Small talk: Driving

[AllThatJazzZ]

How old were you when you learned to drive? How did you learn? Where did you learn? How old were you when you got your driver's license? When were you allowed to take the car out without parental supervision?

[roamer_1]

How old were you when you learned to drive? How did you learn? Where did you learn? How old were you when you got your driver's license? When were you allowed to take the car out without parental supervision?

Drive... what? I was driving tractors and hay trucks as soon as I could reach the pedals.
Got my license at 14 1/2 yrs old, and owned my own car (a 63 chevy pickup) before I was licensed. So as soon as I could legally drive the county road, I went where I wanted... So long as I had the fun tickets  to put in the tank. I had my first trapline afield the winter I was 15 (down in the Swan range, 50 miles away or so), and I drove my first grain truck to the grain elevators that same summer. Didn't get to drive big trucks (anything with air brakes) for a couple more years... And even then was illegal because I was not old enough for a CDL, but I rode shotgun on 18 wheelers about then and drove water trucks up on the forest fires, and dump trucks off the pavement...

Driving something goes all the way back as far as I remember. It's just part of life in the country.

[sneakypete]

Started driving when I was about 12. The state road ended not far from me,and I didn't even have to get on the state road because there were sand dunes behind my house,and I could use them to get to the beach.

[PeteS in CA]

I think I was driving my Dad's Ford tractor on county roads when I was age 8 or 9. I never got to drive the flywheel John Deere, but I think I did operate his Cat D4 some.

As for cars, I did Driver Training in high school - a few weeks instead of PE - soon after I turned 15 1/2. My parents had to urge me to practice driving. I was 16 when I got my license and my first car (I used it to drive to my summer job between my junior and senior years). I was still 17 when I moved, driving my car and my parents in theirs, from Central California to Phoenix, AZ.

My parents car at that time was a 1969 Dodge Polara, which had a trunk that could sleep 3. My first car was a 1967 Plymouth Valiant (225 cu. in. slant 6).

[jmyrlefuller]

I didn't get my driver's license until I was almost 30. It was a combination of a bunch of little issues: my parents seldom had cars growing up, I didn't get my learner's permit until age 21 (and only then so I could buy a beer if I wanted to, though I didn't drink at the time and still only drink minimal alcohol), and for some odd reason—I think it was related to my mental issues—I simply could not pass that road test. Three failed tests, two of whom humiliated me so badly that it made me literally cry, I was so bad. Eventually the fourth time, I barely passed. The instructor turned out to be the guy who had flunked me the second time, but he was more understanding than the other two.

I'm still not a great driver, though my record is clean.

[Elderberry]

When I turned 14 they changed the age to get a license to 16. Damn. I took Driver's Ed at school. My instructor was one of the coaches. For our driving instruction, we drove him to other schools, so he could talk with other coaches. If he took too long and we were late coming back, he just had us run all the red lights. When I took my test, I just skipped Parallel Parking. Passed without it. I got my grandmother's 60 Chevy Biscayne(283) at 17. She hadn't driven it herself for years.

[libertybele]

I took drivers training in high school which was craziness (a whole story in itself).  My Dad finally took me to get my licence when I was 18.  I wanted a car so he told me I had to get a job to save money and pay insurance.  I got a job and walked to work.  When I had money to pay for insurance he lent me money to buy a car.   I saved and saved and that Christmas I paid him back every penny.  He cried and couldn't believe I paid him back.  It wasn't a lot that I had borrowed but I was making a whopping $1.75 hr. and I had made him a promise to pay him back.  He taught me well.

[Smokin Joe]

Drove tractors and vehicles on the farm as soon as I could reach the pedals. Also had my first boat when I was 5, two more after that, but that's another story. Didn't get my license until I was 17, but managed to get around on the water pretty well. Motorcycle license some years later. Passed the auto tests first try, parallel parked in 15 sec., took the motorcycle test on a 74 cu in. (1200cc) Harley.  Never got the license for the bigger trucks (air brakes, Class A), although I would not mind having one.

[Gefn]

16 1/2 for driver’s license.


Couldn’t use the car without parent’s permission until my Sophomore year in college. At that point I moved out Of the dorms and became a commuter.

