The weird thing about learning how to drive stick is that I don't remember what was so difficult about it.
I remember stalling a lot, and I remember deep, deep seated fear about it.
Very specifically I remember driving my friend's '81 Accord across the neighborhood one night. The clutch pedal was endlessly long and soft, with a bite point different from my parents' old Volvo. I don't remember how it was different, just that it was.
I got the car out of one driveway and onto the street before coming up to a big red light intersection. I can still recall how anxious I was, knowing that I would have to shift from first to second halfway through the intersection while turning! I can't believe how challenging that seemed.
I don't know how useful my earlier trips to parking lots with my dad had been, at least compared to my first nerve-wracking drives on the road, hills and traffic and all.
How did you learn how to drive stick, and what can you remember from it? What worked, and what didn't?
Photo Credit: Honda (1981 Accord brochure pictured, via darshan67