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What car did you take your Driver's Test in?


Mark B. Morrow

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1966 2 door hardtop 427 4 spd Galaxie.

 

It was my Great Uncles car. He had raced stock cars in Southern Ontario since the 1930's & Dad figured he was the best one to teach me to drive as he was the guy that taught him to drive. In hind sight maybe it was not such a good idea lol. My Dads Dad was a terrible driver and had never even driven until he imigrated here from Ireland.

 

 

Uncle Robert said to me me if I learned to drive that big 427 Galaxie I would be able to drive any thing. He was right. I tore up a lot of gravel,ashphalt, rubber and a clutch (which I had to help him replace) learning to drive and handle that car, Uncle Robert would not tell my I dad was ready to take the test until I could prove to him that I could drift that big galaxie around corners and handle it like it was an extension of my self. I spent a whole summer learning to do it and only weeded the car a couple times. Might explain why I have had a lead foot my whole life lol . And still love to this day drifting a full size car around the twisties. The experiacne I gained from him has lasted my whole life and has saved my ass more than once.

 

Needless to say I aced the test first try.

 

God I miss that man. Never married or had any kids but he sure had "a lot of lady freinds" (as my grandmother used to say) He raced, drank his Irish Whiskey, smoked his cigars, and womannized right up until the day he passed on.

 

Matthew

Edited by matthewq4b
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Started driving tractors and farm trucks on the farm hauling hay when I was 11. Then got HEAVY into building/driving dune buggies/4X4's etc.

Took test in brand new 82 escort (standard). Was going to take my brothers 56 ford with straight axle and flip nose 390 6bbl but dad told me to shake my head and threw me moms keys. :finger:

Following day my own car was registered/plated. A 74 bug with a 1800 twin carb/weber cam/scat crank/etc that would lay rubber (60 series wide ovals) all the way through 1st and chirp second.

Unfortunately found out that on the top end...a stock 289 2bbl falcon or a 283 2bbl malibu would blow right on past. :censored:

 

And that your honor was my first and last import...or anything else not ford for that matter. :happy feet:

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Mine was in a 1974 Ford Maverick sedan. Other then the frt suspension squeaking like mad if there was ANY

moisture in the air, it was a great little car. Right after I passed, my Mom suprised me with a new 1977 Pinto

as a pre-graduation gift. Aw, the good ol days....LOL

 

 

I used a 76 Maverick sedan for my test as well. I recall the front end constantly squeaked on that car as well - I thought it was from my brother driving through a couple of ditches that are on the side of the road escaping the Police one time.

 

It was slow, but was a great little sedan as well.

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i learned in my moms 1996 Mustang V6/Auto. Failed the first time because i 'impeded traffic' when a VW ran a sign and got on my ass after i stopped at mine. whatever. passed the next time easily.

 

I learned how to drive a standard trans in a 1973 VW Super Beetle. slow flipping car that you really had to try to keep from stalling out. stupid clutch was like an on/off switch.

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I took my driving test in a 1980 Dodge Diplomat 4-door brown with chamois colored top and vinyl interior with bench seats.

 

In school, our driver's ed cars were 1981 fastback Cutlass Salons.

 

I learned to drive a manual transmission in my aunt's yellow 1976 Mercury Bobcat which she still has today.

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I grew up on a farm and started driving John Deers when I was around 8 or 9. About the time I was 12 I learned to road drive in both a '72 Chevy pickup automatic and a '67 F100 stick with no power steering and a clutch that you would practically had to jump on to engage. :blink:

 

So by the time I took drivers ed my teacher said I was the best driver she had ever had. :rockon:

 

Went to take my test on my birthday, January 8 in my dads '76 Delta 88 Limited Edition, when it was below freezing and snowing. Right off the bat when I was trying to parallel park I hit a patch of ice and slammed back into the curb. Then I had a few spinning issues driving down the street.

