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Every Sunday from the earliest times I can remember, my dad would take me to get bacon, egg & cheese sandwiches at this deli a couple towns over. Once I turned either 14 or 15 this ritual also included teaching me how to drive his '93 Chevy Astro for an hour or so....which I thought was really cool. That van was actually really easy to drive....we would go over to this part of town with SUPER-narrow streets, (they call it "tiny town"....used to be a Methodist summer retreat in the 19th century and the old dirt roads and little summer cottages have been absorbed into the modern fabric of suburbia) one reason was because there was rarely ever any traffic, but I guess he also figured if I could drive those crazy ass streets without hitting anything I could drive anywhere. By the time I started Driver's Ed, I had already been driving for over a year and had it down perfectly. Took my road test in the Driver's Ed car, which was a '91 or '92 Chevy Corsica (automatic with the V6) and just barely passed on my first try (I got nervous!)
First car I drove a standard transmission on was my friends mid-80s Mazda 323, not too long after I first started driving. I really "learned" on my Jeep CJ-7 though, which was the second car I ever owned. It had a 3-speed dogleg tranny and was a real beast to drive. Right after I bought it, I took it down to the deserted beach parking lots to practice and one of the shackles on the rear leaf springs snapped! I was crapping my pants driving that thing home on the parkway LOL....didn't go more than 15MPH the whole way...
A 1998 Plymouth Breeze was our driver's ed car I learned in, and I also learned in my mom's 1996 Ford Windstar and my dad's 1990 Chevy Lumina Euro (which later became my car).
Most of the cars mentioned are/were fairly newfor me that is. Oldest being a 1939.
I was a kid and having to help my dad (mechanic shop owner) as a 3rd hand many times was asked to drive a car to push start some car he had been working on. These were all stick 3 sp trannys...no autos in the 1930's.
My recollection of notable was Model T Ford, Willys Knight, 29 Ford, 31 Ford, 1934 Cad Limo V16 engine.
My first very owned car was a 31 Ford Cpe.
I drove all those cars and some others I'm too old to remember. Them were the days and no disparity to the younger peoples recollection that were mentioned. We all had our good memories and thats what life is all about.
Home car = 1996 Toyota Camry not a yota fan....
Drivers ed = 1999 Chevy Cavalier. what a pile. my drivers ed lady made me drive her thru the mcdonalds drive thru every lesson i had... hahaha
These are interesting...looks like some folks had a more fun ride to learn in than others.
You can also tell the children from the geezers!
As someone who learned on a manual (both 3 on the tree and floor stick), I'd really recommend that if you have kids that you teach them how to drive a manual...I can't get over all the "psychic" kids and adults I've met in my life..."I'll never have to do (drive) that!" Really? You're absolutely positive? You can't be.
I taught me girls and they hated it. Learned, but hated it. I heard the sweetest words a parent can hear from a child about a month ago..."Dad, you were right."
My oldest newlywed daughter had a car wreck totally her (automatic) car, leaving her and her husband temporarily with one car, his with a stick. He went into a coma about a week ago (ongoing health issue, he's fine now) and she HAD to drive him for help. And she was able to! Yay!
Learn on a stick. You may be in a position where that's all that's available.
Ok, back to your regularly scheduled thread...
If I remember right, the drivers' ed cars we had were Novas and Montegos, all donated by a local dealer. Our drivers' ed teacher told us they gave the school 15 new cars each year. We thought the Novas were little. They were compared to what I'd been driving on the most...a grain truck. We also had to simulators in a trailer (sponsored by Aetna insurance) that were pretty cool. We drove the Novas and Montegos on a closed course with the teacher watching us from a tower and each car with a walkie talkie in it. The teacher also took us out a number of times after school. All my school driving was done in the snow, which was good. Doesn't seem schools have these types of programs any more.
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not a yota fan....
