Shifting Gears

       More Letters From Paradise
            Shifting Gears
Driver training was required for students who wanted to obtain their license. I know it was vastly different from what is being taught today. For one thing, students learned using a stick shift.

After classroom time with books, the next step was to learning to start the car,and shift into low gear. The instructor had duel controls, clutch and brake pedals. Students were taught to think of the letter "H" as the pattern for shifting the car. It did not matter if the shifting gear was on the floor of a car or next to the steering wheel. Low gear was the lower left part of the letter "H", and second gear was on the upper right part of the letter. In order to get to get there you would pass through neutral. And to get to high gear you would  only had to pull straight down. All of these changes would take place when the foot on the clutch was down to the floor of the car. In order to shift into reverse you would move the gear lever up into the left part of the letter "H". Remembering that you always had to pass through neutral. Once a student learned how to shift through the letter "H" they could then drive anything with gear shifts.

One of the most difficult problems to overcome was to stop on a steep hill. It took practice to learn how to equalize the clutch and gas pedal. If not done the right  way the car would stall, and the car would have to be restarted while holding the brake, in order not to roll back into  some car directly behind.

Students were taught how to change a tire, check oil,and water. Bored students spent the first week driving around in low gear.

Shifting gears had some other problems to be overcome.If your date had been driving and knew the shifting pattern,it was often that she would listen to the sound of the engine and knew when the clutch was not engaged, and then shift for you. You did not have to remove your hand from wherever it was. It was much easier with a floor shift. If the shifting lever was under the steering wheel, the girl had to reach over you in order to shift gears. But we managed.

One final note. I think that if people had to shift gears as we had to, before automatic shifts, they would not be playing around with their cell phones. They would be paying attention to driving.

       Aloha
       Grant