A PM just reminded me of a time when I took dad's '69 Lincoln out on the last day of school, 9th or 10th grade. I was 14 or 15. The reason is was laid up was that the entire exhaust system had rusted off except for about 2 feet past the manifolds. He didn't have the $800 to put all new pipes, mufflers and resonators on it, so it sat for a while. I came home and nobody was there, my younger brother and sister wouldn't be home for another hour, they were in jr. high. So I found the keys, and started it up. 460s are LOUD and burbley with no mufflers. This was my first time driving a car. I slowly backed the huge black beast out of the garage and tore around the neighborhood doing Starsky & Hutch slides on the curvy roads for about a 1/2 hour.
This could be an interesting thread... Growing up on a farm we started driving at about ten years old. I was driving an M Farmall at that age. When I turned 14 Dad had heard that I could get a permit to help with harvest. In other words, haul wheat to the elevator. After checkin into it he decided it was too restrictive and said screw it, if you get caught I will pay the ticket. A buddy of mine and I use to sneak out of highschool basketball game and joyride in our folks cars, getting back just in time for the game to be over and mix in with the crowd leaving, showing up at the car about the same time the folks did. I remember one cold *** night in January, we barely made it in time. I found the rest of the family, walked to the car, got in and it was WARM! The only thing Dad said as we backed out to go home was "...car sure warmed up quick..." Think he knew, the old man could be pretty cool sometimes. Miss him every day.
I got my first car in 1968 when I was 14. It was a 1953 Plymouth that my dad helped my pick up. I paid $40 for it and we towed it home with a rope attached to my dad's truck. He was leaving for Vietnam, but he told me that we would fix it up and get it running when he got back in a year. In the meantime, I was supposed to clean it up and do some little things. Well, he left and the desire to drive just overcame me so with the help of a more experienced friend, I changed the clutch, fuel pump, points & plugs, and adjusted the brakes. And it ran! After driving it up and down the driveway a couple hundred times, I decided to venture out on the roads. In those days there were a lot of dirt roads and the biggest traffic hazzard was the occasional cow. No cars. I think I drove it 500 miles on dirt before I ever hit pavement. Then one day I decided to drive to school. In my school there were some 16 and 17 yr olds still in the 8th grade and they drove, so another kid in a car wouldn't be too unusual. But on the way home I got pulled over! Seems I overlooked the need for a license plate! The deputy told me to drive carefully home, park the car, and don't drive again until I had a properly registered car and a license! I can't imagine a kid today getting away with anything like that. My dad came home after a year (I told him about all the driving) and we worked on the car a lot more. Great times......
I first learned to drive in a big ol' F100. I used to drive that thing around the farm (No tractor) I was so short that to reach the pedals and steer at the same time, my **** didn’t touch the seat! Plenty of motorbikes but after we left the farm and moved to the big smoke that ended. Drove my old mans work ute up and down the driveway at his factory, had a cool curve going up the hill and if I gave it a bit it would step out sideways. One night, my parents were out me and a mate took the family station wagon for a drive. We were out for a few hours in this **** box Mazda 808 when we found a cool road sign. Dashed home for a hack saw and returned for it. Funny trying to explain to the cops what we were doing cutting down a road sign at 3am in a car without licences.............. Then there were those cars we 'found'............................ In high school I had a mate that built a RX3 Mazda (Those ****in cars again) rally car. I was a little older than him and was eligible to get my licence. Joined a local club to get some idea of what we were doing and I p***ed the testing. Raced that thing for a full season, then it all came to a screaming end. We came flying up over the top of a hill on one stage, fast crest. Flat out at about 120 in this POS RX3 we hit the top and the road turned right. Being airborne at the time we didn’t. I have no idea how many times we rolled that ****er but when I got out the entire front of the car was gone, motor cog box, sheet metal......... it was all wrapped around a big *** tree. It took an hour to cut my mate out of the car, he had turned too many pages on the pace notes and had given up on trying to read them and was going from memory. I guess it wasn’t that good. Doc.
I started driving when I was about 10. Always loved cars and couldn't wait to drive. I used to steal cars and cruise em around when I was a teenager until I got pinched. I had the itch and just couldn't shake it. My 10 year old boy now, I ask him "so ya wanna learn how to drive?" He's like "nah not really" to which I silently scream in my head "AHHHHHHH!!!!!! you can't be mine you little girl!" I love driving, even now. Just abslolute love it.
