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Login to post Forums » Off-topic discussion » 'Oldest' manual car driver...?

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Sept. 1, 2009 12:23 p.m. Raze Reader

So my wife and I went to dinner with our neighbors, they're older one's 50s, other's 60 and their mom is 80 +/- and we got on the topic of cars, and I mentioned my truck being a manual and their mom piped right up and said that that was a good thing because she loves manuals, in fact she's still driving a manual, it's a mazda, I didn't ask more specifics, I was too dumbfounded to believe and 80 y/o was rockin a manual, my wife and my grandmothers don't even drive anymore. She went on to joke about thinking she needed a hip replacement but found out it was simply the clutch was too tight!

anyone else know of any hardcore elderly drivers out there?
Sept. 1, 2009 12:28 p.m. MiatarPowar HalfDork

I spent a few weeks every summer with one of my best friend's grandfathers. He sold my EXP Sport Coupe to me when I was 16. Stick, of course. He replaced it with a '95ish Escort 5-door 5-speed, which he still drives to this day.

He's 87.
Sept. 1, 2009 12:59 p.m. Gearheadotaku New Reader

My mom drove a stick well into her 50's. Says she misses it some times.
Sept. 1, 2009 1:14 p.m. Jay Dork

It used to be that an automatic was a luxury option. It's only recently that it became the "norm." I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone over 60 here (i.e. Europe) who didn't shift their own gears. It's the younger nouveau riche who want the automatics.
Sept. 1, 2009 1:22 p.m. NYG95GA SuperDork

My father drives a 2002 Toyota pickup most of the time, but it's an automatic. He also has a 1999 Caddy, which of course is an automatic. Then there's his '49 Caddy, which was one of the first GM automatics (without a "park"). But he also has a 1940 Cadillac, which has "three on the tree". He drives it to church most every Sunday. He turns 79 next month.
Sept. 1, 2009 1:40 p.m. benzbaron Reader

My grandma is 75 and rocks a nissan pickup and del sol, both manual without power steering.
Sept. 1, 2009 1:55 p.m. Will Reader

My dad is 70 and still drives the 1990 CRX HF 5-speed he bought new. There's no power anything on that car.
Sept. 1, 2009 2:05 p.m. 16vCorey SuperDork

My dad is 70 and daily drives his stripped '97 F150 V6 5 speed. My mom is 61 and rocks a '90 Subaru Loyale wagon 5 speed as her daily driver.
Sept. 1, 2009 2:28 p.m. WilD Reader

My parents are both ~60 now, and both drive manual transmissions regularly, if not daily. Always have. When I was sixteen, I would have prefered more automatic equipped cars in the family stable, but I learned.
Sept. 1, 2009 2:28 p.m. JFX001 Dork

My Grandfather always drove a Ford pick-up, always a stick. He was 83 when he died in '03, and he had an '01 4WD Ranger.
Sept. 1, 2009 2:46 p.m. jgp1843 HalfDork

Read an article recently about a British fellow who is still road racing vintage events at the age of 93, driving a stick-shift somethingorother.

Waitaminute - some folks are listing people in their 60s as old? Gimme a break! May the spirit of PLN whack'em with a dipstick. There are a lot of us greyhairs out here that still drive sticks, and still compete regularly. Your day will come, Grasshoppers.
Sept. 1, 2009 3:08 p.m. scottgib New Reader

Yeah, 60's ain't old. Paul Neuman came in 3rd or 4th in a Trans Am race at age 81.

No respect!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, and I occassionally hear someone at an Ax around 20 say, "Even that old man in the Mini beat me!" That makes me smile.
Sept. 1, 2009 3:09 p.m. joey48442 SuperDork

My grandpa is 77 and likes to drive a manual, though doesn't currently own one. He is loosley looking for a miata and says if he gets one it has to be a manual.