[Cyber Liberty]

I was living in Michigan at the time, in a farming community.  A Driver's License was vital, and a "Rite of Passage."  The age for a License was 16, and you could get a Learner's Permit after taking drivers ed at 15.

I got my real License on my 16th birthday, like almost everybody else.  It came with a one-year probationary period, where one ticket would result in a license suspension.

Before that, I'd been driving a lawn tractor for several years.

[Elderberry]

I got a speeding ticket during my probationary period and had to go to Teen Court. All the kids before me had a lawyer and had reasons why they shouldn't loose their license. Every one of them lost their license for several months. Then it was my turn with no lawyer. I was asked if I had received any more tickets and I admitted I had gotten Another Speeding Ticket. When asked if there was any reason I shouldn't loose my license, I just said "No your Honor". I lost my license for a much shorter period than those lawyer-ed up fools. 

[Bigun]

Drive... what? I was driving tractors and hay trucks as soon as I could reach the pedals.
Got my license at 14 1/2 yrs old, and owned my own car (a 63 chevy pickup) before I was licensed. So as soon as I could legally drive the county road, I went where I wanted... So long as I had the fun tickets  to put in the tank. I had my first trapline afield the winter I was 15 (down in the Swan range, 50 miles away or so), and I drove my first grain truck to the grain elevators that same summer. Didn't get to drive big trucks (anything with air brakes) for a couple more years... And even then was illegal because I was not old enough for a CDL, but I rode shotgun on 18 wheelers about then and drove water trucks up on the forest fires, and dump trucks off the pavement...

Driving something goes all the way back as far as I remember. It's just part of life in the country.

Pretty much the same for me.  I think I had to wait until I was 16 to actually get a DL but it didn't matter much around here in those days whether or not you had one.  In HS I could fill the car up with gas, buy some burgers fries and drinks, and pay our way into the drive in movie for around $5.00. Not necessarily in that order.

I've still never taken a drivers ed class.

[Elderberry]

5 Bucks? 

We'd go to the Friday Nite 1 Dollar a Carload at the Telephone Rd Drive-in.

[Bigun]

5 Bucks? 

We'd go to the Friday Nite 1 Dollar a Carload at the Telephone Rd Drive-in.

$5.00 covered the entire evening @Elderberry including filling the car up with gas for all the cruising.

[Restored]

Learners at 15, license at 16.

[Elderberry]

One morning driving to school, I was way below empty and really didn't think I'd make it to school and back. I had no money. I pulled into a gas station and dug all thru the floor boards and found a dime. That ten cents of gas got me to school and back home.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Learned on a 1981 Volvo in 1992-3? Got my license at 16.

[Kamaji]

Started learning when I was 13 or 14 - driving my grandmother's gigantic Lincoln Mark IV around her Florida retirement community - actually a pretty good place to learn as the roads were wide and smooth, and there was almost no other traffic around.

[roamer_1]

Well... there's driving, and then there's DRIVING!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BNwA4WfXHQ

[roamer_1]

Pretty much the same for me.  I think I had to wait until I was 16 to actually get a DL but it didn't matter much around here in those days whether or not you had one.  In HS I could fill the car up with gas, buy some burgers fries and drinks, and pay our way into the drive in movie for around $5.00. Not necessarily in that order.

I've still never taken a drivers ed class.

That's pretty much right... Nobody got very uptight once you were off the county roads, which pretty much means pavement around here -  there's plenty of county gravel, but it meant pavement. Like I said, I drove dump trucks and water trucks off road with no CDL... Heck, I would wonder if some of them trucks were even legal - MANY things ran around with no plates back in the day - If you weren't on pavement, it wouldn't matter.

But I will say I am a touch younger than you... So my weekend was cheap at $20-25... Not counting the judge on Monday morning, which was not rare, and providing I stayed out of the honkytonks and stuck to keggers and bonfires... 

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

My first car actually had a choke. :D

I'm sure that's nothing to you old timers.

[Cyber Liberty]

My first car actually had a choke. :D

I'm sure that's nothing to you old timers.

Low/High Beam switch on the floor, near where the starter foot button was.  No, I never had a crank start car.

[Smokin Joe]

Low/High Beam switch on the floor, near where the starter foot button was.  No, I never had a crank start car.

