What did you learn to drive in?

[Stretch]

A responce by Jass in the auto valet thread made me think about this.

I learned to drive in a '67 ford bronco. It was my Dads rig and it was his daily driver/ hunting truck when we lived in Montana. It was a 3 speed on the column, four wheel drive, had 33" tires 4.10 gears and safty track (or whatever ford called them) diffs in both ends, and had a BOSS (yes I said Boss) 302 under the hood.

The engine came from my dads buddy. My Dad and Mike rebuilt the boss engine for Mikes mustang and shortly after that Mike left a bar and wraped the car around a power poll. Dad bought the engine from him and Mike, Dad and I pulled the 289 out of the bronco and droped in the 302.

That truck is why I'm a H.P. junky! Dad had headers and loud mufflers on it and he would run it through the gears. I'd watch intently as he used the pedels and the column shifter. I'd laugh like a little girl when he would "jump" onit and we were pined back in the seats.

The day I leared to drive came when we were in the Montana prairie hunting antelope. Dad had shot one and it took off. We had walked some distance from the truck when he shot but I could still see it. Dad said "go get the bronco and come get us!" I think I was around 10, perhaps 11 and I know I had never driven anything before. I started back to the truck, fired it up and pulled the shifter into what I thought was 1st gear. After a few restarts I figured out that I had it in 3rd.

When I cought up to dad he had a huge grin on his face and told me as I jumped out "I knew you could do it!" We loaded up the antelope and I guess I really don't remember much else about the day.

I don't know what the best part of the day was. My Dad always took me hunting with him and the guys and I loved every trip. It could have been driving that bronco, it could have been seeing the grin on Dads face and hearing him tell me I could do it knowing that I really did do it by my self. It could be all of it together. All in all its somthing I will never forget and it's one of the treasured hunting storys I experienced with my Dad.

 

[Matt43]

I learned how to drive in the same Road Runner that's sitting out in my garage now.

I learned how to drive a stick in my Uncle's '64 Dodge pickup with a "3 on the tree".

 

[69.5CUDA]

first thing i remember driving would be from my dads lap...a mid 60s backhoe around the yard..this would be around late79..id again drive it solo around 86ish..in the early 80s i drove a big rig around a parking mid 60s kenny or pete..dont remember just wasnt allowed to try and shift it lol.....all thru the 80s i drove all sorts of machines..bobcats, ditchwhiches, d4 and d6 cats a late 70s ford stepvan gathering hay in a feild...cussons and such were actualy the ones driving it TO the feild..where i would take over and they would load hay..this was around 87 or early 88....as a joke one of my cousins yelled STOP..i slammed the brake smashed his back into the dash and doghouse after whacking his head on the box-to-van juction...he felt like an idiot but was laughin..that head conk saved him from going thru the windshield....there was many trips in the farm feilds getting hay bails and me riding on top of the hay...mind you on top of the hay ment there wasnt room for a full bail up there.......thru 88 i drove more thngs than i can remembereven 2 different dump trucks one was a 60s ford 6ton with 2spd rear..the otehr id swere was a swan narrow nose pete..87 was the first year for driving stick..as i had to move the toyota PU a few times and was tossed the keys with a simple statement..go learn to drive in that feild...when i was done making a mess of the feild..i was handed the keys to the ditchwhich "go clear it now"..now this was a ditchwhich tractor not a walk behind..so its got hyd drive and normal drive..weirdest thing to operate......later the same day i had to manuver the 66 ford uhaul into place..the biggest beast they made at the time..bad made a trailer for it to haul the d4 and backhoe at the same time..i had to backup to that trailer...i totaly forgot about driving the limo a bit in 86 as i did the cleaqnup prep and washing of it ..somewhere around that time i drove my 47 ford 6ton i saved from my dad scrapping across a feild as he dragged it with the cat
after moms accedent in 88 i dont think i drove anything again till 91...dad was suposed to teach me to drive on the road.a dj friend of ours would pick me up in a brand new ford van no windows and id haul him around with his gear.....straight into down town.....latter in the year dad was moving and descided he had time to teach me a bit..yeah right more like lets go move everything..country back roads out to his old place load up the lil 75 sr5 toyota..including the lumber rack..now mind you he would load till the springs didnt move...next hitch up the box trailer...you could take 3 toyota pu's apart and get them in it..and load it to the gills...load up the uhaul and then toss me the keys to the yota..ill follow you in the ford....yeah ..steepest hill around and no one told me about downshifting...insta crash course....latter in the year i test drove alot of possible first cars

