Car-jacked by Whiteface Employee

x10003q wrote

I also learned on a bug - a 1964. I don't remember thinking it was easy or hard. It took forever to run the gears. Guys used pass us on mopeds.

Save the Manuals!

That's my blue GTI in my avatar pic, thoughtfully equipped with a manual transmission. Love it and it's never left me stranded or stuck in the snow.

Yes we did get that deal! That's ultimately what made me decide to go up to Whiteface. My father also got two free tickets, and a hotel voucher for Lake Placid after doing some sort of interview for his job. That being said, I have two more trips to WF already paid for this year! WF is my new favorite place in the world outside my home— Plattekill.

but can you drive stick?

So you're telling me that this kids job is to park cars,  and he can't drive stick? Lame. He if he's only going across the parking lot he could at least put it in first and crank it around that way. Our cat is actually auto and she couldn't even figure that out. She couldn't find the button that you have to push in to shift. The funniest part that I forgot o mention is that she locked herself in. I had to stand outside the car for 20 seconds or so while she looked for the unlock button.

I know a lot of people who drive MT tacomas because of how awesome they are. If there's a demand for them and Toyota can make money on them you will still be able to buy them. My advice— but a few MT transmissions on eBay, and store them for future Tacomas.

I can, but my current car is auto. My next car will def be stick.

Spongeworthy wrote

I learned stick on a VW Bug. Hard to think of a tougher car for learning manual transmission. Everything else felt pretty easy.

The early 70's Ford Maverick with "three on the tree" that I learned on probably rivaled the bug. That thing was a slug, the clutch was heavy, the gaps between gears meant you could almost never get a smooth gear change.

In the early 90's I had a 1986 Subaru GL hatchback that was a great little car. But every 16 months or so the clutch cable would just break, and I would have to drive it home with no clutch. Once I was on the cross bronx expressway in stop and go traffic so when traffic stopped I would have to shut the car off, put it in second gear, and start it with the car in gear. This was before EZPass, so I had to do that at the toll booth going over the Whitestone Bridge too. To the outside observer it must have looked like I had no idea how to drive a manual transmission. Once moving it was no problem to shift without the clutch as most of you probably know.

Ethan Snow wrote

So you're telling me that this kids job is to park cars,  and he can't drive stick? Lame. He if he's only going across the parking lot he could at least put it in first and crank it around that way. Our cat is actually auto and she couldn't even figure that out. She couldn't find the button that you have to push in to shift. The funniest part that I forgot o mention is that she locked herself in. I had to stand outside the car for 20 seconds or so while she looked for the unlock button.

I had to drive my friends new 328i..Took me  awhile to find the "D" button..
I love driving a stick , but the wife ..not so much...

I had a early 80's Celica for a year..Once you got it going the clutch was optional..

Something I notice with my car is that if the door is open you can not take it out of park.  I don't have a stick in my car anymore its all buttons.  I drove plenty of manuals in my life and have no desire to own another.  I enjoy driving them once in a while but autos are better in every way.

billyymc wrote

Spongeworthy wrote

I learned stick on a VW Bug. Hard to think of a tougher car for learning manual transmission. Everything else felt pretty easy.

 

In the early 90's I had a 1986 Subaru GL hatchback that was a great little car. But every 16 months or so the clutch cable would just break, and I would have to drive it home with no clutch. Once I was on the cross bronx expressway in stop and go traffic so when traffic stopped I would have to shut the car off, put it in second gear, and start it with the car in gear. Once moving it was no problem to shift without the clutch as most of you probably know.

Subys are great..old ones or new ones...like my Suby tech dealership friend says, "Modern day VW"..no clutch cable or hydraulics required to shift MT..just like the bugs back in the day.

Ethan Snow wrote

So you're telling me that this kids job is to park cars,  and he can't drive stick? Lame. He if he's only going across the parking lot he could at least put it in first and crank it around that way. Our cat is actually auto and she couldn't even figure that out. She couldn't find the button that you have to push in to shift. The funniest part that I forgot o mention is that she locked herself in. I had to stand outside the car for 20 seconds or so while she looked for the unlock button.

That's why I never valet my cars...no effin way. Heard all kinds of horror stories from my son, who used to valet for a reputable company when on break from school. He was the go to guy for parking the high end MT cars that came along on the shifts he worked. He respected others vehicles, not like some of the other schmucks who could barely get them moving out of 1st gear.

Closer to back on track for this thread...

