that distraction anyway.

[Wolf]

Gee, Roger, does that mean when I reach your age in about 10 years, give-or-take,
that I will have to give up driving my manual-transmission cars?

I've only had one automatic-transmission car, a 1963 Ford Falcon that I bought
used from the neighbor of a family friend who was that proverbial "little old lady
who only drove the car to church on Sunday". I needed something to get to
work at the Sparrow's Point steel mill, and didn't want to subject my "good car"
to all that iron dust, etc. that was in the atmosphere down there.
That stuff really ate cars up alive!!!

All my other cars have been manual-transmission equipped, including my current two:
my VW Jetta TDI and a Honda Civic that I inherited from my wife upon her death.

I really do miss the window winder cranks, and the moveable wing vent windows,
(had both on my first car, a 1962 VW beetle convertible ), as I am not a fan of
power windows (or power door locks!)...

I had my car in a body shop as a result of getting hit by another car, and when I went
to pick it back up afterward, the young man (about twenty-ish) went to get it out of
the back lot storage, when he came back to the lobby and sheepishly asked me if
I could go back with him to drive it out to the front...he didn't know how to drive a
manual-transmission car! Waltzed in back past all the "No Trespassing"
and "NO CUSTOMERS ALLOWED per Insurance Company regulations" signs and
brought the car out so we could finish the paperwork. I'm still shaking my head!!".

[rogruth]

Wolf,
Drive it as long as you can.
Arthritis, minor, makes it hard just to get in and out of a car, to turn my head to see all directions, etc.
I don't have any tv cameras but do have a back-up warning beeper that works well.
Sarge makes it clear that he really likes to drive smaller manual shift cars even though he has some problems.
He may need to change that in the future. My son rides motorcycles but realizes that he may need to go to a three wheeler.
At least there seem to be alternatives. I have one other problem that I can't do much about and that is failing eyes.

Oh yeah, I'm from the upper Ohio Valley and am well aware of what steel mill pollutants can do. I never understood why
people painted houses white when they knew that in a year they would be grey and then the paint would start to peel off.
Unfortunately those people that worked hard to have an otherwise good life are now gone because their various jobs
are gone. The population of my home town is @ one fifth of what it was when I graduated from high school in 1952.
This is true of the whole area. I really have mixed feelings about this. Even with the pollution it was a fairly nice area
in which to live. Other parts of Ohio are still growing but it is different. Ah, but everything is. Time to stop.

[E7]

Gee, Roger, does that mean when I reach your age in about 10 years, give-or-take,
that I will have to give up driving my manual-transmission cars?

I've only had one automatic-transmission car, a 1963 Ford Falcon that I bought
used from the neighbor of a family friend who was that proverbial "little old lady
who only drove the car to church on Sunday". I needed something to get to
work at the Sparrow's Point steel mill, and didn't want to subject my "good car"
to all that iron dust, etc. that was in the atmosphere down there.
That stuff really ate cars up alive!!!

All my other cars have been manual-transmission equipped, including my current two:
my VW Jetta TDI and a Honda Civic that I inherited from my wife upon her death.

I really do miss the window winder cranks, and the moveable wing vent windows,
(had both on my first car, a 1962 VW beetle convertible ), as I am not a fan of
power windows (or power door locks!)...

Amen! They can take all that power/automatic crap and put it where the sun don't shine. Sooner or later it will cause problems. I've never had a manual window crank or door lock fail. Used to be you could order the features you wanted, but now you get the same homogenized crap in every vehicle. I pretty much despise automatic transmissions. Been driving manual transmissions all my life. 6 speed Toyota, 5 speed Colorado pickup.

I may be wrong, but I don't think an American full size pickup can be had with a manual tranny....and try finding a vehicle with 2 doors....precious few coupes out there.

Rich

PS: Roger, This post is not a condemnation of you, just a lament that things are changing in ways I don't care for. I have a H*ll of a time getting in and out of some vehicles, but once seated, I can rock n' roll with the best of them. No need to tell you this, but it ain't easy getting old!

From one geezer to another,
Rich