Joey
Sept. 1, 2009 3:40 p.m. rustyvw HalfDork

The fellow I bought my Corvair from is in his 70's and still drives a 5 speed pickup. In high school the father of one of my friends had one arm and still drove a stick.
Sept. 1, 2009 3:47 p.m. mad_machine UberDork

My Great Grandmother.. who died in 91 at 91 (yes, she was born in 1900) drove up until she was 89.. in a 1961 (I think) Mercury Comet with a manual trans.. she drive that car up from Florida to NJ ever spring and back down to Florida every fall... not to mention all the driving in between

She was a VERY young 91 year old when she got hit and taken off her bicycle by a 70 something year old who should not have been driving
Sept. 1, 2009 4:03 p.m. cwh Dork

91 and goes out in a bicycle accident? I would have loved to have known her!
Sept. 1, 2009 4:05 p.m. mad_machine UberDork

she was great. Used to go rockhounding and then would tumble them herself and make jewelry out of them. She got bit by fireants so many times she was warned that the next time might be fatal.

She also used to square dance 3 times a week. I think she was all of 4 foot nothing too.
Sept. 1, 2009 4:08 p.m. Toyman01 HalfDork

My grandmother drove a 70 Chevelle with a 3 on the tree until she was 93. Lived by herself until then. Even drove herself to the hospital once with a broken left(clutch) ankle. I think she was 70 at the time. That old three on the tree would hang in two gears if you made the 1st to 2nd shift too bad. She would hang it up every now and then. She would hop out and pop the hood and smack it a few times with a hammer she kept under the seat and be gone again. She was a TOUGH old bird. She died at 99 a little over two years ago. Missed 100 by a few months. Man I miss her.

As a matter of fact, that Chevelle is sitting in the yard now, I think I'll go mess with it some...
Sept. 1, 2009 9:37 p.m. Type Q HalfDork

Well my mother is 81 and drives a manual. She has most of her life. A few years ago she splurged and bought a new Focus. It positive plush by her standards: AC, stereo, cloth seats. The one thing she absolutely firm about when shopping was "NO AUTOMATIC".
Sept. 1, 2009 9:55 p.m. porksboy Dork

My Father and Mother both will borrow my 5 speed Ranger on occasion, they are both 78.

My Father regularly drives his 54 Ford tractor, it of course is a non syncro manual.

My Grandfather was born in 1899 and died in 2002 he drove his manual 84 Escort until he was in his mid 90's and drove his Ford tractor for quite a few years after that.

My wifes father just turned 70 and drives his 5 speed Ranger every day, on a newspaper route, twice.
Sept. 1, 2009 10:00 p.m. porksboy Dork

I’m reminded of an obituary I read in the Atlanta Urinal Constipation. A retired Delta pilot had died, He still flew acrobatic planes in shows. I don’t remember how old he was but his pilot’s license was issued by one of the Wright brothers.
Sept. 2, 2009 6:53 a.m. Raze Reader

porksboy wrote:

I’m reminded of an obituary I read in the Atlanta Urinal Constipation. A retired Delta pilot had died, He still flew acrobatic planes in shows. I don’t remember how old he was but his pilot’s license was issued by one of the Wright brothers.

See, that's what I'm talking about, someone who's been around 80+ years to begin with makes you wonder in all those years of motoring what they've seen change, hard to imagine the transformation...
Sept. 2, 2009 8:38 a.m. mad_machine UberDork

Friend of mine, now a cople of years gone, was going to teach me to fly. He was a certified instructor who had learned before "the war" from a barnstormer.
Sept. 2, 2009 8:58 a.m. Ian F HalfDork

My g/f's parents are in the their mid-70's and have a few manual trans vehicles in "the fleet": Ford Ranger p/u, '93 Passat GLX, '48 Diamond T 1 1/2 ton. Her mother drives the Ranger and Passat with some regularity.
Sept. 2, 2009 9:02 a.m. Ian F HalfDork

Raze wrote: See, that's what I'm talking about, someone who's been around 80+ years to begin with makes you wonder in all those years of motoring what they've seen change, hard to imagine the transformation...

Yeah... I can only imagine what it must have been like to see the technology change from 1908 when my grandparents were born, to around 2000 when they died. I somehow think that if I live 90 years, I won't see quite the same level of change.

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