How'd you learn to drive, and on what?

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aircraft_electrician
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Post by aircraft_electrician »

My first experience with a clutch was also my first experience in a car period. I was almost 12, and had been kidding with my dad that I could drive, I said I'd been watching him and it looked pretty easy.

Well, my time came when we were at my aunt and uncle's house. Dad and uncle were in the garage having just finished replacing the clucth cable on my cousin's '78 Mustang II Cobra, and as usual, I was there getting in the way, I called it helping. My aunt came in and mentioned that her car needed the oil changed, and she'd pull it in the garage if they would move the Mustang.

Both of the guys were far too dirty to get in the Mustang, so Dad says to me, "You think you can do it, put the Mustang out in the driveway." So I climbed in and I knew the basics, clutch, gas, brake...well, I killed it as soon as I let out the clutch. Both of them had a pretty harty laugh at my expence. I was determined not to let them laugh at me again and instead of killing the engine, I left 2 black strips on the garage floor.

Dad sold his Camaro soon after that, and all of his cars since have been equipped with automatics, so my next experience with a manual trans was when I bought the first car that was "legally mine". It was a 1962 VW Bug. I remember when I test drove it I had no problems coordinating the clutch, but I had a heck of a time getting that thing into reverse! I didn't know you had to press down on the shifter to release the reverse lock-out.

I've always owned a stick shift ever since.

Tom
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joe mcclaine
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Post by joe mcclaine »

Took lessons in a Ford Escort.

First car was a HILLMAN IMP.
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KAV
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Post by KAV »

Wendell

The 1100S is back in the U.K. I bought it RHD and started sorting out the usual poblems and aftermarket junk. My friend brought out his considerable auto reference library and we realised my oddball engine size was a short run before the 'big' 1275 and I quote " alas, all have gone to the breakers." I realised it didn't belong in California when a Peterbuilt began moving over on me and I saw the trailer floor sliding over my roof :shock: Thank God for offramps. I advertised it in a UK motoring mag and sold it to a major collector. It's fully restored and RACED, last of it's mark.
These are all interesting cars from the past. I had a Valiant 3 on the column convertable for college. That thing took me to desert field trips, double dates and moved my stuff more than once.
The current recreated VW bugs, Minis,Tbirds miss the mark. Older cars could teach a lot of people about real driving.
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KAV
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Post by KAV »

My biggest profit was a Hillman! I bought a sky blue non runner for $50 ahead of the junkyard(breakers) put new tyres,oil and a battery in it and it ran just in time for the second installment of Harry Potter and the flying car. Man saw us and followed with his screaming daughters into the english garage I worked PT at. They ignored the old princess limo of the Royal Family, the DeLorean, the 100-4 Austin Heally. No, they had to drive in it and he bought it for Halloween for $1000. You can still hear it around town- growl,grind,spppt,pop,wzz :lol:
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ThePossum
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Post by ThePossum »

It has been so long ago I want to forget in what I learned to drive. In actuality it was a 1964 Chevy Biscayne. The high school driver training car. Of course my Dad's car was a 1963 Pontiac.

The first time I got in the driver training car the instructor told me to make a right turn. Of course I did what he told me. Good thing that he had a brake on his side of the car. When I turned the steering wheel to make the turn I forgot to allow is to turn back to a neutral position and the car kept turning right and almost into a ditch.

What a summer that was. 1964.
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wenestvedt
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Post by wenestvedt »

After driver's ed. I had to put in some hours behind the wheel, so on the way home from the lake one day my dad & I went separate from everyone else in the little 1987(?) Toyota Corolla (colored "champagne" for extra manliness).

He pulled over on the side of the road, a multimile straightaway of rural two-lane blacktop. We switched seats and I took off. His only remark for about half an hour was right at the beginning: "That's what we call a jackrabbit start." Good man. :7)

Eventually I was a pizza guy in that car, and it convinced me of one thing: kids should all have to drive around a car barely strong enough to withstand a stiff breeze, so they have the fear of the Lord in them about not driving crazy.
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aircraft_electrician
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Post by aircraft_electrician »

All this talk about learning to drive and my wife was planning to take our youngest daughter to the DMV this afternoon to get her license. I'm very curious about whether she passed the test or not, but since I just got home from work and they're both in bed (it is after midnight, after all) I'll just have to wait until tomorrow to find out if she's a licensed driver or not.

