I learned to drive at 9 y/o. I had to sit in the edge of the seat in order to see the road where I was going, and it was a Peugeot 404, ugly car but very confortable. The gears where not in the floor, but behind the steering wheel (like the automatic cars, but it was manual). And I had a lot of fun. And curiously, I did not stall that first day. I took a lot of practice only on 1st gear (a few weeks really) before start changing.
Later, at 12, my father bought a Toyota HiLux (later know as tacoma), and it has the stick on the floor, so I was in heaven, only problem, was the emergency brake not beein between the seats, so for mastering the drive, it was a litle dificult on doing the 180 degrees turn.
So, 22 years of fun with the stick!!!! I love it, and I would never go automatic!!!!!!!!
