...Buicks. Dad was Service Mgr at local dealership, so I "got" to drive his demonstrators as his chauffeur. Worked there summers and a couple years after hs. Drove almost every Buick from'39 to '63 and other brand trade-ins. My favorite non-Buick was a '55 Caribbean convertible. Really nice car...
The first thing I ever "drove" was a 1942 Douglas DC-3, (ex-USAAF C-47) I was 13 and it was in the Philippines. I went up to the front when the co-pilot was out back having a dump and the pilot let me fly it for a few miles or about an hour. Once on the ground, the first car I ever drove was a short while later, also in the Philippines, it was a thing called a Ford Fiesta, and it was a tin, slab-sided mini-pick-up. It had a small 1.2 litre 4 banger and a 4 speed standard. Learned to drive it over gravel and dirt roads, no seat belts, no doors, just open air. I finished up my driver's education on a 1977 Ford Mustang II, and took my license in a 1979 Camaro Berlinetta.
Some great stories and memories here. It was 1969, mom and dad taught me to drive in a $50 1961 Chevy Bel Air dad bought from a neighbor who was gonna junk it because of the rust. Mint green, 235 six with three on the tree. No power anything just an AM radio and a heater. Riveted sheet metal in all the floorboards and trunk. Drove it for 3 years through high school and halfway through college. It leaked so much oil out of the crankcase breather on the side that cars behind me would get spattered. Drive it till the lifters rattled, add a gallon of re-refined oil at $1.00'gallon and change the plugs every 2 months. Coming home from college (Syracuse to Buffalo) one Friday in 1972 a state trooper pulled me over, made me wipe the oil off his windshield and told me if he ever saw the car on the road again he would impound it. Dad's buddy had a 69 Plymouth Valiant 225 slant six and three on the tree with 20K+ miles on it his father left him and sold it to me for $600. Again just a radio and heater, no power anything but it was fast compared to that Chevy. Mikey
One day when I was 15, my Dad pulled into the cemetery near our house that had nice paved roads. He got out and said, "you're driving." So I slid over and did as I was told! It was a 1971 Pontiac Safari wagon with a 400. Also got to drive Mom's 1968 Wildcat sedan-which became my first car at 16 and began the Wildcat obsession. In driver's ed we drove 1976 Chrysler Cordobas-but without the "corinthian leather."
1976 Plymouth Duster slant 6, 1 bbl carburetor, with a goldish brown snake skin vinyl top. Classic, lol.
Grew up on a farm so we had tractors, lawn mowers, combines etc. As for licensed road vehicles it was a 1965 F-100 6 cylinder 3 on the tree at the ripe age of 9 or 10.
The car I learned to drive in was a 1965 Plymouth Fury III, Auto, 383, 2 barrel. Weird that it had a cast iron duel point dist. When I bought my first car with my own cash ($600) I swapped the dist into it, a ‘69 Road Runner. This was in ‘75
I drove home from getting my 365 (learner's permit) in my dad's 1979 GMC Sierra Grande 1/2 ton truck (had a 350 Olds engine in it), I did most of my learning in my mom's 1978 Buick Skylark 2-door. That car later became mine.
Before I got my license dads 1970 skylark custom Practiced on a 1977 Buick Regal Tool my dL test on a 1983 caprice classic wagon
1969 VW Beetle. One heater channel rotted out and one heater box on the other side. Dad and I would dress up in snowmobile suits and run all the back roads in dead of the Michigan winter. And here I am now 40 years later teaching my son to drive in our Baja bug on those same back roads.
My moms 1961 Rambler American Cross Country wagon. She'd drive and taught me how to shift the 3 on the tree. I was 6 Y.O. By the time I was 10 my dad was teaching me "other" stuff... ws
Learned to drive in my Grandpa's 1948 Chevy pickup chore truck. It had been converted to a non-syncro 4-speed on the floor. I remember when Grandpa sent me by myself to get drinking water for Grandma at the local well. The well was about 4 miles away. I would have been about 8 yrs. old, & I thought I was big stuff!! Drove all over rural Missouri before I got my license. Took my driving test in a 2 ton grain truck, so I could get a C license(at that time) & drive anything but a semi legally. My first car was a 79 Firebird Esprit.
I learned to drive a manual when I was 18 or so on a 911 Black Porsche. Really. A couple of older friends I hung out with started an import business and were bringing over Porsche’s. My friend tosses me the Keys to a black one and says take a ride. I took off like a rocket at every stop so not to stall the thing. People looked at me like I was Rollo the rich kid out ripping up the road. I had no idea what I was doing. At that point I had zero experience in a manual car. I didn’t wreck it. That was good. They did import some 930 turbos as well. I never got to drive one of those but I got rides in them. They were damn impressive. Came off the line like gangbusters with no wheel spin. Those cars are now commanding serious bucks at auctions. Well over $100 grand when you could buy them for a song several years ago. Probably 77-79ish cars. The one thing I remember most about those cars besides how fast they were was how plain Jane Spartan the interiors were.
