From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

Hello all.
Don't know if this is worth a chortle. Given a lot of you in North
America.
Here in the UK, getting a hire-car, they asked
"Would you be alright with an auto-transmission car - are you used to
one?"
(You couldn't rental a stick-shift car in the USA could you ?! - else
it would be a bad idea?)
Best wishes and a happy new year
Rich S

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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

On 1/1/2026 12:21 PM, Richard Smith wrote:

Hello all.
Don't know if this is worth a chortle. Given a lot of you in North
America.
Here in the UK, getting a hire-car, they asked
"Would you be alright with an auto-transmission car - are you used to
one?"
(You couldn't rental a stick-shift car in the USA could you ?! - else
it would be a bad idea?)
Best wishes and a happy new year
Rich S

I learned to drive in an old Dodge pickup with a worn out granny 4 speed
and a shift pattern larger than I could reach without leaning out and
over. Even with a pop crate behind my back so I was sitting far enough forward to reach the pedals. I'd be okay either way. I learn to drive
truck with a dual speed split axle with a 10K forklift on the back.
Headed out unloaded I just drove it in high range. Climbing Telegraph
pass I split shifted a couple times. 6-7% grade both ways. It didn't
shift like it said on the heater box. I had to experiment on the fly on
the side of a mountain.

I am not sure I have ever been offered a rental with a manual
transmission, but I can see why they don't offer them at most rental
places. My kids (30/29) have never driven a vehicle with a manual transmission that I know of. To be fair back in the dark ages I took my
road test to get my license in a vehicle with an automatic so it was one
less thing to worry about.

I miss jamming gears sometimes, but with 404 hp & 445 ft/lb in my
current road vehicle I'm not sure I could make the most of it anyway.
That ten speed automatic does a pretty good job most of the time.
Sometimes I wish it would up shift sooner in off road mode, but if I get
tire of it I can switch it to "manual" (fly by wire) gear selection mode.

I do recall once when I was small my dad renting a semi when we moved
our grocery business from one town to another back in the 60s. It had a
very complicated manual transmission with to many levers. I think
that's a different class of rental though. Not sure you could rent one
today.

Its interesting they even ask though. On this side of the pond
automatic is the default. They don't even ask.
--
Bob La Londe
CNC Molds N Stuff
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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

On 01/01/2026 19:21, Richard Smith wrote:

Hello all.
Don't know if this is worth a chortle. Given a lot of you in North
America.
Here in the UK, getting a hire-car, they asked
"Would you be alright with an auto-transmission car - are you used to
one?"
(You couldn't rental a stick-shift car in the USA could you ?! - else
it would be a bad idea?)
Best wishes and a happy new year
Rich S

I learned to drive in the US in 1982 and we did a couple of evenings on
a stick shift to get a basic introduction to them but the rest of the
training was on an automatic and the license didn't differentiate like
it does in the UK. I've driven automatics here in the UK but not so much recently and when I had an automatic as a loan car they should provide
them with a strap to restrain the left leg as it's too easy to forget
it's an automatic and end up doing an emergency stop hitting the brake
pedal where you're accustomed to the clutch being.

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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

On 1/1/2026 1:54 PM, Bob La Londe wrote:

On 1/1/2026 12:21 PM, Richard Smith wrote:

Hello all.
Don't know if this is worth a chortle.-a Given a lot of you in North
America.
Here in the UK, getting a hire-car, they asked
"Would you be alright with an auto-transmission car - are you used to
one?"
(You couldn't rental a stick-shift car in the USA could you ?! - else
it would be a bad idea?)
Best wishes and a happy new year
Rich S

I learned to drive in an old Dodge pickup with a worn out granny 4 speed
and a shift pattern larger than I could reach without leaning out and over.-a Even with a pop crate behind my back so I was sitting far enough forward to reach the pedals.-a I'd be okay either way.-a I learn to drive truck with a dual speed split axle with a 10K forklift on the back.
Headed out unloaded I just drove it in high range.-a Climbing Telegraph
pass I split shifted a couple times.-a 6-7% grade both ways.-a It didn't shift like it said on the heater box.-a I had to experiment on the fly on the side of a mountain.

I am not sure I have ever been offered a rental with a manual
transmission, but I can see why they don't offer them at most rental places.-a My kids (30/29) have never driven a vehicle with a manual transmission that I know of.-a To be fair back in the dark ages I took my road test to get my license in a vehicle with an automatic so it was one less thing to worry about.

I miss jamming gears sometimes, but with 404 hp & 445 ft/lb in my
current road vehicle I'm not sure I could make the most of it anyway.
That ten speed automatic does a pretty good job most of the time.
Sometimes I wish it would up shift sooner in off road mode, but if I get tire of it I can switch it to "manual" (fly by wire)-a gear selection mode.

