I learned to drive a stick shift on a very forgiving Ford F150 pickup working construction as a summer job. As I was shoveling mud out of the footing trench the foreman came up and said they needed a guy to go pick up supplies and asked if I knew how to drive a stick. The only word out of my mouth was “yes.” I got the truck off the lot and behind the Hardee’s where I could practice without him seeing me. I made it to Kokomo Lumber and back. For the rest of the summer on hot afternoons I drove around Kokomo listening to Vince Lloyd and Lou Boudreau do Cub games on WGN radio.
I learned to drive manual transmission in 1960 in my boyfriend’s 1941 Ford Deluxe 2 door sedan.
The transmission was so loose that sometimes you could shift without engaging the clutch.
It didn’t have a heater or radio, and he had to carry a quart jar of gas so he could prime the carburetor to get it started.
To use the horn, there was a loose wire dangling that you had to touch to something metal.
Oh, and to roll the windows up or down, the handle was kept in the glove compartment.
Needless to say, this was before safety inspections were a thing.