Monday's Question Of The Day - July 30, 2018

[MoochNNoodles]

I don't remember if this is the great question I had in mind 24 hours ago; but here I am anyway!


What car/vehicle did you learn to drive in?



I sort of learned in my mother's Mazda Protege. It was a stick and I never got the hang of it. Lessons ended in tears. I had to take the driving portion of my test 3 times!! Then my mother's co-worker volunteered to teach me in her brand new car! Brave lady! I think I only scared her once. I believe it was a Ford Taurus. So the 3rd time was the charm for me.

Today kids are learning as toddlers on power wheels. My step-dad tried to let my 6 year old drive a go-kart this weekend. I'm told it didn't go well. He wanted to put the pedal to the metal. It's probably good that I wasn't there to witness it! My DD is much more cautious and never goes too fast. (And they never go alone!!)

 

[Kieka]

It was a mix of a Honda Accord and Ford Explorer. There was a Toyota Truck for one attempt at a stick, that failed miserably when after two blocks I stalled and some jerk flipped out on me.

 

[muffy]

My fathers 64 Dodge Dart. This was in 1967.

 

[mani]

This, as an manual. It was brand, spanking new, and I felt very proud to have been allowed to drive it.

 

[Winchester]

Dad taught me to drive at 14 in an old Chevy station wagon. We camped a lot when I was a kid and Dad would have me drive the wagon out along the old fire tower roads up in the mountains.

When I got my permit, Rick tried to teach me how to drive in his Mustang fastback. Rick is not a good driving teacher and things didn't go well. His sister ended up working with me. Dad took me for my test, again in the Mustang. He didn't think I'd do a good job with the 3-point turn in the Mustang, but I did.

When it came time to teach our son how to drive, Rick tried, but again, it didn't work out. I ended up teaching our son and I took him down for his test. I had a five-speed Olds Calais at the time and my darling son was great....when it came to grinding gears. We ended up taking Mom's Chevy for his driving test since it was automatic.

 

[denice]

I don't remember the exact model year but it was a Nash Rambler from the sixties with a three on the column.

 

[engine4154]

1947 Willy's Jeep back around '79.

It was pretty much stock then. This is it in the mid to late 80s after my dad modified it. We sold it after he passed away in the 90s...now I'm wishing we kept it.

 

[jcat]

I learned in my then-boyfriend's Ford Mustang, which I believe was a '71 or '72. My father was amazed how fast I picked up driving when I got my learner's permit and he took me out in my mom's Buick Skylark for the first time. He didn't ask about that until years later.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

i took lessons from a driving school. i got my learners permit the first time i took the test.

 

[verna davies]

I learned in a 1967 Morris Traveller. That was in 1975 and I passed on my birthday ( not admitting to which one)

 

[Willowy]

I don't really remember what car I learned in. Either my mom's Villager minivan or my uncle's old Buick. I think I took the test in the Mercury Sable that my parents kept around as a spare. I still have never driven a stick shift. The only person I knew who had a stick when I was a teenager was my grandpa, and my dad said I'd better not try to learn in his pickup truck because he'd kill both of us if I stripped the gears. And I don't know anyone now who has a manual.

I passed the test the first time I took it, although I barely passed the written test (I had basically memorized the booklet, but they're tricky with the test questions. Very oddly worded). I think I was 19.

 

[kashmir64]

My cousin taught me to drive when I was 12 on a '52 International truck. Column shift, starter on the floor, manual everything. Drove a shift until 10 years ago when I got my first automatic.
Funny thing- I had to be shown how to start it. I just sat there trying to figure out how to start a car that had no clutch. And I still try to turn it off without putting it in park.

 

[DreamerRose]

I learned on a 1947 Hudson with a stick shift. It was 11 years old at the time, and Dad kept it for another 10 years. It was the bane of my life when I was a teenager. The floorboards rusted out and Dad covered them with wood planks. Everyone else was driving those sharp cars with tail fins.

 

[cassiopea]

1997 Ford Ranger Truck

At least officially around and about in public as a teenager when it came to the process of actually getting a license.

I was actually taught to drive much younger in a 1980's station wagon (8 years old). I only stayed on the property of course - it was just the reality of the farm and equestrian life at the time! Gotta put the human offspring into good use!


It was funny at first when I started driving much smaller cars like hatchbacks, I was so used to massive clunky things I used to unknowingly take up a lot of space when doing things like parking.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

Love these stories. We discovered in my family that my mother was better with my step-siblings and my step-dad did better with me. I might have stalled my mother's car every time we tried; but my step-brother was the one who had a neighbor come out and ask if they were ok. Mom always said the girls were easy; the boys needed work. Not including me of course. I needed outside help. My stepbrother was also the one who killed my first car by running it out of oil. Valedictorian indeed.

Back then my step-dad drove a huge van that was older than I was. I didn't have the arm strength to turn it well. That sucker was huge. It had 2 rows of 6 in the back and still enough room in the cargo area that they brought the riding mower home in it. Huge. There was no way I was learning on that! The van died before my stepsister had to learn to drive. She got to learn on a car with a broken speedometer. I still remember driving up the dark road that led to our neighborhood and getting stuck behind someone going 35 in a 50. Then realizing I could see my stepbrother in the back laughing hysterically. My stepdad insisted she was speeding.

We were required to take a drivers ed class from a certified instructor. I went through my school. They also did driving lessons with us and passed or failed us. So no going to the DMV for a test. Being able to practice on a better vehicle made all the difference for me. Kids around here only got a permit if they needed more practice before getting a licence.

 

[Boris Diamond]

I had Driver's Education in 1965, taught by the local school system. I don't remember what kind of cars we drove, but it was some mid-sized sedan. I do remember our teacher! If someone honked at us, he would get out of the car and go running after that person to cuss them out! He did it on an interstate ramp once. I mean, we had a Driver's Education sign on the vehicle. Couldn't they see we needed extra consideration? He had quite a reputation and was fired a few years later. Great question, MoochNNoodles ! I hadn't thought about that in years!

This is the car I practiced on, a Buick station wagon, sometimes called a Skywagon. It had a really big engine and terrible gas mileage, but could it accelerate!

This is the car I learned to drive a stick on. It is a Pontiac LeMans. Fantastic car! My brother talked my father into getting it, though I don't think my father was that comfortable with a stick shift.

Edited to add: these are not the actual cars, but pictures I found online.

 

[misty8723]

Ford Granada. My boyfriend (now my husband) taught me.

 

[MonaLyssa33]

I learned in my mom's 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix and a 1995 Mercury Sable that me and my sister drove during our high school years.

 

[maggiedemi]

I learned to drive with our Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera and Chevrolet Caprice station wagon. The station wagon was hard to parallel park though, so I took my road test in the Oldsmobile.

 

[Tobermory]

Because my dad was infected by the new car bug, we had a new car every two years, so I learned in a succession of cars from the time I was pretty small. Some of them had tail fins. I remember a couple of Cadillacs, a Buick Electra and a Buick Skylark.

Dad taught me to drive by putting me on his lap and letting me steer. I knew how to drive long before I was old enough to legally be behind the wheel!

A college boyfriend taught me how to drive a stick in an orange Chevy Vega.

 

[Jayflower]

The Driver's Ed car when I was in high school was an early '90s Chevy, a Corsica or a Lumina, I can't remember which. That was the car that I took my driver's test in.
However, the car that I mainly learned how to drive in was my mom's 1991 Mustang. It was a 4 cylinder automatic. In late 1997, my mom got a 1998 Mustang. It was a 6 cylinder with a stick shift, and that was the car that I learned how to drive stick in.