Odd Vehicles With A Manual Trans

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Bill B
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Odd Vehicles With A Manual Trans

Post by Bill B »

Saw an article today about some odd vehicles that were offered with a manual transmission. It talked about a 1989 & 90 Dodge Caravan that offered a turbo and a manual trans. If they still offered that, I would probably be paying a visit to the dealership for a test drive. When the turbo Caravan came out in 1989, I was driving a 5 Speed Cavailer Wagon.

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2016/07/ ... nsmission/
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Re: Odd Vehicles With A Manual Trans

Post by Rope-Pusher »

Bill B wrote:Saw an article today about some odd vehicles that were offered with a manual transmission. It talked about a 1989 & 90 Dodge Caravan that offered a turbo and a manual trans. If they still offered that, I would probably be paying a visit to the dealership for a test drive. When the turbo Caravan came out in 1989, I was driving a 5 Speed Cavailer Wagon.

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2016/07/ ... nsmission/
We once had a gathering of three (3) of the Amish 2.5L Turbo Minivans - to help haul his family's furniture and personal effects when my friend was moving to a new address. Prolly the biggest gathering of such vehicles since they left the assembly plant.
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Re: Odd Vehicles With A Manual Trans

Post by tankinbeans »

Turbo Caravan? Almost interesting?

I'd heard about Manuel Aerostar (a 4 cylinder no less) and was always amused. Even with the 4.0 that Aerostar was a dog.
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Re: Odd Vehicles With A Manual Trans

Post by theholycow »

My car currently has the T5 5-speed manual from a Chevy Astro.

Even though they are minivans, I generally don't think of the Astro and Aerostar in the same category as other minivans because they are truck-based and RWD.
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Re: Odd Vehicles With A Manual Trans

Post by bk7794 »

I always thought the Lincoln LS was kind of nifty
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Bill B
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Re: Odd Vehicles With A Manual Trans

Post by Bill B »

I have driven an Caravan & Aerostar with a 5 Speed, but never did drive a manual Astro. Another interesting Astro Van was the AWD version. If someone wants an AWD beater vehicle, the AWD Astro's can still be found at a reasonable price.
theholycow wrote:My car currently has the T5 5-speed manual from a Chevy Astro.

Even though they are minivans, I generally don't think of the Astro and Aerostar in the same category as other minivans because they are truck-based and RWD.
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Re: Odd Vehicles With A Manual Trans

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I loved Europe. I'd say 70-90% of vehicles I saw were manual transmission. Some city buses were standard!
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Re: Odd Vehicles With A Manual Trans

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bk7794 wrote:I loved Europe. I'd say 70-90% of vehicles I saw were manual transmission. Some city buses were standard!
When I was a lad, the school busses still were Amish.
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Re: Odd Vehicles With A Manual Trans

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I only rode the school one to kindergarten during the 1966-67 school year. Even at 5 years old, I still remember the school bus being a manual. I am guessing you can still order a manual school bus, but they probably don't get any requests. Did a quick search and found a 1997 5 speed manual school bus for sale. http://www.wesellschoolbuses.com/1789/5.html
Rope-Pusher wrote:
bk7794 wrote:I loved Europe. I'd say 70-90% of vehicles I saw were manual transmission. Some city buses were standard!
When I was a lad, the school busses still were Amish.
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Re: Odd Vehicles With A Manual Trans

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I'm ~25 and I rode in only one school bus.
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Re: Odd Vehicles With A Manual Trans

Post by tankinbeans »

bk7794 wrote:I'm ~25 and I rode in only one school bus.
Did you travel back in time with a psychotic lizard, or into somebody's digestive system?
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Re: Odd Vehicles With A Manual Trans

Post by potownrob »

i'm ~36 and eye only can remember riding on 2 manual buses offhand. one was like a greyhound bus that was making stops all over eastern NY taking 17-19 year old juniors up to empire boys state (back in 98); the other was another tour bus that was carrying a group of students and teachers through western spain back in 04. don't remember ever riding in any manual school buses though. i do remember the bus driver blasting classic rock on the kindergarten bus though. i didn't understand the meaning of dire straits' money for nothing back then though; just knew it sounded cool.
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Re: Odd Vehicles With A Manual Trans

Post by cls12vg30 »

Many of the school buses I rode in the '80s and into the early '90s were manual. This was in Western New York. I remember we had one that must have had no synchros left at all, every shift seemed to be accompanied by loud grinding, and we would laugh and make fun of the driver not knowing how to use a clutch. We're talking 10-year-olds here.
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Re: Odd Vehicles With A Manual Trans

Post by potownrob »

tankinbeans wrote:
bk7794 wrote:I'm ~25 and I rode in only one school bus.
Did you travel back in time with a psychotic lizard, or into somebody's digestive system?
:lol: :lol: :lol:
ClutchFork wrote:...So I started carrying a stick of firewood with me and that became my parking brake.
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Re: Odd Vehicles With A Manual Trans

Post by Rope-Pusher »

potownrob wrote:
tankinbeans wrote:
bk7794 wrote:I'm ~25 and I rode in only one school bus.
Did you travel back in time with a psychotic lizard, or into somebody's digestive system?
:lol: :lol: :lol:
I was gonna axe hymn how many seats his bus had
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