Your first driving experience

(Thanks to the “Merc” thread for bringing back memories of my youth :) )

I thought this might be a light-hearted thread (figured we could use one) that may conjure up some memories and perhaps provide the younger forum members a giggle or two.

I was about 13 years old in the back roads of the Laurentian hills north of Montreal when my dad first sat me behind the wheel of a ’64 Plymouth Valiant, equipped with a Chrysler “slant-six” engine and push-button automatic transmission (no, I wasn’t 13 in ’64 :rolleyes: :p : ). I was just sufficiently tall to reach the pedals and was scared shtless, even though it was a quiet country road with no one about. With gentle encouragement (which my Dad was not know to do :mark: ) I quickly got the hang of driving and was elated with how enjoyable it was, even though I don’t think I drove more than 10 mph :p : .

My family had a cottage nearby and from then on every time we went there (just about every weekend during the summers) I got behind the wheel and drove the last few kilometers.

So what was your first driving experience?

First real car...my Dad taught me how to drive our VW beetle with a 4 speed transmission. Very cool. Having learned on a standard transmission, I've always been a bit smug around people that whine "Ooh, I can't drive a stick"...lol...walk.

Although I had dirt bikes, scramblers, "trai bikes", and scooters from the age of 10 I bought my first car with my own money from my boss when I was in High school.
My father came with me for the test drive I had never driven a stick but knew from motorcycle experience the idea. No prob. I bought it. 1965 Corvair Monza with the 160 HP Power-plant, $300.00
My friends were very scared to ride with me.

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Originally Posted by Tazio

Although I had dirt bikes, scramblers, "trai bikes", and scooters from the age of 10 I bought my first car with my own money from my boss when I was in High school.
My father came with me for the test drive I had never driven a stick but knew from motorcycle experience the idea. No prob. I bought it. 1965 Corvair Monza with the 160 HP Power-plant, $300.00
My friends were very scared to ride with me.

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A now rather well known astronaut had a Corvair. He used to pack us kids in there and increase speed in the cul-de-sac until he could rock it up on two wheels and then take off down the street. Our mothers were horrified. We loved it.

Seat 600 with my dad on dirt tracks around some donkey stables.
The car survived another 5-6 years. Towards the end of it's days you could see the road under the seat, it had a removable gear stick (the first time it came off in the middle of Madrid traffic was quite a shock, but you got used to it after that) and the battery hanging loose on a piece of string. Was great fun to do jumps in around the fields or to mud rally around Madrid Uni. Also amusing to see peoples reaction on being overtaken by the little bomber going down the Cuesta de las Perdices. It died in a cloud of smoke one day trying to get back up said cuesta.

I first drove a red Vauxhall Cavalier when I was 9 or 10 and just big enough to get to the pedals (before that I'd steered while sat on my Dad's lap). The first time I had a go was just in a car park and I kangarooed the thing around as didn't really know how to let the clutch out. My first proper attempt at driving was on an airfield when I was 10, I took great pride in telling my classmates that I'd driven at 50mph. A couple of years later my brother started learning to drive properly and we went to the same airfield. My Dad still talks about when he mistakenly got into the back of the car (his company Vectra) while I hit over 70 with my bro in the passenger seat :burnout:

Happy days, and all of it vital in helping me to pass my test when I was eventually old enough.

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Originally Posted by Fiero 5.7

A now rather well known astronaut had a Corvair. He used to pack us kids in there and increase speed in the cul-de-sac until he could rock it up on two wheels and then take off down the street. Our mothers were horrified. We loved it.

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Rigt on.
The guy who lived directly across the street from us was a pilot at Miramar NAS.
He had one of the first Datsun 2000 and a GTO (Pontiac) with the three deuces
Both those cars were fun to ride in. :)

...a few baby steps along the way...

about 7 yrs - First time in a go-cart. Hit the tyre barrier at the first corner. By the time they pulled me out I was being lapped. Didn't hit any more barriers after that, but I think I was lapped once more before time ran out.

about 11 yrs - My older brother wanted to take my dad's 59 beetle for a drive, but the battery was dead. My brother told me - I was supposed to sit in the drivers seat with the clutch in, while he pushed, then let out the clutch - stick it into neutral after it started and then hit the brakes and stop, so he could take it for a drive. Well I couldn't remember these instructions, so after almost starting & stalling a few times, my brother got tired. We switched up - but I couldn't push it fast enough, so we rolled it back into the garage. My dad bought that car new when my parents got engaged, and sold it about a month ago.

