I learned to drive on my Grandparents ranch.

They had an old ranch Jeep.

I had 300 acres of dirt roads, fields and hills to learn on.

I had been driving for about three years when I took driver’s training with an automatic.

I didn't learn a manual in driver's ed., but, my very first car was a 1962 Chevy Impala with three-on-the-tree. Before that I owned a Yamaha Twin 100 motorcycle.

My next three cars were automatics: A 1968 Olds Cutlass, 1969 Olds Cutlass, and 1972 Olds Delta 88. Then I went back to manual with my Subaru DL, followed by my Honda Accord.

My last manual was my Honda CR/V. That was traded-in for my Chevy TrailBlazer ten years ago. The Jeep Grand Cherokee that replaced that a bit over five years ago is, of course, automatic.

I learned to drive from my Dad taking me out and teaching me. It's been a LONG time ago now, but if I had to guess I would assume it was an automatic. After that and reading the state manual I went and took the test. I'm pretty sure that was probably an automatic as well. I learned to drive a stick later when I bought one. I still would like to drive a stick, but my left knee is in too bad shape to allow it anymore.

Driver's Ed was around 1980 in a 4-door sedan with an automatic transmission but beforehand I learned from my parents in a Dodge Colt and GMC 3/4 ton pickup both with manual transmissions. CDL test tractor was also manual but my employer switched to buying strictly automatics a couple years after that. Have had several stick shifts over the years but won't likely have another. My vehicles are practical in nature and I'm not looking for a sporty weekend fun car.

I did! Would have been the spring of 1997. DE through the school district was automatic only and didn't match my busy schedule. Took it privately, same place as my sister who went a couple years before me. Word of mouth referral only, Hal Hatch Driving school, out on his farm in Meridian. I drove with him 90% of the lessons. He was simply the greatest, most patient, yet serious and commanded and deserved respect. Sadly he passed away last year in his 90's.

Our classes were held in their garage, and driving lessons were mostly one-on-one. The final drive test was an hour long and a parent had to come along. I missed one point on that driving test, for going 1mph over the speed limit.

I still remember the day we did parallel parking and I only had to do it once, because I completely aced it, first try, tires exactly 6" from curb, perfectly centered in the spot between two cop cars at city hall. And yes, he actually got out with a ruler.

The place was on the way outskirts of town, so not near as much traffic and pressure to start, we gradually worked up.

We drove early 90's Honda Accords. They had one automatic car available, but only if someone really couldn't get the hang of it.

I aced the written portion of the exam as well. The driving portion he required above the state minimum score. At the time, of the hundreds of students he taught, nobody had gotten 100/100, I was one of several to be added to the 100/99 "wall of Fame" in the garage.

We'd had stick shifts for many years, but my Dad passed away in '63 and my Mom drove an auto from then on. In '64 I took my driver's test using my Grandad's auto 63 Chevy.

I couldn't wait to get a stick since they were so cool and the first one was a 60 VW. Had several more, last one was an 84 SUV.

Never had another stick after that and love the autos now.

Bob

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
Did drivers ed on an automatic. A Ford Fairmont if I remember correctly. May have been the worst car I ever drove. To honk the horn, you had to push in on the turn signal stalk.

My first car was a 78 Fairmont. I do remember, early on in driving it, trying to honk the horn by mashing the center of the steering wheel, which accomplished absolutely nothing. Other notable features were the hood release was above the driver's side headlight, single speaker AM radio, no passenger side mirror (by design), and of course no A/C.

Regarding the primary topic, I took driver's ed in 95 on an automatic (no idea what kind). I did learn to drive stick on my dad's car, and still drive one today. I'm a little worried it'll be my last as options continue to dwindle.

Driver's Ed was 1966 in a three-on-the-tree full-size Chevy sedan with probably the weakest engine Chevy made. Private lessons, high school driver's ed came along a few years later. I had already practiced up and down the driveway in my mom's VW, but the Chevy openeed my eyes to a new reality. The effort needed on the Chevy's clutch took pretty much all the muscle I could muster, and the transmission needed considerably more coaxing to go into gear than the VW did. Really had to manage the clutch in that car to get it moving and not stall it, heavy car, weak engine, something like a 2.89 ratio differential. Oh, did I mention that there was no power steering or power brakes, felt like I was wrestling a gator with my beefy 90 lb. frame, many times the instructor had to grab the steering wheel to assist.

Took my test in a 1960 VW bus. I was concerned that I would be marked down for shifting in the middle of a corner. That bus was wound out at about 12 mph in first.

