Thread: Got to love it

Originally Posted by MikeB52

I remember even using Morse code on the old pay phones for free calls. You know the ones that only disabled the tones till you paid.
Could tap out the number on the hang up lever and free calls..
Course no mandatory area codes back then, just 7 numbers to tap out..
Had to save the quarters for pac man!

Ha, I remember that too.

My Mum put a phone lock on the dial so I couldn't run the phone bill up talking to my friends ( in UK we pay for all calls by the minute, even local ones).

She couldn't figure out why the bills where still too big, she never did figure out that I could tap out the number I wanted to call on the hook.

Originally Posted by outback

Manual transmission.... You forgot about the manual choke, and pumping the peddle a few times before you try starting it.

Good post, Bob.!

Mike I bought a truck from UF Motor pool on a surplus auction for a hunting truck. It was an '85 which did automatic sadly but no AC and manual everything else. It even had the wing windows and box vents with a turn lever door next to the kick panels. Anyway, the carb was a POS so I replaced it and gave it a manual choke like my first car had and it worked great, especially since I also removed and plugged the EGR.

Originally Posted by STF

Yes if a person passes the driving test in a manual they can drive either but if they take the test in an automatic, that's all they can drive.

My ex wife couldn't get her head around the clutch so she passed in an auto and we had all sorts of trouble trying to find a small enough auto for her.

At one stage she wanted a smart car but she couldn't get one because apparently they can be driven in non auto mode so need a standard license.

To obtain my American driver's license in the late 1970s, everything was done with an automatic transmission. Around two weeks after I received it, my father took me to a parking lot to learn how to drive his Volkswagen Beetle with a stick-shift. Took me a couple of days like this to get the hang of it. Simple as that, no new license needed. Once learned, it was hard to go back. Sort of like returning to carts after shaving with a straight. I like that in France, most cars have a standard (manual) transmission. But like in Britain, if one passes an exam with an automatic transmission one still has to pass an exam for the manual transmission. I shiver to think what would happen if I sought to obtain a French driver's license (I have an American one that is recognized in France). After some 40+ years of driving, I'd probably fail the test given all the minute conditions they would have in place. Driving schools are an incredible racket here.

Originally Posted by Brontosaurus

To obtain my American driver's license in the late 1970s, everything was done with an automatic transmission. Around two weeks after I received it, my father took me to a parking lot to learn how to drive his Volkswagen Beetle with a stick-shift. Took me a couple of days like this to get the hang of it. Simple as that, no new license needed. Once learned, it was hard to go back. Sort of like returning to carts after shaving with a straight. I like that in France, most cars have a standard (manual) transmission. But like in Britain, if one passes an exam with an automatic transmission one still has to pass an exam for the manual transmission. I shiver to think what would happen if I sought to obtain a French driver's license (I have an American one that is recognized in France). After some 40+ years of driving, I'd probably fail the test given all the minute conditions they would have in place. Driving schools are an incredible racket here.

Your'e lucky that you can drive forever on a US license.

When I came to Canada, I drove on my UK license for 6 months before discovering that I could only use it for 1 month.

I was panicking big time because i would need a Canadian driving test. I was psyching myself up for a driving test in a foreign country for a month before applying but as luck would have it an agreement was reached enabling me to exchange my license for a Canadian one.

I only got my car license though, I lost my PSV for buses, my HGV1 for semi's, my H for track laying vehicles (tank driver in the army), and my motorbike license. Bummer really because i had worked hard for those entitlements but I'm too old to use them anyway and at least I can drive the car legally.