A new report through U.S. News and World Report shows only 18 percent of Americans know how to drive a manual.
It was hard to find a few who can.
I don't know how to drive a manual so I decided to learn.
Henning Mortensen is an instructor with Bond Driving School in Sacramento spent a few minutes teaching me about gears before we went on the road Wednesday evening.
"The first thing we do is release the emergency break so now we're gonna get started," Mortensen said.
We went around a neighborhood close by the driving school.
It was a little stressful and I felt like there was so much to remember. I even forgot the basics like breaking.
It didn't help I was really nervous since I was driving a fellow colleague's Jeep.
"Release and then gas," said Mortensen before I stalled the car.
I had to let a few cars pass in the neighborhood as I tried to learn how to stop and go.
I asked Mortensen at the end how he would grade me, and he gave me a C.
Mortensen told me he gets only one or two drivers who want to learn stick. According to the report five percent of cars sold are manual.
If you're one of those few who want to learn, I recommend to not do about 80% of what I did on my lesson and to work with a patient instructor like mine.