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Thread: Manual Tranmissions

  1. #61
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
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    Minneapolis, MN
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kev Williams View Post
    With all due respect, no I didn't What I said: "One of the reasons I've never replaced my trusty 2002 F-250 is it's a long bed supercab..."

    Someone else may have said they're not available-? I'll rephrase: Because my present F-250 IS a long bed supercab, which I prefer over other bed/interior combos, I've felt no need to replace it... There's other reasons I don't replace it, like, it's only at 62k miles, and in 18 years I've replaced the battery once (honest, the OE went 11 years), the brake pads once, tires twice (second set only went 5000 miles before I put the bigger tires/wheels on it, and that was in Oct. 2009), and I had to replace the fuel pump about 5 years ago. A mechanic has never laid hands on it. Still drives and acts like a new truck.

    Not a 'can't' thing, it's simply a 'don't want or need to' thing
    Nothing wrong with keeping a vehicle that you like. In Minnesota a 2002 F-250 would most likely be in a scrap yard due to rust. Not a lot of 2002 vehicles still on the road here. My parents kept a 2000 Caravan running until 2015, but it was really unsafe to drive due to rust before then.

    Your original post implied that Ford no longer makes a F-250 with Super Cab and long bed. I had a 2005 F-350 crew cab with long bed and that was one long pickup! In fact, I got a VW Golf diesel as a daily drive because the F-350 was terrible as a daily driver.

  2. #62
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Michiana
    Posts
    3,040
    I learned to drive using a manual transmission, driving a hay truck. Most of my vehicles have had a stick. After driving a stick for almost four years I got my current ride, equipped with an 8 speed auto. Consider me a convert. This ain't your daddy's Powerglide or Turbo Hydramatic. Smooth, quiet, and keeps the motor firmly in the power curve.
    Sharp solves all manner of problems.

  3. #63
    Join Date
    Jun 2017
    Location
    Landenberg, Pa
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    431
    A manual transmission is a fantastic anti-theft device.

    Aside from that, if someone follows too close on hills at the lights, my solution is this. Roll back until you're just resting on their bumper. Then go ahead and start off. They won't get close again.

    I had a Mini Cooper S bought new in 2005. Best car ever, I still regret selling that and still dream about driving it. I was very excited to see the new generation Mini Cooper S Works GP edition, though the old supercharged ones sounded so much better. I thought maybe it was time to get a Mini again, it was fun and surprisingly practical. I'm 6'4" and believe it or not the Mini was more comfortable than anything I've driven since. Even with people in the back seats. Sadly, one cannot purchase the new GP with a stick. Dealbreaker for me.

  4. #64
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
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    SE PA - Central Bucks County
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    65,638
    Quote Originally Posted by William Chain View Post
    A manual transmission is a fantastic anti-theft device..
    That's certainly true these days, but simply because there are so few of them on the road anymore and very limited (and waining) choices to buy them new. Back in the day when many of us were growing up and learned to drive, manuals were still pretty common, especially in more budget models and many that were built outside of North America. So we got to learn how to drive them. If I wanted to teach my daughter how to drive a stick when she turned 16 a number of years ago, coming up with a vehicle to do that would have been difficult...nobody I knew owned one and I wasn't about to go buy something when we already had a great and safe Subaru Outback to put her in already in the driveway. So yea...the majority of "today's crooks" have never driven a manual transmission and are likely loath to push a vehicle down the road by hand.

    I personally enjoyed driving a manual...but the last one I owned was a powder blue 1979 VW Rabbit 4 door with a five speed...to the best of my knowledge, it was the first four door five speed out the door of the then new Westmorland PA manufacturing plant. At least that's what the dealer told me and we know how, um...accurate..they are sometime.
    Last edited by Jim Becker; 07-27-2020 at 9:19 AM.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  5. #65
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    San Antonio, TX
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    530
    Quote Originally Posted by Jamie Buxton View Post
    The other thing that’s disappearing from pick-ups is the regular cab - one with only two doors and one row of seating.
    Do we need to quit calling it a Regular cab? If it is not common, is it really regular? I guess the same argument for "Standard Cab" or "Standard transmission". They aren't standard or regular any more. (at least in the states)

    John

  6. #66
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    San Antonio, TX
    Posts
    530
    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Elfert View Post
    There is a Ford dealer locally that sells only pickups, trucks, and vans for mostly commercial use. I just paged through their inventory and the majority is regular cab with some supercabs. Crew cabs were only about 15% of inventory. I was surprised to see they had several F-550 crew cabs with a flat bed on the back. Those trucks are probably something like 22 feet long.
    First vehicle I drove regularly was my Dad's '73 F-350 Crew Cab long bed, which if I recall correctly was around 21 foot long. My record was parking where I had at least part of the truck in 11 different parking spaces. (the things that amused me in high school )

    I did drive in reverse all the way home from the high school one day, since one of my friends made the comment that this must be hard to backup. They were not impressed. That would have been probably 82-83 when crewcabs were still not very common.

