In '73 I learned in a ugly greenish-blue '65 4-door Chevelle, 230 Turbothrift! My dad gave it to me when I started my Senior year HS in '74, at least what was left of it with the rusted out quarter panels and every other thing that could rust. But we had a lot of fun in that ride. First day of school our senior year, 6 of us were a little late. (Just think Fast Times At Ridgemont High!) Most reliable-running car in our family, though.
In which car did you learn to drive?
- Thread starter PatriotX
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Well one of my friends lived on a working farm right outside the city (late 1950s) and they had a beat up field truck. It was a 40s something Ford flat head 3 on the tree. Started driving that at about age 12. Taught me the basics and a few other things. Like using a sledge hammer to straighten out things or a cutting torch to bend, or getting a tractor to tow it out of the stupid places it got stuck in. Of course when we got the chance we took it out on the road.
Learned early on how to double clutch and how close you could come to a stationary object. Years later when I went to get my Jr Operators license I passed easy on the first try!
Kids around here start early. Some as young 6 year old.
During the school year driving down the highway or a main gravel road you will see older cars and trucks parked by the approach roads. Probably "school cars". Kids to young to legally drive (14 1/2 here), drive them from the ranch house to the main road and wait for the bus. For some its miles from the house to the main road.
During harvest a grade school kid in a semi might pull up beside a moving combine, keep pace while being loaded with grain, then take off, run to the silo, dump it and come back for another load.
I was taught how to drive by my Grandpa, take a truck or pickup and pull up to a hay stack, help load it with hay, drive to a field, one of us would get in back and the other would idle along in low low (compound) and they guy in back would cut the twine and dump the hay as the truck rocked along. Then off to another hay stack and another bunch of cows.
Now they have trucks that grab the big round bales and roll them out. But, kids still do that a lot.
My step daughter were 9 and 10 when I met them. I started having them drive my Ford 7.3 diesel the first time we went camping. Gravel roads in the middle of nowhere.
During the school year driving down the highway or a main gravel road you will see older cars and trucks parked by the approach roads. Probably "school cars". Kids to young to legally drive (14 1/2 here), drive them from the ranch house to the main road and wait for the bus. For some its miles from the house to the main road.
During harvest a grade school kid in a semi might pull up beside a moving combine, keep pace while being loaded with grain, then take off, run to the silo, dump it and come back for another load.
I was taught how to drive by my Grandpa, take a truck or pickup and pull up to a hay stack, help load it with hay, drive to a field, one of us would get in back and the other would idle along in low low (compound) and they guy in back would cut the twine and dump the hay as the truck rocked along. Then off to another hay stack and another bunch of cows.
Now they have trucks that grab the big round bales and roll them out. But, kids still do that a lot.
My step daughter were 9 and 10 when I met them. I started having them drive my Ford 7.3 diesel the first time we went camping. Gravel roads in the middle of nowhere.
My first car was my grandmother's '51 Chevy with 3 on the tree at 14 YOA. I got some highway time in a '62 Ford Galaxie rental while spring break vacationing with the family in Texas as a permitted 15 years old. My driver's Ed car was a '63 Ford Fairlane when 15 too.
Before those experiences, I was racing quarter and half midgets when I was eleven and twelve.
Before those experiences, I was racing quarter and half midgets when I was eleven and twelve.
Step N. Mud
Member
Around 1968 we had a 1965 VW bus and was easy 4 on the the floor gear shift. Unfortunately, the coach/D.L instructor had a giant brand new Plymouth Fury with power steering and power brakes and made me look like a complete fool in the student drivers test drive.
'94 Ford F-250 with the 7.3L International IDI turbo diesel and a long bed.
Drove it on the farm before I could legally drive. When I was 17, I bought it off the farmer I was working for at the time, worked off most of it.
I was traveling a regional rodeo circuit and needed something that would pull a horse trailer and 3 or 4 wanna be cowboys. It was awesome, a lot of memories in that truck.
Drove it on the farm before I could legally drive. When I was 17, I bought it off the farmer I was working for at the time, worked off most of it.
I was traveling a regional rodeo circuit and needed something that would pull a horse trailer and 3 or 4 wanna be cowboys. It was awesome, a lot of memories in that truck.
"Legally" learned with my Dad's '54 Chevy BelAir 6 cyl, 3 on the tree.
Otherwise, a '57 Chrysler New Yorker with a 392 Hemi.
Otherwise, a '57 Chrysler New Yorker with a 392 Hemi.
I learned to drive in a 1939 Plymouth. In 1959 I was 17 when I bought my first car my last year in high school. I was bagging groceries 12 hours a week for 87 cents an hr. I gave $100. for a beat up 1950 Ford. Larry
Old Arkansawyer
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A 1947 GMC farm truck when I was 9, had driven tractors a couple
years before. I had to slip down on the truck seat to reach the
clutch, brake and gas pedals. I started driving to school when 14
on days when the farm chores ran past the school bus arrival.
