might be buying a 85 accord 5 speed

[ace41]

i will prob put new radio in it idk what ill do for mods atm since its carberated

[___]

Originally Posted by ace41

kinda just buying it to learn how to drive a standard ill put some pics up when i pick it up

Haha that's exactly what I was thinking of doing but I couldn't find an awesome deal like you have for the life of me.

It would be so much easier if I had a friend that knew how to drive stick / didn't have such nice cars..

[TomQuick]

When I was 30 (how did I ever go that long without learning to drive standard?) I stumbled upon a deal that I couldn't pass up. There was a Ford Escort for sale, asking price was 300, and it was in running condition. I looked it over, pointed out some rust holes in the rear strut towers, and offered $150, and the guy accepted the offer. The car was a standard, and I had only TRIED to drive standard two times when I was a teenager, failing miserably both times.

When I went to pick the car up, the plan was that my mother (whom learned to drive on stick) would drive the car back to my house for me, where I could then take my time and learn how to drive standard on the very quiet, private residential road in front of my house. Unfortunately, my mother changed her mind, and while I was inside paying the guy for the car, she drove away in my automatic, leaving me there with the stick. Needless to say, I figured out how to get it home.

Honestly, it only took me a few minutes to figure it out enough to go drive around town with it, and after a couple of days, I was fine 99% of the time. The only thing that still bothered me after the first week was if I had to stop on a hill, and the car behind me pulled up too close. I ended up driving that car for around 3 years before the strut tower failed on the passengers side, and I had to give it up.

[Prog.]

k20 swap FTW :P

[nolefan32]

Originally Posted by TomQuick

When I was 30 (how did I ever go that long without learning to drive standard?) I stumbled upon a deal that I couldn't pass up. There was a Ford Escort for sale, asking price was 300, and it was in running condition. I looked it over, pointed out some rust holes in the rear strut towers, and offered $150, and the guy accepted the offer. The car was a standard, and I had only TRIED to drive standard two times when I was a teenager, failing miserably both times.

When I went to pick the car up, the plan was that my mother (whom learned to drive on stick) would drive the car back to my house for me, where I could then take my time and learn how to drive standard on the very quiet, private residential road in front of my house. Unfortunately, my mother changed her mind, and while I was inside paying the guy for the car, she drove away in my automatic, leaving me there with the stick. Needless to say, I figured out how to get it home.

Honestly, it only took me a few minutes to figure it out enough to go drive around town with it, and after a couple of days, I was fine 99% of the time. The only thing that still bothered me after the first week was if I had to stop on a hill, and the car behind me pulled up too close. I ended up driving that car for around 3 years before the strut tower failed on the passengers side, and I had to give it up.

You sure she changed her mind? Sounds like that was her plan the whole time.

Personally I think the best thing for helping someone learn stick is a good stick. I struggled big time for the longest time trying to learn, but at first my options were only my dad's truck (an early 70s three-on-the-tree GMC) or my wife's VW Bug; when I got stationed in Italy, we had a Fiat stationwagon that was the shop's official vehicle. None of those were very forgiving, and I mostly mastered how to re-start the car after stalling it because that's all I ever did was stall out, I could never actually make any of them move more than just a brief lurch before the engine cut out. Then when my parents came to visit us, we rented a BMW 316 for the extra seating capacity, and that thing had a buttery smooth gearbox that was pure pleasure to work - I could actually get it to do whatever I wanted. We only had it for two weeks, but that was all I needed, after that I could handle the VW like a champ. Never could get that damn Fiat to move, though; man that thing was touchy.

[TomQuick]

Yeah, I suspect that was HER plan all along, though that wasn't what she communicated to me. That old Ford had a bad clutch in it the day I bought it, kid told me I was going to have to replace it pretty much immediately, actually, I think what he said was "you might be able to get it home" which was only about two miles away. When I scrapped the car, it still had the same clutch in it, so I guess I wasn't too tough on it.