My first car was a 1970 VW Sedan. BTW the difference between the Sedan and Beetle is that the Sedan had options, with the Beetle there were not any options. Naturally it was a manual transmission and was a bit of a hot rod for a VW, it would do 0-60 in 14.3 seconds. Parallel parking for the drivers test was a breeze in that roller skate, so my Dad decided I needed to earn my license and insisted I take the test in his Chrysler 300. Parking that boat was a bit more of a challenge but I breezed the test.

Today my daily driver is a Fiesta ST, a model that only featured a manual transmission. It's also a bit larger than a Beetle and much faster, I've timed mine at 6.6 seconds 0-60. But in many ways it has a "feel" very much like that 1970 VW and I enjoy the heck out of driving it.

quote:

Originally posted by Rightwire

I really learned how to drive a stick in a '75 Mack ('82 Pierce conversion) Class A triple combination pumper with a manual transmission and standard gears so you had to double clutch it. Driver certification involved the Captain's coffee cup on the dash and not one drop better spill.

WOW,Mack still had non syncro transmissions that late? The FD I was with in the 80’s had a 57 B Series in front line service with that. Three trucks, the Mack was the last one for us to be certified and if you couldn’t shift it without grinding ‘em you started all over again one through three.

Back to the driver’s ed, I took it in summer 1967, Ford Galaxie 500 two door hardtop. The classes earlier in the year had two cars, one automatic and one stick. Instructor said that they were only teaching automatics from there forward as within five years he predicted that all car and most trucks would be automatics.

Within the next ten years I had five cars with manual transmissions, everything from econoboxes to factory performance cars and home built hot rods and not to mention my friends cars, all four speeds.

Drivers Ed was a few Saturdays in some shady strip mall office.. think Saul Goodman’s office inside the nail salon. Paid for by yours truly. my .gov school district didn’t offer it and you had to take it on your own dime and my parents said you have a job, pay for it if you want to drive. This was in 1990 age 16. I took my DMV test in a 88 Ford escort wagon manual trans. My parents also made it clear to me if I wanted a DL aid be taking the test in that car only. They also made me pay my share of the insurance premium and if my GPA fell under 3.0 in a semester in high school I didn’t drive. Didn’t have my own car, had that’s same escort wagon available on some nights and some weekends till I could afford my own. I see high school kids around town in newer BMW’s and lifted trucks.

I Have owned at least 1 manual trans since buying my first car Including my current daily 2017 Tacoma 4wd 6 speed manual. A 2010 manual trans SRT challenger just became available nearby for 15k with 130k miles. Strongly considering.

Learned to drive on a 76 Chevette! That's right Chevette....(cue laughter)..... have owned multiple manuals since then but family, work traveling, and other things have caused me to have an automatic in the garage.

Driver ed in 1988, think it was a Chevy Citation auto. Car couldn’t get out of its own way. Learned to drive a manual with my 1964 Falcon on our dead end road. No power anything except brakes and calling them that was a bit of a joke. I’ve had several manual transmission vehicles over the years, mostly Rangers. Currently in an auto Tacoma.

Our drivers ed car in 1973 was an automatic. Didn't matter to me , I had been driving manual trans for several years before that. I even installed all the safety controls in the drivers ed car in auto shop. Started riding motorcycles at about 10 years old so I understood how a clutch worked. I still have 2 trucks with manual transmissions in them.

Both my driver's ed (mid-1970s) and family cars were automatic, so I learned to drive on those. It wasn't until some time later that I had occasion to drive a stick. My first few attempts were terrible (kept stalling the engine, and also, because this old car had no clutch interlock, tried to start the engine while still in gear), but I got used to it. For ~15 years I had nothing but sticks. Being able to drive a stick is necessary to my work, which involves driving (even if straight into the building) all kinds of vehicles.

My Dad was not found of ATs. He claimed they were too complex (design wise), too expensive to repair when they surely would fail and didn't give the driver a sense of control. So early on we had only stick. I learned on a stick. A 52 Dodge as I recall. It was easy for me as the little tractor I drove around on our small piece of land of course was stick, which needed to be double clutched if you wanted to change gears on the fly. My sister on the other hand provided hours of entertainment watching my Dad try to teach her.

Driver’s Ed at our high school in the second half of the ‘70s only had automatic transmissions (and second brake pedals). I had learned to operate a manual on the ranch, tractors and an old pickup with a three on a tree. My kids did the same. They had a good handle on operating the vehicle before they started Driver’s Ed, that was all about rules of the road and dealing with other drivers / hazards.

I have always maintained that a person should learn to drive with a manual transmission, because then any car could be driven. However, since there aren't many manual transmission cars on the road any more I guess it's moot. In 1989 when choir members were driving my 1986 Mustang (manual) to take me places (broken leg), it was very hard on the car (and my nerves)--I eventually had to replace the clutch.

flashguy