Here We Have Martha Stewart In Her Manual Aston Martin DB9

"BahamaTodd" (bahamatodd)
03/22/2020 at 22:48 • Filed to: martha stewart, Aston Martin, db9, Aston Martin DB9

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DISCUSSION (30)

Nauraushaun > BahamaTodd
03/22/2020 at 22:55

Curious, what is a “standard shift”? Certainly manual was standard for decades and decades, with automatic being an optional extra. Except maybe in America and on some types of cars . I’m not sure what’s considered “standard” on an Aston, it would’ve been manual for a time but not these days.

Discerning > BahamaTodd
03/22/2020 at 22:55

I’m reasonably certain that’s a DB9.

The vantage had that body crease that followed the end of the silver trim inside of the fender vent.

CB > BahamaTodd
03/22/2020 at 22:57

She’s my favourite ex- convict.

Svend > BahamaTodd
03/22/2020 at 22:58

“Not very easy to drive”

I imagine it isn’t, especially with the steering wheel being on the wrong side.

Discerning > Nauraushaun
03/22/2020 at 22:58

Some Americans still say standard when they mean manual. The two words are 100% interchangeable to them.

I am not a member of that camp.

Grindintosecond > BahamaTodd
03/22/2020 at 22:58

She is not allowed to use netjets. She was a rude punk to the crews, routinely. They told her to pack her own bags of money and stick em.

Just Jeepin' > CB
03/22/2020 at 23:01

I’m going to have to go with Nelson Mandela, but Martha does have the advantage of being, y’know, not deceased.

BahamaTodd > Discerning
03/22/2020 at 23:06

Yes, it is a DB9 and not a Vantage. It has been corrected. Thanks!

DipodomysDeserti > Discerning
03/22/2020 at 23:08

She hired a budget PR firm to run her Insta and they used a boomer for copy.

Nauraushaun > Discerning
03/22/2020 at 23:18

Really?! I thought to Americans most of all, manual was far from standard. I thought auto would be considered standard, and manual was known as “a stick”.

TMYK

Discerning > Nauraushaun
03/22/2020 at 23:20

It’s usually an older person who says standard. Typically someone Martha Stewart’s age. But there are plenty of younger people who also say it.

RPM esq. > Nauraushaun
03/22/2020 at 23:42

Americans always say automatic for automatic. Car guys maybe “ dual-clutch” or “flappy paddle” or something to differentiate the more advanced ones . “Manual” or “standard” for manual, for reasons that have nothing to do with what is actually more common these days.

Gerry197 > Nauraushaun
03/22/2020 at 23:58

I’ve heard “ standard” used to label a manual car , less so recently, but it’s still pretty standard (pun intended) lol.

Gerry197 > RPM esq.
03/23/2020 at 00:00

Definitely, though I’ve been hearing a lot less “dual-clutch” or automated manual these days. Even in official manufacturer literature for high end sports cars, they just call them all automatic.

Gerry197 > Svend
03/23/2020 at 00:03

I never understood the UK’s view on being right regarding driving on the left. I mean even in Europe, the majority of the continent drives on the right side with left hand drive cars. Only 25% of the World drives on the left.

wafflesnfalafel > BahamaTodd
03/23/2020 at 00:12

interesting - my emotions are torn...

Svend > Gerry197
03/23/2020 at 00:31

Or me on many a time an American has posted a comment to an Aussie, Kiwi, Brit, Maltese, Cypriot, etc... on the steering wheel being on the right hand side as being the wrong side.

The majority of Europe drives on the right because of Napoleon. In Napoleonic France, the aristocracy drove on the left, the peasants on the right, Napoleon on defeating countries changed any country that drove on the left to drive on the right (pretty much why most of the Commonwealth of Nations (former British empire) drives on the left, Japan being one of the most obvious RHD countries not part of the British empire, but drive on the left for the same reasons we do in the U.K.), the commonwealth countries that changed sides did so because of neighbouring countries.

Italy changed when Mussolini came to power in 1920, Czechoslovakia and Austria changed when Germany annexed or occupied them in the 1930s. Sweden changed in the 1970s (even though 88+% in a vote didn’t want to change) to fit in with neighbouring countries.

We drive on the left hand side, sitting on the right side of the carriage, because it kept our sword/shooting hand free to fight. The right hand being the most dominant to most people (which even the U.S. did but as wagon train carriages were usually teamed up in groups of two, The rider couldn’t reach the left hand horses with the whip, as again they were right handed), so they moved to the left hand side of the carriage, where the whip could reach down the middle to reach each of the horses. In doing so, they swapped what side they drove on so they could see passing carriages more easily.

Also if you think of it, sitting on the right means your dominant hand is used steering the vehicle while the less dominant hand is used to operate gears and other ancillary items.

Gerry197 > Svend
03/23/2020 at 00:45

Seems logical to me, thank you for the rather well detailed explanation. I will say, my years of driving in Japan, I never got quite as comfortable driving on the left side.

These days especially, I think the dominant hand thing isn’t as important to the steering side, especially when the majority of your driving is going straight, even with countries with some winding roads.

