THERE IS still something transcendental about manually shifting your way through a car’s gear box—pulling it into fourth, throwing it into fifth as you control a rumbling machine.
This mighty high has flouted the odds. Over time, many other antiquated auto features have been ruthlessly abandoned—hand-crank starters and windows, carburetors and cassette decks. But stick-shifting has defiantly stuck around, joining ax throwing, rock climbing and ultramarathons as an activity people stubbornly enjoy despite its needless difficulty....