She has had the pleasure of learning in my wife's mini-van (an '06 Town & Country), my car (a '92 Caprice) and the car that was given (free) to us that has become hers (a fairly well beat up '95 Escort). All of these have automatic transmissions, and she hasn't had an opportunity to learn to master the standard transmission in my truck yet. Neither she nor I are looking forward to that experience, but she's going to learn soon.

Tom
A razor is a good deal like a gun, much depends on the man behind it - paraphrased from John Philip Sousa

ALWAYS wear a helmet when on 2 wheels; a helmet saved my life on 1Oct2007!
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fallingwickets
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Post by fallingwickets »

On the subject of licenses I have to say you Americans are so lucky, Back hone we had to use a manual....sadists sure knew where all the steep hills were with traffic lights / stop streets at the top (a rollback = fail) :roll: :lol:

clive

p,s let us know if she passed
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CMur12
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Post by CMur12 »

I generally got to drive my mother's 1962 Buick Skylark with the aluminum V8 and 2-speed automatic. It was pretty quick for the time.

My first car was a fairly beaten-up 1961 Volvo 544, with a 4-speed manual, and that was where I learned to drive a stick.

My dad drove MGs for 17 years: a TD, a TF 1500, an MGA, and an MGB. He turned 50 and a month later he traded in the MGB on a Rover 2000 TC, which was an English luxury sports sedan. (I was actually on to that car before he was.)

I wasn't allowed to drive the MGs because the insurance would have been so expensive, but I was eventually allowed to drive the Rover after I had demonstrated proficiency with the stick shift in my own Volvo. I later had a Volvo 122S, which in my mind was the best car that Volvo ever made, and a Renault R10 (what a neat little car!).

I currently drive a Honda Accord with a 5-speed manual. The same car with the 5-speed automatic is rather soft and boring, but the model I have is edgier and much more enjoyable to drive. If I were younger or didn't have a bad back, I would probably drive a Honda Fit, as I still love small cars.

- Murray
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desertbadger
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Post by desertbadger »

Learned on a '49 Willis Jeep pick up truck; the kind with the foot operated starter, 3 speed on the floor, 4 wheel drive (two shifting levers for high range or low range) one rear tail light, and no heater. My folks had 2.5 acres of land and my dad needed help with all the tree trimming, leave raking, etc., so I was ordered to volunteer to learn how to drive in order to help out. The year was 1960 and I was 8 years old, so I only drove on the property.
The truck's top speed was 50 mph with a strong tail wind. I miss that old truck!

Regards,
David
Regards,
David
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aircraft_electrician
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Post by aircraft_electrician »

CMur12 wrote:and a Renault R10 (what a neat little car!).

- Murray
The Renault R10! A very cool little sedan that went 0-60 in, well, they actually got bored and stopped the clock before it ever reached 60mph. I think my '62 Beetle with the 42.5 horsepower 1100cc engine was at least as quick, if not quicker than the old R10, though it didn't have as much room inside. Great car though.

Tom
A razor is a good deal like a gun, much depends on the man behind it - paraphrased from John Philip Sousa

ALWAYS wear a helmet when on 2 wheels; a helmet saved my life on 1Oct2007!
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KAV
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Post by KAV »

Murray
If it wasn't for the extremely high upkeep I'd be driving a Rover 2000TC today. The car was aerodymanically superb in high winds with a deDion rear end, gas tank protected by the axle and sub assemblies, an aluminum version of a buick engine and the most comfortable seats I ever sat in.
A friend had one in BRG I drove on several long trips. But again, numbing maintenance and he bought a Volvo 240.
Dale
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Post by Dale »

I learned to drive on a 1960 Austin Healy "Bug eye" Sprite. A very cool car to run all over Oahu in.
Regards,
Dale
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razorburned
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Post by razorburned »

Dale wrote:I learned to drive on a 1960 Austin Healy "Bug eye" Sprite. A very cool car to run all over Oahu in.
Correction, a very cool car to run all over ANY WHERE in :lol:

I would love to have an old Healey
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kronos9
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Post by kronos9 »

Learned to aim, accelerate, turn, park, and stop in high school.