    Current daily driver is a 2011 Ram 3/4 ton. Switching to it from at 2005 screwed me up since the cab was about 8 or 9 inches longer. My calibration for lining up for parking spaces was all off for several months. (At the University where I work, I back into a parking space so I can get out at the end of the day. I would originally nose into perpendicular spaces, but folks coming for the evening classes would want my spot and not give me enough room to pull out of it Most people don't realize the room needed to turn some of these trucks.)

    John

  7. #67
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    Mar 2003
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    SE PA - Central Bucks County
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    Parking lots are not generally optimized for long vehicles, too. That can be the length of the spaces, but more importantly, many parking lots have almost the minimum width for the traffic aisles that are not friendly to trucks that have really big turning radiuses. Even the very popular F150/RAM1500/Silverado/Tundra luxury rides can struggle in parking lots because of this.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  8. #68
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Medina Ohio
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    4,513
    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Becker View Post
    Parking lots are not generally optimized for long vehicles, too. That can be the length of the spaces, but more importantly, many parking lots have almost the minimum width for the traffic aisles that are not friendly to trucks that have really big turning radiuses. Even the very popular F150/RAM1500/Silverado/Tundra luxury rides can struggle in parking lots because of this.
    Hate to say this but my F350 crewcab with 8 foot bed was easier to get into parking space then my 2013 F250 standaed cab with 8 foot bed

  9. #69
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    SE Michigan
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    368
    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Becker View Post

    I personally enjoyed driving a manual...but the last one I owned was a powder blue 1979 VW Rabbit 4 door with a five speed...to the best of my knowledge, it was the first four door five speed out the door of the then new Westmorland PA manufacturing plant. At least that's what the dealer told me and we know how, um...accurate..they are sometime.

    VW sold that tranny for use behind the 1.7L engine in the Dodge Omni/Plymouth Horizon when it was launched in 1978. It was easily susceptible to failures due to driver error. DAMHIK
    "Don't worry. They couldn't possibly hit us from that dist...."

  10. #70
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    Jan 2009
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    N.E, Ohio
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Dufour View Post
    The only Ford car sold in the USA is now the mustang.Bill D
    Not true. Ford still makes and sells the Fusion, Lincoln MKZ, and Lincoln Continental, all four door sedans.
    George

    Making sawdust regularly, occasionally a project is completed.

  11. #71
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    Sep 2016
    Location
    Modesto, CA, USA
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    9,811
    Quote Originally Posted by George Bokros View Post
    Not true. Ford still makes and sells the Fusion, Lincoln MKZ, and Lincoln Continental, all four door sedans.
    Gee a car company lied. About a year ago they said that 2019 was it for cars better buy one now if you ever want a new ford car. Continenetal poduction will now end at end of 2020, MKZ ended in July 2020, Fusion production ended july21. I suppose these may have stayed in production a bit longer then expected due to the virus slowing down factory changeovers.
    Bill D
    Bill D.

  12. #72
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    Mar 2003
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    SE PA - Central Bucks County
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bob Turkovich View Post
    VW sold that tranny for use behind the 1.7L engine in the Dodge Omni/Plymouth Horizon when it was launched in 1978. It was easily susceptible to failures due to driver error. DAMHIK
    I thankfully never had any transmission issues with that car, nor did my brother after he bought it from me. I did have some engine things happen, however. It was a "spirited" drive, regardless!
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  13. #73
    Join Date
    Oct 2019
    Location
    Maryland
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    336
    We had a 5 passenger 1986? first generation Plymouth voyager (aka caravan) with a 4cyl and a 5 spd manual trans that sometimes you reallllly had to rev and shift quick when merging on to a highway from a short merge lane.

    No fake woodgrain on the side though.

  14. #74
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
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    Somewhere in the Land of Lincoln
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    2,538
    I learned to drive the ultimate manual transmissions as a kid. Tractors with 4, 6, 8, and 12 speeds. You know you can shift a tractor with an unsynchronized transmission on the go? Run them through the gears so to speak. Not the ones with the hand clutch though. To many moving parts there. Also the 730 John Deere had very defined "gates" the gear shift was guided through. So you picked your gear and went with. That progressed to vehicles with 3 on the tree and 4 on the floor. Gravel roads and drifting the corners went hand in hand. Many people these days don't have any idea what to do if the rear of the vehicle were to slide. With almost everything but pickups being front wheel drive not many know what sliding around a corner feels like.

  15. #75
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Burlington, Washington
    Posts
    72
    One of the trucks that my dad had in his business was a 1950 Dodge power wagon that you could not shift gears unless you double clutched. He also had a 1939 Dodge panel truck that shifted with ease. It was until the early 60's that he got a Chevy truck with an automatic.

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