There was a time when I shared this bias toward manual transmissions and I remember giving a friend a very bad time about buying a pickup with an automatic.
His response was that as a farmer tending ditch he spent a lot of time in reverse, and the reverse ratio in his automatic allowed him to move much quicker in reverse than his old manual transmission trucks had. That truck was a '72 Ford and was nearly new when we had that conversation.
Nothing any of you has said has convinced me that a 'real' truck has a manual transmission. I understand the appeal of simplicity, which all that manual equipment can contribute to, but there is nothing about a truck that demands simplicity.
Years ago I remember a feeling of accomplishment when I was split shifting a 5 and 4. Today that just seems like a lot of work.
My uncle owns a Maxwell car from the teens. It has a floor shift 4-speed with no synchos. Mike's description of shifting his '40 truck reminds me of driving that car. Basically you have the same options, except I only drive it every five years or so and finding transmission parts would not be easy, so I rarely try my luck clutchless.