It was another year before I passed my father's test of dealing with high speed congested expressways (Chicago Dan Ryan) and went for my driver's license exam.

Later, learned actual vehicle control in a manual transmission Datsun B-210.
Ed
CMur12
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Post by CMur12 »

aircraft_electrician wrote:
CMur12 wrote:and a Renault R10 (what a neat little car!).

- Murray
The Renault R10! A very cool little sedan that went 0-60 in, well, they actually got bored and stopped the clock before it ever reached 60mph. I think my '62 Beetle with the 42.5 horsepower 1100cc engine was at least as quick, if not quicker than the old R10, though it didn't have as much room inside. Great car though.

Tom
Tom, the R10 was actually pretty quick and I never experienced it as a slow car.

In 1967, Car & Driver (or possibly Road & Track) did a comparison test of the R10 and the VW Beetle with the new 1500cc 53hp engine, and the R10 was fairly significantly faster in the acceleration tests. The R8 that preceded it, with shorter overhangs and lighter weight, was incredibly fast among small cars at the time.

The R10 was unusual because it had one of the first sealed cooling systems and it had 4-wheel disc brakes!

- Murray
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Post by CMur12 »

KAV wrote:Murray
If it wasn't for the extremely high upkeep I'd be driving a Rover 2000TC today. The car was aerodymanically superb in high winds with a deDion rear end, gas tank protected by the axle and sub assemblies, an aluminum version of a buick engine and the most comfortable seats I ever sat in.
A friend had one in BRG I drove on several long trips. But again, numbing maintenance and he bought a Volvo 240.
Chris, quite true that the Rover was English-fiddly in terms of maintenance and reliability. The 2000TC had a 2-liter 4-cylinder engine with twin SU carbs (TC = twin carbs, to distinguish it from the single-carb 2000). It had amazing handling for a sedan and it had perhaps the most advanced safety engineering of any car on the road at the time. The front springs were actually horizontal.

It was later that Rover bought the rights to the Buick-Oldsmobile-Pontiac ("BOP") aluminum V8 (the one my mother had in her 1962 Buick Skylark), worked out the cooling problems and such, mounted it in the chassis of the Rover 2000TC, and christened it the Rover 3500. I believe the 3500 came only with an automatic transmission, while the 2000TC came only with a 4-speed manual.

The 1960s were a wonderful time in terms of the sheer variety of cars that were avialable. We have nothing approaching that today. On the other hand, today's cars are way more relaible and last much longer (in part thanks to modern lubricants).

- Murray
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Squire
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Post by Squire »

We lived in the city but spent our summers on the family farms. When a kid's legs were long enough we were put on a tractor and instructed to clip the pastures. Does anyone remember those old John Deers with the outside flywheel? OSHA wouldn't allow such a thing to be built now.

Graduating to farm trucks, all manual transmissions, I was a pretty cocky teenager when I went to take the driver's test in 1964. Dad drove me and the instructor insisted I take my test in Dad's car. A '62 Lincoln Continental, yeah, the big monster with the suicide rear doors.

I did well except for parallel parking where I knocked down the poles fore and aft, looked up to see my Dad's head back roaring with laughter, a trait which I share, and while still in shell shock Dad pops into the passenger side and said, "You got your license now drive us home and look out for those damn poles in the way".

I drove carefully and Dad laughed the whole time. I miss that guy.
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Squire
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Steve-o
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Post by Steve-o »

kronos9 wrote:It was another year before I passed my father's test
My father was a high-school teacher and, for many years, taught driver's ed during the summers to pick up a few bucks. I did not learn to drive from him, though you'd better believe driving with him in the passenger seat was an exercise in doing it right.

I never understood, though, how a man who could point out a squirrel crossing the road hundreds of yards away would wait until I was almost in the middle of an intersection before he'd say "Turn left!" :lol:
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Chaps
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Post by Chaps »

My Dad taught me in a '62 Bel-Air, which by the way was my first car. I really miss that car.

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