WF employee picked up my cooler at the end of the day after I left it there a few years back and I rescued it at in the maintenance dept. by Kids Campus. Only problem was when I approached it, one of the maintenance dudes was eating from it. No beer lost, so no biggie, lol. Actually felt bad for the guy..figured he was way hungry and needed something to eat sooner than later. Was just happy to get my cooler back. Forget what he was eating, but was probably some left over dirty turkey sandwich I left in there, lmao.

I learned on my Dad's bolt action 1970 Karman Ghia convertible ---- wicked cool car, yellow with a black top, and black racing stripe. The rust got to it tho. At the end we were afraid it would break in half if we put the top down.

campgottagopee wrote

I learned on my Dad's bolt action 1970 Karman Ghia convertible ---- wicked cool car, yellow with a black top, and black racing stripe. The rust got to it tho. At the end we were afraid it would break in half if we put the top down.

My best friend's dad had this car...one of coolest affordable cars ever!!

JasonWx wrote

campgottagopee wrote

I learned on my Dad's bolt action 1970 Karman Ghia convertible ---- wicked cool car, yellow with a black top, and black racing stripe. The rust got to it tho. At the end we were afraid it would break in half if we put the top down.

My best friend's dad had this car...one of coolest affordable cars ever!!

QFT!

This is why I don't care for standard. It's fun but not practical. As I'm on the way to Plattekill to ski for the day, some guy on meeker hollow backs out into the road, shifts and stalls out blocking the whole damn road! I sat for three minutes with other skiers behind me while they reved  their noisy, smoky engine to warm it up.

Owned 3 bugs, they were a blast in the snow. Donuts and sideways all the time.

Ethan Snow wrote

This is why I don't care for standard. It's fun but not practical. As I'm on the way to Plattekill to ski for the day, some guy on meeker hollow backs out into the road, shifts and stalls out blocking the whole damn road! I sat for three minutes with other skiers behind me while they reved  their noisy, smoky engine to warm it up.

Laughed when I saw the pic of this Jeep/Chrysler POS. Gonna go on a tangent from here...

Have one of these..a '93. Long story short, the vehicle runs fine, but is suffering from a serious case of "Death Wobble" and is currently grounded, probably for good. Good friend who works  at dealership changed almost every front end component except steering box ad we thought we had solved the death wobble issue. The past New Years eve, I hit a seam in the highway at 65 mph, and almost lost it completely. Thought the front wheels were gonna fold underneath it or break off. After doing some research, come to find out the DW condition has been a known problem with these POSs. I don't get it....many have prob killed driving these things, and no recall. WTF?

Thought my Jeep was the biggest POS, until I picked up my wife's '07 GMC Envoy Denali. Though it doesn't Death Wobble, multiple things have failed including yesterday morning when I couldn't get the POS in 4WD. Stabilitrak f'ed, needs to be reflashed 'cause Bozo's at GM couldn't figure out how to control it's $600 cooling fan correctly the first time, and a host of other things. Topper of all topper was at WF on Saturday when one of the Chevy guys told me many of these POSs start burning when the heated wipers are turned on. I told him the first thing I was going to do when I got home was to turn the wipers on in hopes of burning the vehicle to the ground. Effin POS has 42k miles on it! Will be hitting WF this weekend in my son's 2001 beater Outback with 160k and runs /drive like a top. This Suby blows the doors off anything I own, including some of my more current vehicles.

They say word of mouth is the best advertising, so here goes....I discourage anyone out there from buying any GM product...JUNK. On way home from WF last weekend, I caught wind on my son's friend Silverado quad cab (dude paid 52k for it), that just had another engine put in it (original engine had very low mileage on it) due to the excessive oil consumption issue identified for many of these trucks...really? Now instead of the 8-6-4 cylinder engine management, he had to slap on an aftermarket device that will keep the engine running exclusively with 8 cylinders to avoid having to put another engine I it in another 60k miles or so. UFB.

Sorry for long post and rant.

My bug...currently taking a long winter's nap in the garage at home. Biggest pisser was attending the 1980 Olympics in LP after driving through heavy snow for 5 hrs in my '68 VW bus. I have pics from the Olympic events, but unfortunately didn't snap a shot of the bus. Needless to say, the last 28 miles of driving off exit 30 of the Northway was a stretch for the thing, but we made it and spent the first night on the Hilton's parking deck until we hooked up with our good friend Jimmy the next day. The State Police roadblock at the Elm Tree opened at midnight, so we rolled into town and slept in the bus. We provisioned for this plan and brought our winter camping gear with us to make sure we were comfortable. I have to say, attending the '80 Olympics was one of the most memorable events in my life.