On Fri, 29 May 2015 19:13:14 +0100, Jim GM4DHJ/m ... wrote:

He still has a lot to learn. It cost him £20 in a bet that he made
before the journey home. I said that I could drive home without using
the clutch - and I did. He should never have said "You cannot change
gears without a using the clutch"

done it a few times when the cable snapped.....

I think I've had to manage without the clutch on a few occasions with
some of the old motorbikes I used to ride in my younger days but that's
not too difficult a problem to deal with except when attempting an uphill
start.

I remember only one occasion when I had to deal with driving a light
Vauxhall Bedford van with a snapped clutch cable. The only tricky bit
involved moving off from a standstill.

Luckily the starter and battery were in good condition and the engine
didn't suffer the 'hot start' syndrome common to some models of Ford cars
so it was just a matter of slipping into neutral on approaching a
stopping point and switching the engine off to stick it into 1st ready to
start it up in gear with just a modicum of throttle to get moving again.
It made for an 'interesting' drive back to the works garage.

I've cultivated the habit of 'clutchless' gear changing ever since to
the extent that I rarely used the clutch other than for getting underway
from a complete stop. I've not had a car of my own for quite a few years
now and only land up driving the XYL's automatic when we're both going
somewhere together so my left foot gets even less exercise when driving
these days.

The XYL does have a full driving licence but an Achilles tendon injury
some 15 years ago precluded her use of the clutch so she landed up buying
automatic cars on her disability mobility allowance. The first one was a
rather nice Volvo that was quite a pleasure to drive but that, sadly
developed an expensive gearbox fault that was deemed uneconomical to
repair so our son, who was in the auto trade by then, got her a very good
condition 2nd hand Astra 1.6 automatic which has refused to suffer a
similar fate in the past 8 or 9 years or so that we've owned it.

It drives well enough if you're not too discomfited by it's
unwillingness to let the engine work more efficiently at the 30mph speed
limit but its propensity to make the engine rev in a lower ratio than I'd
prefer to choose in a manual car has always been a constant source of
irritation to me.

I'm hoping to persuade the XYL to at least try some manual cars when the
time eventually comes to replace the venerable Astra. With some tuition
from me and a bit of practice, I'm sure she'd be able to cope once more
with a manual gearbox if we can just find a suitable car with a light
clutch pedal action. After all, it's not as if there's any need to be
constantly pumping away at the clutch pedal even in today's urban driving
conditions.

--
Johnny B Good