'Manual Transmission'. That was the fancy name for it. To us?

It was a stick shift. And a bunch of us had '3 on the tree'. If you don't know what that is, ask you Dad...or maybe your Granddad.

All the cars now have an automatic transmission, of course. Just drop it into 'D' and off you go, slick as a whistle. No fuss, no muss. And a few might say 'No fun'.

There are no stick shift's anymore, right? Wrong!

Car and Driver Magazine lists 40 brand new shiny 2019's that still have the manual transmission. From BMW's to Chevy's to Dodge and Ford, they're out there. And basically, you can spend a whole bunch or not a whole bunch. Either way, you're in control of the shifting.

Now, it might be interesting to see just how many folks (particularly those under, say, 35) could even figure out a stick, much less smoothly motor along in one. I confess, I'm an old enough guy to remember when my Dad got his first car with an automatic transmission. It was, as I recall, a late 60's/early 70's Rambler Ambassador (did they still call them Rambler's then? Might have been AMC). That baby was also the first I remember having another feature that was interesting to get used to...power brakes. Mon almost went against the windshield a few times.

But anyway, as the years melted away, so did popping it into second, then third.

So maybe it's mostly nostalgia that, ahem, drove me to the article. But check out the 40 new 2019's that still have the thrill of, ah, self-shifting.

And happy and safe motoring!