Started on a Ford 8N when I was 8. Drove my sister's new '64 Fairlane 289 4 speed as the first car on the road. I would have been about 14 then.
I was driving at 12 around the farm then at 14 the sheriff called my dad and told him if his boys caught me have them call him. BUT if the Blue and silver troopers caught me he didn't know me or him. Jimmy
When i was real little my dad used to let me steer. At age 12, my dad taught me to drive in a '31 A Sedan Delivery. I was hooked. At about 14 when i was actually tall enough to reach all the pedals, I started taking every car we had when my parents werent home. My dad grew up in the muscle car days, drag raced and bought and sold muscle cars, so there was ALWAYS a 4 spd car at my house. I had way too much fun tear ing downthe back roads around my house. came close to tearing up some cars too.
Man, We all musta been a bunch of law breakers when we re kids . Here is my story, When I was 4yrs old My stepmom who owned the 55 bird that I now own would put me on her lap & let me steer it as we rolled west on Valley Bl in Alh. That is my 1st recollection of actual steering (Brittany would get a ticket & arrested for that one). When I was ten, my dad & sis would go to the tennis courts behind our house @ the High School that I later would attend and so I wouldn't get bored he just toss me the keys & I would drive around the parking lot & practice parking, backing up & just plain driving. It did help that I would go to the driving training class and talk the instuctor (who coincedentally just happened to be Dyno Don Nicholsons nephew) to let me sit in the class & drive the simulator with the actual students. (It was all early Falcon instumentation). Well one night in 1977 I thought that I would do my dad a favor & put away the family car (1970 Ford Cortina Wagon). I did what most kids would do, took it for a joy ride with the neighbor across the street, I went several blocks through the village and came up Ramona and my dad is out in the drive as I pull in, next thing I know is that I am being yanked out through the driver window when the car was still in drive ! Car stops & I get the lickin of my life. Step mom tells me if I do that again, No T-bird for me. I was 13. Well in June of 79 I became friends with a guy who had a late model mustang 2, mach 1. We went everywhere in that car! Well one day we're in his backyard & he shows me his 1st car. 1974 Vega Hatchback 4sp. He says to me, "Can you get this running"? I said "whats wrong with it"? He didn't really know? I jump start it,we take it around the block,next thing I know is that we are pulling up to my house & he says. "Since you showed an interest in it she's all yours". My God I think that I was all of 15-1/2 and a freshman in high school and my dad tells me to take it to school & give it the once over. "Dad, last time I drove by myself you yanked out of a window". Well it was the last week of autoshop before finals & I drove it I picked up my girlfriend & off we went to school. I couldn't concentrate all day. I passed all of my drivers ed classes with flying colors but was still 6 mos away from getting my license. My dad drove my car everyday to work & I pedaled my way to school or walked cuz a year earlier my dad bought a house 3 mi. away when we had a house right next to the school where I grew up. I musta drove every car that we had before I had a license, In fact my brother & I got our licenses on the very same day Feb 20th,1980. My 16 B-day and 1 week past his 18th. That was a very fine day! Freedom @ last! All the time that I had that car I was cutting my teeth on street machining V8 powered Don Hardy Vegas, Bill Grumpy Jenkins. I knew that the steering boxes were the only good part that would go on a hot rod. Bought four of them over my lifetime and modified them for what I needed them for @ that time in my life,then one day I was coming home from going with my buddy Oscar getting some skins for his Buick & right off the freeway exit was a 1968 GTO ragtop 4 sp car. I told him right then & there that I was gonna buy it. Sure did for $1575.00 in 1981. It was all of the money I had and sold two cars to get one. I kept that car for 5yrs & have regretted selling it ever since the day that I saw roll down the street. Still have the 55 bird & a 69 Camaro that I got when I was 18.-They're gonna die with me!
I'm the 15 yr old kid Bad Bob bought the black 49' Ford with the kandy gold flames for. I wish there was some way I could get away with sneaking out the car w/o him knowin but he was pretty sneaky at my age and would definitely catch me. I hear all the stories of him cruising around in my grandpas 66' chrysler imperial on bowling night while my granpa was gone. Cant wait to drive it too car shows on my own.
