Here’s the 5-speed I picked up locally. Thank you, Craigslist.

The car spent two weekends airborne.

Out with the auto. We strapped the transmission to a jack and lowered it out of the car. It’s a beast. The manual is considerably lighter.

A good friend of mine was able to help with the install. He has a knack for all things mechanical. As a result of his help, the work was much quicker and far fewer curse words were spoken.

New clutch in place. I went with an Exedy Stage 1 race clutch and a lighter flywheel of the same brand.

This was not an uncommon sight.

It was fun to figure out how to wire a few things so that things worked in the end. The ECU is still the auto version. We’re basically telling the car that it’s in park by jumping these pins. With the car “in park” the ECU will allow the engine to be started. You could run wires from the pins to a clutch switch and it would only start with the clutch pushed in. Nah…

This old Mercedes was immaculate. I’ve always liked the look of these sedans. It’s forty years old and still looks like the pinnacle of refinement.

Maybe it’s not impossible to navigate the hills in a lowered car.

Parking options are limited on the steep hills.

I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a VW truck on the street before. This guy was excited, honking the horn as he passed by.

This is the only old Datsun Z car we saw on the trip. It was in the town square in Sonoma.

We also saw this beautiful Porsche 356, and another in red brown, parked in the same town square.

This seemed to be the only vehicle permanently residing on Alcatraz.

This is dorky, but we just don’t see vans like these in the Midwest. I’d drive one every day.

Like most of the West, you see a lot of old VW buses. We saw these hippie-mobiles up on Twin Peaks.

Here’s a Ford Bronco in Sausalito.

One of my favorite wheels, the Volk TE37.