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"how was the ride with your dad?"

Pops1967GTX

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just thinking about this the other day, 1976 when my Dad first taught me how to drive a stick in my 4 speed car 1971 dodge charger . There was a lot of %$#& & a lot of let me out of the car. Suddenly you're trying to smoothly work a clutch, & learn what gear to choose, why, & when. I need to replace the clutch 2 months later....
 
My father was a good driver Except he was a chronic tailgater! If you could see most of the guys tail lights in front of you, you weren't close enough.
Learned to drive manual on VW bus driving around the yard when I was 13. Scared him as a new driver started to pass a guy. The old man said punch it, the cars rear kicked out as we passed. Olds Starfire 3.55 gears 345hp, not real fast.

Edit: Added"tail lights"
 
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I learned on the farm tractors when I was 12. The John Deeres had a hand clutch which was easier than trying to reach a pedal when you're too short. :)
 
I watched and paid attention when dad drove his 87 w150 since he bought it in 87.
Drove his truck around in junkyards for a few summers. When i got my permit in 1990 i was pretty experienced.
Dad tried to test me by having me stop on a really steep hill and start moving again.

Clutch brake and throttle all at once wiith two feet was challenging but i got it done.

Then he let me drive his 67 rt, i accidentally started out in 3rd gear with the inland shifter. The 440 grunted through it! I was super impressed!
 
Dad worked away from home alot. He had C-bodies and I can say that he owned them because of their superior high speed handling compared to the competition. It wasn't uncommon for him to run 4 or 5 hours at 100MPH and above on the way home from a jobsite. I still remember having my learners permit at 16 and him not allowing me to get my full driver's license until it had snowed and froze a bit. When it did that, we were out in the 71 Newport and my brothers 72 Fargo (because it had a suregrip and would go sideways if you spun it a bit off the line) practicing sliding and drifting in slippery conditions. When he knew I had those skills it was down to the govt. office to get my license.
I still remember going out in those C-bodes as a kid and Dad would "blow the carbon out of them" by topending those barges. Most of them would indicate 120MPH on the speedo so they would probably do an honest 110MPH or so anyway.
 
Just posted about this recently in another thread I have going. So here’s a little copy and paste.

I learned how to drive on a ‘90 Geo Metro dad bought new and an ‘86 Town Car we had. The Metro had a 5 speed. Dad drove truck locally and eventually taught class A to guys on the job. He was big on simulating circumstances that helped develop situational awareness and proper reaction while driving. One of those situations was taking me down an icy hill one night in the dead of winter. On the way down the hill and without warning, the tail end spun around 270 degrees. Going around 40mph I'd guess. I had no idea how that happened out of nowhere! It literally threw the back of this car into a snowbank on the side of the road. We were stuck. Dad told me to stay in the car and start driving when he said to. Dad got out and picked the back end of the car up out of the snowbank, walked it back on to the road, then yelled to me to start driving. And then he jumped back in the car as we were moving again back up the hill. Looked like something out of an episode of The Incredible Hulk.

Years later, dad would hint to me that he pulled up on the park brake lever intentionally on the icy hill that night, without me realizing. He wanted me experience it with him in the car. Not sure if he expected it to go that way. He never admitted it to me anyway.
 
My mother taught me to drive a car and my dad to drive a motorcycle. Mom was a Powder Puff Dirt track racer. Learned in my Moms 69 Mach 1....
 
Kind of a long story for me. I hope you can bear with me.
Pop died when I was ten. My uncle raised me and never taught me how to drive. I just watched and watched him. One Saturday afternoon him and mom, his sister. took the Duster into town for the grocery run. I thought here's my chance. I grabbed his keys to the bright orange 70 D100 three on the tree, and decided it was time to "learn how to drive". Well, I fired her up and found a forward gear. I went down the field road behind our house to the woods. About 3/4 of a mile around the edge of the field. I had it planned in my head to turn around at the bottom of the hill and head back to the farmhouse. Boy when I began the turn and not quite sure on driving a standard. I stalled her. ****! I tried to start it and you all know what happened? I flooded it. Well, I ran home like there was no tomorrow. Phoned a garage from town told him that our truck wouldn't start. Heck he was about 20 min till he arrived picked me up. Went back through the field to the scene of the crime. Well when we got back there, she started right up. I followed him up the field to the house and I parked it right back in the same spot. I had some money saved up from working with my uncle and asked him how much. He said ten dollars. Paid the man and he drove away.
I got off pretty cheap considering the tanning I would have got if my mom and uncle found out. 10 bucks for my first driving lesson. I also drove on our old tractor (Cockshutt 30) but wasn't the same as the old Dodge. lol 45 years later I never did come good for my stunt.
If I find a old picture of the truck, I'll edit it in. You know take a picture of a picture.
 
