[barry bullitt]

My kids (20 and 17) want to learn how to drive a stick so they can drive the Bullitt. I tried teaching my daughter (17) and she stalled it etc. you probably know the routine. I really don't want to teach them on this vehicle. Any ideas other than going out and buying another car with a stick? Maybe some of you tried something different.

 

[crs2879]

Go rent on of those beat-up old u-haul trucks for $19.99 for a day. A lot of the older ones still have stick shift. Will save your clutch and if they can drive one of those, the Bullitt should be a piece of cake.

 

[bLaCkBuLLiT6924]

go to a rent a carplace and rent a 5spd 6 cylinder mustang,its basicallythe same transmission, so it would be a big transition, if they dnt hav ne sticks, u can always rent a car from a ford dealership

 

[retromuscle]

I have an even bigger problem than you. Despite the fact that the Bullitt is mine, it's technically in my fiance's name (soon to be wife, as of 11/24/01). Her Explorer is in my name, so it all works out, but I digress.

Anyway, she doesn't know how to drive stick and it's "her car" (or so she keeps telling me :grin: ) I did take her out to learn in the Bullitt and the first session went rather well. She could get the car rolling without stalling or bucking (much to my relief, and the clutch's :grin: ) but when we progressed to things like 2nd gear, everything went sour. She basically forgot everything I taught her and thencouldn't get the car to roll from a stop without stalling.

I'm finding that driving stick is easy, but trying to explain it to someone else is really a pain in the @ss. I think I'm tying to explain too much at once, but there is a lot to process while you're selecting gears (not to mention just paying attention to the stuff around you). Have any of you stopped to think about everything we think about (or perform by second nature) while we're gear-banging?

I thought I had it down to a few basic things. Easy off the clutch and easy on the throttle to get rolling. Clutch in and foot off the throttle to change gears, and back off the clutch and back on the throttle to complete the change. Clutch in when you're on the brakes and you slow down too much for a certain gear.

I thought that would be basic enough to get her going... But nooooooo. She wants to know how to know what gear to be in when she slows down but doesn't stop, when should she shift up to the next gear, and why on earth does she have to push the clutch in when she stops?

How did all of you learn? I know that I spent years watching my dad do it and when I was ready to learn, I just jumped in and did it. I'm finding it hard to explain something that just kind of came naturally. Besides, I'm not a very patient person when it comes to explaining something that I think is easy. :sad: Any advice anyone can offer about how to explain it to her?

I know she can do it. I've seen her get the car going as smoothly as any veteran driver and that IS the hardest part about driving stick, so her ability is not in question. But she gets rattled easily and it seems like she wants to know everything about doing it before she does it. :sad: Help!

 

[RickyBoy]

Morning Barry -

Take a look at this thread, it has some really good tips on teaching someone to drive a manual tranny.

http://www.bullittclub.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?topic=1534&forum=11

This was the way I learned many moons ago and it is, in my opinion, the best way for someone to learn and gain confidence at the same time. I have taught several people, including my sister, to drive a 5-speed using this technique and it seems to work really well.

 

[RickyBoy]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2001-11-05 11:52, retromuscle wrote:

I'm finding that driving stick is easy, but trying to explain it to someone else is really a pain in the @ss. I think I'm tying to explain too much at once, but there is a lot to process while you're selecting gears (not to mention just paying attention to the stuff around you). Have any of you stopped to think about everything we think about (or perform by second nature) while we're gear-banging?
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>

I always start by having the "student" sit in the passenger seat and watch what I am doing while I drive at a fairly slow speed and shift a couple of times. While this is going on, I tell them what I am doing and what to pay attention to... "Hear the engine? Time to shift. Clutch in and off throttle, shift to 2nd, ease out the clutch while easing into the throttle, foot off the clutch", etc.

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
I thought I had it down to a few basic things. Easy off the clutch and easy on the throttle to get rolling. Clutch in and foot off the throttle to change gears, and back off the clutch and back on the throttle to complete the change. Clutch in when you're on the brakes and you slow down too much for a certain gear.

I thought that would be basic enough to get her going... But nooooooo. She wants to know how to know what gear to be in when she slows down but doesn't stop, when should she shift up to the next gear, and why on earth does she have to push the clutch in when she stops?
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>

Have her stop once without putting the clutch in. That should answer her question. Explain that when the clutch is out, the wheels and the engine are connected and that when the wheels stop, so will the engine.

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
How did all of you learn? I know that I spent years watching my dad do it and when I was ready to learn, I just jumped in and did it. I'm finding it hard to explain something that just kind of came naturally. Besides, I'm not a very patient person when it comes to explaining something that I think is easy. :sad: Any advice anyone can offer about how to explain it to her?

I know she can do it. I've seen her get the car going as smoothly as any veteran driver and that IS the hardest part about driving stick, so her ability is not in question. But she gets rattled easily and it seems like she wants to know everything about doing it before she does it. :sad: Help!
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>

In my experience, patience is one of the most important things when teaching someone to drive stick. That, and a large, flat parking lot with very few obstacles. Having an area to start, drive around and get comfortable with shifting while not having to worry about all of the other issues associated with driving makes the whole process easier.

Work on one thing at a time. Have her work on the basics of starting and stopping and make sure that she has these down before moving on. Progress to shifting to 2nd and then stopping from that speed. The more she does it, the higher her confidence level will be and that is the true secret here. Stay in the parking lot (or other confined, controlled area) until she can "drive" the car, including upshifting, slowing and selecting a lower gear, and stopping (you might want to try a panic stop as well).

