You can also create more manual drivers. You can be an automotive saint by allowing, as my friend Jibran has, dozens of people to learn stick on your car. (The clutch is fine). You can employ the fine parenting strategy of, “I’ll buy you a car when you get your license, but it’s going to be a manual.” You can teach your partner or spouse the skill and hope they take to it the way you have.
Related: How to Encourage Student Empowerment
Here’s where it starts to get fun. We can create more manual cars by converting the automatic ones that deserved better. The high-value stuff led the way here: I sent my Aston Martin Vanquish back to the factory to be converted to manual twelve years ago, and it is now brilliant. As far as I know, Aston is the only semi-mainstream automaker to take this on in-house. The aftermarket went straight for Ferrari, converting F1-equipped 360s, 430s, and 599s to gated six-speeds—fairly straightforward swaps, as the factory did offer these cars in manual. Tuners then took on the Lamborghini Gallardo and Murciélago as well as the Audi R8. I’ve seen Instagram reels of converted Maserati GranTurismos, Alfa Romeo 8Cs, and Ferrari 355s. One lunatic even manual-swapped his own 458 Speciale. Thankfully, manual swaps are also prevalent with mainstream enthusiast cars.
BMW freaks led the “affordable swap” scene, putting thousands of SMG control units out of a job to convert M3s, M5s, and M6s to stick using factory parts. Now the gap in value between manual and automatic variants is so vast, especially with the exotics, doing the swap is potentially a profitable choice if you’re handy with the wrenches. How about putting manuals into cars that were never manual to begin with? I’ve just spent a day in Nashville, Tennessee, at Kwiek Classics, which specializes in complete powertrain swaps for neo-vintage Mercedes-Benzes, the vast majority of which are also converted to manual. Though my project Mercedes will remain automatic (a different story for a different day), I tested his incredibly sleepy 190E powered by a 4.3-liter V-8 out of a CLK430 and backed by a six-speed. And let me tell you friends, this is the way. In stock form, the slushiness of that five-speed Mercedes gearbox overrides nearly every other dynamic victory their chassis engineers dutifully earned. In fact, every manual
Related: Update Office for Mac automatically
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The future of manual transmissions is not clear-cut. It’s not a binary choice between electric and internal combustion, or between manual and automatic. It’s a spectrum. And where we are on that spectrum depends on a lot of factors. It depends on how much we’re willing to pay for the privilege of shifting our own gears. It depends on how much we value the tactile feedback of a manual transmission. It depends on how much we’re willing to tolerate the inconvenience of not having a clutch pedal in an electric car.
Related: Convert audio to opus
But for now, manual transmissions are still alive and well. They’re not dead. They’re not dying. They’re just evolving. And that’s something to be grateful for. Because as long as there are people who still want to shift their own gears, there will be people who still build manual transmissions. And as long as there are people who still build manual transmissions, there will be people who still drive them. And as long as there are people who still drive them, there will be people who still write about them. And as long as there are people who still write about them, there will be people who still read about them. And as long as there are people who still read about them, there will be people who still care about them.