I have one pickup with the optional electric starter (6 volt)--and the crank is kept behind the seat.

[Elderberry]

My 56 Chevy truck still has the foot stomper starter. I was going to upgrade it, but it works fine, so I left it as is.

[Elderberry]

Back around 89 to 92 my daily driver was my 53 Willys Jeep. No turn signal lights. Only headlights and one stop light. Who had to use hand turn signals? I got a kick out of driving my jeep and ending up next to troops in their Humvees driving over to Barbours Cut, to ship out during Desert Storm.

[The_Reader_David]

Driver's ed in HS (on an automatic), then really learning to drive (i.e. a manual) with my father on a VW microbus, with the unforgiving VW clutch, license at 18.  Didn't get my own car until I was 26, in grad school and married (like all since, joint title with my wife, this first one a gift from my mother-in-law). When it crapped out, we bought an '83 Nissan Sentra with a manual transmission and I taught my wife to drive a stick.   All my kids learned to drive manuals.

[Elderberry]

When I first got my 53 Willys on the road. I had a 500 cfm Rochester 2 bbl on a 350 Chevy. That 2 bbl acted like an on-off switch taking off and if the roads were wet I couldn't take off without breaking the tires loose. I swapped it out for a 390 cfm Holley 4 bbl and it was much more driveable. I have a dual fuel set up on it now and mostly drive it on propane.

[AllThatJazzZ]

I didn't get my driver's license until I was almost 30. It was a combination of a bunch of little issues: my parents seldom had cars growing up, I didn't get my learner's permit until age 21 (and only then so I could buy a beer if I wanted to, though I didn't drink at the time and still only drink minimal alcohol), and for some odd reason—I think it was related to my mental issues—I simply could not pass that road test. Three failed tests, two of whom humiliated me so badly that it made me literally cry, I was so bad. Eventually the fourth time, I barely passed. The instructor turned out to be the guy who had flunked me the second time, but he was more understanding than the other two.

I'm still not a great driver, though my record is clean.

@jmyrlefuller

Did you live in the city where you could take buses and/or taxis to get where you needed to go? I always wonder how people get around when they're not drivers or don't have access to cars. When those people on "The Five" mention that they haven't driven in years, I always wonder how they get their groceries home. I imagined that they simply made more frequent trips to the store, but I really don't know for sure.

Did you ever try taking driver's ed?

[roamer_1]

@jmyrlefuller

Did you live in the city where you could take buses and/or taxis to get where you needed to go? I always wonder how people get around when they're not drivers or don't have access to cars. When those people on "The Five" mention that they haven't driven in years, I always wonder how they get their groceries home. I imagined that they simply made more frequent trips to the store, but I really don't know for sure.

Did you ever try taking driver's ed?

I know, right? That is entirely unreal to me...

[AllThatJazzZ]

When I turned 14 they changed the age to get a license to 16. Damn. I took Driver's Ed at school. My instructor was one of the coaches. For our driving instruction, we drove him to other schools, so he could talk with other coaches. If he took too long and we were late coming back, he just had us run all the red lights. When I took my test, I just skipped Parallel Parking. Passed without it. I got my grandmother's 60 Chevy Biscayne(283) at 17. She hadn't driven it herself for years.

@Elderberry

Funny how all the driver's ed instructors were coaches. Why did you get to skip parallel parking?

My heart melted when you said Chevy Biscayne. My late husband had a '59 cream colored one when we were in HS. He sure looked fine driving it. 

[AllThatJazzZ]

I took drivers training in high school which was craziness (a whole story in itself).  My Dad finally took me to get my licence when I was 18.  I wanted a car so he told me I had to get a job to save money and pay insurance.  I got a job and walked to work.  When I had money to pay for insurance he lent me money to buy a car.   I saved and saved and that Christmas I paid him back every penny.  He cried and couldn't believe I paid him back.  It wasn't a lot that I had borrowed but I was making a whopping $1.75 hr. and I had made him a promise to pay him back.  He taught me well.

@libertybele

Great story. Kudos to you.

[AllThatJazzZ]

Pretty much the same for me.  I think I had to wait until I was 16 to actually get a DL but it didn't matter much around here in those days whether or not you had one.  In HS I could fill the car up with gas, buy some burgers fries and drinks, and pay our way into the drive in movie for around $5.00. Not necessarily in that order.