I worked at a gas station after school and weekends when I was 14 . One fri night the owner got hammered and didn't show up to close or give me a ride home. Soooo there was this 66 Caprice SS 396 4 speed we just put a new clutch in and off I was. To make a long story short ,70 mph, bald rear tires, inexperienced driver, well next thing I know I was sideways then over the guardrails. Totaled that baby. man was I in trouble. .. to top it off they had a snafu at dmv and revoked my licence and I didn't have one. That took some paperwork when I finally turned 16 and could get a permit. I still get goosebumbs when I see a big block 66 caprice
kinda like GV said..on the farm you start real young..i was goin down the side of the highway with a very large tractor with a 33 foot disc on it when i was 12 or 13... no big deal to a kid on a farm...but one time my ole man had a party and it rained like hell and everyone got stuck..he wanted me to help..i was 9...tryed to show me how to drive his stepside ford 3 on the tree!! i hit the ruts they had made and bout chucked us both out the doors!! so we stuck to tractors and auotmatic cars fer a couple more years!!! breeder
I remember taking my folks 60 Chevy wagon one night on a dare from a friend when I was 14/15. I was supposed to drive by his place, about 20 miles away, and we'd go "cruisin'. One problem was, he wasn't awake and waiting when I got to his house. I drove around for a couple of hours, filed up the gas tank, and went home. The other problem, my dad had had the oil changed on his way home that night, and I'd rolled over another thousand on the odometer. He looked at the sticker in the door jam and realized it had over a hundred miles on it. Let's just say that didn't set too well with him.
I took my aunts corvette out for a spin when I was 14 (she let me). Was great, except I never dealt with wide tires before, and how they can handle uneven roads at speed. That thing was hard to handle, veering all over the place. Funny thing, as ****-scared as I was still couldn't take my foot off the gas. Visiting my aunts farm in the summers, I got to learn driving early on, and I think I'm a better driver for it, because I was able to be taught right, with proper time. I can't believe they are actually talking about moving the legal age to 18 or even 21. Especially after you consider the number elderly drivers out there, that really should not have their licenses anymore.
my pre-16 driving was pretty boring, but when my oldest son was 1 or 2, he was playing in the 58 chevy wagon, and popped it out of park....it rolled back a little ways, then stopped when the driveway slopes back up. I guess that was his first drive? A little too exciting for me.
when I was 10 or 11 I started to drive cut down Model A's in cow pastures. 50+ years later I'm still driving a Model A. However, I try to stay on the road as much as possible these days.
My wife is from Orlando. I think her two sons were in the aforementioned group. They finally got a GED when they were around 25 or 30. I blame it on Disney World and possible water pollution. pigpen
. I can't believe they are actually talking about moving the legal age to 18 or even 21. Especially after you consider the number elderly drivers out there, that really should not have their licenses anymore.[/quote] i used to think that about my son..i thought fukem,,when my boy gets 16 he's drivin..now, i see the way these kids drive..cell phone in hand , pullin out without lookin...now im thinkin 25 before you can get a dl. ..these kids are fukin idiots!![atleast where i live] they have no respect for the power of a car>.spooky!!
I learned at 8 years of age on the frozen lakes. My dad would take me ice fishing....but I never fished. Too busy driving sideways.... I found out at an early age that driving sideways was a lot more fun. It was a '37 Chevy 4-door sedan.
He's right, and I've said it before on here. Modern days the driving experience has been *******ized into a need just to get from point a to point b and that's it. They're cramming all sorts of **** in cars now all to take you away from the boring hypnotizing act that is modern day driving. Do you blame them for installing these ipods and dvd players, cell phones and computers? After all these new cars are ****in boring as hell to drive! They're quiet, and the accelerator feels like a god damn rubber band. You can floor it and it takes off like a tired sling shot. Modern manuals aren't much better with their hydrolic clutches, weak *** motors, and ninny shift lights that by the way engage way too damn soon. Rods and German and Italian sports cars, especially the cl***ic ones, are all for the driving experience alone. The ****in Germans were laughing at us when we started putting cup holders in our cars. Our Interstate was designed by Eisenhower but he ****ed it up. I like Ike so don't jump my *** here. He was in the service over in Germany and saw the autobahn but he didn't fully grasp the concept. He thought it was merely a quick way to get from one place to another but the fact is the Germans intentionally made it curvy, up and down, etc.. It was designed not only to get you there but to be fun as hell to drive! Until they started putting speed limits on most of it people still would jump on the autobahn just to feed some speed to their ride. Our ****py interstate was made of lesser material which made it crack in no time but that wasn't the biggest problem, the biggest was that it's so ****ING STRAIGHT! Especially since the speed limit was 55, people were falling asleep at the wheel after being hypnotized by miles and miles and miles of STRAIGHT ROAD! I'll take an ipod, dvd, navigational computerized digital hunk of cup holder **** too! 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. This rant has been brought to you by:
My first "driving" was sitting in my Dad's lap when I was maybe 4-5 yrs old and steering his '60 caddy cruising down the highway. I used to steer a big ol' '49 Ford haytruck in the fields when they were gathering bales, coasting along in granny gear, and it was all I could do to push in the clutch. When I was about 10 in 1977 we had a '65 chevy C-10 shortbed stepside that we used to pull a disc harrow in our huge garden. 283 with a 3 on the tree baby! Pop's showed me how to push in the clutch and put it in gear and give 'er gas. Wasn't long before I was getting it up into 2nd and letting the harrow fly out sideways.... We had a '62 falcon wagon that my Dad let me drive around the yard. I guess that's why I never snuck out any of my parent's cars like all my friends did, it wasn't "forbidden" so there was no intrigue. My youngest daughter is almost 2, and almost everynite when I get home form work " Daddy, won go for wide?"....too cool.