The age should be increased because driving is boring as hell now days and teens have the attention span of gold fish. They can have a rational thought for a maximum of 3 seconds before hormones take over and wipe the slate clean again. I take offense to that. Im 17 and... wait, what were you saying?
I had already posted on this thread once, but I remembered a crazy thing that happed driving wise before I had a DL. I was 13, 7th grade and I was the first kid on the bus and the last one off. I had been driving split shift 2 1/2 ton truck from my fathers junk yard for a couple years and I talked the bus drive in to letting me drive the bus on the last few stops. I could drive and shift better than he could and he told me so. He was a colored gentlmen, and after that day would let me drive home every day after that, as he smoked left handed cigaretts in the back of the bus, crazy shit. South Dakota is a crazier place to grow up than most people will believe.
Been driving since about 10 I guess. Always would sit on dad's lap when I was real young and steer up our driveway. He would work the throttle and brake. My first time driving unassisted was at 12. Dad pulled over in our neighborhood. Got out and said to move over. I got in the drivers seat of a 1948 hudson four door. Clutched that thing up the hill and all the way to the house. Mom was pissed when we told her about four years later.
Guess I was 12 and it was a John Deere 730 -- all day long . When I was 14 Dad put me on the third of three combines (those things cost as much as a house ) for two-weeks of 14 to 16 hour days. First day of summer after my sophomore year he gave me the keys to a '56 GMC shorty and the 500 gallon overhead gas tank. And told me to take care of 6-8 irrigation wells. More 14+ hour days. When I was teaching 8th grade English I'd discuss what getting a driver's license means with the students. After they talked about all the freedom, etc. I'd tell them that story. Usually one would do the math and ask when I'd see my friends. I'd tell them "When school started again." Yep, not much fun.
Wild Turkey, just reminded me of something. The first automatic transmission vehicle I ever drove I was about the same age. We grew wheat and I was told, "Well you drive everything else, you might as well drive the header" I jumped in and couldnt work out how to drive it, couldnt find the clutch! I was amazed as I had never seen an auto before and thought it was the coolest thing. Now, I dont like Autos had one in my 32 but it was for dragracing and really needed it. Doc.
well i wasnt allowed to get my lisecne till about 6months ago cuz the parents were always like, 'you dont deserve it' and all that crap. but i went thruogh 3 vehicles before i had my lisence. when i was 14 my granpa gave me an 81 bonneville for free. cleaned the plugs, and put some gas down the gullet and she fired right up. i would tear up and down the alley with that thing. every once and a while id go to the vacant lot 2 blocks away and do cookies with it. ran put of gas at the lot once and had to push the big bastard home. then the tranny went out, and i took the car to my friends farm and destroyed the car. then i bought an s10 from a buddy of mine fro 50bux. i tried puttin the motor from the bonnevile in it, but it was too acward (olds 307)so i junked that motor and got a buick 4.1 v6 and put that in it. i ended up burnin up the tranny in that and scrapped the truck. got 17 bux from the thing from the crusher. THEN i bought a 74 datsun pickup from another buddy of mine fro 30bux. had no motor or trans so i got another trans for the buick motor and put that in it. never got the thing drivin though. the wiring was a rats nest and the brakes were shit. so i parted that put and crushed it too. then i went without a vehicle for a while, untill the autoshop was donated a little isuzu pup. i ended up donating a bunch of parts for the shops racecar in trade for the pickup. i had to wait 2 months for the title, but i got it. then it sat in my drive way for 6 months untill i turned 18 and went and got my license.
I started driving a 14, (1971) my older freind had a car. When I was 15, I went to work at the shop my dad worked at. One of my duties was to park customers cars in the back lot. Dad never asked me how I learned to drive a stick, but I'm sure he knew. Craig
I grew up on countryside and bought a '72 Saab-96 when I was eleven and removed the muffler and bumbers and scalloped it red with stickers and black steelies when I was 13. Drove like hell on my grandfather's field!
The Jalopy Journal
