History Earning your license,how was your drivers test?

Hello,

When I was 16, I missed two on the written test and scored a 90% on the behind the wheel driving part. The complete scenario was: I did not want to screw things up driving my brother’s 58 Impala 3 speed, (I did not want to hear it from my brother that I screwed it up) So, I had practiced driving it all around the neighborhood, including backing it up in a perfectly straight line almost for a ½ block. I could do this quite well. But, on the day of the test, everything was going well until the examiner said, “Stop here and now, back up until I tell you to stop again.” That was OK by me. I knew what to do next.

So, I put it in reverse, and let the clutch out. I looked in the rear view mirror and in a perfectly straight line, as practiced, backed up with a smooth clutch, accelerator and proceeded to back up about ¼ of a block. I nailed it perfectly. I was so proud that there were no glitches or errors. I could now drive this black 58 Impala by myself with pride. All of that hard work doing things to the 348 Impala paid off as I knew this car inside and out. Happy camper, indeed.

Jnaki

The odd thing was, he told me that I got a very poor score on the backing up portion of the test. What??? No way !!! It was perfect as practiced. But, the examiner said that I did not put my right arm on the seat backrest and look out of the rear window. Plus, he said that I was going so fast, he thought we were going to rear end one of the parked cars. One final note was that I got a low score on that part of the test, but my car knowledge and driving skills were pretty good, so he passed me. I was ready to argue the perfect straight line in backing up, but who cares if I did not get a perfect score.

Now, this girl that lived down the street got a 100% on the written test and 100% on the driver’s portion. She is/was totally scared $%$@l#$$ when she drove, so it was always scary to let her drive any car. But, she had test papers that showed a better score than me, so she let me have it anytime she could, about my not so “perfect” DMV score. Boooo...

 

You expect a man to remember something that happened 64 years ago?
I barely remember yesterday.

Ben

 

Being the youngest of 4 kids, I was my Dad's "mini me". 49 years ago on the day I turned 16 I already had convinced Dad to sign a form so I could go up to DMV that day and take the Drivers Permit test. I passed and then immediately scheduled a date for my road test.
I practiced by being Dad's personal chauffer in our 60 Chevy Biscayne. Back then we traveled to Long Island for my older Brothers wedding and later I found out I was not suppose to drive in New York City or Nassau County with a Permit. You could also not drive on any of the streets near the road test areas in our City. Sykes and Maple Streets which I believe is still one of the local test areas was where I took my road test. The guy was cool and I made sure to follow all the instructions he gave me. I passed and from then on came up with every excuse in the book why I needed to borrow Dad's car. In Senior year of High School I was able to get a 64 Impala SS for $400 from my Uncle who repossessed it from a customer at his collision shop.
Lost count of the hundreds of vehicles I have owned since then and sure do miss hanging out with my Dad.

 

I learned to drive in my mothers 69 lemans but took my test in my dads 76 impala. Parallel parking and knocking over a cone doing a three point turn caused me to barely pass.

 

Took drivers Ed the summer between 8th and 9th grade at 14 and got my permit. Got my full licence at 15. You could get the permit at 14 if you took drivers Ed and it was 6 months before your 15 birthday. Clinton ruined that along with the 18 drinking age at the same time. I started moving stuff around at 10. My dad could not back up a trailer to save his life. At 12 I had a neighbour that had crawfish ponds as a secondary income. He let a friend and I take his old farm truck. Go and pick up bait and run the ponds with air boats. Then bring the crawfish back to the dock. We had a blast and he got slave labor. The big boat had a 289 and the other had a VW that we had to hand crank. Learned a lot about how "stuff worked".

 

All I know is, a Texas DL must come as a prize in Cracker Jacks because I see some crazy shit on the road every day.

 

It was 1969. My first drivers test. My first instructor to give me my test refused to get in to my 1958 Cadillac hearse. The next instructor discovered that the car was too long for the paraell parking test and the shalom test. So I came back with my friends vw bug. I finally passed that test. Later in 1976 I had to do a retest because I did not understand the rules of the road. The car that got me passed this time was my 1966 4spd charger with a transplanted 426 hemi in it. I think I passed because the instructor loved the car


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Took mine in my Dad's 1973 Country Squire Wagon, can you say long...... About half way through the test was the parallel parking part of it. Nailed it and the tester said we can head back to DMV station. This got me worried, I parked it and went inside where the tester said if you can parallel that you should be good to go. Pops was proud that day. Remember my Dad telling me he mailed in for his in Minnesota.

 

It was in Chicago, in 1956, my Dad went with me. We went through the routine of the paper work and got into the 52 De Soto my Dad owned. Dad got in the back seat, Drivers License guy next to me, my Dad gave him $ 10.00. I drove one lap around the parking lot. I passed. Chicago, 1956.

 

Driving test was pretty uneventful, 1991 in a 69 camaro, I'd been driving work trucks and equipment for a few years by then.

The real fun was the drivers ed class. The teacher took is out in snow covered parking lots and would yank the wheel so we'd learn to handle a slide. He wanted an orange julius one day, so he taught us the proper way to speed and pass to get there and back in time - 85 in a 55.

