Watches and stick shifts

DaveK
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@pdxleaf @Duracuir1 and @austin_not_in_tx began the thinking that there should be a dedicated thread for watches and gear shifts. With one rule that the vehicle needs to be in park, let’s get it started.

My Railmaster and Hyundai Kona, automatics with the option of manual intervention 😜

IMG_4005.webp
 
Spruce
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Many of us are of a generation, certainly in Europe, where we had to learn to drive on a manual gear box car.

Recent figures in the show that the number of automatic cars sold in the UK in the last year or so exceed manual gear cars by a ratio of 2/3:1
 
Spruce
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TBH, I think that the same can be said about manual wind watches vis a vis automatic ones 😀
 
Evitzee
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The US is abysmal in the manual transmission count, just 3.7% of registered vehicles are manual, and less than 1.5% of new vehicles sold are manual. It's a lost skill for drivers. Many valets won't park a manual transmission car, the kids don't know how to operate it.

NoStickShifts.webp
 
vbrad26
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Well, let me wait till I get my new shift knob put in this weekend....hopefully lol.
 
Evitzee
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IMG_2036.webp
Crappy photo of Sedna/steel Speedmaster and manual transmission. (It was dark in the garage)
 
Vercingetorix
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Has to be park? No pictures from me because I’m a rule follower and can’t put my car into park.
 
A
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vbrad26 vbrad26
Well, let me wait till I get my new shift knob put in this weekend....hopefully lol.
Ooh, what did you get? I keep toying with the idea of replacing my OEM one.
 
vbrad26
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From a company called SportShifters
https://sportshifters.com/
They have a few different styles/weights you can choose from and they are pretty customizable as far as colors, materials and stitching goes.
I went pretty tame. They are a little expensive as far as knobs go, but the quality is great. It did take a little over 2 and a half months to get since they are made to order...

1931449-2b97902771ca9fa3ea87ea7fbb404a8c.jpg
 
blufinz52
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My dad's '52 Plymouth had the 'three on the tree'. Haven't seen one of those in a while.
 
Donn Chambers
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DaveK DaveK
@pdxleaf @Duracuir1 and @austin_not_in_tx began the thinking that there should be a dedicated thread for watches and gear shifts. With one rule that the vehicle needs to be in park, let’s get it started.

My Railmaster and Hyundai Kona, automatics with the option of manual intervention 😜

IMG_4005.webp
Is it really a stick shift if it has a D and P on it? 😀

(Just giving you a hard time from an old timer, where a “stick shift” means a manual transmission.)
 
Duracuir1
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Three out of five in the garage have manual transmission.

Wife’s little Chevy.
IMG_9200.webp


The old owned since new 1997 BMW…


IMG_9202.webp IMG_9203.webp


And the 1975 Deere…


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Oh and… same thread here…

https://omegaforums.net/posts/2084133/ Duracuir1
Duracuir1 ·
Is the manual transmission the automotive equivalent to the mechanical watch?

Do you still have one?

Earlier this year we got our first automatic. It’s convenient for city driving but we hate that stupid push button.

I sometimes spend several minutes looking for my key fob when I reach my destination, especially during winter when I have ten pockets..,
4DEC589A-9A3E-4020-A6F3-B597E147845E.jpeg
Our 2017 Jeep had a 6 speed manual. The reverse was stupidly located on the bottom right, next to 6th gear. FYI, you will hear a horrible racket when you put it in reverse at highway speeds. One reason we switched to an...
Edited:
 
dsio
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My old BMW 330ci M-sport ZF 5-speed with the Zenith A386.

I still have this car sitting at my parents house, it was effectively let to sit 5 years ago when I bought the 911 but my stepson is now wanting to go down the mechanic career path and will need to get a manual license and a manual car to practice on so I’m thinking of digging it out and letting him have it.

 
dsio
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I'll also mention the shifter posted above is the legendary (and cheap) BMW ZHP shifter. This shifter was introduced as OEM fitment on the 330i / 330ci E46 ZHP package in the early 2000s. It was lower than a normal BMW shifter, and it was weighted in the head to give a more positive engagement. It was the greatest shifter ever made for BMW and remains the shifter for BMW to this day.

When the E90/E92 manuals came out, BMW introduced a new shifter, and it was dog-water. Nobody who had used the ZHP liked it.

When the E82 1M came out, a parts-bin M car that became a legend, M division wanted a better shifter and someone suggested using the old ZHP shifter, so they did. Reviewers loved it.

Then for the F80 / F82 generation, they used the E46 ZHP shifter again. Even the latest G80 / G82 M3 / M4 use the E46 ZHP shifter. It costs about $80, wears well long term, never breaks or fails, and BMW realised that they got it 100% right 25 years ago and have decided to never replace it, meaning the E46 lives on in every modern manual BMW.

E46 Fitment:
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G82 Fitment:
8DBPeWTymO3UQTDbeKA5.webp
 
Duracuir1
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dsio dsio
My old BMW 330ci M-sport ZF 5-speed with the Zenith A386.

I still have this car sitting at my parents house, it was effectively let to sit 5 years ago when I bought the 911 but my stepson is now wanting to go down the mechanic career path and will need to get a manual license and a manual car to practice on so I’m thinking of digging it out and letting him have it.

Manual license? Is it a different class of license down there for manual transmission?
 
dsio
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Duracuir1 Duracuir1
Manual license? Is it a different class of license down there for manual transmission?
Yep, there are class C (car) which includes manual or class CA (auto) which is automatic only. Australia has quite strict licensing rules, far less so than many European countries but vastly stricter than most of Asia and the US.

In Australia about 5% of new cars are manual and a bit more than that for the total cars on the road, its higher than the US but still low enough that there are a lot of people that simply cannot operate a clutch. For mechanics, there is an expectation that they all have a manual license and be able to drive one competently as it makes them partially useless if they can't.
 
ghce
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Waltham RR with age appropriate 1929 Austin 16/6 convertible open road tourer, definitely a stick shift not a Hayes Auto select box 😀 and definitely not in motion ie in the garage.
Plus a gratuitous shot of the Smiths car clock.


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Evitzee
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dsio dsio
Yep, there are class C (car) which includes manual or class CA (auto) which is automatic only. Australia has quite strict licensing rules, far less so than many European countries but vastly stricter than most of Asia and the US.

In Australia about 5% of new cars are manual and a bit more than that for the total cars on the road, its higher than the US but still low enough that there are a lot of people that simply cannot operate a clutch. For mechanics, there is an expectation that they all have a manual license and be able to drive one competently as it makes them partially useless if they can't.
That must be relatively new. When my wife and I relocated to Melbourne in 1995 there was no specific type of license depending on what kind of transmission you had. You just took the written and driving test and that was that. One thing I do remember is sitting waiting for the driving tester to call my name when the door opened and the DMV guy asked 'who is waiting for the Burmese interpreter?' So you didn't have to speak or read English to get licenced at that time.
 
Foo2rama
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dsio dsio
My old BMW 330ci M-sport ZF 5-speed with the Zenith A386.

I still have this car sitting at my parents house, it was effectively let to sit 5 years ago when I bought the 911 but my stepson is now wanting to go down the mechanic career path and will need to get a manual license and a manual car to practice on so I’m thinking of digging it out and letting him have it.

Nice e46 weighted shift knob 😉 I'll get pictures of mine this weekend...
 
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