At what age, and in what car did you learn to drive?

[Oldguy48]

Thought this might make for an interesting thread. In my case, I was 12 years old, and the car was a 1953 Ford, V8, stick shift, manual steering, manual brakes, and I sat on a folded up pillow so I could see over the steering wheel. My main instructor was my mother (she had a lot more patience for that sort of thing than Dad did !!). Fortunately, we lived in the country and had very little traffic in the area, so the risk was minimal. I'm still thankful for those driving lessons at that early age. Of course, I was not allowed to drive solo for quite some time, although I did manage to venture out a few times prior to getting my license. I took my driving test at age 16 in the family's P15. After driving the course, the trooper asked "How long have you been driving?" I said just since I got my learners permit. His response was "Yeah...right". I guess I did OK.

[JIPJOBXX]

I got my first car at age 13 but it was a gift from my older brother to keep me out of his hair. I took it completly apart and two years latter I had it back together again was driving it back and forth to high school or whatever!

[Eneto-55]

My older brother hogged every opportunity there was to drive even the tractor, so I never drove anything until I took drivers training at 15 1/2, the summer of 71. It was a brand new Chevrolet. Then after I was able to legally drive my parents' car, I learned on the 62 Chrysler Newport that later (about 6 years later) became my first car. (I got into environmentalism before I could take the driver's test, and didn't even try to get my license until after I was 18. Well, maybe I did take the test the first time when I was barely 16 - Not sure anymore.)

Edited January 12, 2012 by Eneto-55
spelling

[John Reddie]

I was 13 and the car was a gift, a 1937 Oldsmobile 6 cylinder 4 door sedan.

John R

[pflaming]

Around age 10, I spent a lot of time on the tractor, Model D John Deere and learned to steer there, then learned on a 38 Chevy pickup. The tractor and the pickup are attached. We found the old tractor, it is being overhauled and painted now.

We got 'learner's permits' at the age of 14! I wonder how many members had one. It was for school, church or farm related driving such as 2 Ton trucks full of wheat!!!!! Hard to believe. Dad sent me home with a 1 1/2 T 47 Ford truck with a Model D John Deere on bed. I was about 14, freshman in high school, never forget that trip!!!!

Edited August 30, 2018 by pflaming
"Learner's permit"

[greg g]

1938 Massey Harris 30 @ 13, first car 51 Plymouth at 14 a cast off from my cousin, it was a lot car first, then on the road 3 days after I got my license 3 days after my 16th B day.

[JerseyHarold]

First time I drove I was 15 and the car was our '65 Dodge Coronet. This may not count, but when I was real young (like seven or eight) my father would let me shift our '52 Cambridge. I'd sit next to him, and he'd work the clutch and tell me to shift.

[michael.warshaw]

1969 pontiac tempest 3 speed 6. then i discovered datsuns, and hondas, what a quality autommobile.

[/img]

Edited January 12, 2012 by michael.warshaw

[BobT-47P15]

When I was around 14 I used to drive my Dad's old fishing car, a 1938

kinda ratty Chevy up and down the alley behind our house. It had the

floor shift.

Also, about that time, Dad bought a 1947 International Railway Express

truck (retired from service) to use as transportation for a group of us

Boy Scouts to the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. The troop

fathers got together and fixed the truck up by adding four old school bus

seats in the back, and made a heavy duty wire mesh screen door for the

back, installed racks overhead for camping gear, and built a storage box

to sit in the passenger position......put a back on it for more comfort and

a pillow on the bottom. My Dad was the driver on the trip with 9 of us

Scouts. We rotated as to who got to ride "shotgun" in the front for a

while. That trip was in 1958. Anyway, I also practiced driving that

truck in the alley.....had the "ol granny" low gear.

So I had some practice prior to taking the driver test at 16.

[Dan Hiebert]

When my brother and I were 10 or so (we're twins), our dad would let us take turns sitting on his lap to steer the car (63 Ford Galaxie, or "unknown year" first model IH Scout) driving down whatever highway we happened to be on. Learned to actually drive when I was 14 or 15 in a 72 IH Scout II, manual tranny, of course. All off-road at first, but gradually moved onto pavement. During my Jr. and Sr. years in high school, it was one of my chores to haul the trash to the dump "as needed". Needless to say the trash needed hauling (in my opinion, anyway) two or three times a week, and my dad HAS to know I was visiting friends on the way - but he never let on.

