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My mother taught me to drive in her 87 civic stick shift. I remember being in a parking lot the first time trying to learn to take off smoothly. I’ve got the car jerking violently and I’m panicking cause I don’t understand what’s going on, and she’s saying “feather the clutch! feather the clutch!” I say “what does that mean?!”, and she yells “I don’t know!” That was a funny moment. I did fine in the end and passed my road test in that car.
I do really believe that getting a driver’s license is a truly pathetic process. The extent of the written and road test are so utterly shallow, it’s incredible. You really don’t have to demonstrate any true understanding of how a car works or how to drive it. You basically have to show on paper that you sort of know what street signs mean, and that if you skid, steer “into” it. The bar is set so low they basically just drop it on the floor.
Then you have all these drivers who have their license and have been driving legally for years and think they are “good” drivers who have never done things like go into a parking lot and spin the car out to see what happens and practice controlling it, or test their stopping distances/stopping power on various surfaces and weather conditions, or even wound out their engine at full throttle to know what it’s capable of. They’ll say this or that car “drives really good” even though they’ve never “driven” any car, just gently commuted alot.
The licensing process is the root of that problem because when you get it without ever demonstrating any true ability to control a car or mechanical understanding, your essentially told “you’re now a competent driver” which couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s like a medical school telling somebody they are a surgeon after they take a paper test proving they know not to mix blood types and a practical where they show that if they drag a scalpel over flesh, it produces a cut. “Ok son, you’re now competent to start operating on people”
I’m afraid that my first driving experiences were a little embarrassing. I was just short of crazy!
If I actually explained some of the crap I pulled I’m sure nobody would believe me. I was bout 16 or 17 at the time. To complicate things further I was very competitive. I didn’t like to be beat at anything.Now, you have to understand a few things first. The two brothers I worked for were absolutely insane behind the wheel. Every time they got into a car it was pedal to the metal. They couldn’t drive anything without burning rubber and winding the engine until the valves floated. It was in the late 1960s so many things were different then compared to the “graduated” licencing system new drivers here in Ont. Canada have today.
My sister had a 1964 AMC Rambler with a 287 cu in. eight cylinder engine. Most of you who know about that car mostly had experience with the crappy six cylinder engine. It was bout 75 HP but the 8 cyl engine would smoke the tires from a standing start forever.
In those days most everyone left their cars unlocked with the keys in the ignition and my SiS was no different. It was just the invitation I needed to teach myself how to drive. I drove that car bout every night after she went to sleep until the time I got stuck in snow while “parking” with my girlfriend in a seldom used laneway. She didn’t have a licence either at the time.
I tried everything to get unstuck but only got deeper in sh*&t. It was bout 2 am at this point. Since I had the key to the shop and was only a short distance away I walked to pick up the service truck. I drove back to pull the Rambler out of the snow, then returned the truck back to the shop and returned to the car to drive my girlfriend home. I was scared to death that the cops would show up.
My sister had the car washed and cleaned the day before so when she saw the snow and mud all over the sides and wheel openings the questions began.
I guess I never did drive that car again only to take it in to service it but after racing my boss on a residential street and not being able to stop at an intersection (4 wheel drum brakes) I decided I should get my licence and my own car.
My first car was a 1956 chevy 210, six cylinder three on the tree. I drove the crap outta it too.
My Dad taught my how to drive on a 4 cylinder ’79 Mustang with a stick. Ford claimed it made 86HP, and I’m pretty sure at least 30 of those horses were already dead, and the rest were overdue for the glue factory. So none of my very early driving experiences were memorable (in a good way).
I grew up in a medium sized city, but spent part of my summers on the family farm as a kid. My first driving experience wasn’t very exciting. I was ~12 years old and hauled something from point A to B in a slow moving truck on something that barely resembled a road.
Learning how to drive in the city didn’t seem bad. The most difficult part was learning to drive on the freeway. I remember being overwhelmed by all the information you have to process (things you’ve completely internalized now), like how the car handles at 60 MPH, the way traffic flows, changing lanes, traffic jams, etc. Also, as part of the hands-on/road portion of driver’s ed, our instructor “taught” us how to use a drive-through at a fast food restaurant with a cramped parking lot with tight turns and lots of curbs.
I took my driver’s test during a snow storm. I don’t know why the DMV proceeded with the test. There was 6-8 inches of snow on the ground and it was still snowing fairly hard. I still had to perform the Y-turn and parallel park – you had to rock the car in-and-out of position. I haven’t driven another FWD car that handled as well in snow as that ’88 Camry.
very first time driving a car must have been 12 or 13, it was a 1990s Ford Festeva? 5 speed stick, yea i stalled that thing so many times trying to figure out how to get it going, what a nightmare, soon enough my parents completely gave up that and waited until i was older.
first time driving on the road i drove a 2001 Ford Ranger illegally on some back roads, yea it was fun, i did a pretty good job i think, i was yet still learning how to use the accelerator and brakes and how touchy they really where, but i got it down eventually and practiced neumerous times in the fair grounds parking lot.
my first car i drove legally eventually became my first car and i think i should tell this audience more about it later, a 2000 Buick Century Custom, interesting driving that thing in traffic, my grandpa being my teacher on how to drive, very scary experience in some ways
my first experience parallel parking was with a 2004 Chevy Silverado 2500HD, between two small compact cars, my grandpa points at the open parking space between the two cars just large enough to fit the monster in between them and says “parralel park there!” yes baptized in hellfire when it came to parallel parking lets go straight for EXPERT LEVEL! knowing the truck i was driving could drive over the two small cars like toys i was very nervous, but because of this i have good parallel parking skills though out of nervousness i didn’t do well at the paralell parking test.
my first night driving buy myself with my license i had some dude tailgating me on the way home from a youthgroup function, that was awesome!
and the first time i drove a stick car was a KIA when i was working as a mechanic, i successfully drove the car without stalling it in and out of the garage and almost through the entire test drive!
