Driving lessons in a '55 Ford convertible ( we should all have been so fortunate)

On TV the other night I watched Aunt Bea taking driving lessons in her black '55 Ford Sunliner drop top, she just purchased from Goober.
Between she and Andy, they nearly killed the poor Ford.
I took driving lessons in a '58 Sunbeam Rapier Convertible ( my dad's pride and joy)
Granted it wasn't as cool as Aunt Bea's car........but hey, the top did fold down!
What did the rest of the HAMBERS drive with dad or mom shouting instructions from the shotgun seat?

This question should really show our true age.

 

61 impala convertible (1977)

 

my one and only driving lesson from my father was in 1962...in a 1961 Corvair and i was 9 years old. drove from my uncles house about 10 miles away to home. it drove just like my go-kart

 

when I signed up for drivers education in school my mom said "I don't know why you are taking that class, you are not driving my car" and she was right... I never did. I'm 48 and she still won't let me drive her car.

took my driving test in my best friends moms 65 Impala. taught myself to drive in my 49 chevy I bought for $600.00. my buddy had to drive it home since I didn't have my license yet when I bought it.

 

i learned to drive stick like 8 years ago when i was 12 on my mothers 66 beetle...LAME!!!!

 

1941 Ford conv. Dad yelled at me when I second geared a stop sign!

 

Learnt to drive dad's school bus yellow '56 Ford panel truck up & down the 1/4 mile driveway. Had to go thru all 3 gears then back up and do it again. The clutch spring must've been as big as a front coil in a Vega. Pop wouldn't let any of us touch the car (it had an automatic) till we mastered holdin' Old Yeller (his panel) on a hill with the clutch without stalling it or rollin' backwards. Formal driver ed was in a '66 LeSabre and a '66 Opel Kadet. I was about the only one in class that could drive the 4speed Kadet, it was a dream compared to Old Yeller

 

The first was a 1994 Lincoln Mark VIII.

First old tin I ever drove, was my step-dads 54 Chevy Wagon, and from there on out, I drove everything. Somethings with wheels, somethings without.

 

Dad turned the wheel over to me for the first time on some dinky dirt road at a 4 way stop sign on Cape Cod, summer of '62.
I boldly swapped seats with him, vaulted over the drivers door, crashed down onto the Sunbeam's drivers bucket seat, whacked it into gear with all sorts of self confidence and popped the clutch, punched the throttle, and promptly put us both nearly into the windshield.
"Jimmy, are you sure you know what you're doing?" he yelled.
I blew backwards from the stop sign in REVERSE!
DOH!
He sent me to a real driving school about 2 months later.

 

Took drivers ed in a 1956 Oldsmobile 4dr hardtop. Car before license was a '46 Dodge I ran around the driveway of his motel. Driver test in a 1953 Chrysler New Yorker 2 door post. First car of my own was the '46 Dodge and when a sophmore in high school had a '56 Studebaker Golden Hawk. Traded that for a '55 Chev 210 2 door V8, 3 on the tree in my senior year!

 

A Hawk?
A 55 V8 Stick Chevy?
YOU THE MAN!
Those are cars of teenager's dreams.

 

the first automobile I ever drove was a pickup. But the first actual car I ever drove was a 57 belair, I was about 7 so 1992ish. The car has a 3 speed OD, and my dad was trying to explain it to me how to get it into high and low range with the pedal, I remember thinking it didnt make any sense at all. I was a farm kid so I started driving at a young age.

 

Learned how to drive on the farm at about 8 years old. Took drivers training at 15 years old in a '56 Ford Fairlane stick shift There were two boys and two girls. The teacher asked who knew how to drive. I did so I was first. Drove out of the parking lot and started down the block in front of the school. He says to stop and parallel park in the next spot. I did and slipped in there on the first try. He say, get in the back. I don't think I drove again for 5 or 6 weeks.

Charlie

 

Had a 59 Plymouth Wagon on the farm that I tor up the fields with. Man that was a fun time!

 

76 Toyota Corolla Wagon.

Nuff said...

 

Learned to drive on my mom's 1998 Honda a year ago.
Yeah, one bad ass motherfucker right here.

 

61 pontiac laurentian (2001)

 

1959 Chevy P/U with three on the tree

 

I learned by being the family "valet". Whenever we had family gatherings, with a lot of cars at the house, I was in charge of parking.

When I got my learner's permit in '64 I drove my mom's '63 Galaxie convertible. And that was the car I took my license test in.

My high school driver's ed car was a '64 Fairlane 4-door, 6 cylinder/auto and totally boring.

 

Learned to drive in a 59 Ford 4door wagon. 292,3-on-the tree. Took my road test in a 70 Chevelle wagon, 6cyl auto.-MIKE

 

49 Plymouth and 56 Ford

 

The old mans new black 56 buick stick shift.

 

I grew up on a used car lot in the 70's so I learned by moving cars around starting about 10 years old. Bought my first car at 13 (65 Marlin).

I'm now trying to teach my 14 year old daughter how to drive in my 68 galaxie conv. It took her about 20 minutes and 15 tries just to back down my 200 ft driveway!

 

My daughter is learning to drive in our 50 Ford, and when she got a few hours in that thing, then we move on to the Stude. I figure if she can drive those, she can drive just about anything!

 

I learned to drive on the street in my first car, a '59 Ford sedan with a hot Y-block and four speed. Let's just say that I had some moments!

 

I learned to drive mostly in a '69 Galaxie that had been my great grandfathers. It sat for about 5 years after he died before they gave it to me, and that thing left me sit everywhere.

First time I ever saw the car it was in the garage where it was always kept from new. Noticed a pretty good size dent in the bumper, and it was pushed in a little on that side. No one knew what happened. The first time I ever drove that car I backed it out of the garage, cut the wheels to point it down the street and backed right into a telephone pole. Funny thing is the pole fit right into the dent in the bumper, mystery solved!

CHAZ

 

Drove the first few times in my mother's '57 Olds 88, but mostly in a '58 BelAir, 348 PowerPak w/PG. It was also my mothers car (a 4-dr, sadly). This was in '68.

 

Yeah, about 2 weeks before I got the Stude I passed the Cadillac place and they had a '50 Ford, nosed & decked and the chrome redone and it was $350 bucks. I hit my dad up for that and he said no ... 2 weeks later he plunked down $1700 for a car that could/should have killed me .... Go figure!

 

i learned on a early 90's ford exploder that second gear was going out... well pretty much gone, you could get it in if you had a while to coast and worked at it.
took out a stop sign and a fence post and got stuck in a ditch and a near by rancher had to get his tractor to pull me out
my first car was an 84 AMC Eagle, and i really loved that car. it was ugly so i never had to wash it (and i think if i did parts might of started falling off) and i could take it anywhere. lot of great bonfires where attended in that car, it could hold a lot of firewood and a lot of beer and a lot of people all at once.
most useful vehicle i ever owned.

 

63 Ford Galaxie 500 XL notchback hardtop, red with black guts, 406/4 speed.

My mother would pick me up from summer school that summer (63) and let me (15 year old with a learner's permit) practice my driving.
First time behind the wheel, my left foot shook so bad holding the clutch in, I could hardly let it out.
Fortunately that didn't last long, but even as I gained experience, I can say with certainty that I never felt the push of all three carburetors with Mom in the car (luckily at 15, even I was smart enough to realize that kind of behavior would have ended the driving lessons).