Folks Of Interest Did you learn to drive a stick or a automatic?

Well, I learned to ride a MC on a Honda 90, you still shifted gears but no clutch. Lol. Still have it out back somewhere under 40 years of dust.

 

My Uncle taught me to drive in my aunt's, black on red, 289, 4 speed, '64 Falcon Sprint ragtop. Drove the piss outta that car every time I could get my hands on it.

 

1941 Chevy pickup. Started off hauling hay when I was 14 out of the field to the barn. Progressed to hunting rabbits out in the pasture with a single shot .410 stuck out from under the windshield over the hood. Took my driving test in the truck and got a commercial license at the age of 16.

 

Both it was a model T.

 

When I was 14 back in 1969 I was working summers and after school in Dads cabinet shop. After an install job one day , Dad stop at a local pub about 4 miles from home to have a couple beers. Had a couple to many, went to leave and he threw me the key's and said you drive. Never drove before in my life. Got in the 64 Chevy pickup, 6 cylinder 3 speed. Took a few miles off the clutch the first few times I took off ,but got us home. Lol got real good at power shifting that three speed over the years and and later became the fastest thing with a 4 speed of anyone I knew of or ever raced. At 65 I still rather drive a stick over an automatic anytime! lol Larry

 

1957 VW stick.

 

'62 Bel Aire Wagon with 6, 3speed and overdrive.

Gary

 

64 Chevy 4 dr. 283 Auto... I was around 8 years old. I learned out of necessity by having to drive my mom home from the river. She was an alcoholic. When I approached legal age, my step dad taught me to drive in his 69 Ford F150, it was a 352FE three on the tree. Loved driving that truck on gravel roads! It ended up being the first engine I rebuilt.

 

I learned to drive when I was 12 driving my drunk now long time Ex stepfather home from the Bucket of Blood tavern in Winslow Wa. That was in a 54 Chevy 3100 with a Hydromatic. Then I learned to drive a stick here on the farm driving my grandfather's 48 Chevy 1 ton flatbed to help him feed Sugar Beet tops to his cattle.

 

48 Dodge 3/4 ton pickup with granny low. Putting up hay and feeding hay. I don't remember exactly how old I was but I do remember that on my 13th birthday I lost a half load of hay when I turned too sharp in a field.

I seem to remember that I was upset and driving too fast 'cause I was PO'd that I had to do the feeding on my birthday.

That would have been sometime between summer '63 and summer '65 as we only lived on that small farm for those two years.

 

1960 Falcon. All of us brothers & sister learned in that car. I guess my sister had a hard time with it. She told me a few years ago that it was the only time dad ever yelled at her. She really must have ticked him off. Dad was about the quietest man I ever knew.

 

It was a butt ugly 57 Buick four door for me with an automatic.
My stick experience came later driving my brother's 57 VW.

 

We didn't have any tractors with automatics

 

Stick. 1955 Ford Customline with I Block 6; my MOM'S car. She started teaching me, but my cousin & i "hot wired" it once & i REALLY learned from that ........lots of stuf....like my folks weren't as dumb as i thought they were. Confessed to it in my early 20s & dad said.....we know all about it.....oh my!

 

Started backing Mom's 63 Fairlane Station Wagon out of the garage and pulling it around to the front for her at 12. Did not get access to a manual till I was 16. Did not buy an automatic till I was mid 40's.

 

I am seeing some trends:
1- many were out of necessity due to the adult male figure being intoxicated lol
2- many first time stick experiences were on a VW

My first car was a 67 vw, great cars to learn stick on. Not very forgiving due to the low torque. Really had to speak to it or as my dad would say,” drive it like you hate it”!

It is a shame few cars offer stick these days. Drove a Hyundai recently with the paddle shifters and “sport mode”. Give me a break!! I was bored with that after the first try...


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Like a lot of kids in my day I started "driving" by sitting on my dad's lap in the mid-1950's. Dad was in the military and we were stationed in Asmara, Eritrea. The car was a pre-war Bianchi. My first driving myself was in the early 1960's in my dad's 1940 Plymouth. Of course it was a three speed manual. I loved that car. It was my job to check the oil every day when Dad got home from work. It used so much of it that Dad bought "reconstituted" oil in glass bottles from Sears. I about cried when he traded it in for a 1957 Dodge station wagon. I don't think I ever drove that car. Got my license in a 1964 Datsun.

 

1951 Ford 3 on the tree

 

Drivers Ed, summer school in '61, a '58 Chevy 6 cyl., 3 on the tree. Teacher was cool, traded off a day with his other class, took us down to L.A. to learn how to drive on the freeways. Also took us out one night because he thought we should have the experience. At home it was a '50 Merc., flathead, 3 speed w/O.D. Before Drivers Ed dad took me out and let me drive around the block. He said stop. After he bounced his forehead off the sun visor I got the long version of clutch pedal use.

My daughter actually wanted to learn how to drive a stick. First car was a 5 speed S-10 blazer.

 

I Learned To Drive On Our Ranch With One Of These And I Can Still Hear The 4 Gear..

 

I learned to drive on our 1950 Chevy 3100, six with a three on the tree. We still have it and I fully intend to teach Little Truckdoctor on it for his first time. Of course, it will be his first actual road going vehicle, because he drives everything on the farm but cars and trucks.


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62 Ford three speed 352. It was worn out.. Painted it flat black and put moons on it..

 

My Grandpa’s 63 Rambler Classic with a 3 spd column shift (which now I refer to as anti theft devices).

 

Started in a 1958 Ford farm truck. 6 cylinder, 4 speed. Hell, all you had to do was put it in Granny-low and turn on the key. Away you went. From that point on it was a breeze. It was kind of exciting to double clutch the ole gal.

 

learned to drive on a 37 Ford pickup on my uncle's farm .The rest of my cars were stick also, 39 Ply , 41 Merc. cp, 50 Merc . rag top , 53 Ford rag top , 37 Ford cp , 58 Impala ,65 Vette ,these were my rides up to 1969 .

 

1968 VW Beetle with 4-speed.
Actually took my drivers license test in it.

 

I was 8 years old and my dad had a Packard & Crowley dealership that was a stick.

 

I learned to drive in the family 1963 Pontiac Catalina 389 auto. My first car was a 57 Chevy 2dr. hardtop 301 3 speed on the floor. I had never driven a stick before, but had friends who did and learned from watching them drive. When I went to pick up my 57 for the drive home, I had to back out of a driveway and start uphill. I killed it a few times, getting started up that hill, but by the time I drove across town with it I had clutching and shifting down pretty good!

 

I learned in my dad’s 65 Ford pickup, out on the farm, with three on the tree. He told me to just keep it in first gear. When he saw me screaming down the gravel road in first, he relented to teach me the second gear shift.

 

Mom used to let me back out the '41 Buick to warm up before she went to work. One morning as I was backing out from garage, I hit a small picket corner fence & made a small dent in right fender corner. Mom took the Buick to dealer & had it repaired that same day. We never told Dad about this incident until 20 years later!---He just laffed.