theres a damn good reason i say i can drive anything..just give me a few mins...cause ive driven enuf equipment in my early days to know what im doing...and mom drove EVERYTHING like she stole it so..i blame her for my road skills watching her drive taught me more than anything

 

[Dr.Jass]

I learned to drive in a variety of cars, long before my Mom's Super Scort. I think the first car I drove was my Dad's '78 Monza (my brother: "Don't tell Dad!"), but a friend of mine knew a kid whose parents owned a junkyard, and a surprising number of people would junk perfectly-good-running cars. Three or four of us would go down to the junkyard on Saturdays after close, or on Sunday, and race around the roads inside the junkyard, trying to hit the each other. It breaks my heart to think of some of the cars we used for that, the most notable being a '57 Cadillac Coupe DeVille. It had some rust on it, but knowing what all that chrome is worth now makes me shudder. I T-boned the hell out of that car driving a '76 LTD four-door. The guy driving the Caddy (my buddy) had his bell rung pretty well. The only useable parts left on that Caddy by the time we were done were mechanical. It still moved under its own power, but that old tank was beat to death.

We wrecked a lot of perfectly-good parts (we hit a lot of cars out in the yard, too), but the junkyard owners thought it was hysterically funny anyhow.

 

[restoman]

I learned on farm equipment, mainly a 1947 Cockshutt tractor. Haying season was the best! Let someone else muck with those bales... I got the wheel! When I got to operate the front bucket, that was the ultimate!
I still get all giddy when I see an old tractor.
The first road car was Dad's '64 Belvedre in the driveway, or his '76 Mini on the roads. Ever see someone almost stand a car on it's nose when downshifting from third to second, and hitting first instead.

 

[Dr.Jass]

Ever see someone almost stand a car on it's nose when downshifting from third to second, and hitting first instead.

I did the same thing in my Mom's Escort. Downshifting from fourth to third, I instead found first. Unfortunately, four of the hottest girls from my class were walking right there and burst into laughter, probably moreso because I'd double-clutched it and failed horribly. I thought my Mom was going out the windshield. :doh:

 

[J.C. Corbett]

For me, it was my granddad's 85 Chevy. Small block, 4 speed, no power, worse mileage. My folks still have it, and it still fires right up daily. That's how dad taught me to shift clutchless, and how to properly move in and out of 4X with a 205 transfer case while moving, which is very similar to clutchless shifting. The most fun was learning hydrostatic steering in a Hesston swather. I still enjoy getting in one and cutting hay.

 

[dodgedifferent2]

i learned on a home made tractor with a mustang v6 and two 4 speed transmissions mounted back to front so you could get down low and reach up high gear Wide open headers and i believe 3.92 suregrip 8 3/4 narrowed. I have posted pics of this thing before.
otherwise
275 massey loader tractor

also played in a vette .... err chevette with a 4 speed as the field car

first road vehicle was a 89 power ram 4x4 and 4 speed
93 ish dodge caravan v6 had the first automatic i dealt with

 

[Fishy]

Can't say I learned to drive in one particular car, since a lot of my friends used to let me drive their cars short distances before I even had my license. I do remember finally figuring out how to drive stick in my friend Lauras '97 Toyota Tacoma 4x4 though. She told me to go move her truck closer to the store one night. After telling her I didn't know how to drive a stick, all she said was, "You'll figure it out." as she tossed me the keys. I perfected driving a manual in 69's 1989 Caravan actually Aside from Lauras truck, I also used to drive my friend Crystals '86(?) Toyota Celica a bit, which was also a stick shift.

