#ManualTransmission

Out of all the eight generations of Chevrolet Corvette production, the biggest success in the showrooms was the 1968-1982 C3. The C3 looked wild and boasted Jimi Hendrix and Joan Didion provenance, but it handled like a truck and power numbers were grim once the Malaise Era took hold. The General decided he'd be wise to make its C4 successor a cornerin' and brakin' machine, and today's Junkyard Find is a first-year C4 discovered in a Northern California car graveyard last year.

We recently learned that BMW plans to nix the dual-clutch transmission as it transitions to electrification. Now, Volkswagen is changing its gearbox offerings to comply with new Euro 7 emissions regulations. 

General Motors built cars on the N Platform and its derivatives from the 1985 through 2005 model years, and five-speed manual transmissions were available on various N-based machines throughout that time. Very few American buyers of these cars were willing to operate three pedals by the dawn of the 21st century, but I have managed to find a five-speed-equipped Olds Alero in a Denver self-service car graveyard.

Acura is cranking the wick – and the whip – on its Integra, caring not one whit what nattering keyboard warriors have to say about the thing having (gasp!) four doors. Y’know, just like the original car did. Go back to your stale popcorn, Seth.

Anyway, we’re glad for any sports-oriented machine that is packing a manual transmission and isn’t the shape of an SUV. 

The manual transmission was already far down a slippery slope before EVs came along, and the move to electrification has all but signed its death warrant, or so we thought. Lexus recently confirmed reports that it was testing a manual transmission for electric vehicles, and there’s even a video of it in action.

If you’re looking at the state of the auto industry and thinking that the days to buy a rowdy sports car with a manual transmission are numbered, you’re correct. It’s exceedingly difficult to find a new car with a manual option, let alone a supercharged V8-powered sports car with one. Dodge is here to save the day, at least for a year, with a manual transmission option for the Challenger SRT Hellcat. 

When I walk the rows of a big Ewe Pullet-style self-service car graveyard, I always take a look inside every 2000s Toyota Camry I see. I do this because I wish to document one of the most elusive of all junkyard inmates: One of the final Camrys sold in the United States with a factory-installed manual transmission. Prior to today's Junkyard Find, the newest discarded three-pedal Camry I'd found was a 2001 model in California. We're pushing the record another five years forward today because I've found this five-on-the-floor-equipped 2006 Camry in the very same yard.

Whatever you think about Acura’s usage of the vaunted Integra nameplate, I think most of us can agree it’s leagues better than the alphabet soup to which we’ve been subjected over the past 25 years. All they need to do is trot out the Legend and Vigor names once again and we’ll be in business.

Now the model’s made the rounds after its official launch, Acura is ready to put a price tag on the thing. If you seek a copy of this turbocharged five-door liftback, it’ll set you back no less than $31,895 including destination.

Toyota engineers have been fairly adamant that there would eventually be a manual version of the Supra sports coupe since its formal introduction in 2019. By February of 2020, chief engineer Tetsuya Tada even confirmed that the car has been tested extensively with a clutch and choose-your-own-adventure gearbox. But Toyota explained that the automaker opted against having one at launch due to a desire to lead with the model yielding the best specs on paper. Toyota was also fretting over customers modifying vehicles, claiming the eight-speed automatic could handle far more torque before giving into physics and dismantling itself.

However, the automaker has recently begun teasing the Supra with a three-pedal setup over social media, later stating that an-all new manual transmission was indeed on the way for the coupe. But why now?

Remember the era, around the middle of the 2010s, when we were all supposed to desire a brown station wagon with a manual transmission (or mock those who liked brown wagons after it was cool)? Well, today’s Junkyard Find is just that!

Dodge decided to nix the six-speed manual for Challenger Hellcat models last November, indicating that it would be a temporary issue. The automaker allegedly planned to deliver an updated version and said it was actively calibrating the powertrain to see what worked ahead of pulling the old version from the assembly line. It was minor news and everyone following the industry promptly forgot about it, assuming three-pedal Challengers would be back in action before anyone noticed.

It’s now four months later and the option is still nowhere in sight.

A common knock on the new Toyota Supra, besides its close ties to a certain BMW, is its lack of a manual transmission. Sure, there are umpteen reasons why a well-sorted automatic is (on paper) better than a stick – but the involvement and entertainment of a slick-shifting manual cannot be denied.

Now, well-placed rumors are suggesting Toyota is going to offer Supra buyers a chance to row their own gears.

Several hooptie-centric road rallies take place every warm season in Front Range Colorado, including the 24 Hours of Lemons Rally, the Rocky Mountain Rambler 500 Rally, and the Colorado Gambler 500 Rally. Teams will build crazy stuff— say, a Lincoln Continental Mark IV filled with three tons of engine-heated water or a gutted Volkswagen R32 converted to a doorless post-apocalyptic Astroturf nightmare— or just acquire some random cheap car, decorate it, and beat it half to death on Rocky Mountain fire roads. As you’d expect, many of these cars go right to the nearest boneyard when the rally is over, and I find quite a few of them during my junkyard travels in northeastern Colorado. Here’s the “Good Vibes” Pontiac Vibe, found in Denver over the summer.

Toyota offered North American car buyers the opportunity to buy a new Camry with a manual transmission from the time of the car’s introduction here in 1983 all the way through the 2012 model year. As I’ve found during my junkyard explorations, many Camrys sold here during the 1980s had five-on-the-floor rigs, and this setup remained reasonably popular into the early 1990s. After about 1993, however, automatics rule the American Camry universe, and I’ve been on a years-long quest to find the newest possible manual-equipped junkyard Camry. After peering into thousands of discarded cars, I managed to find a 1997 Camry CE with three pedals, and now I have surpassed that discovery with this 2000 Camry CE in Colorado.

Chrysler’s run of selling rebadged Mitsubishis began way back in 1970, when the rear-wheel-drive Colt Galant arrived here for the 1971 model year. Those cars sold very well in North America, with sales continuing through 1978. After that, Colt badges went onto the front-wheel-drive Lancer Fiore (later sold here as the Mirage). Here’s one of those first-year FWD Colts, found in a Denver-area yard in nice condition and equipped with the extremely cool Twin-Stick dual-range transmission.