If Jalopnik were to start handing out Parent of the Year awards, Seattleites Holly Johnson and her husband would have to be the top choices. They found the solution to distracted driving that we have LITERALLY BEEN PREACHING FOR YEARS — they bought their teenager a car with a stick shift. Huzzah!

The Fiat 500 Abarth is one of my personal favorite cars. It's a funky little hot rod that is also one of the best sounding cars on the market. It's also only available with an old fashioned manual transmission. That last part is about to change.

You. Yes, you there reading this. You seem like the type of person that whines about the demise of the manual gearbox in performance cars. Am I right? Well, BMW has heard your complaints and is actually going to trust you with shifting gears yourself in the M6. Just be careful.

From the "things that aren't really all that shocking" department, Porsche has confirmed that the RS variant of the new 911 GT3 will not have a manual gearbox. Sure hope you kids like paddles.

Two thieves in Orlando, Florida tried and failed to steal a yellow Corvette because they couldn't drive stick.

Name all of the Italian supercars that you can currently buy with a proper manual gearbox. Do it. Now.

Even before the Jaaaaag F-Type showed it's sexy face and beautiful behind to the world, rumors were running wild that the car would come with a manual gearbox.

So yesterday, we had a bit of a tiff over manual and automatic transmissions. It resulted in a lot of tears, a lot of death threats, and a lot of nervous laughing.

People who decry manuals as the only path to automotive salvation are snobby and exclusionary. That doesn't mean there aren't a hundred good reasons why manuals are better than paddle shitters. Excuse me, shifters.

Car enthusiasts have been bemoaning the lack of manual transmissions in cars for what seems like an eternity. Every time a new car comes out and it doesn't offer a manual gearbox, it gets shunned by every card carrying member of the enthusiast community.