Can’t drive a stick shift? Now NJ has a school for that

If this were near April 1 instead of mid-December, I wouldn’t believe it.

Read More: Why New Jersey drivers must clear snow and ice safely

A school in New Jersey that teaches a driver how to drive a stick shift

Actually, I was still skeptical even after seeing that News12 NJ had covered this in a news story. Could they have been had?

It just doesn’t seem a likely business.

Driving a manual transmission is all but a lost art and a skill really not required any longer. Even finding a new vehicle that comes with a manual transmission is getting harder and harder. Many manufacturers don’t offer it now, not even as a paid-for option.

Yet as someone who knows how to drive a stick, I will be the first to say it’s not only more fun, I believe you feel more in control of your driving, and I also think it helps non-car people better understand how a motor vehicle works. I’m not going to explain that here, because it’s IYKYK. If you drive a stick shift, you know exactly what I mean.

So is this real? A school in New Jersey to teach you how to drive a stick?

Manual transmission sales

According to News12 New Jersey, manual transmission sales, while still very much dwarfed by automatic transmissions, are starting to make a small comeback. Some enthusiasts predict the very small sales numbers will quadruple by ten years from now.

Which means, yeah, they would still be very small in number. But if stick shifts aren’t entirely dead, someone wants a piece of it. The report says a guy named Gary Spivak has opened the Bergen Stick Shift School. He says, “It’s a lost art, but it is coming back.”

The North Jersey classroom experience offers lessons in operating manual transmission vehicles and Spivak says there’s interest among Gen Z. Spivak says it helps some drivers to better focus.

Bergen Driving School and Bergen Stick Shift School

Yet still I was skeptical. So I researched more and found there is a real working address associated with this business name. In fact listed separately, Bergen Driving School and Bergen Stick Shift School are listed as sharing the same address of 396 Hickory Avenue. Paramus, New Jersey 07652.

There are also what appear to be legitimate customer reviews. Positive ones.

So it looks like I now know what to get for my broadcast partner Kylie Moore for Christmas. That ought to grind her gears, figuratively and literally.