15 yrs - After heading out to the forest to get a Christmas tree, my dad let me drive about halfway home (about 30 miles) 'til we got close to the city. We had a 1977 Pontiac. I had no problems, as it was all highway with little traffic and no real intersections.

My kids have all driven our car (around our cul-de-sac) while sitting on my lap, and they love it. Last weekend was the first time I let them drive the boat, before we put it away for the winter. The smile on my daughter's face was priceless!

Great thread!

One of my first memories is car related. My old man had a Triumph TR6 and he sat me in the front seat aged 4 and blitz it round a few hairpins. We were probably only doing about 35mph but it felt like I was on a rocket ship and it sowed a seed.

I drove a few times on his lap after that but got my first proper go aged 9 - I hit a trash can!

Now I'm doing the same for my boys. The eldest is 4 and on private land I sit him on his booster chair behind the wheel and let him drive (I've got dual controls). It amazing how go he is at it and now he's pestering me for a go kart. :D

I drove my brother Toyota Hilux pick-up on the farm when I was about 9 years old, but I used to sit on my grandads knee and steer his tractor when I was four.

First time on the road was as a 17 year old in my mums Renault Scenic.

Probably about 15 driving my parents' Pontiac on a little used gravel back road near our cottage. Said road is now paved and quite busy. It was a stick (3 on the tree) shift.
Age 16 driving a stock car on a dirt track until the officials wised up. You were supposed to be 21. The real driver almost got banned. The starter was killed a couple of weeks later and the track closed.
At 18 had my first car a 41 Plymouth coach.
Biggest enjoyment when I first drove a sports racer after a couple years of racing assorted MGA's and B's in various states of mods from street stock to fairly highly prepared. The A was mine but none of the 3 B's were which made racing cheaper!! :D

Land Rover Santana (from Donk's land)

No suspension (seemed like it)
No locks on doors
first canvas and years later a fiber glass hard top

Shift gears of course, manual 4 wheel drive, a manual crank to start it up from the front if needed.

Took us EVERYWHERE.

Great car. Great memories
:s mokin:

About 10 or 11 years old,my grandfather had a chain of butchers shops,and one of the shops backed onto a large mill complex,that had about half a mile of roads that were gated,and empty at weekends .He had a Ford 5cwt delivery van that i washed every week ,and then spent hours driving round the mill yard.Also driving on public roads when i was 15 ,I used to have a beret on and dad said if we saw the Police,dont look sideways at then and dont panic.were never stopped. My grand daughter sits on my knee and steers the lawnmower in their very large garden,whilst i cut the grass,and she is not 2 years old yet!

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Originally Posted by schmenke

’64 Plymouth Valiant

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An American Classic :up:

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Originally Posted by schmenke

equipped with a Chrysler “slant-six” engine and push-button

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We used to take my budies push button Rambler loaded with surfboards to the beach.

Another Classic American "Bomb" :burnout:

Oh Lord, that reminds me of the time we got a 'Turtle' as rental car when racing at Westwood, BC. (American Motors 'Pacer'.) :s mokin:
At least we got it back to the airport in one piece. Which is more than be said for Bobby Brown and Fred Operts' cars. They played bumper tag on the way to the airport as we stayed a couple of blocks back. I think the only straight panels on either car were the roof panels. I think it was Hector Rebaque driving the Opert car. :cool:

Hey Taz, I still have my '74 Suzuki TM 400 Cyclone motocrosser in the shed out back. The widowmaker. Cool.

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Originally Posted by Fiero 5.7

Hey Taz, I still have my '74 Suzuki TM 400 Cyclone motocrosser in the shed out back. The widowmaker. Cool.

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I wish I still had my Honda CR 250 supercross racer. That thing tried to launch me into low earth orbit. :s mokin:
I bought it when I did a 4 year stint in Vegas. Sold it when I left because there are very few places to ride 2 strokes in So Cal.

I was 8 years old and I dreamt about driving. We were at our summer cottage and my dad had a Citroen 4CV at that time. When I told my dad what dream I had, he asked why don't you try? So I tried. I remember that I hardly reach to the pedals and because the gear stick in Citroen 4CV was so hard to use, I drove circles at the yard never changing a gear. Can't remember anything else but I do remember I had a blast :D

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Originally Posted by Tazio

An American Classic :up:

We used to take my budies push button Rambler loaded with surfboards to the beach.

Another Classic American "Bomb" :burnout:

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I remember one family vacation when we drove the Valiant from Montreal to Disney World, Florida, towing a tent-trailer :eek:
The water pump broke somewhere in South Carolina, but we managed to limp into a local grease-monkey and thankfully he had a replacement.