 

[dodgechargerfan]

My dad used to let me sit in his lap and drive the car. He'd work the pedals of course.
He had a 63 or 64 Dodge 330 with a slant6 in it.

That was when I was around 5 or 6 I guess.
I did drive it out of the parking lot and onto the train tracks in the yard at his work once.
He went in to the credit union and left me in the car. We were always allowed to play behind the wheel. Well, I punched one of the buttons for the ouch button trans and the car started rolling forward. I steered it through a gap (which was pretty much straight ahead) and it rolled onto the tracks and then stopped moving.
Someone saw it happen and told my dad and he came running out. All he said was, "Did you drive the car up here?" Told me not to touch anything and went back in to finish his banking.

The car that I started driving for real was the 73 Charger with the slanty that ended up being mine.

 

[69.5CUDA]

For me, it was my granddad's 85 Chevy. Small block, 4 speed, no power, worse mileage. My folks still have it, and it still fires right up daily. That's how dad taught me to shift clutchless, and how to properly move in and out of 4X with a 205 transfer case while moving, which is very similar to clutchless shifting. The most fun was learning hydrostatic steering in a Hesston swather. I still enjoy getting in one and cutting hay.

isnt it fun dropin in and out of 4 while moving..i street raced my RC like that for years...

 

[74DartSport]

Friend's 65 Valiant 170 three on the tree. Then a 68 Cortina GT. Driving test with dad's 73 Montego wagon; it was ordered with a trailer package so either a 429 or 460.

 

[71dusterman]

A tractor or a 2 ton truck with a grain box on it. Used to do pickup of the grain from the combine on the run and take it in to the farm yard offload to a grain bin and get back just in time for the next dump from the combine.
The fun part was keeping the right pace with the combine when the ground wound go from compacted to soft and not lose any grain. The other fun part about that truck was the flakey brakes that one time decided not ot work when I needed to slow down for a 90* corner and narrowly missed a 12" fence post at the corner of the laneway. Also drove tractor and a 5 ton grain truck at my friends farm.

 

[Diplomat_Wagon]

1947 Ford 8N Tractor
1966 Fargo 400 Grain Truck
1979 Dodge D-100

Took my road test in a 1991 Ford Tempo 4dr, 2.3L 5-speed.

 

[68R/T]

Several tractors were first, I don't recall what they were. :huh:

Then, at 11 I decided that i wanted to build a mini-bike. I chopped up an old bicycle, added some hard rubber wheels, V-belt & pulleys and a lawnmower motor. After one summer of refinements I moved up to chain drive, (direct) and a 3-1/2 horse motor. A state trooper clocked me on a back road doing 54 mph. :doh:

The next summer was spent with a Jefferson-Waverly motorcycle, less motor. Another lawnmower motor made do.


If only I had known what it would be worth.

Took my test in a '62 Studey Lark and bought a Bianchi 90 for the street;


When the snow flew I bought a '54 ford 2 door with a 239 y-block and 3-on-the-tree. I've had no desire to own a ford since. :dgt:

 

[mr340]

I learned on this boat, 1967 Fleetwood Brogham. I broke my hand the night before my test and still managed to maneuver this beast thru the course. I drove it in 80/81, it was the family car. The pic is from around '86/87 when it was finally retired (that's dad in the pic). From there it was parked outside under a tree in a salt air environment until my father passed away in '96. We dragged it out of its 10 year nap and with no more than an external fuel supply and a used battery it made it's final journey 2 miles under it's own power.The underside was too far gone from the elements to save so it became a donor for another Fleetwood that had at the time. May they both rest in peace.