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

[razorburned]

After recently, completely by accident mind you, hijacking the 'Debating DE vs. Cartridge' thread (sorry again BeatlesFan), I started thinking about how I learned to drive. This lead me to wonder what stories some of you gents must have on the subject. To start it off, here is mine, which I must say is a winner strategy if anyone has teens that need teaching.

When I was a freshman in high school I found a help wanted posting on a bulletin board in one of the halls for an after school job at a roofing company. I went and applied, not expecting to get the job as I was only 13 at the time. To my delight (short lived) I got it. The job consisted of me showing up after school and cleaning 'the yard' till the roofers came back to the shop around 5:30. Once all the trucks were in, I had to remove any garbage, sweep the beds, and reload them for the next day's jobs. As this job was done mostly 'after hours' I was given keys to the building and gate, along with alarm codes...I had to lock up before going home.

I show up for my first day at work and the owner asks if I know how to drive. As I have to unload and reload the trucks, I will need to move them around the yard as well as operate the forklift. Umm no. I figure I have just lost my first job, on the first day. He goes to the office, comes back and tosses me the key for one of the trucks and tells me to get in...no, the driver's seat. It was a 90's Toyota 4x4 stick shift. He walked around to the driver's door, pointed to the peddles and said 'clutch, break, gas. hold in the clutch to change gears and when you stop, press the gas as you lift off the clutch to go, now figure it out' then walked away.


If you have someone you need to teach to drive, I strongly recommend this method. Get a manual transmission vehicle that can handle a bit of misuse, very basically explain the mechanics, provide a safe location not on public roads to practice, and leave the student on their own to learn without someone looking over their shoulder. Be close by in case you are needed, but don't let them catch you watching...they may get nervous.

[Kyle76]

I also learned to drive in a roofing company straight-drive truck. My dad owned the company, and I worked there in the summers. He had several Chevy pickups, circa 1965. Back then, the dashboards were unpadded and made out of steel. No seat belts, radio or air conditioning. We were reroofing a Coca-Cola plant, and during breaks, I would take one of the trucks around the parking lot. I remember one day I ended up right next to a deep, open culvert on a grade that would roll me right into it. I wasn't skilled enough to use the hand brake to keep me from rolling into it when I pushed the clutch in. I figured out that if I turned the key, the starter would lunge the truck forward a foot or two, so I used this method to move far enough from the culvert that I felt comfortable engaging the clutch and driving away. Every man should know how to drive a straight. They are great fun. My first car was my grandfather's old fishing car - a 1964 Plymouth Valiant with three speeds on the column ("three on the tree"). I have great memories of that car. As much as I tried, it was indestructible.

[Blue As A Jewel]

When I turned 16, my dad gave me two lessons and then I took two lessons from Young Drivers of Canada - passed my tests, applied for a job as a pizza delivery guy - told the owner I could drive a stick, although I didn't have the faintest clue - the cook tried to show me how in the parking lot when the boss was out - eventually was able to muddle through it - problem was the VW Bug didn't go in reverse and the gas and speedometer gauges didn't work! It was awesome!!

I am currently driving a stick... all my gauges work and the car does reverse...

[razorburned]

My first car was my grandfather's old fishing car - a 1964 Plymouth Valiant with three speeds on the column ("three on the tree"). I have great memories of that car. As much as I tried, it was indestructible.

I never have gotten a chance to drive a "three on the tree", but have always wanted to try. When I was little, our family (family of 4) car was a '57 Chevy 3500 pickup with "three on the tree". It had a radio, but everything else was about the same as the '65 you were in....steel dash, bench seat, no belts or AC etc, but would have run for ever. Man, they sure don't build them like that anymore.

[95%]

Great thread, razorburned. Lots of good stories here. My father taught me to drive his '56 Buick Special stick shift when I was 13. I was never sure why; my three older siblings had to wait until the legal age of 16. Perhaps it was because his health was failing and my mother had never learned to drive. I drove without a license for two and a half years. He taught me well, and since that time in the mid-fifties I've put about 1,500,000 miles on my personal odometer without an accident except for a single parking-lot fender bender.

