How, when and where did you learn to drive?

[Hirsch]

That was a great story!

You have had one interesting life and from the sounds of it, your adventures are not yet over.

[tunnanxwd]

It didn't matter if I careened out of control and wrought havoc and mayhem on the denizens where I learned.

I couldn't kill them any more than they were dead.

My brother in law took me to The Greenwood Cemetery in my Mom's 1960 Corvair and turned me loose.

80 raging horsepower funneled through a two speed automatic "paddle shifter", a few acres of dead people and, and well, somehow I don't think this is how Jackie Stewart or Stirling Moss or Juan Fangio got their starts this way?

A few weeks later found me behind the wheel of his 1959 Thunderbird. This is probably how I developed an affinity for smaller cars, I think I could shave time in the "Cemetery Chicane" and get through the real "Dead Man's Curve" quicker in the "Vair" then the "Bird".

They divorced soon after but he was a pretty cool guy. The first icy day he came over and took me out to a huge parking lot to learn how to control spins and swap ends.

[tunnanxwd]

Wulf, one of my favorite cars when I was in the military was a 1965 Opel Kadett L. A little two door coupe all black and shiny, this followed the 1956 Beetle and for a kid who wanted a Porsche or BMW that little Kadett was fine. You could see the Chevy II and Nova influence in them and later in the Rallye. And then there was that GT that looked like a scaled down Corvette.

Not exciting and it certainly didn't "hone my driving skills" but it did wonders with my imagination.

[Eliteboi]

I learned to drive when I was pretty young. My dad managed a large used car dealer in New Hampshire. I use to LOVE going to work with him, because I liked cars and my Dad is the business.

First time driving by myself (with Dad in passenger seat), I remember it was winter. I drove an 86 Jeep Cherokee around a very big field and up and down the street the dealer was on. I had to use the 4wd to get threw the field.

About a year later my Mom let me drive her almost brand new Park Ave Ultra Supercharged (had some other package attached with it) Maroon in color, around a parking lot. She said "wow you are a natural at this", while fileing her nails. She then let me drive around the small town we lived in.

We had a 1991 Yellow Isuzu Trooper we had as a back up car "bumblee" is what we called it. My dad had it cheaply painted BRIGHT yellow and black. It was a stick, I got in it, and without stalling once, drove it around our house and then our neighborhood and so on.

Ya, that's right I taught myself how to drive a stick.

[Mark_Venture]

With my grand parents living 5 doors down, and having a field in her back yard, we'd put the trash cans of grass clippings in the trunk of the car, and drive them down the street to dump them. My dad started letting me do that in their 2dr 1980 Olds Omega with a 2.8L V6. I was about 12.

When I was about 13, I learned to drive stick in my Dad's 1969 Ford Econoline that belonged to his clothing factory. (this picture looks a lot like it -> Ford Econoline | Flickr - Photo Sharing! except Dad's was Tan, and had plain wheels and hub caps on it). It was 3speed on the column. My Dad was trying to teach my brother (who was 16 at the time) how to drive stick. I was rolling around in the back (No seats!!) as it was bucking and lurching (that poor clutch!!) laughing at him.. My brother abruptly stopped the truck and said "you think its so funny, you try it!" My dad told me it was ok, so I did. While I could barely reach the pedles, I drove it without problems. Yeah, my brother wasn't too happy with me


Around that same time, my brother's first car was a 1969 Mustang with 351 engine (this is a photo of it)
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It was automatic. He used to take me to the local high school parking lot and have me drive. They had a serpentine setup for their drivers ed course, and he kept pushing me to see how fast I could go through it. I wish I had that car today!! (to go with my Saabs of course)

When it came time for me to drive legally, my parents took me for my permit. I had to beg them to take me for my license. My mom had a friend of mine and my brothers who was 17, drive me and the Omega over to the DMV, sure I wasn't going to pass because I hadn't studied the book or anything. To her surprise, I passed the written and driving tests, and drove home with my license. The Omega then became my first car. It didn't last long as it turns out the floor boards had become rusted out and wouldn't pass inspection. Its a good thing Dad taught me how to drive stick, as the Omega's replacement was a 1984 Escort GT 1.8L 5-speed. The rest of my cars have been stick except for my late Father's 2010 GMC Terrain, and my current 2011 9-4X Prem XWD.