The "Slant-Six" engine was still in production by Chrysler well into the 1980's. That engine was bullet-proof (um, unless it's used to tow a trailer through South Carolina... :erm: )

Chryslers 318 V8 was bullet proof!!!!!!!!
We tried to blow one up and couldn't do it!
It eventually seized after it boiled all the water away but it would not go bang.
Wrote a story on that on www.thegarageblog.com

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Originally Posted by Easy Drifter

Chryslers 318 V8 was bullet proof!!!!!!!!
We tried to blow one up and couldn't do it!
It eventually seized after it boiled all the water away but it would not go bang.
Wrote a story on that on www.thegarageblog.com

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http://thegarageblog.com/garage/up-to-no-good/
That is a great read Easy.
They have meds "easier" on you than Thorazine that will treat that kind of behavior :)

I was very nervous and i turned out wrong side and then so and so.

My uncle had a Ford Squire estate which he would putter about with greyhounds in the back. It was a truly woeful vehicle with a mousetrap trigger clutch on it and no travel whatsoever. I was about 12 when I drove that.
About six months later, I drove my gran's Ford Cortina 220 "austerity" model which compared to the Squire was the easiest thing in the world.

Here I am 20 years later and I would love to get my hands on a Mk1 Cortina again.

My first driving memory was sitting in my Dad's Ford Cortina in the driveway of our home in Colywn Bay in around 1967/8. I remember it as if I was driving, but as I was about 4 at the time I think that bit must have been a dream :p

The first real driving I did was in a Morris Minor on a Slough trading estate. Not yet old enough to be on the public road it was a good place for my Dad to teach me how to drive. Saved a lot of time & money when it came to lessons.

^^^ got to love a minor. Learnt loads about car control with my granddads one.

My first driving was on a Daihatsu diesel, drove it on the road after a friend explained me basic technique for driving while then he navigated me. It surprised him that I can learn driving that fast.
I can't remember exactly when did firstly sit in a car, if my memory serves me right the moment was at 10 yo when my friend asked me to join him accompany his brother, who was a salesman, driving around on his office's vehicle, a Katana. Sitting at the rear seat facing to the side on a small jeep was not nice, it's enough to give me feeling sickness. :D

Unless otherwise riding bike, when was young I like traveling on bus, going to and back from school on bus, together with a classmate. :)

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Originally Posted by Sonic

^^^ got to love a minor. Learnt loads about car control with my granddads one.

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Me too :) Mind you that big ole steering wheel gave the car a bit of a vague directional feel at times!

^^^^ yeah but rear drive, crossply tyres. Awesome.

Unfortunately I never had my driving cherry properly broken into since my dad never wanted me to touch his Audi S4 :p :

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Originally Posted by ArrowsFA1

My first driving memory was sitting in my Dad's Ford Cortina in the driveway of our home in Colywn Bay in around 1967/8.

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Did you know Timothy Dalton? :p

Many of you were so lucky you can drive such early, unlike me who start driving my own GLC, the first car I can afford. A model without too much fancy features, but reliability is good and maintenance (all cars need financial requirement though) is relatively easy.

Went to school on bike, or on foot with an umbrella in the rain...
Me too, someone who taught me driving in my first drive said of that typical of smooth driving, just smooth not the fastest, perhaps like Jenson Button. :)

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Originally Posted by Daniel

Did you know Timothy Dalton? :p

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No, but Paula Yates lived just down the road :p

Not my first driving experience a such, but my first driving test which was a disaster and I may hold the record for quickest fail in a driving test.

I was waiting at the test centre feeling really nervous it seemed to take an age for my examiner to arrive, but finally he did and we completed all of the pre test questions and instructions.

The car park of the test centre was on a steep slop with the cars facing the test centre building which had a large glass window at which all of the awaiting students stood looking out, all of which I felt was a bit unfair. Anyway he told me to pull out of the bay and go left out of the centre.

So I let the hand brake off and started to roll forward, when I was suddenly striken with panic and froze. The car now rolled quickly out of the bay and headed straight for the test centre building with everyone looking straight at me. I just never put my foot on the brake and frantically steered the car jerking away from the building.

However I didn't have time to correct it quickly enough and went too far the other way and clumped over the kerb on the other side of the car park, when my examiner put on the dual control brake.

I turned to him knowing I had failed after about 5 seconds and said " Shall I get out now".

As it was I carried on and got some experience of the rest of the test, which helped me pass next time.

The worst thing of all was coming back into the centre and seeing everyone including my instructor looking at me. I got driven home and said nothing until my instructor said, well it must be better next time.