I do recall once when I was small my dad renting a semi when we moved
our grocery business from one town to another back in the 60s.-a It had a very complicated manual transmission with to many levers.-a I think
that's a different class of rental though.-a Not sure you could rent one today.

Its interesting they even ask though.-a On this side of the pond
automatic is the default.-a They don't even ask.

Ask a young person to drive a stick - with the instructions written
in cursive . Also known as an urban anti-theft device .
--
Snag
I appreciated foreign cultures more
when they stayed foreign ...
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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

"Richard Smith" wrote in message news:m1a4yx16lm.fsf@void.com...

Hello all.
Don't know if this is worth a chortle. Given a lot of you in North
America.
Here in the UK, getting a hire-car, they asked
"Would you be alright with an auto-transmission car - are you used to
one?"
(You couldn't rental a stick-shift car in the USA could you ?! - else
it would be a bad idea?)
Best wishes and a happy new year
Rich S
-----------------------------------

Google says manuals are available to rent in the USA but rare. They are more common in sports cars and of-road 4x4s. I preferred a manual until the job
at Mitre involved a half to full hour stop-and-go commute that wore out the pickup's clutch early, so the newer CRV with enclosed space for the parents' weekend luggage and a wheelchair is an automatic. When I switch between them
I may have the wrong reflex briefly at busy intersections where
concentrating on traffic. I haven't clutched the brake pedal but I may start to reach for the shift lever. Riding motorcycles especially off-road made staying alert to changing conditions ahead and shifting in advance more instinctive.

I insist on having a tach and pay attention to it, even with an automatic.
The tach was the first indication that I had a thermostat problem that kept the engine below full operating temperature where torque converter lockup becomes enabled.

As Snag wrote, manuals are considered a good anti-theft device.

Gotta go, elderly neighbor called for help.

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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

On Thu, 1 Jan 2026 16:17:25 -0500
"Jim Wilkins" <muratlanne@gmail.com> wrote:

<snip>

I insist on having a tach and pay attention to it, even with an automatic.

Newer vehicles nowadays are so quiet it's hard to tell how fast they're
revving and with an automatic what gear it's in without one...
--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI

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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

"Leon Fisk" wrote in message news:10j6pad$3l961$1@dont-email.me...

On Thu, 1 Jan 2026 16:17:25 -0500
"Jim Wilkins" <muratlanne@gmail.com> wrote:

<snip>

I insist on having a tach and pay attention to it, even with an automatic.

Newer vehicles nowadays are so quiet it's hard to tell how fast they're
revving and with an automatic what gear it's in without one...
Leon Fisk
-------------------------
A tach may not matter now, the paper factory shop manuals for my older vehicles explains in detail how the transmissions work (or not) but that
info isn't available to consumers any more.

Knowing my car's electricals saved me from a messy industrial lawsuit
because I used a circuit from it that the suit claimed was a pirated trade secret in another industry.

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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

On Thu, 01 Jan 2026 19:21:57 +0000, Richard Smith <null@void.com>
wrote:

Hello all.
Don't know if this is worth a chortle. Given a lot of you in North
America.
Here in the UK, getting a hire-car, they asked
"Would you be alright with an auto-transmission car - are you used to
one?"
(You couldn't rental a stick-shift car in the USA could you ?! - else
it would be a bad idea?)
Best wishes and a happy new year
Rich S

I learned to drive and was tested on the family car - Ford model"A"
and owned English and German stick shifts. In the '80's my busines car
was a stick, which reserved it for my exclusive use except for
occasional use by my retired architect/flight instructor boss who rode
his motorcycle about 30 miles to work most of the time. In 2011 I
visited seior son in Spain where he had reserved a car for me - took
me a couple days to get back into it but after two weeks back into
practice no more stalls etc.
I wonder if we will ever again see cars the can operated without
having a degree in gismology!
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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

Lot of doing things going on there in that recounting.
Reality is autos are getting pretty good in every way.
Best wishes for new year

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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

"Gerry" wrote in message news:8mhelkldaksi7fioh8jael22b3l3mbsja3@4ax.com... ...
I wonder if we will ever again see cars the can operated without
having a degree in gismology!
----------------------
The early cars were much worse: https://www.carandclassic.com/magazine/the-first-to-ever-have-conventional-pedals/

My mother taught me how to double-clutch to shift if the synchros wore out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_F._Kettering

WW1 ace Eddie Rickenbacker went to France as a driver/mechanic, not a pilot. Among his duties was pouring new Babbitt crankshaft bearings in a roadside garage to fix a breakdown. That earned him a ticket to a French flight
school.

An American advantage during WW2 was our abundance of capable drivers and shade-tree mechanics. In Europe "driver" was a trained specialty as only a small percentage owned cars.