[murchmb]

1983. My Dad taught me in an empty Target parking lot. We drove his '75 BMW 1600. By the time I got my DL, he had upgraded to a diesel VW Rabbit. I switched between it and a '64 Corvair convertible until i saved enough money in '84 to buy a '78 VW Scirocco, my very first car owned by me. Thanks to my brief, formative experiences in the 1600, I still sometimes wish for a BMW 2002.

[95%]

Mike, I had a '76 BMW 2002, the last year they were made. The color was granatrot, garnet red. I washed it every night, and my wife said I loved it more than I loved her. That wasn't true, but I certainly loved it more than it deserved. It was always in the shop. In 1989 I traded it in on a Honda Accord, and I've been a convert to Japanese cars ever since.

[jww]

Mom started me off on her 1969 Pontiac Acadian -- their version of the Nova -- it was a great car -- 2 door, 6 cylinder automatic. The first time my father drove with me, I came up against a yellow light, and I did exactly what mom taught me to do -- hit the accelerator. Pops went nuts on me -- but eased up when I told him that's what mom told me to do. They had an interesting discussion when we got home.

It wasn't until I was married that I learned to drive a stick -- and believe it or not - my wife taught me in the parking lot of the local swimming pool in Port Dalhousie, Ontario. We were test driving a brand new 1982 Honda Civic station wagon/estate. Then we went to try a new Mazda 626 -- and I popped the clutch leaving the dealership - strafing a line of new BMW 5-series with gravel, and leaving a very distraught salesman with his jaw hanging down as we drove out.

I didn't buy either car, btw -- but our first brand new car did have a stick - and we have tried to always have at least one manual transmission car in the family at any given point in time. Current vehicles are a Santa Fe Luxury and an Accent GLS -- with, you guessed it -- a 5 speed manual transmission. Nothing like a stick.

[Steve-o]

In Kansas, where I was living at the time, you could drive legally (with restrictions) at 14 (that may have changed by now). I was 16 when I got my license by passing Driver's Ed (!). I still remember my uncle's AMC Ambassador (not fondly), which I managed to involve in a fender-bender within a few weeks of getting my license.

30 years ago, I bought my very first stick-shift car (also my first new car; also my first car). Never took it for a test drive; in fact, I didn't even drive it home -- I didn't know how to drive a stick. But I was darned if I was going to saddle that little car (Renault 5; apparently questionable taste in cars runs in the family) with an automatic. So I taught myself how to drive a stick in a parking lot. I've been driving stick-shifts since. Really wouldn't want it any other way.

[KAV]

I bought a 1955 RHD MG Magnette for $250 before I could drive. The owner drove us both home. I received my learner's permit the day I also bought a MGA coupe. My brother bought a copycat MGA roadster and his friends a Sunbeam Alpine and TR4. A friend's english uncle, retired Jaguar Le Mans mechanic taught me double clutching a non synchro gearbox, drifting corners and always being in the right gear at the right speed for the suprises ahead.He said I was the smart one as we drove in heavy rains that year. I still think Lucas electrics perform better in wet weather. The Magnette topped out @ 75MPH, took 25 seconds to reach 60 and got 25 MPG seating 4.
'Uncle' Nigel had a english ladyfriend who wanted a proper british saloon.
I sold my Magnette for $500 and a Webley-Fosbury revolver her late father passed on. I bought my XK 140 drophead coupe with the $500 and another $200 secured my Jowet Jupiter for my first proper ragtop. I went into the military. I came home and bought my Mini-Cooper S 1100.
I wish I had one of those cars today instead of this damnable toyota

[fishgutmartyr]

I learned to drive in a '74 Chevy Bel Air sedan. A small ocean-going vessel. The thing was huge--one of the largest vehicles I've ever driven that would dwarf some modern SUVs. Passed the driver's course at school, rode that beast with my dad and used it to pass my driving test. Then on to my first car: a 1971 Plymouth Duster.

