I do not get this skit. It was funny but still, don't get the underlying detail.

[IronWing]

I wish I was as creative as OP in terms of stirring the pot.

Start another joke thread.

 

[nakedfrog]

Amol S, yes. It is most common today that the switches for controlling parking and healights are incoporated into the left-hand stalk beside the steering wheel, which also is for turn signals. By pulling that stalk towards you, you can switch headlights between high and low beams. Decades ago the parking / headlight switch was on the dashboard, and the High / Low beam switch was a button on the floor to the far left to be used with your foot.

VWs still have the switch on the dashboard! IIRC my son's Ford Taurus did too.
High/low beam still on the stalk though.

I agree, manual is a poor choice for driving in heavy traffic. It's also a poor choice for off roading. Manual shines in the open road, twisty sections beloved of car marketing and that we so rarely get to enjoy.

Got a bunch of twisty roads out here, going around the Olympic peninsula 😎

 

[Charmonium]

manual is outdated.

No doubt. And I'll admit that a big part of my love for my Civic Si manual is having grown up with movies and cartoons I would try to emulate with my toy cars going vroom, vroom, pause, vroom, etc.

Another part is that I love "being in control" even if I have things like automatic traction control. I also love that except for heavy traffic (which I avoid like the plague and can mostly do being retired - nyah, nyah), I don't even think about the process of shifting any more.

VWs still have the switch on the dashboard! IIRC my son's Ford Taurus did too.

I loved my 66 chevy belair sooo much. It was mom's car and we had it rebuilt with slightly oversized cylinders and a 10 to 1 compression ratio. It only had a 2 speed powerglide auto that revved like a mofo when you floored it.

That had headlights on the dash and hi/lo nipple on the floor.

Her previous car was an old Ford Fairlane with 3 on the tree. Never got to drive that one though.

 

[Captante]

I agree, manual is a poor choice for driving in heavy traffic. It's also a poor choice for off roading. Manual shines in the open road, twisty sections beloved of car marketing and that we so rarely get to enjoy.

Manual is also good for small and light gas-engine cars since it saves significant weight.

Also although a manual clutch can be a pain in the ass KNEE in stop and go rush-hour stuff, its a big advantage weaving through Manhattan congestion for example in a car with small displacement.

(Note I was a courier and drove a 5-speed manual Toyota pickup in NYC traffic daily for over 10 years)

 

[mv2devnull]

Driving a car with a dual-clutch automatic equipped with paddle-shifters (or ANY automatic) is much easier then doing your own shifting, especially in heavy traffic having done both many times. (that's "Captain-Obvious" level stuff lol)

Having done both many times, probably. Sitting in automatic for the first time after years of manual it is harder to see.

 

[olds]

My daughter's first car, in 2000, had a manual transmission. I wanted to make sure she knew how to drive one.

 

[Mermaidman]

My daughter's first car, in 2000, had a manual transmission. I wanted to make sure she knew how to drive one.

I thought you said her first car was an S2000, and thought, "Man, that's a difficult first car, but very cool."

 

[olds]

I thought you said her first car was an S2000, and thought, "Man, that's a difficult first car, but very cool."

Close. It was a Civic.

 

[Paperdoc]

How about a passenger foot-operated device? In the early 1960's I had a universtiy buddy with an old Edsel station wagon. It had a leak in the hose feeding the heater core, so he'd rigged a small pail under that in the front passenger foot well. He had to drain it pour into the rad from time to time. Everybody getting in was warned, "Don't kick the Bucket!"

 

[IronWing]

How about a passenger foot-operated device? In the early 1960's I had a universtiy buddy with an old Edsel station wagon. It had a leak in the hose feeding the heater core, so he'd rigged a small pail under that in the front passenger foot well. He had to drain it pour into the rad from time to time. Everybody getting in was warned, "Don't kick the Bucket!"

How about a passenger foot-operated device? In the early 1960's I had a universtiy buddy with an old Edsel station wagon. It had a leak in the hose feeding the heater core, so he'd rigged a small pail under that in the front passenger foot well. He had to drain it pour into the rad from time to time. Everybody getting in was warned, "Don't kick the Bucket!"

You know the mind is the second thing to go.

 

[pcgeek11]

Guess everyone’s too young to remember the “other” “button” on the floor you pressed with your foot…except this one was under/beside the gas pedal and was the starter switch. You’d press it with the gas pedal to engage the starter. Old times!!!!

I remember those. You had to be good with your feet in a car that was hard to start.

 

[BoomerD]

VWs still have the switch on the dashboard! IIRC my son's Ford Taurus did too.
High/low beam still on the stalk though.

Got a bunch of twisty roads out here, going around the Olympic peninsula 😎

I don't remember...where are you located?

 

[JulesMaximus]

Or not...About the only time I ever used the clutch was starting from a stop...and, of course, coming to a stop. Otherwise...nah.

My first car had a manual gearbox. The clutch cable broke once and I drove it home by starting it in gear. I would let the engine stall in first at red lights and then use the starter motor to get it going and shift by rev matching. Yes, you could actually start older cars in gear.

I owned a couple of Mustang GTs over the course of ten years and both of those were 5 speed manuals.

Fun fact: Most motorcycles have a clutch too but it is hand controlled.

 

[Captante]

Fun fact: Most motorcycles have a clutch too but it is hand controlled.

First motorized vehicle I learned to drive was a 75cc Honda dirt bike! 🙂

 

[nakedfrog]

I don't remember...where are you located?

Olympia 😎

 

[TXHokie]

 

[IronWing]

Note to self: when making a driving video, put on my seatbelt.

 

[BoomerD]

Olympia 😎

Well...hey neighbor! I'm going to br there this weekend. Picking my grandson up at the Amtrak station and hitting one of the Costcos there.

 

[BoomerD]

pfft..13 speed...

 

[nakedfrog]

Well...hey neighbor! I'm going to br there this weekend. Picking my grandson up at the Amtrak station and hitting one of the Costcos there.

I actually end up hitting both those Costcos fairly regularly, as close as they are to each other, there's still food stuff they stock at one and not the other, like I have to go to Tumwater if I want my sharp shredded cheese, but Lacey if I want burnt ends, etc. One of these days I'm gonna be in your neck of the woods so I can spend some time at the ocean proper, I've only been here a few months so far.