In my father's Air Corps support unit in the Pacific jungle they modified a Jeep engine into a refrigeration compressor to cool the drinks in the club.
A talented Filipino made drinking glasses from beer bottles by heating a
wheel rim red hot and using the center hole to heat a ring on the bottle
neck, then plunging it into a water bucket where it cracked along the hot line.

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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

"Jim Wilkins" <muratlanne@gmail.com> writes:

...

My mother taught me how to double-clutch to shift if the synchros wore out.

...

In my father's Air Corps support unit in the Pacific jungle they
modified a Jeep engine into a refrigeration compressor to cool the
drinks in the club. A talented Filipino made drinking glasses from
beer bottles ...

As you do ... :-)

Bless and a happy new year.
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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

On 1/4/2026 9:18 AM, Richard Smith wrote:

"Jim Wilkins" <muratlanne@gmail.com> writes:

...

My mother taught me how to double-clutch to shift if the synchros wore out.

...

In my father's Air Corps support unit in the Pacific jungle they
modified a Jeep engine into a refrigeration compressor to cool the
drinks in the club. A talented Filipino made drinking glasses from
beer bottles ...

As you do ... :-)

Bless and a happy new year.

I recall a tale of bubbling compressed air through gasoline to cool
beer. I'm not quite sure I have the mechanics of it, but if its true I
reckon I could figure it out.

Might have been a Nam/Cambodia vet who told me about it. I dis-recall.
--
Bob La Londe
CNC Molds N Stuff
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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

"Bob La Londe" wrote in message news:10je721$262kq$1@dont-email.me...

I recall a tale of bubbling compressed air through gasoline to cool
beer. I'm not quite sure I have the mechanics of it, but if its true I
reckon I could figure it out.

Might have been a Nam/Cambodia vet who told me about it. I dis-recall.
Bob La Londe
CNC Molds N Stuff

--------------------------
There would be cooling from the compressed air expanding plus from the gasoline evaporating into it. Blow breath on your hand with your mouth wide open and then through nearly closed lips to feel the expansion cooling
effect.

My father the CO didn't know how the cooling worked, only what he saw which was that it chilled circulating brine. My uncle, his top sergeant and later
a plumber who might have known, had died by then.

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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

On 1/4/2026 11:08 AM, Jim Wilkins wrote:

"Bob La Londe"-a wrote in message news:10je721$262kq$1@dont-email.me...

I recall a tale of bubbling compressed air through gasoline to cool
beer.-a I'm not quite sure I have the mechanics of it, but if its true I reckon I could figure it out.

Might have been a Nam/Cambodia vet who told me about it.-a I dis-recall.
Bob La Londe
CNC Molds N Stuff

--------------------------
There would be cooling from the compressed air expanding plus from the gasoline evaporating into it. Blow breath on your hand with your mouth
wide open and then through nearly closed lips to feel the expansion
cooling effect.

My father the CO didn't know how the cooling worked, only what he saw
which was that it chilled circulating brine. My uncle, his top sergeant
and later a plumber who might have known, had died by then.

I get the basic principles. I took a commercial refrigeration course as
a tween, and did maintenance and repairs on our grocery store
refrigeration equipment as a teen. I've installed new split system heat pumps, and done more recent AC repairs on home and vehicle.

I guess I was saying I failed to grasp the nuance or appreciate the temperature differential that would be practical with such a contrived application.
--
Bob La Londe
CNC Molds N Stuff
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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

"Bob La Londe" wrote in message news:10jef72$2on88$1@dont-email.me...

I get the basic principles. I took a commercial refrigeration course as
a tween, and did maintenance and repairs on our grocery store
refrigeration equipment as a teen. I've installed new split system heat
pumps, and done more recent AC repairs on home and vehicle.

I guess I was saying I failed to grasp the nuance or appreciate the
temperature differential that would be practical with such a contrived application.

--------------------------------

When the humid air outside is in the 90's water from the basement plumbing
at 70F is cool enough for me.

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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

"Bob La Londe" wrote in message news:10jef72$2on88$1@dont-email.me...

I guess I was saying I failed to grasp the nuance or appreciate the
temperature differential that would be practical with such a contrived application.
------------------------------
Practicality depends on ambition and available facilities. These forward military units were equipped to fully maintain advanced aircraft as they couldn't be sent to overseas depot facilities unless flyable, and in the Pacific had nothing to do for long periods while the Japanese struggled to rebuild after crushing defeats. We concealed range and other improvements to planes until enough had been delivered to overwhelm defenses.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Bismarck_Sea

Compression and expansion can be taken far enough to cool air until it condenses into liquid nitrogen and oxygen. I've seen the sort of countercurrent heat exchanger that's involved in multistage compression and expansion, as part of a project being built at a Maker Space. The liquid nitrogen machine in college might have fit into a bathroom stall.

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