It was minutes away from the junk yard when I got it: the steering wheel wasn't exactly round anymore; there were speaker holes everywhere but no speakers or radio; and when filling out "color" on the registration, I had to think long and hard about it. Oddly enough, I smile every time I think of it.

My first manual transmission car was my next--a green, '74 Chevy Vega. Call it a hunk of junk (it was), but there was something about the shape of the hood and the headlights and the driving position that made you feel like you were driving something better. If they had just taken some time to improve some things, like the engine, brakes, exhaust, etc.; that would have been a nice little car.

[bernards66]

My father taught me in 1965 on the tight hilly roads of northern New Jersey and in the moderate sized towns in the area ( for traffic practice, parallel parking, etc. ). It was a three speed manual shift Opel sedan.
Regards,
Gordon

[stagger]

I learned to drive at our family farm on a Farmall Cub tractor. Once I got the hang of it I transitioned to my grandaddy's 1950 sumthin Chevy pickup. To this day I still enjoy driving a truck with 3 speed on the column. Fond memories.

[fallingwickets]

I started driving when I was 10......an austin. Took me about a year to figure out how to go from 1st to 2nd

first accident was using my moms valiant.....I was 13 and totally misjudged the garage walls....WOOOHOOOOOO did i take a beating for that; valiant was sort of ok though HAHAHA

clive

ps EXCELLENT thread thanks

[GollyMrScience]

As a farm kid I was expected to know how to drive a tractor by the time I was 9. Maybe not plough the back 40 but be able to get it from point A to B and some basics. There was always a truck around that was sort of sacrificial and was the learning truck that got driven around the fields by kids learning. There was no such thing as an automatic transmission in those things and the first lesson was usually - "There's the gas - there's the brake and there's the clutch."
Ahhhh good times -sort of a right of passage to be given the keys to go learn how to drive. LOL
My first automatic transmission was a push button Rambler. Wow talk about "modern".

[function]

Learned on a first generation Ford Explorer - 94 I think. The acceleration was terrible causing me to lean too much on the gas, and the center of balance was about 6ft in the air on that thing, loads of fun around corners when you are still learning what a vehicle does in corners.
I transitioned to V6 family sedans - two Maximas and now the company Impala. All have been automatic.

The wife doesn't get why I have a desire to get my hands on a old Ford Bronco customized to be a ragtop.

[Gene]

Clive...thanks for the name...Valiant, from Plymouth.

I was 13 or 14, and my dad taught me to drive his old Valiant. It was a 3-speed (on the floor). Dad taught me to drive at the pistol range he and I were member of, and after I got decent with the starts and shifts from first to second, and into reverse, etc. I would drive up and down the dirt road that ran the entire length of the gun club. I set barrels and cones up and taught myself to parallel park, practised all kinds of thing, even learned how to back a trailer in relative safety.

[jww]

Kav -- I want your mini-cooper s 1100 -- what a sweet little vehicle those were/are.

[reggiano]

I learned to drive in a field in Vermont in a 1929 Model A. My first car was a 1970 Chevy pickup with three on the tree. The first car I smashed up, but didn't total was a 74 Jeep Cherokee, the day I got my license. The first car I totaled was a 76 Peugeot 504. I'm currently the dull owner of a Camry Hybrid and a Scion XB. My oldest son learned to drive on the Camry, and doesn't even know how to turn an ignition with a key (the Camry is push-button start). My younger son wants to learn on the Scion (manual transmission), because he thinks he will have it to himself.

[malocchio]

I was 12 years old in 1961 and my grandfather decided I absolutely must learn how to drive,much to my great delight ! after burning out his clutch I mastered the art of driving in 3 days,and was given permission to drive his battle tank 1958 ford straight 6 station wagon on weekends,I always drove like he showed me,I never got stopped,and finally achieved my first license at age 15...those were the good old days