In which car did you learn to drive?

[PatriotX]

Not your first car, not the one you loved.

What was the poor machine that was forced to submit to your first ham-fisted attempts at coordinating hands and feet to achieve forward propulsion ?

Mine was a sad Triumph Spitfire festooned with a leaky top and subsequent perma-mildew funk that was only overshadowed by its complete and utter lack of torque. Merging was a particularly pucker-inducing affair, especially with the combination of small stature and 0-60 time approaching 20 seconds. Throw in a tractor-trailer, and you better be right with your Maker before hitting that on-ramp.

Last October, I saw one used as a Halloween prop, with skeletons driving and fake smoke pouring from the tailpipe. That seems about the highest use for one, if you ask me.


Anyone else?

 

[bushmaster1313]

1970 Olds Cutlass with a 350 V8
It was my Mom's

 

[Rustyt1953]

It was my dad's bile green, hot water 6, 1968 P!ymouth Valiant.

If I could've driven it with a bag over my head I'd have done it. "Cool" it was not.

 

[Golddollar]

Pop's green 1963 Chevy Belair. We kept it until it basically rusted out in the northeast Ohio winters.

 

[Model 19 6"]

Mine was 57Chevy 6cyl 3speed. It had a lot of damage to the body.

 

[Old 44 Guy]

1935 Plymouth coupe. My Mother's car. I soon graduated into a Model A Ford. HA Ha.

 

[steveno]

1961 Chevy Impala

 

[dscampbell]

1940 Chevy pickup painted competition orange. A gift from my brother-in-law when I graduated high school in 1970.


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[muddocktor]

I guess mine was split between Mom's 68 Ford Country Squire wagon and my Dad's 69 Toronado. That Toronado could scoot right along, let me tell you. The first car that was actually "mine" was a 63 Studebaker Lark my Grandma gave me around 1974 or so.

 

[Krogen]

Dad's 1965 Plymouth Valiant station wagon. At the age of 10 or so, once we got close to home, he'd pull over and say "you drive." I had a head start on my learner's permit at 15 1/2. Once I got my license, I drove all over in that station wagon. Didn't know how uncool I was, nor did I care. I finally had wheels!

 

[CH4]

63 Chevy 1/2 ton with a 230 straight 6 and three on a tree.
Learned to do a few things in that truck.

 

[PlaytheAces]

Back when I was in high school they still offered driver training. First you took the classroom part and then went on to hands on training with an instructor and four students in whatever car the friendly local dealer had provided.

Imagine my joy at hopping into a brand new '68 Olds Cutlass and taking my maiden voyage (even though our esteemed instructor insisted on calling me leadfoot). Things went swimmingly for the first few days. Then one morning we showed up and our precious Olds was nowhere to be found. Turned out another class was driving it and put it up over a curb, ripping out the trans pan along with various suspension components. We ended up finishing the class in a tired mid sixties Falcon. I still carry the heartbreak with me.

 

[Skeet 028]

First vehicle I ever drove was a Straight 8 Pontiac..don't remember the year...49,50?? First car was a 49 Studebaker. Paid 35 bucks. Got 40 bucks for it from the junkyard 5 or 6 months later when it really died

 

[chiefbob81]

1965 VW bug. I could get into 4th gear before I'd have to slam on the brakes so I wouldn't hit the work bench in the garage. Short driveway, had to use the garage as part of my epic back and forths!

 

[wood714]

My dad's light blue 4 door 60 Chevy with a 283. We "found" a street sign to put in the back floorboard to keep who ever was sitting back there from falling thru. The only place he drove it to was work and the fishing lake.

I knew I was a good driver when my mom let me drive her new 1975 2 door 98 Oldsmobile.

 

[Fishinfool]

Oh, I remember, even have a picture of it. A 1st generation (don't remember the exact year) half cab 4wd Ford Bronco with a 302 and a 3 on the tree.

November of 1972, I was 13 years old, and with my father on a hunting trip up in Maine. 1st time hunting with the adults at deer camp. Dad asked me, "wanna learn to drive"? I said hell yes.

He spent about 5 minutes on basic theory, then we switched seats. Picked it up pretty quick, and spent the remainder of the trip chauffeuring him around on the snowy fire and logging trails. Had a blast, and I think he grinned just as much as me.

At the end of the 10 day trip, he drove home on the paved roads. Told me, "You know not to tell your mom, right?" Yea, I did. Didn't tell her about having a "High Ball", and playing poker with the old mans friends at camp either.

Picture is of the old man in the Bronco while we were on a lunch break. Have another pic of the same trip with me posing with my 30/30 Winchester and the Bronco, posted on another thread.

Larry

 

[CB3]

I learned to drive in 1966 in my dad's 1962 Fiat Multipla van, the original minivan. 72 horsepower engine and aerodynamic body could achieve 45 mph downwind and downhill after rowing through the four gears.

But I learned what cars were for when I got my grandmother's '65 Mustang Fastback when I graduated in 1968. I learned a lot in that car.

 

[Marshwheeling]

Not a simple answer. The first vehicle I actually drove was a surplus Jeep on a neighbor's farm. I got in about 3 hours driving around farm fields.
On-the-road was divided between the family cars, a 54 Ford Country Sedan and a '49 Cadillac Fleetwood. But I probably learned the most in a '64 Corvair in which I learned how to correct oversteer and do doughnuts on snow-covered parking lots.

I took my driver's test in the Ford.

 

[REM 3200]

Learned to drive in a 1952 Chevy with 3 on the column.
First car was a 1955 Chevy 6 cyl. with Powerslide.
We lived out in the county and as there was no county HS
I needed a car to drive to HS in town.

 

[swsig]

I had two cars, and I started at the same time in both after I got my learner's permit. The first was our high school's driver training car, a new 1960 Oldsmobile 4 door sedan. It was like driving an aircraft carrier, with its enormous hood stretching way out front, and an equally enormous rear deck. It was smooth and powerful and its Hydramatic would freewheel and coast for blocks when you took your foot off the gas. Dad let me start practice driving our family car during that same period. It was a 1956 Chevrolet 210 4 door sedan with a 2-barrel 265 V-8 engine, Powerglide, and dual exhausts. It wasn't so smooth, but it handled much better than the Olds, and it, too, had excellent acceleration. The Powerglide transmission did not freewheel like the Hydramatic, so when you took your foot off the gas, you would coast for feet instead of blocks. That little Chevy was a very good car, serving as my college transportation, and lasting over 10 years in our family, a long time in those days when cars would wear out faster than they do today.