As I remember it, we were resistant to automatics. They were thrust upon us by the auto industry. When I bought my first new car, actually a Datsun-Nissan pick-up truck, it was only available with an automatic transmission. I would have had to wait a month or more for one with a standard transmission and, while they can be special-ordered, very few dealerships carry anything other than automatic transmissions.
All of my kids learned to drive with a standard transmission. We lived out in north Idaho in the country, and had to haul water for ourselves and the livestock, and we had an old farm truck that we used when we took the water barrels and went after water. My oldest son was around 10-11 when I started teaching him to drive the truck, and I let him drive out in the pasture to haul the water barrels out back to where the horse trough was at. He had to maneuver around in the trees to get backed up to the trough, so it was a good learning experience for him. Sometimes it took about an hour just to get that task accomplished when he got trapped between trees and had to get the truck back out again. As the younger kids got old enough, I taught them how to drive (and shoot a rifle), too.
In the Spring of 1968, my dad let me drive his automatic transmission car from the main highway to the house on the dirt road. When I came to a curve in the road, I didn't hit the brakes hard enough and drove straight into a cornfield. Thankfully, the corn had already been picked for awhile. He helped me get out and back on the road. This was just before I had found out that our neighbor had a 1956 Chevy Bel Air sitting behind his barn, that I ended up buying for $75. It was an automatic, with standard steering and brakes. I don't remember how I learned to drive an on-the-column stick shift, and coordinate shifting with the clutch, but I learned. It wasn't hard for me, but, at first, fairly jerky.
An interesting aside. The requirements when I went for my license were parallel parking, stop/start on hill without using emergency brake.
First thing I ever "drove" was a '49 GMC 5 ton. My grandfather would put it in first gear, set the hand throttle and get it rolling. I would steer while the men loaded bales. When we needed to stop one of the men would run up,leap in and push the clutch. My father had a '57 Ford wagon as a utility vehicle. No doors or glass. Us kids drove that thing around the farm. First legal car I had was a 64 Chevy Biscayne.
A standard transmission can be fun to drive once in a while but eventually gets old, especially when you are in stop and go traffic on a hill where you are constantly slipping the clutch.
I had a honda 90. I loved that little bike. If you could stay on it it would climb the steepest hills.
Our 1938 Studebaker Commander had a "Hill-Holder", which allowed you to come to a stop for a traffic light while heading upward on a hill, and prevented you from coasting backward while you manipulated the clutch and gas pedal when the light turned green. The Studey also had Overdrive. I learned to drive in this car in 1950, at age 14. Hal
Oh, I disagree. After driving a power steering/brakes vehicle it was MUCH harder to return to one without those.
What a luxury back then. And why is it then that car dealers up until a few years ago or even today think that this is a feature worth mentioning to a prospective buyer of a new car? They could just as well boast that the car now has four wheels and a steering wheel.
I agree, Ken. It felt so loose that I felt I couldn't control the car at first. And, power brakes, well, I nearly put myself and my passenger through the windshield. Took a try or two and viola, mission accomplished. Never to go back.
When I was younger I had a Pontiac with power steering. It would lose the power steering once in a while and revert to manual steering. What a treat when you're driving around and it happened unexpectedly.