14-05-2019, 05:34 PM
(This post was last modified: 14-05-2019, 05:35 PM by Mike Costigan.)
Once upon a time it was claimed that one could identify a gentleman by his ability to change gear in an Austin Seven without embarrasing his lady passenger. Maybe it was thought that a hurriedly grabbed top gear was more embarrassing than selecting first gear at leasure ... but then they found that it made no difference at all, so reverted to the original layout, which in fact was the more common layout for a three-speed gearbox at the time ...