Not sure if this is in here somewhere or not but here's the lyrics to a song I listened to over and over as a kid and performed here and there when I was a young and prospering musician.
While riding in my Cadillac
What to my surprise
A little Nash Rambler was following me
About one third my size
The guy must've wanted to pass me up
As he kept on tooting his horn
I'll show him that a Cadillac is not a car to scorn
Beep, beep, beep, beep
His horn went beep, beep, beep
I pushed my foot down to the floor
To give the guy the shake
But the little Nash Rambler stayed right behind
He still had on his brake
He must have thought his car had more guts
As he kept on tooting his horn
I'll show him that a Cadillac is not a car to scorn
Beep, beep, beep, beep!
His horn went beep, beep, beep
My car went into passing gear
And we took off with gust
Soon we were doing 90
Must've left him in the dust
When I peeked in the mirror of my car
I couldn't believe my eyes
The little Nash Rambler was right behind
I think that guy could fly
Beep, beep, beep, beep
His horn went beep, beep, beep
Now, we're doing a hundred and ten
This certainly was a race
For a Rambler to pass, a Caddy
Would be a big disgrace
The guy must've wanted to pass me up
As he kept on tooting his horn
I'll show him that a Cadillac is not a car to scorn
Beep, beep, beep, beep
His horn went beep, beep, beep
Now, we're doing a hundred and twenty
As fast as I could go
The Rambler pulled alongside of me
As if we were going slow
The fellow rolled down his window
And yelled for me to hear
"Hey, Buddy, how can I get this car
Out of second gear!"
Here's the link to a performance of it.
And, it may be doubtful that some get the humor of the final line since we don't generally use manual transmissions. In the days of this car though, you shifted several time to get your car up to speed. First, second, third, fourth and even fifth (overdrive or "passing gear"). Each gear had a maximum speed, depending on the ratio between it and the flywheel -- the part of the engine that transfers the engine torque to the transmission. If the ratio between the gear and the flywheel wawas low the maximum speed of the car was also low, though the power to the wheels was high. This is why, when starting in first gear, you could overcome the initial resting state of the car. The first gear had a top speed of no more than 10mph. Second, supposedly, would have had a top speed of about 25mph, 3rd, 40-50 mph and 4th the "cruising speed" of 50 to 80 or so. "Passing gear" was designed to give you a burst so you could pass and could, at the time, take the car up to about 120 (which is why speedometers stop at that speed). In any case, when the driver of the Nash Rambler asks how to get the car out of 2nd gear when he was doing 120 the lyrics are saying that the Nash Rambler was just a more powerful car than the Caddy.
Finally, if you consider the ratio of 2nd gear and say it's top speed was 25mph, to get the car up to 120 the engine would have to be turning nearly 5 times faster than normal. Thus, if it is turning over at 3000 RPM, it would have to be doing 15,000 RPM, a speed which would have at least burned the oil out in about 1 minute and blown up the engine (or it would have seized). So, while the final line is funny, it's really a fantasy.
AJ