 

Needless to say I failed. :doh:

 

Decided to go to another town that was larger to take the test again that day, figuring that they would have removed the snow and salted better than my home town. Right off the bat on the second try, I misunderstood what the instructor said and made a wrong term and drove right into the Air Force Base which was restricted of course.

 

Needless to say, I failed again. :o

 

Fortunatly third time was charm and I passed. So I went from being the best in Drivers Ed to being the only one in my class to fail!

 

Six months later dad bought a '79 Toronado and the '88 was mine. B)

 

76Delta88.jpg

Edited by 96 Pony
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For the test (passed first time) Mom's 1979 Fairmont two door sedan...not the cool looking Futura model....but first, mom "required" me to learn to drive a standard (You know know when you have to get to the hospital and the only car is a stick....mom would say) That vehicle was a 1975 Chevy 3/4 ton cargo can with a 350 4 bbl and a three speed column shift. No power steering, no power brakes from Dad's TV and Appliance store.....ahhh the fun of that van.

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I had an '81 Future in the exact color scheme. Traded a '79 Turbo Mustang for it. Later traded the Futura for my '88 F150.

I got my license in my mom's '74 Mustang II. fun car to drive way back then.

 

 

ha, mom moms first car was a 74 Mustang II. Baby blue with a blue vinyl interior. I remember being a kid in the backseat of that thing.

Edited by Sixt9coug
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I was 'blessed' with my Dad's 1963 Mercury Vomit wagon when the Commonwealth Of Pennslowmania determined me to be fit to have the privilege of operating a motor vehicle back in 1972.The State Trooper/ examiner no doubt found Dad's rolling antenna farm quite the curiousity.Let's see.............antenna for the two way radio for the fire service, antenna for the CB radio, antenna for the scanner........oh, yeah...........the antenna for the OEM AM radio built by Bendix® for the Blue Oval.:)

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1979 Olds Cutlass Supreme (white, with a tan Landau top :redcard: )

 

My first vehicle was a 1989 Toyota extended cab pickup (4x2 3.0 V6 5-speed), that I bought new my junior year in high school with my own money. Eight months later I put it in the side of a mountain in an unfortunate offroading mishap (stupid open differential), and paid the $3000 in repairs out of my own pocket. I learned how to drive a stick in that truck and thought it was a blast. I had it stock, lowered and lifted. But, it needed a clutch after 50,000 miles, the fan blade exploded and shredded the hood blanket (and did a nice shotgun pattern to the sheetmetal), and some stupid cast-aluminum idler pulley bracket snapped and ate all the drive belts (and cost $330 just for the part). But it was my first vehicle until a Prelude turned left in front of me one morning and totaled it with 95,000 miles on it. I got my Ranger a month later. And I'll never own another Toyota. Towards the end of the Ranger's daily-driver career, I drove it harder than the Toyota ever was, and it could run circles around the Toy.

 

My brother bought one at the same time. His lasted long enough to blow both head gaskets (which was a problem with the 3.0).

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I got my learners permit a few days after my sixteenth birthday down at the Ministry of Transportation office. It was too late to take drivers ed. through my highschool so I waited until summer to take a CAA drivers ed. class. In the mean time I learned to drive with my dad in our '78 Olds Delta 88 coupe (403cid 4bbl - 180hp!) and '80 F-150 (302cid 2bbl - 133 hp!).

 

I took my drivers test in one of CAA's Plymouth Lancer. It was a piece of cake parallel parking that car compared to the Olds. My only mistake on the test was that I used my mirrors too much instead of turning my head. I guess they had to put some fault on the test sheet. I got my license in July of 1988.

 

A lot of my friends had later birthdays so I did a lot of driving that summer. We took a road trip to Windsor and for fun we decided to go across to Detroit. We went across at the tunnel and proceeded to get lost. We ended up at Tiger Stadium and one of my friends new how to get to the bridge to get back to Windsor. It is funny to look back on that trip now but it wasn't at the time.

