I learned how to drive a stick on a 1955 Willy's Pickup. The un-sync meshed first was a pain, but I learned to double clutch because of it. That gearbox was nearly indestructible, but not that clutch. It was slow, and was very thirsty, but God it could clime up the worst roads in the mountains of Colorado. It was part goat.

The Fort Sill motor pool in 1966 had one Willys Jeep left and since no one else wanted it I could pretty much check it out as my own. Trying, as only a 19 year old knucklehead can, to blow-up the'Hurricane Four' I came to nought. The transmission, however, was a three speed with standard 'H' pattern. As a newly- minted NCO my POV (Privately Owned Vehicle) was a spiffy new Datsun Roadster four speed with first in the same position as the Jeep's reverse. This lead to a few embarrassing instances of inadvertent reverse burnouts at base stop signs but the Jeep continued to thrive. At last word (2002) it was pulling a wagon somewhere in Kansas...