 

It was a long time ago, but the most vivid memory I have was that I took my driver's test in a 1948 Plymouth. 3 speed on the column. I had been driving since age 12, so I had a bit of experience. I tried my best to drive smoothly, shift gears without grinding, etc. I performed the 3 point turnaround, etc. OK. The officer asked me how long I had been driving, and I replied "just since I received my learner's permit"(I may have stretched the truth on that just a little bit). His response was "Yeah....right. I passed !!!

 

failed the 1st time for speeding

 

Never hear the tem, " three point turn" & had to look it up. Guess in Ohio in the 60's the DMV just expected us to just turned around in a driveway or make a left at the next block. Some of those big boats in the 50's, 60's & early 70's probably required a 12 point turn.

John

 

I remember when i was 16 I took a class for my drivers permit in high school. We were to get our permits on the last day and i missed the bus in the morning. I walked 5 miles to school in the summer and got to school 10 mins before the last period and got my slip, caught the bus back home a happy boy. Worth it.

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In my older brother's drivers ed class, the instructor wanted the class to go over one of the practice tests in the book. He says, "Ok, open to Test E." Snickers from most of the class. (Say it out loud if you don't get it.) "Well, open to Test I." Someone pipes up, "Is that plural?" More snickers. "Let's try Test O." "Is that Spanish?" He finally gave up on the test idea.
The instructors had it pretty good. One of the local dealerships donated the car that we used. For the driving end, the instructor would take two or three students and then go out do run his errands. My first trip out, we went to the vet's to pick up his cat and then bring it to his house. Another time, we went the day after Christmas to one of the larger stores so he could get wrapping paper for 50% off. One of the instructors had a boat and a permit to catch lobsters; my older brother went one time so he could check his lobster pots.

 

I know I took the test and passed it in '58. Other than that I don't remember a thing about it.
Jim

 

Sad story here about my old man.

In 1958, At 16 my old man went to the DMV office to get his license. At that time if you lived in the country you went to the office in Warsaw, NY, about a 25 mile drive. My father and grandfather made the trek, when they arrived my grandfather and father went into office, my father took the written test and passed, big challenge as my father quit school in 9th grade.

Next he went outside to take the road test. This was in a 53 Chevy. Inspector and my father started test. They pulled out into the road and they were off. Warsaw is a very small town with angular parking on both sides on the main streets. Being a small town their trip around town took about 15 minutes. My father had happily passed the test. Instructor told my father to return to curb in front of the office. The office was in middle of town. All of a sudden a woman with arms full of groceries walks out between 2 parked cars right in front of my father. My father struck her, killing her. Inspector insisted that it was not his fault, there was nothing that he could have done to avoid her, any way he failed the road test.

Today some 60 years later my father is still haunted by the accident. What tears him up the most was that the mother had just walked her kids across the road and placed the kids in her car, she then went back across the street to retrieve the groceries. When my father hit the woman, her kids were sitting in the car waiting and watching mommy cross the street.

Today, my 74 year old father, still does not have a drivers license!!!! He only went to DMV about 15 years ago to get a picture ID so that he could fly and have some form of Identification.

 

I rode my Schwinn Varsity 10 speed 28 miles round trip from Lake City, IA. to Rockwell City, IA.
Took the written exam and passed......missed 2. Turned in my test results to the clerk and he says now you have to pass the driven.....in Iowa back in the 70's it was a lottery some had to drive and some didn't, they chose by your birthday. not to be deterred I said ok I'll be back before close. So rode my bike back 14 miles and "borrowed" this.

Then drove it myself back to the courthouse and got the tester to give me my chance....he looks around and says "where is your folks ?" I pointed at the hardware store...lol. He tested all the lights, wipers, and horn then we went for a ride, of course like all testers he told me I barely passed....got my picture took, issued a paper license and paid my 5 bucks. Drove home and got a speeding ticket in the 14 miles between towns...lol!

 

Test taken in 1989 and I drove a 1930 Model A. The tester walked right past it. Test went well and really well after I popped the windshield open and she had the wind in her hair.

play hard, drive fast

 

I took mine in 1979 in my mom's BMW. I was more nervous about the person giving the test than taking it. She was flirting with me and had her hand on my leg. I scored a 100. I also took my motorcycle test there a couple of on a Harley Sportster in the rain. I think I got a 90 or 92 . The lady giving the test was pissed I showed up, because she had to stand in the rain.

 

My was 65 Mustang 289 HiPo 4 speed car , no issues other than the Trooper says "you may want to check your oil level , it's a bit loud " after my road test ! I took the bike test on a hand jammin , kick starting Pan , the Trooper says " if you can ride that you passed "!

 

Bought my first car at 14 for $10.00 (1953 Willy's Aero) that didn't run. Spent the next couple of years learning to wrench and get it running. 283 SBC with a Muncie 4speed. Hoped to take my test in mom's new Mustang with an automatic but was told you ain't driving it so take your test in your car. Examiner was pretty cool and impressed with the Willy's as a first build and we talked about it during examination. All went well with test till I accidentally chirped the tires leaving a stop. Examiner looked back and said "you need to save some money for posi as there is only one tire track". He laughed and passed me anyway.