Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I learned on a 1959 Chevy Impala convertible [bat-wing rear tail fins and cream color
with black top and w/ bronze vinyl interior- way too hot after sitting in the sun] and
a 1963 Dodge 440 4door sedan, both automatics. There are a lot of nice old back
roads back home that were great for practice so we took an after supper drive most
nights when it was possible.

I learned how to drive a standard shift on my boss's 1967 Plymouth station wagon
[3 speed on the column] that was used for deliveries at the drug store where I worked
part-time while going to high school and the first couple years of college. I knew the
"theory" of driving a standard shift transmission - clutch in - shift pattern - "friction
point" letting the clutch out - and all, but I never had an opportunity to actually drive
one. So, early one evening at work, I had to take the Plymouth and go pick up my boss
at his house across town, after his supper hour and bring him back to the store. It was
an adventure! I was glad i was by myself heading out to get him as it wasn't exactly
smooth going initially. And of course, my boss lived across town on the other side of
the small city we lived in [Olean, NY] and I hit every dang red-light between the store and
there and even had to stop for a train crossing the main drag. After a small series of stalls,
peeling outs, screeching take offs, bucking take offs and such I finally had achieved the
intuitive sense of just when the friction point for that dang Plymouth Wagon kicked in,
and by the time I got to the boss's house, I was driving it like I knew what i was doing.
He wasn't any the wiser - of course it helped that he wasn't the world's greatest driver either -
so he didn't have much of a basis of comparison.

I now prefer automatics, but it is definitely a plus to know how to and be able to drive a standard
shift vehicle. You never know what you'll run in to out there on the roads.

Cheers,
Norm/mezmo

77 dodge colt station wagon

'61 VW Bug. Pale blue/turquoise, convertible....no heat unless you were moving. And, actually, I learned to shift left-handed while Mother was driving. We were a rather good team!!!

In a 1968 camro. I learned to fly way before I could drive. I flew (with my dad) from NY to Texas then to Florida and home to NY when I was 10 in a piper Cherokee arrow 150.

first car 63 bug
second car 67 bug
third car 69 bus
All were push down on the stick, pull toward you and forward for reverse. It took us a time to figure that one out.
Wish I had one now.

Not counting just holding the steering wheel, I first learned to drive in a '52 or '53 Chevy pickup with 3 on the tree when I was 15.

It was a rural community with a sheriff who visited from the county seat once or twice a month so a learner's permit was not a necessity. After getting just a few blocks down the road, we came to the edge of town where there was a sharp rise for a railroad crossing. The ridge was about 8 feet tall. My Dad was of the school that believes, "The best way to teach someone how to swim is to just throw them in the deep end".

From the dead stop, it was an immediate incline and I was struggling to synch the clutch and the gas and the brake to make it up the hill without rolling back. After a lot of grinding and revving, the truck lurched, died and acrid greyish-white smoke billowed profusely from under the dash. I thought the truck was going to burn up and I had caused it! I just knew he'd never let me drive again.

Turned out the electrical fire was totally unrelated to my driving, but I was pretty shaken and wasn't sure I wanted to to continue learning to drive a stick! Once the truck was towed back home, my Dad said, hop in the other vehicle and we went back out and tried again. He was also of the school that says, "When you fall off a horse, get right back on".

Drove a stick for many years and a few trucks. Have a standard now, but still like the feel and control of a stick.

The first car in the pasture was an old Morris Minor when I was about eight. My uncle would tell me when to step on the clutch so he could shift from the back seat (passenger seat was MIA). First car on the road was a '63 Cevy II convertable. I hit a tree turning into the driveway and almost put the same uncle through the windshield. He didn't try to teach me to drive anymore after that. That car had way more engine than I should have been turned loose with. Driver's ed was the school owned Caprice station wagon. I learned to drive a stick in my dad's 5 speed Mazda pickup.

1950 model row crop

That is the kind of story that can only come from the farm. Too funny.