And yes, sometimes had the shotgun with me. As Archie Bunker
said, "those were the days".
years before. I had to slip down on the truck seat to reach the
clutch, brake and gas pedals. I started driving to school when 14
on days when the farm chores ran past the school bus arrival.
And yes, sometimes had the shotgun with me. As Archie Bunker
said, "those were the days".
Learned in Dad's 1947 Hudson pickup. Flathead 6 w/3 on the tree. Once backed into a ditch. Dad said "you drove in here you drive it out." so I did. First car was 2 door Hudson Jet flathead 6 w/3 on the tree. Was pea green. I painted it a nice baby blue. 
1958 Jeep CJ-5. Dad would put it in low range and, after making sure we had the basics down, would let us drive it around the orange groves. Later we got a 1931 Chevy pu running and learned how to shift gears without using the clutch. Lots of fun in those innocent days.
Sistema1927
US Veteran
Driver's Ed had big Chevy station wagons. At home we had a VW Square Back that I took my driving test in.
At age 17 I took a job doing post VA/FHA repairs for a local home builder. The boss tossed me the keys to a truck, and said "I assume you can drive a stick". I said "yes", went out back, and got into a 64 GMC 3/4 ton with a crash box 4 speed on the floor. I "knew" some of the basics, but somehow the fine points of down shifting had escaped my notice.
I soon learned that without a load it was easier to get moving in 2nd gear. I did a decent job of pulling out of the parking lot, and was doing just fine until I came to my first stop light. I put in the clutch, shifted out of 4th to neutral, gave it a double clutch, and moved the shifter into 3rd. Then I popped out the clutch instead of easing it out, and heard screeching. Thinking it wasn't me, I did the same going into 2nd. Same loud screech.
By the end of the day I finally figured out that I should ease out the clutch on a downshift, same as when upshifting. My self-taught revelation might have been hard on that truck, but I continued to drive it for a couple of years, and it never needed to have the clutch replaced.
At age 17 I took a job doing post VA/FHA repairs for a local home builder. The boss tossed me the keys to a truck, and said "I assume you can drive a stick". I said "yes", went out back, and got into a 64 GMC 3/4 ton with a crash box 4 speed on the floor. I "knew" some of the basics, but somehow the fine points of down shifting had escaped my notice.
I soon learned that without a load it was easier to get moving in 2nd gear. I did a decent job of pulling out of the parking lot, and was doing just fine until I came to my first stop light. I put in the clutch, shifted out of 4th to neutral, gave it a double clutch, and moved the shifter into 3rd. Then I popped out the clutch instead of easing it out, and heard screeching. Thinking it wasn't me, I did the same going into 2nd. Same loud screech.
By the end of the day I finally figured out that I should ease out the clutch on a downshift, same as when upshifting. My self-taught revelation might have been hard on that truck, but I continued to drive it for a couple of years, and it never needed to have the clutch replaced.
Mom's '68 Impala and Dad's '64 Biscayne.
Unfortunately, I took my first road test in the Biscayne, which did not have power steering, and I didn't do so well with the parallel parking and three point turn.
Everyone in my HS driver's ed car already had a license,so that was a snap. I believe the car we used was a '69 Pontiac Catalina with a 400.
Unfortunately, I took my first road test in the Biscayne, which did not have power steering, and I didn't do so well with the parallel parking and three point turn.
Everyone in my HS driver's ed car already had a license,so that was a snap. I believe the car we used was a '69 Pontiac Catalina with a 400.
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squidsix
Member
1954 Austin Healey 100-4. Took my road test in a 1971 Karman Ghia. Both were part of a whole slew of cars my boss owned when I was a kid. He bought the Austin new and drove it (along with Bruno Ferarri) in the Mille Miglia. It was cool learning to drive from him in that car.
Charmed life. I know.
Charmed life. I know.
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I first learned to drive in this one, which was our family car at the time. A 1950 Chevy 4-door Fleetline (fastback.) My dad took me out on the desert near Lookout Mountain, north of Phoenix. I'm sure he thought "He can't run into much except cactus." At any rate, I learned the art of using the clutch and shifting the three on the tree.
John
P.S. The Driver's Ed course at my high school was not well funded. They had to teach it and Sex Ed in the same car.
John
P.S. The Driver's Ed course at my high school was not well funded. They had to teach it and Sex Ed in the same car.
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1928 Model A. It was my buddy's and he let me drive it at the tender age of 15. (I'm an old fart)
< < < rimshot > > >
A 1970 AMC Gremlin
ericrlarson
Member
86 Oldsmobile Delta 88
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
A Farmall tractor...then a 1960 Chevy pickup with a four speed-granny low transmission around the farm I worked on.
But the first car I ever drove on the road, was my Dad's 1967 four door Chevy Impala with a 327 four-barrel and a three on the tree. My Dad was sort of surprised that I didn't have trouble with the three speed, then it clicked..."You've been driving on the farm, haven't you?"
But the first car I ever drove on the road, was my Dad's 1967 four door Chevy Impala with a 327 four-barrel and a three on the tree. My Dad was sort of surprised that I didn't have trouble with the three speed, then it clicked..."You've been driving on the farm, haven't you?"