Your dominant hand is holding a phone or playing with the media systems, you know the more important things to today’s drivers

Svend > Gerry197
03/23/2020 at 00:52

I think I got the idea across but here’s a more eloquent way of putting it.

https://www.worldstandards.eu/cars/driving-on-the-left/

Chariotoflove > Nauraushaun
03/23/2020 at 01:07

To Stewart’s generation, standard means manual.

RPM esq. > Gerry197
03/23/2020 at 01:07

Definitely the way it’s going as the various means of making autos cleverer expand to every model....that said they also tend to use their own trademark, which makes things as confusing as possible for the uninitiated (e.g. DSG, PDK, etc.). As long as the CVTs get a warning label I’ll be OK with that.

Nom De Plume > Svend
03/23/2020 at 01:28

Kinja'd!!!

Hate for the French

From a Brit

That’s gonna be well summed and factually complete.

Svend > Nom De Plume
03/23/2020 at 01:54

Why ‘hate for the French’? Nothing I wrote was remotely hateful towards the French.

LimitedTimeOnly @ opposite-lock.com > Svend
03/23/2020 at 07:21

Excellent summary, thank you. I always suspected the dominant hand weapon thing for driving on the left , but didn’t guess the background behind driving in the right side of the road.

Svend > LimitedTimeOnly @ opposite-lock.com
03/23/2020 at 07:40

This is the piece I like the most.

Very detailed, informative and interesting.

https://www.worldstandards.eu/cars/driving-on-the-left/

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About a 35% of the world population drives on the left , and the countries that do are mostly old British colonies. This strange quirk perplexes the rest of the world, but there is a perfectly good reason.

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In the past, almost everybody travelled on the left side of the road because that was the most sensible option for feudal, violent societies. Since most people are right-handed, swordsmen preferred to keep to the left in order to have their right arm nearer to an opponent and their scabbard further from him. Moreover, it reduced the chance of the scabbard (worn on the left) hitting other people.

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Furthermore, a right-handed person finds it easier to mount a horse from the left side of the horse, and it would be very difficult to do otherwise if wearing a sword (which would be worn on the left). It is safer to mount and dismount towards the side of the road, rather than in the middle of traffic, so if one mounts on the left, then the horse should be ridden on the left side of the road.

With how often it comes up I just thought it was something every car person knew, especially if they considered a RHD to buy for a LHD country.

SBA Thanks You For All The Fish > Discerning
03/23/2020 at 11:07

Americans “of a certain age” remember when cars came in a “basic, standard” configuration. If you didn’t pay the extra money to get the fancy Turbo-Hydramatic for $45 more.,,, well you got a ‘standard’ gearbox with a clutch and stick to stir.

But, it’s part of the lexicon. Nothing more.

Nom De Plume > Svend
03/23/2020 at 11:20

There is no tone on the internet. Clearly the French imposed the incorrect behavior that stuck, in your mind. Of which America fits in the inferior grouping who continue to be subsumed to this day by a many hundreds of years old act of dominance not traced to the crown. But her perpetual rival.

I’ll offer a modern day counterpoint. Shifting is mentally trickier than doing that which you have all other relevant senses devoted towards. With everything going to automatic, and for the purposes of this conversation it is fair to say driver duties are split as closely between both hands as possible, LHD allows the (dominant ) right hand to steer the safe course while the left rests comfortably on the window sill.

M ost time behind the wheel is now so mundane people began attempting numerous other duties. No longer does the person riding shotgun navigate, select music, or feel tasked with resolving issues experienced while driving . It’s rare to even see two adults in the same vehicle. So we revisit the left having nothing to when dealing with the central screen an increasingly wider range of functionality is only accessed through while underway. Deft behaviors with little more than a glance are now performed by the skilled and nimble right hand. At least in most of Europe and the US. :P

Svend > Nom De Plume
03/23/2020 at 12:52

With all due respect, rubbish.

Gerry197, stated, ‘I never understood the U.K.s view on being right regarding driving on the left’.

I replied with the historically given correct reply as to why that is and other that stating like every website I’ve come across and text read in books why we drive on the left and Europe on the right and that the right hand is often the dominant hand which we use for steering the vehicle.

If you read any malice in it, t hat’s on you.

With your first paragraph in your most recent reply, you seem to think I see the French and Americans as inferior. I do not.

Any further reply will be dismissed.

Take care, stay safe and all the best. Good bye.

BahamaTodd > Svend
03/23/2020 at 16:23

Then there is a place like the Bahamas which is part of the Commonwealth so they drive on the left. But with being so close to the US, the majority of vehicles are LHD . So I grew up used to LHD vehicles driving on the left.

Convenience :

Street parking. You can better see and exit the vehicle onto the sidewalk.

Inconveniences :

Passing on a two lane road . Good luck trying to see oncoming traffic past the vehicle ahead of you on the right when you are sitting far left.

There are a mix of LHD and RHD vehicles so things that should be accessible for the driver have to be designed to be accessible from either side. Security gates, toll booths etc . RHD is generally screwed at drive- through restaurants since they are usually designed for LHD traffic.

Svend > BahamaTodd
03/23/2020 at 16:35

Then there’s the USVI, they drive LHD cars and drive on the left.

Samoa drove on the right, but the cost of getting LHD cars was too great they swapped sides so they can import RHD cars easier and cheaper from New Zealand and Australia.

American Samoa drives on the left. Though many of t heir police cars are from the U.S. and are LHD.