The first time I ever began to drive I was 16 and I learned in my fathers 1992 Chevy Astro. Pretty big off the start to learn driving. Was a little scared at first but I got it down like within my 4th Sunday during the summer time. I began learning to drive in New York City and since then I have been driving. But I have never driven so much in my life until I moved out to California when I was 19. My father bought me my first car and I have been driving that thing ever since. Already got into accidents here in California. California traffic sucks really bad!
All this time I thought New York City was worse, turns out it is actually the complete opposite. Never had any accidents when I drive out in New York. Then for some strange when I move out to California, it being a state that driving is essential to one’s everyday life, I get into an accident during the traffic hours.
Now I am sorry to those of you that are from California, I do not intentionally want to talk smack about the state. I am just stating my driving experiences since I have been out here.
But what really got me into learning about cars was when this one time my older sister had asked me to pick her up from her friends place. I was still living in New York at the time. So me being young, once was like everyone else that doesn’t know anything about cars goes and gets into my fathers van. Never knowing that the car will break down and would naturally think, okay the van will take me there and back and I can do what my sister had asked me to do. Sure thing enough I was on my way there with a good friend and were at a stop light and I felt like the car was struggling to idle. So I look over at my friend and ask him “hey does a car run off more gas or the battery power?” Neither of us know what the answer to it was. He tells me “well I think it is both. Actually I don’t know.” So I am like damn now what. I had told my buddy that I felt the car struggling to take off and I kept giving it more and more gas but it would not respond. Sure thing enough the van dies out on me and I am there panicking trying to stop the car so I hit the brakes and pull over to the side of the street as much as I could to not block traffic. Next thing you know the van was stuck in the middle of our trip and I was panicking. Had no idea what had happen. Was guessing the battery had died.
Long story short it had turned out that the alternator was bad that is why the car kept dying. Since then I was hesitant to take out my dad’s van the way I use to even after it was fixed. After that I wanted to learn about cars because I never wanted to experience something like that, being stuck on the road not knowing what and why your car left you stuck in the middle of no where.
Ah great memories!Hey Eric, and people who are named something other than Eric.
First time I ever drove was in my high school’s driver’s ed program. First trip took us down a dirt road near the high school.
I remember the teacher guarenteed us that at some point we would have a flat tire. Yup, I’ve had several flat tires. One just a couple weeks ago actually.
First time I drove anywhere by myself was across town (Small town) to pick my younger sister up from work. She was very excited.
My first time driving a manual, was my dad’s 19?? Ford Ranger. We drove around the block jerking the entire way. The jerking of the truck in 1st gear, made me afraid to give it more gas. Once we went to my cousin’s place, and I noticed that once I got going faster it didn’t jerk as much. It wasnt until after I was in the military years later that I got another chance to drive a manual transmition, That time it was a golf cart at an air show to empty the trash. Then in Iraq, I had to ferry some vehicals back and forth accross the base that were manuals, so I got a little better.
Now both the vehicals I own are manuals and I do pretty good 🙂The stories that have come from this video have been more than interesting. Thanks to everyone for posting their experiences. It’s a great read.
Hi fellas, my first post on ETCG.com
My first “driving experience” was at around 8 years old. My dad let me sit in his lap and do the steering while he would slowly drive around the block in his 1885 Benz 200E. It was a countryside area, so no traffic at all. As we were slowly creeping around the block, the poor Benz started overheating, as there was not enough air moving through the radiator to cool it. It was at that point that I got interested in cars and how they work. Great memories!
My first real driving experience was at 16 years old, when I got my Learners Licence (basically you can drive around with a person who has at least 3 years of driving experience sitting next to you. Oh and you have to have a warning sticker on the front and back window). As soon as you turn 18 you can apply for a licence over here.
First motor vehicle I drove was my uncle’s D6 Cat. My cousin said it would be O.K. He was wrong. I had to repair about 30 feet of board fence.
I grew up in a BIG city, so urban environment was my learning. At first, I took the car in & out of the garage and parked it outside if the other car had to be taken out. My first time alone, Dad & me went to buy some fried chicken for lunch. The line was quite long so he thought of asking me to park the car nearby in the parking lot. So I did. 🙂 When I was turning the car for parallel parking I miscalculated the turn, smashing my sister’s Rabbit into the Datsun parked beside the empty spot. I was nervous as hell but parked the car into that same spot. Left a small paper on the Datsun’s wipers and went on to meet my dad. I just think that my eleven year old writting on that paper discouraged the owner to claim about his twisted bumper, since my dad found out about it five years after, when I told him.
Something interesting about getting a driver´s license in this country: Just five years ago, You NEEDED one to be able to get driving lessons. Weird, right?My first driving experience happened when I was about 8 years old. My grandpa took me out on an old back road in his 1975 Pontiac LeMans 2dr (which later became my first car.) I’m 24 now and I still remember the thrill and everything he taught me. And I still have that old Pontiac!
[quote=”mjwells01131990″ post=111149]My first driving experience happened when I was about 8 years old. My grandpa took me out on an old back road in his 1975 Pontiac LeMans 2dr (which later became my first car.) I’m 24 now and I still remember the thrill and everything he taught me. And I still have that old Pontiac!
[/quote]I’d love that Pontiac too. It’s a real beauty.
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