If you build up her confidence in this new aspect of driving without all of the other "distractions" of driving on public roads, you improve your, and her, chances of success.

Good luck!!

Rick

 

[retromuscle]

RickyBoy,

I hear where you're coming from and I've actually tried some of those suggestions. I guess the problem is that she wants to know everything there is to possibly know about driving stick before she even gets it rolling. I don't think she gets the concept of "baby steps". In my experience, people either jump right in and know how to drive it (like I did), or it takes them a little longer to master it, but just about everyone gets it eventually. I guess the best thing for me to do is be persistent and keep taking her out to practice.

What gets me is that she can get the car rolling, which is the #1 hardest thing to get the hang of. And when I tell you she got it perfectly, the car started rolling smoothly and the tach never varied more than 200 rpm as she let the clutch out. :smile:

 

[From the other side]

Valium?

 

[retromuscle]

:grin: :grin: :grin:

ROTFLMAO

Yeah, that's about the only way I suppose. :wink:

 

[Vrooom#3440]

I will repeat one of my tricks: teach on dirt/gravel. Then you do not have to worry about clutch/transmission abuse as you have built a little extra give into the system.



Start out without the "add gas" to go. Just concentrate on feeling the transition of the clutch. If it dies they went too fast. They get the idea quite quick this way.



For when to shift... this is really not a bad or unfair question for a learner to ask. I think what you might want to do here is step back a bit and do not try and accomplish all learning in the car. For pilots they call it ground school: learning *how* things work before getting in and trying to do it. Use pictures. In particular you used to see nice little graphs showing engine vs. car speeds for all of the gears (I think Road and Track used to do this). This graph can emphasize that 0 MPH == 0 RPM and that there are actually multiple gears available for any given speed. What gear to use just depends on how much noise you want to make (-: or how fast you want to go or gas mileage you are trying to achieve (if you care).



Some learn by doing... and others need to know the theory of how it works.

 

[6treva9]

This may not be what you want to hear...
but when my 1st husband tried to teach me
to drive a stick, IT DID NOT WORK !!!
His patience level, and my inability to grasp
it right away were HUGE obstacles.
Then a friend offered to teach me, and it
worked like magic! Just a few short lessons, and I had it down.
I would not teach someone in my Bullitt, because I like it too much!
Have you tried having her listen to the motor?
Good luck...and maybe enlist a friend!

 

[retromuscle]

I think I'm going to have to try the "out of the car" learning technique. The gravel isn't necessary b/c she can get the car rolling without incident, and when she was having trouble, she was not giving it enough gas and it would simply stall out. No harm, no foul. :smile: As for teaching her out of the car, that's worth trying. I know, for example, that she doesn't know how or why a clutch works, let alone why you have to push it in to shift. Maybe a little automotive 101 will help. :smile:

 

[retromuscle]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2001-11-05 13:24, 6treva9 wrote:
This may not be what you want to hear...
but when my 1st husband tried to teach me
to drive a stick, IT DID NOT WORK !!!
His patience level, and my inability to grasp
it right away were HUGE obstacles.
Then a friend offered to teach me, and it
worked like magic! Just a few short lessons, and I had it down.
I would not teach someone in my Bullitt, because I like it too much!
Have you tried having her listen to the motor?
Good luck...and maybe enlist a friend!
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>

Actually, that's something I already know :grin: I really don't want to be the one to teach her b/c I have very little patience and that, coupled with her defensiveness when she doesn't "get" something the very first time, makes for an awful mix. Ironically though, she wants me to be the one to teach her. So I guess I'll just have to work on my patience and apologize to my Bullitt if things don't go well. :wink:

 

[jjrocks]

When I was trying to teach my wife to drive. 1 a stick
2 to drive.
I was going nuts. Sent her to a driving school. Taught her to shift after she could drive. But the comments on them listening to other people better are true. I always taught to get the car going with no gas first. After that life was good. We did the head bob alot and I laughed at it after. She is from Mexico and never drove till she was 22 and in Canada

jjrocks
Blk Bullitt #2754
Jim

 

[Bullitt_Buyer]

Hey, I feel your pain. I was on the other end of it all - my boyfriend (who later became my husband) decided to teach me to drive his stick. He had a brand new car and insisted I learn to drive it. So, after a few lessons, he made me drive it home 15 miles away all by myself. In those situations, it's either sink or swim and wala! I learned to drive a stick! I highly recommend having her take the car out by herself. She'll probably come back a pro!

-Christine-
DHG#4930

 

[Mus408]

About a month ago,my 20 yr.old son bought himself a new V6 Mustang 5 spd. Now he had never driven a manual trans car before and had 2 days to learn how,so he could drive to work! Well when I got it home,I let him watch me go thru thr gears,and clutch action. Then I told him get in and spend the evening starting,stopping and drive around the neighborhood. So I sit back in my lawn chair,in the driveway,it's dark by now, pop a cool one,and sit back and listen to him clunk and screech around the block! After a while,he got it down pat. It was like watching him learn how to ride a bike all over again!!!!

 

[mr.pj]

last person i taught i had sit in the car without the motor running and we simulated driving and shifting. we then moved to an empty school parking lot i got out after telling them to just hit the brake if you get into trouble. they were able to work up to third gear on the straights and didn't have the added pressure of anyone watching over their shoulder.