 

My parents decided to buy a new 1989 Grand Marquis that fall and I talked them out of trading in the Olds. I drove the Olds for about three years after that.

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I used a 76 Maverick sedan for my test as well. I recall the front end constantly squeaked on that car as well - I thought it was from my brother driving through a couple of ditches that are on the side of the road escaping the Police one time.

 

It was slow, but was a great little sedan as well.

 

Mine was another 76 Maverick, four-door, 302 V8. Another squeaky front end for me, too. Once met a parade and rode against the flow all the way through it in that car.

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The Driver's Ed school I attended in 1976 had Plymouth Volares with the dual steering wheels and pedals.

 

They also had driving simulators that were made with 1962 Ford dashboards and steering wheels. You looked at a movie screen instead of a windshield and they played movies of driving on highways, city streets and country roads. Suddenly something would stop or jump out in front of you to check your braking reflexes. I'm sure it was high tech in '62. We also got a dose of "Blood on the Highway" films.

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Like others here I learned to drive when 9 years old on a John Deere Model A tractor. I graduated to other tractors and eventually drove a 5 speed F-6 with a flat bed. Farm work all of it. My mother had a 1964 VW transporter (bus). And Drivers Ed had a 1968 Chevy Belair four door with "sick" cylinders and three on the tree. Once completeing Drivers Ed. taking the test in the VW was a breeze. Like driving a kiddie kar after all that went before it. And my brother gave me an old car he had. 1962 Ford Fairlane with the 170 cid six, three on the tree, not even a radio! Lasted me for years though!

 

BTW, I considered myself lucky. I had a car and a license to drive! :shades:

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This is a fun thread. What is interesting is that not only car enthusiasts like us, but also people in general, have no trouble remembering what car they learned to drive in, what car they took their driver's test in, their first car, the car they rode in during the big family vacation to see the Grand Canyon, etc. Cars are a big part of the growing-up experience.

 

Also it is interesting that the majority of contributors also note something about learning to drive a stick shift. I also made this a requirement in teaching my (now young adult) daughter how to drive. Unfortunately this skill is becoming increasingly rare. For example, I have one of my cars stored in a friend's garage. I offered to give her a key in case she needed to move it, then I hesitated and said "but I'm guessing you can't drive a stick shift?" She shrugged and said "no I can't."

 

So to answer the questions:

 

Learned to drive in the family car, a 72 Gran Torino. Also took driver's test in it. A bit big but a nice vehicle.

Drivers Education car was a 73 Galaxie 500. A tank.

Learned to drive a stick shift in a friend's 65 VW Bug. Most of my daily drivers have been stick shifts (VW Bug, Pinto, Mustang, SHO, Lincoln LS).

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This is a fun thread. What is interesting is that not only car enthusiasts like us, but also people in general, have no trouble remembering what car they learned to drive in, what car they took their driver's test in, their first car, the car they rode in during the big family vacation to see the Grand Canyon, etc. Cars are a big part of the growing-up experience.

 

Also it is interesting that the majority of contributors also note something about learning to drive a stick shift. I also made this a requirement in teaching my (now young adult) daughter how to drive. Unfortunately this skill is becoming increasingly rare. For example, I have one of my cars stored in a friend's garage. I offered to give her a key in case she needed to move it, then I hesitated and said "but I'm guessing you can't drive a stick shift?" She shrugged and said "no I can't."

 

I agree this is a fun thread. The only stick shift training I received was in drivers ed. I forget what type of car it was, but we only went twice, just to see if we could drive one. I have tried to teach my oldest son to drive my truck, but it didn't work to good. My youngest son learned stick shift in a simulator during drivers ed. He made me a bet that he could drive my truck. Yes, I lost that one. He did better than my oldest son. The middle kid has no clue or intrest in driving a stick. Taught my wife in an escort that we had. That was a fun time, but it was sucessful.

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