I've still never taken a drivers ed class.

It mattered in our house. There was no way I was going to get to drive the car without my license. Daddy played by all the rules and made sure I did too.

I hear you re the cost of a night out. We'd have about 4 or 5 girls in the car, and everyone would pitch in to buy 50 cents' or a dollar's worth of gas and cruise the main drags for the night, stopping at least a couple of times at the drive-in (the kind with carhops) to see who was there and do a little flirting. Cars were usually parked 4 deep, so it was busy and you could eat up a lot of time there. The unwritten rule in those days: the boys could get out of their cars and go from car to car. The girls couldn't without a ding to their reputation! Also, the guys could drag the place, but not the girls. Every once in a while we'd get realllllly brave and drag the drive-in. Then most of the girls in the car would lose their nerve and duck down leaving the driver and her recognizable car to be the "slut" dragging the place. 

Also, never took Driver's Ed. Learned to drive on rural roads when we'd go visit my grandparents on Sundays.

P.S. Speaking of drive-ins (the movie kind this time), who else hid in the trunk to save $? For us, it was per person, so 4 of us girls got in Paula McC's huge trunk and sneaked in. I think we saw "A Summer Place" that night.

[berdie]

It mattered in our house. There was no way I was going to get to drive the car without my license. Daddy played by all the rules and made sure I did too.

I hear you re the cost of a night out. We'd have about 4 or 5 girls in the car, and everyone would pitch in to buy 50 cents' or a dollar's worth of gas and cruise the main drags for the night, stopping at least a couple of times at the drive-in (the kind with carhops) to see who was there and do a little flirting. Cars were usually parked 4 deep, so it was busy and you could eat up a lot of time there. The unwritten rule in those days: the boys could get out of their cars and go from car to car. The girls couldn't without a ding to their reputation! Also, the guys could drag the place, but not the girls. Every once in a while we'd get realllllly brave and drag the drive-in. Then most of the girls in the car would lose their nerve and duck down leaving the driver and her recognizable car to be the "slut" dragging the place. 




I never took DE and didn't get a license until I married, even though I drove. Like your Dad my husband was a stickler for such things.

My girlfriend and I would go to the local drag and cruz for a bit and then go to the hidden dragstrip. In her Mom's pearl pink Caddie.

It could be beat off the line...but not in the long haul, lol.

[Elderberry]

@Elderberry

Funny how all the driver's ed instructors were coaches. Why did you get to skip parallel parking?

My heart melted when you said Chevy Biscayne. My late husband had a '59 cream colored one when we were in HS. He sure looked fine driving it. 

@AllThatJazzZ

Everything I was graded on in my driver's test had points associated with it. I looked at the total points for parallel parking and knew if I didn't screw up  on the rest of the test I would still pass. So I skipped it, got a zero on parallel parking, and still passed.

I also had a cream 59 Biscayne I bought around 75 in Pensacola when I was stationed on the Lex.

[jmyrlefuller]

@jmyrlefuller

Did you live in the city where you could take buses and/or taxis to get where you needed to go? I always wonder how people get around when they're not drivers or don't have access to cars. When those people on "The Five" mention that they haven't driven in years, I always wonder how they get their groceries home. I imagined that they simply made more frequent trips to the store, but I really don't know for sure.

Did you ever try taking driver's ed?

I lived in a small town. We had a couple of stores where we could buy the essentials. For a time, one of my parents had access to a work vehicle that we used to get places. Anything else, we had to ask for a ride from friends. That, and I eventually got used to riding a bicycle several miles to the next town for certain things. I didn't really need one in college; we had buses.

But young adulthood, that was incredibly hard on me. I missed out on a LOT.

As for driver's ed, I recall it being offered at my school, but it didn't fit my class schedule. Plus, the school itself was several miles away so without a car of our own, getting there and back wasn't feasible back then if it were held in the summer (for the same reason, I pretty much couldn't do any sort of sports).

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

@jmyrlefuller

Did you live in the city where you could take buses and/or taxis to get where you needed to go? I always wonder how people get around when they're not drivers or don't have access to cars. When those people on "The Five" mention that they haven't driven in years, I always wonder how they get their groceries home. I imagined that they simply made more frequent trips to the store, but I really don't know for sure.

