The value of an automatic

[lloyd3]

I couldn't drive my car right now even if I wanted to. Took a bad fall on my icy driveway last week and really wrecked my left leg. Broke my ankle/leg in 3-places and am still waiting for the swelling to go down enough to have it surgically repaired (in the next week or so). The delicate process of extracting my old Dodge from our garage requires some finesse with a clutch, and right now I'd likely have zero finesse (still learning to get around on crutches).  Getting older is a sobering process, I'm here to tell you, and I guess I'll have to start considering all the risks that I never bothered with before (like falling). Up until this point, all I'd ever get out of a fall was a wet, dirty, and perhaps sore ass, and maybe some embarrassment. Now I'm looking at a $30K surgery and 8 to 12 weeks of recovery. 

First it's random aches and pains, then it's worsening hearing and eyesight.  Your children start getting bigger and stronger and then all the people you know (a little older than you) start to noticeably diminish.

It's funny, when I got my first real musclecar (70 Roadrunner) it felt like the fun would never end. The adventures were seemingly forever (just thinking about it all now makes me smile). The cars would then either break or fail to start (or even rust) and eventually wear out, but I never did. There was always something bigger and better (faster, louder?) waiting around the next bend or over in the next town. I survived a fair-amount of foolishness (and even some seriously-questionable behaviour) pretty-much intact and just kept on rolling. Women, beer, parties and adventure....Lord, it was wonderful (even if there were a few tragedies).  And then even better... I was so-very fortunate that my work (& my wife) allowed me to hang onto those memories in the form of the car sitting out in our garage (which I've had now for almost 30-years).

I'll heal up from this little setback and there will be warm & sunny days here again. The sound of a healthy 440 briskly coming up through the gears will fill all my senses once more, but... the knowledge of my own mortality is well in place now. Not sure how to shake that one.

[John_Kunkel]

A couple of times in my life I've made the mistake of having a stick-shift as a daily driver...never again. Even without any incapacity it's a PITA...so now it's slushbox for daily driver and stick-shift for fun times.

[Kern Dog]

As much as it pains a car guy to admit, Stuff like an automatic transmission, power steering and air conditioning really make a car easier to drive.
I converted mine to a Tremec and LOVE driving it. I've logged more miles in the past three than the prior 10. I know that one day it won't be as easy to drive and at that time, I may end up swapping an automatic back in.
Until then....

[Old Moparz]

This is a reality for us as we age & it's not fun. Fortunately I am still able to do the same things that I did when I was younger, although a little slower & more cautious about it. Certain things don't interest me anymore, like downhill skiing. I'm not afraid that I can't ski anymore, only that I can't afford to get hurt & laid up. I have work on my house that needs to get done & I sure can't afford to pay someone else to do it.

I turned 61 less than a month ago but still plugging away at the same things on my house & working alone mostly. I finished the roof a few years ago & last year I removed most of the deck to repair walls, add a porch & dug a bunch of 4' deep footings. I then set up scaffolding to insulate, replace windows & redo the siding. The two largest walls are done & needed both a 32' & a 40' extension ladder that are a royal pain in the ass to stand up against the house.

I would trade doing this work for the chance to finish my Road Runner & put the 4 speed in to drive it.

[RallyeMike]

As we age, I highly recommend having 2+ old Mopars, ....half manuals and half automatics 

[Mike DC]

Ouch!  Sorry about your leg man. 

I've had my share of broken bones & muscle tears.  IMO sheer rest time is the best medicine.  When it feels good enough to start bearing loads again . . . nope, give it a few more weeks.  Give it longer than you think you need to.

[Mytur Binsdirti]

It sucks to get old, and just think, the worst is yet to come.

[b5blue]

Sorry for your pain. 

[Dano 1]

That really sucks, lloyd3, I've been fortunate to have only ever been on crutches once but it was brutal so I feel your pain.

Manual cars will always be fun but I will also likely always try to keep at least one auto vehicle for this situation exactly. My Charger is an auto but has a full manual valve body which I've found to be a pretty fun compromise for the street. I'd like to do a 4-speed swap at some point but the car is still fun to drive just having to shift the auto.

[69rtse4spd]

Sorry to hear about this.       

[timmycharger]

Reminds me of a time years back when I was still playing ice hockey. I ended up tearing my left hamstring during the game and decided to try to drive home in my 1997 Plymouth Breeze 5spd.  It was so painful just to step on the clutch, I ended up shifting w/o the clutch up and down by listening to the revs and just stalled it when I rolled into the driveway. My wife had to help me out of the car lol.

switching my Charger to a manual was one of the best decisions I made on the car, 100x more fun in my opinion but there are times I would prefer an automatic, like last year when we went to Ireland and I drove the rental car that was a manual, shifting with my left hand was certainly weird!