Personal opinion if you can't ride I mean drive stick your not a real trucker

The ‘automatic’ or accurately the ‘auto-shift’ is just another tool being used to ever so gradually make truck driving a low income profession.
Look at the developments that past decades, power steering, a/c, air ride seats, air ride suspension, the list goes on.
Would owner operators do what you do now, if you make what you make now if you used a 1970 Diamond REO cabover?
What if you made 3 or 4 times as much? Same question for company drivers, if you were assigned that cabover, but were paid 3-4 times your current salary, would you turn it down.
The goal is make truck driving so simple, a caveman could do it.

 

Excellent save ! Lol

 

If you ever get into the vintage truck scene to either work or play you won’t find any auto’s. Depending on the vintage you choose to collect you won’t find to many with a single “sissy stick” Road Ranger. You will have to learn sometime.

 

.

 

Nice ! Even has an R gear for race mode

 

Ok so......what's your opinion?

 

And you walked up hill both ways to school in the snow? Come on.. this is more of the same real trucker vs the world comments. The drivers today make a TON more that we did back then AND they get to drive some really comfortable equipment that is in all ways better than the analog contraptions we started in. My first job I was hired for and didn't take was a 13cpm team split on a dollar truck. About the only people getting NO money are the morons who have little to no experience going 1099. The account I work with the lowest paid drivers are still making right at 6 figures.. the highest paid on the account and making well more than that.

 

Depends on what year "vintage" ends for you.. There were lots of trucks in the 70's that had the old fluid drive Allison neck breakers

 

True. But trying to find one now isn’t as easy as it is to find a new one with a manual these days. As time went by most were scrapped and replaced with Road Rangers. Was easy to do. Almost impossible to do with the new stuff.