Taught myself to drive. Good friend took me to get my license road test.
 
My Dad taught me to drive a straight on his really nice '55 Dodge pickup with the 241-V8 and 3 on the tree. This was in 1972 or so. Wish I had that truck today!
I had already learned to drive an automatic on a clapped out 62 Corvair that Dad picked up at an impound auction. He got it cheap just for me to learn on. I beat the crap out of that thing racing around our property and bouncing off oak trees......
:lol:
 
Frankly I learned to drive with friends in more nefarious ways than with my old man. He was
painful to learn with. Nothing but yelling and battering me with this and that to where I couldn’t do anything right in his eyes ( as was normal for him) They were torture sessions with him. My friends taught me how to drive a stick with an old VW Beetle. My first driving lessons were with a schoolmate that was - well let’s just say less than legitimate. But I did learn by hook and by “crook”. But sure as hell not much from my dad. Wouldn’t want to relive that again……
 
My Dad was a great teacher. He was patient and just gave me little lessons at a time.
Learned to drive in a 66 Newport 383 automatic power brakes.
Our other car was a 64 Pontiac Strato Chief. A weird Canadian model like a tempest. It had manual steering, manual brakes and manual choke and a very tired Chevy 283 which ran smoothly but would stall almost without warning when cold.
I always liked the Newport because it could spin the tires and it was a killer on the highway. Probably one of the best cars we ever owned.
 
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56 chevy 4dr, 3 on the tree, then later a 62 impala with a glide, dad was pretty good about the whole thing.
That was a surprise, he was not a patient guy most of the time.
My brother, me and the rest had some tractor time before hand that helped.
 
I first drove steering on my dads lap at about 7. We lived in the country with wide open space. It was a 65 Chevy 3/4 ton. At 9, I was shifting our 69 International crew cab for him all the time. I first drove that at 10, I remember when I first hit the brakes, locked them up and scared the **** out of both of us. He just said gently son, and we went again. I’ve got to say. He was the best teacher a kid could have. Not only for driving, but for being a father/dad, and for life as a whole. Thanks dad!
 
Learned at a youth church retreat on a huge farm in Georgia. Old farmer said if you boys can push start that old Willys jeep you can drive it all you want. Luckily there were a few older kids ( 14-16 ) I guess who had driven before and showed us younger ones ( I think I was around 8 or 9 then ) what to do and they let us all take turns through the day and even into the night driving through plowed corn fields. I do remember when it was time to get my license my dad took me to the steepest hill in town which happened to be around the corner from our house in our 68 VW Beetle and got out half way up and let me in the drivers seat and said to clutch it using the emergency brake to get going up hill. I did stall it a couple of times but then got the hang of it and he said I was cleared in his mind to go get my license.
Never have forgotten that old Willys jeep and would like to buy one eventually, not like I have enough toys to begin with !
 
I rode motorcycles and go karts. Then on to my older sisters Saab. One Saturday my dad and I went pheasant hunting, he thought it would be a good time to teach me how to drive a real car. The Saab had a manual trans. He said would you like try driving, well I got behind the wheel and off we went. I guess I should have faked like I didn’t know how to drive. We got to a stop sigun and he looked at me and said, all right you little **** how long you been driving this car? We lived in a small town so we drove anything with gas in it.
 
My Dad taught me to drive in his 1976 Ford 1/2 ton 300 6 cylinder 3 on the tree. Actually went pretty well thinking back on it, but he was a very patient man with us kids.
This thread brought back another fond memory of my Dad. My Grandpa had bought a brand new 1970 Satellite. He never drove faster than 35 mph. So every 6 months or so, Dad would take Grandpas car out for a ride to "blow the carbon out of it". I'll never forget as a young boy the first time I rode with him. Hammered on it a few times up to burying the speedo. Fun times, sure wish I could go back......
 
I also remember dad letting me drive his tractor trailer in a nearby empty parking lot when I was around 10 years old. Even using both feet, I couldn’t push the “dead man’s clutch” in by myself. So needless to say, I needed a little of dad’s assistance to get that clutch to the floor. I only drove it a short distance in that parking lot with him sitting behind me in the seat. But I got to brag about that to friends in school. Some believed me. Others thought I was giving them a line of BS.
 
My brother taught me on his 1950 Chevy, the old three on the tree. Man, those were some fun times!!
 
He, he: Yes Dad also asked me to back this up when I was about 16, he just laughed as I had to pull forward like about 100 times to straighten up and try again. Also taught me to run backhoe (5 yard machine with a V12 Detroit in it), I thought I was getting onto it a bit as I coordinated about 3 movements at once until I got screwed up and swung the wrong way and knocked down a tree. Again Dad just laughed though as you don't become an Operator in 10 minutes. I miss him alot and appreciate him to this day.

dad 1974.jpg


1066 sandy.JPG
 
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