I learned to drive at age 6 , in my grandfathers late 60's Diamond T Dump truck.
It had 2 gearshift lever's and you needed four hand's and a trained monkey to shift the silly thing.
I now drive truck's for a living, and usually I'm dealing with 18 gear's . I have driven a truck with 21 gears before, It was great fun to go through 9 gear's ... just to get through an intersection !