When I turned 15, that was the legal age for a full licence in Mississippi. Got the licence the week I turned 15, and was in youth court and on probation by the end of the next month. Didn't get to drive again for 6 months.
Not really driving, but I used to steer the car sitting in my grandfather's lap from the time I was 8-9 years old. It was pretty cool and I could drive in reverse better than he could. Forget about having that much fun today. The insurance companies and the government have turned us into a paranoid and scared race. Why do kids legally need to be in booster seats until they are over 80 lbs? It's ^^%$ ridiculous. There are some adults that only weigh that. Should they be in booster seats too to ensure their safety? I do agree that in most large cities, 16 is too young to drive. I live in Toronto, Ontario (population 3.5M), and I can tell you I have close calls almost daily due to completely idiotic drivers. Inexperience, hormones and ego can turn the family car into a death trap for a 16 year old.
i was 14 in 1994, my dad bought a '64 galaxie at Iola, I got to drive it 150 miles back home. even with just an am radio it was the best drive of my life.
Started driving a 58 Chevy 2 ton water truck in our orchard at age 8. I was pretty big, and could just get it done with the pedals. I've been a stick guy ever since. At 15, a buddy and I bought a 66 Plymouth Fury (318, 3 OTT) that had been sitting under a tree for $40. Got it running and never told our parents. We used to leave it parked behind an abandoned house. From there we could drive over a little hill into a new housing development in a natural bowl meadow. In the spring we made our own dirt track and drove around there for hours (only ***** was having to steal his dad's gas can and shlep fuel up there on our dirtbikes!). I had that ****er up to 100 on those dirt banks on many occasions, totally sideways. It's a wonder neither of us got killed in it...
My dad, born in 1936, started driving when he was 11 years old. His dad worked for the Edison Co. in Burbank CA and his mom was afraid to drive. He would drive her to town to shop. When he was 14, about 1950, he drove across the country to Toledo OH, in a '29 Ford vert. hotrod. Replacing the trans in Utah! No freeways! Later he made the Toledo Blade headlines for ***isting in the staging of the first drag races in Toledo, on the Star Ave extension. His car club The Dragster's and Ted Madel's club The Cluster Buster's put it on around 1953. He would have been just 17 then. Proud son, Duane
When I was about 12 or 13 I was working for my dad during the summer. He had a constrution company and built athletic fields for schools and stuff. We were in Mathis, Texas (South Texas) and he was building a brand new football stadium for the county school. We were standing in a gaint empty cotton field where the field would be. I helped him hook up a really long cable harness to rail road tie about 25 foot long. We had already staked out the area to clear earlier. He tossed me the keys to the 48 ford F-1 truck and said to clear the entire field by driving in circles until all the cotton plants were gone and the field was flat as a fritter. I just looked up at him in dismay. I had never even touched the wheel of a car or truck. He looked at me and said "Just start it up, put it in gear, let the clutch out and get the job done. I'll be back this afternoon. This was about 9:00 am in the morning. LOL,,,the ***hole jumped in the other truck and took off for town. Well, long story short, by the time he got back around 6:30 pm, I knew how to drive.
Count me in on this one. I bought a 69 Hurst S/C Rambler when I was 14 for $50.00 from the old guy across the street. It was the cl***ic "It was my boy's car and he never returned from vietnam". The car didn't run, brakes were frozen, etc. I pushed it across the street and worked on it all summer. I got it running just before I turned 15. I took it down the street to one of the little culdesacks in the neighborhood and lit it up. Unfortunately for me (or so I thought at the time) the guy mowing his yard in the house right in front of me was a police officer. I got the car impounded (they came to my house and took it) and wasn't even be elligible to drive until I was 18. I of course thought this was the worst thin that could ever happen to me, but I am glad now that it happened. I think it kept me out of a LOT of trouble. Plus, I am the only one of my 4 brothers who never wrecked a car in my teens (or ever for that matter).
