[TR] Learning to drive standard

[KingsCreekTrees at aol.com]

Hi all;
 
>From the nature of some of the posts, it seems I may have offended some of  
our friends on this list, for which I profusely apologise. Just to clarify, 
 you'll be aware that I stated  to Pat "I think it is going to be very  
difficult to teach her how to drive a manual gearbox correctly". Significantly, 
 I most definitely did not say that she could not learn to drive a manual 
gearbox  correctly, which are two very different things. I am sure she could 
learn to  drive a manual gearbox car properly, but for most it takes time, 
usually on  their own once the basic lesson is over. So, I believe the result 
of the  'teaching' bit might not seem all that successful. The result of 
the 'time and  experience' bit, on her own, might well be. I also want to 
clarify that I was  not being sexist, nor ageist, in my comments.
 
Perhaps a good approach might be to negotiate with the niece's parents so  
that the niece gets a manual gearbox car as her daily driver. Pat then 
teaches  niece how to drive it, then occasionally rides with niece in the daily 
driver  until happy with how it's being driven, then moves her on to the TR. 
 
I happen to be very picky about how my cars (especially my historic ones)  
are driven, and that comes into the equation too.
 
So, without wishing to beat a dead horse, I definitely was not saying,  
Pat, that your niece will never learn to drive a car with a manual  gearbox. I 
think once the initial lesson is over, it just comes with  experience and 
time.
 
On a lighter note, while we're exchanging banter on our first car  
experiences, I learned to drive on my dad's vintage racer in the  mid '70's, a 1926 
Bentley 3-Litre boat tail with a centre throttle (yup,  brake on the right), 
an outside gearchange with no synchro on any gear and only  rear brakes, 
actuated by cables. He sold the car for 200 quid in 1974,  because he wanted 
to concentrate on getting our TR3A back on the road.
 
And Jim: Yes, I did teach some farm kids how to pass their Advanced Driving 
 Test in the UK. I could never figure out why they would begin to pull away 
 smoothly, then in the last couple of millimetres of clutch travel, the car 
would  jerk and they'd stall it. Once I moved to Canada and began to 
understand  tractors, I developed the theory that it was because I realised that 
tractors  have a governor that helps prevent them from stalling. Modern cars 
have  anti-stall devices as part of an emissions system, which again makes 
them easier  to pull away.
 
I hope my apology serves to dissipate any offence.
 
Tim Dyer,  Kings Creek Trees and Ornamentals
427 Kings Creek Road, RR3
Ashton, ON K0A  1B0
Canada
Phone/fax: 613 253 4126 Website: _www.kingscreektrees.com_ 
(http://www.kingscreektrees.com/) 

Proud  member of Landscape Ontario (the Ontario association for 
horticulture  professionals), the Canadian Nursery and Landscape Association, the 
Ottawa  Botanical Garden Society, the Carleton Place Horticultural Society and 
the  Christmas Tree Farmers of Ontario