On Sun, 20 Jun 2004 11:35:21 GMT, Bill Hayles
wrote:


Things are different now, but when I took my (car) driving test in
1968, many cars didn't have synchromesh, so you got used to it from
the start.


1968 sounds rather late for many cars to be without synchromesh
(though Bill Hayles has explained elsewhere what he was driving at the
time). Certainly it was common to have no synchromesh on first gear -
at least on mass-produced British cars - into the 1960s, but that was
on the basis that you'd only engage first from a standing start, and
wouldn't be reason to learn double de-clutching.

Martin