My dad!
He
insisted on having them for the longest time.
He special ordered a 1980 Ford Fairmont with the thriftmaster six and a 4 speed manual transmission "with overdrive." The gears weren't matched to the power band of the engine, so it was either wound up in 2nd at 25 or lugging in 3rd. We had a lot of 25 MPH speed limit roads that he just
had to get up to 4th gear on. Sometimes he'd put it in fourth as he approached a stop sign, never letting off the clutch pedal, then he'd put the stick back in neutral.
The transmission itself had a hard life, with plastic shift forks breaking. He'd have his mechanic open the box up and change the one defective fork out for a metal "problem solver" replacement. Over and over until they were all done. He also had perennial problems with the parking brake, which must not have been intended for actual usage. He warned us kids not to play behind his car when it was parked on our hilly driveway.
Sometimes he used a wheel chock instead of the e-brake. He thought he was clever by putting it behind the left front wheel, then pulling the car forward three feet, opening his door, and picking it up off the pavement. Once he spaced out and tried backing up over it, with the front of the car lifting up. "The chock, the chock" I yelled from the back seat. "The what?"
The car finally died, of transmission problems.
I had my learner's permit and wanted to drive
anything, but I knew better than to do this. He was turning the key off at every red light so he could jam it in first, and also skipping second gear.
So he marched right down to the local Ford dealer and
demanded a Taurus wagon with a stick shift. Despite me tugging on his sleeve saying that Consumer Reports says there's no such thing. "Shut up and let me do the talking" he replied, and got nowhere quickly. So he backed down and got an uninspiring yet reliable Escort wagon with the desired pedal count. I think he thought his salesman would get on the phone with Henry Ford IV himself and get that thing special ordered!