Did you ever try taking driver's ed?

A lot of people in Boston, when i lived there, would just use zipcar.

[AllThatJazzZ]

A lot of people in Boston, when i lived there, would just use zipcar.

@Weird Tolkienish Figure

I know there are different ways to get around. I just can't wrap my head around not being able to go where you want to go at will. I think I'd go stark raving mad.

[roamer_1]

Y'all... I can't imagine youth without bugging the gut... hopping lights... going home to get the pickup because we're all going down to the river. Tailgates and bonfires...

Hell, I am near 60 and I do all that yet. 

[GtHawk]

I learned to drive at 15 and got my license at 16 and my parents let me take the car out on my own then. At 17 I got my very first car that was all mine, a 63 Studebaker GranTurismo Hawk with the Avanti drive line. We used to take speed runs after work at Knott's Berry Farm to Camp Pendleton and Back. How cool was it being young and function on four hours sleep after school and an eight hour shift and then do it again the next day  Also really cool that there was no traffic or cops on the freeway late at night back then.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

@Weird Tolkienish Figure

I know there are different ways to get around. I just can't wrap my head around not being able to go where you want to go at will. I think I'd go stark raving mad.

Understood... and the hassle got to me living in Boston. But now people have uber and lyft and zipcar and a bunch of other rideshare options, and taxis, publix transit, bicycles etc. Or just renting a car for the weekend.

Personally I enjoy having my own vehicle but plenty of people, mostly younger, do not.

[sneakypete]

Personally I enjoy having my own vehicle but plenty of people, mostly younger, do not.

@Weird Tolkienish Figure

Well,in those rat mazes known as "Big Northern Cities",if you have a car you can't drive it to work because there is no place to park. Hell,unless you have a garage attached to your house or live in a partmint bilding with underground parking,you can't drive it to work even if you have parking at work because you won't find a place to park it when you get back home.

I wouldn't own a car if I had to live there,either. It makes more sense to take uber/rideshare/whatever rides if you are in a hurry,or maybe a bus for normal "going somewhere",and then renting a car if you want to go out of town for the weekend.

Not to mention a HELL of a lot cheaper because you avoi d spending 30 grand plus for something you will rarely use,plus you avoid having to pay the insurance,parking fees,property taxes,maintenence and other upkeep,etc,etc,etc.

No,you won't save enough money to make up for the high rent or house payments plus the other normal big city taxes,but not adding to them is BIG plus for not owning a car.

[Smokin Joe]

@Weird Tolkienish Figure

Well,in those rat mazes known as "Big Northern Cities",if you have a car you can't drive it to work because there is no place to park. Hell,unless you have a garage attached to your house or live in a partmint bilding with underground parking,you can't drive it to work even if you have parking at work because you won't find a place to park it when you get back home.

I wouldn't own a car if I had to live there,either. It makes more sense to take uber/rideshare/whatever rides if you are in a hurry,or maybe a bus for normal "going somewhere",and then renting a car if you want to go out of town for the weekend.

Not to mention a HELL of a lot cheaper because you avoi d spending 30 grand plus for something you will rarely use,plus you avoid having to pay the insurance,parking fees,property taxes,maintenence and other upkeep,etc,etc,etc.

No,you won't save enough money to make up for the high rent or house payments plus the other normal big city taxes,but not adding to them is BIG plus for not owning a car.

Well, when the cities collapse, that means the refugees will be riding in trucks or buses, at least until those start breaking down. Then on foot.

[sneakypete]

Well, when the cities collapse, that means the refugees will be riding in trucks or buses, at least until those start breaking down. Then on foot.

@Smokin Joe
 

Yeah,now ain't THAT a crying damn shame?

The good news for me is that I THINK I live far enough away from major population centers is that the stench from the rotting bodies won't be unbearble.

[Smokin Joe]

@Smokin Joe
 

Yeah,now ain't THAT a crying damn shame?

The good news for me is that I THINK I live far enough away from major population centers is that the stench from the rotting bodies won't be unbearble.

Depends on the prevailing wind...and how many get eaten.