Whiplash

I was 10 at the time when I told my BFF that one day all Cars will come in Automatic transmission. It seemed crazy at the time. Three years after that my Dad bought his 1st automatic transmission. It was a Mercedes Benz 200 (4 cylinder, 3 speed auto box. The list of options that weren’t included were ABS, A/C, power windows, Central Lock, Power steering was however standard). This was a 1976 model car and current lineup of Japanese cars still can’t match the kind of feedback you get from the Merc. Colored in Banana like yellow it had the ride height of a Rav 4. It basically swam through water.
Most memorable was the transmission shift gate PRNDSL. No fancy Manu-matic shift option that you can find in almost all modern Auto boxes. Shift through Reverse, Neutral unto drive from a standstill, Dump the accelerator pedal to the floor, watch the Speedo rise all the way to 40Km/H and brace yourself for the worst kind of Whiplash( you can feel a minor kind in a manual when you shift through gears hard). It’s that forward and backward motion that throws your head and neck backwards and forwards.
Whiplash gets more pronounced in an autobox as the car gets older. On my Dad’s Benz, it got so bad you could feel it even when the car downshifts to 1st gear. Prevention: make sure you service your gearbox at regular intervals (oil and filter change). On a happy note Whiplash is much reduced in modern Autoboxes. On a sad note, Slama (my Car) has begun showing signs of Whiplash. I guess its time to start saying Bye-bye.