In South Dakota, where I grew up you can get a restricted DL at 14. But being I grew up in a junk yard I was driving tractors and forklifts since I was 8, started riding motor cycle when I was 5. I was always a taller kid, so the old man bought me an old Honda Civic to beat around the back road when I was 10. I got a Harley sportester when I was 13, about 6 months before I was legal to drive, rode that thing all over the place. About one month before my 14th b-day I got pulled over by the Highway Patrol, I had been out on I-90 stretching the sportesters legs and exceeded the speed limit a little bit. The officer was pretty nice and just ******ed me home, close call I could have not been able to get my DL until I was 16, if the officer would have been an *** hole. People here in Vegas have a hard time believing that I have 23 years of on the road driving experience and 19 years of legal driving experience, when I am only 33 years old.
Well for me it started in 62, i was twelve. The man i worked for on the weekends started me driving in and out of gates on his farm in a chevy stakebed truck used for delivering chicken and eggs, man that truck stank! when i was 13 he had me delivering chicken and eggs in the city, he told me if i ever got stopped to lie about my age and tell them i forgot my billfold with my license. When i was 14 i had a 57 chevy 2 door black with red interior i bought for 250.00 from my brother, i had it painted and it was the baddest untill i hit a parked car put it on top of me and pushed it 50 feet across a yard and knocked down a fire hydrant, i went to the hospital only to look up and find 2 cops writing tickets, well thats how i got started!
I was lucky in this respect; I'm the youngest of four boys, so I got in plenty of underage driving time. I guess it started at my grandfather's place, though. He had some riding horses, and I was driving the '48 Chevy 3/4 ton that he used to haul feed and horse**** with in circles in the corral at the age of ten. By the time I was thirteen, my oldest brother was taking me out on back roads and letting me drive his '69 VW. He would always make me stop halfway up the steepest hill he could find and start out again, so I was forced to get good at clutch control. Around that time, one of my other brothers' friends had a '64 Ford Galaxie 390 automatic beater with farm plates on it that he would let me torture on country roads. By the time I hit 16, I had driving pretty much under control.
When I was 13, (i'm 22 now), I bought my first car ,a 66 bel air, witha straight six and a powerglide. The ****** was in the trunk when I got the car. I paid $300 bucks for it and really wish I still had it. The frame was rotted out so I ended selling it for $600 and thats when it all started. Anyway my second car got me in a lot of trouble. It was an 81 malibu two door, with a V6 that blew up the first week I got the car from trying to do smokey burn outs in the driveway. I bought a 76 chevy pickup with a 350 four bolt main from the neighbor for $200 and pulled the motor and swapped it into the Malibu. I was about 15 at that time. I got the car running and was on a short trip back to the neighbors house to give him back his timing light and had a buddy of mine with me. He talked me into doing a burnout in front of my house ,while my Dad was at wrk of corse, so I did. We didn't know at the time but there was a County Sheriff at my other neighbors house pulled up in the driveway by his house so we didn't see him. After doing the burnout I pulled in the driveway and shut the car off. The smoke didn't even clear yet and the cop was whipping in my driveway. He ended up giving me a ticket before I had even finished drivers training, so I got four point for careless driving before I even had a license. My record is clear now, and I haven't had a ticket in about three years. Knock on wood!!
When I was just a kid, my dad often told the story of how he drove his parents' new car to Florida and back (from Ohio) TWICE before he was old enough to get a license. Well, obviously those anecdotes came back to bite him in the ***, as I blackmailed him into allowing me to drive a year early. I was 15, bought myself a used Honda 350 street bike, and drove it everywhere. Yes, I was a baaaad man! One night I did a big smokey burnout at the gas station my buddies worked at. Pulled out into the street and wheelied it as far as I could, which wasn't very far, and ran it up to 70 mph before I noticed the flashing red lights behind me. Cop gave me a ticket for 70 in a 40, and another for no operator's permit. He said it was a shame to give me the second one, since I handled the bike quite well, but he couldn't give me the speeding ticket alone since I wasn't even old enough to drive. My driving record took about 25 years to improve.
Back in the early 60's here in South Carolina a young lad on his 13 birthday could get a drivers permit,,,,and a restricted license 30 days later,,, A kid could drive a tractor with a farm tag attached at 12,,,,,, Times have changed,,,,HRP
Breeder, you sound "Just like the fifties, bro." Only, like one of the parents or teachers from a Felsen novel! For the most part, I agree with you, though -Dave
The Jalopy Journal