[Young Ed]

I got my learners permit at 15 and my actual license just after my 18th birthday. These are the cars I primarily learned on. The 39 and 83 wagon are sold now. The dakota is mine now. The plymouth truck is being restored. The plymouth pickup is the only one I was allowed to drive by myself on the site of my parents cabin. At the time it was just a 6acre wooded lot.

[Mark D]

I was 13 years old, the year was 1978, I was working for my grandfather who owned an excavating company. The machine was a 1960 Mack B Series 6-wheeler with a dump body with a two speed rear end. The truck had over 600k on the odo when my grandfather got it. He bought it cheap from the batch plant because it had a stuck engine. Four months of soaking in Marvels Mystery Oil and a ball pean hammer solved that problem. I sold the truck to a local landscaper when he died in 1995. I beleive the truck is still on the road.

[Young Ed]

Wow with 600K miles when did it have time to sit long enough to get stuck?

[1940plymouth]

I was 10 years old, Dad had a '54 4dr sedan, we had a long driveway and if he would get stuck in the winter time, I taught me how to work the clutch and first and reverse to rock the car backwards and forward once he was finished shoveling.

My Uncle Don had a '60 Corvair that I would drive in the field behind the cow barn. It had the auto tranny with the shifting lever to the right of the steering wheel on the dash.

We had a 1945 Farmall H that I learned how to drive at ten years old, did most of the raking with that tractor until I went in the service in 1968. My Grandfather Drown bought that Farmall new in 1945 just after the war ended. It was his first tractor, it stayed in the family until the late '70's

[homebrewer]

15 yrs old. I learned on a 1948 Plymouth P 15 4 Dr Sedan. Hence my love affair with P 15's

[52b3b Joe]

I learned at the age of 12 in 2003. My dad let me move our 1960 desoto with manual brakes when he was washing it. He would let me drive it up and down our driveway. The car was very nice, looking back I wonder why he let me move it around! I soon learned that if I offered to wash the cars, then I could get them out and drive them a little. When I got my temps in '05 the first car I drove was my 65' corvair that I had just finished restoring and the second car I drove was the 60 desoto. I also had a go-cart growing up that you couldn't get me off.

[Smokeybear]

I learned to drive on THE coolest car ever. My dad traded in his 74 Oldsmobile Regency 98 for a brand spanking new 1984 Mercury...topaz. At least it was a 5 speed. He said he wanted me to learn to drive on a stick shift so that I could drive anything.

Yeah me.

[Randy L Peterson]

I believe I was 13 and it was a 1967 Rambler American 3 on the tree and a 199 cid 6 cylinder..

RLP

[Greenbomb]

1965, age 16, my Dad's 1960 Chrysler Imperial Crown 4-dr sedan. What a cool car!

[Harvey Tank]

I was 16 in a 1936 Graham

[Robin (UK)]

I couldn't drive on the road until aged 17 in England (actually it's 18 now).

That was 1981.

I learnt in my 1954 Mk1 Ford Consul.

[Greenbomb]

Wow! Ford Consul! My dad had a couple '52 "English Fords", as he called them, given to him. I was just a kid. They didn't run. They were there awhile and then they were gone. Hmmmm...memories.

[james49ply]

Age 12, tractor in Colorado, 13, 1957 Ford, in Louisiana

[Don Coatney]

I started out on skates.

Then I took drivers training.

[MoparAl-]

My Dad was a builder in East London, i used to go with him to estimates, i'd sit in the car while he was in the house with the customer and i would turn the car around so we were facing the right way to go home. I was around 11 and Dad never said a thing ! When i was 14 he bought me a 1965 Ford Special 1172 kit car to play with in the garage, unfortunately he took it away after my Uncle told him that he had seen me driving it in London ! Got my provisional driving license on my seventeenth birthday which was one day AFTER i got nicked for smashing up my birthday present, a BSA Bantam Supreme 125cc motorcycle ! Got a £35 fine for no driving license, no tax, no insurance and nearly killing myself (six months in agony) and didnt lose my license thanks to Dad talking his heart out to the judge. Believe it or not that was the last of my stupidity as teenager.