Perhaps my earlier post about using this Cadillac as a driver’s education car was part whimsical fantasy combined with a heaping helping of organic fertilizer. But most of you figured that out rather quickly.
Credit for this question must be given to CharlieD612 from his suggestion in the other post. So here it is: What was your driver’s education car?
My school had a deal with a Ford-Buick dealer, quite the dynamic contrast of brands in the late 1980s. Located over an hour away in Perryville, Missouri, this dealer coughed up a new car every 2,000 miles. We went through four of them during the school year when I was in driver’s education.
I missed out on the Buick Century. I also seem to remember a J-body Buick in there, too.
As I was one of the youngest ones in my class, I had wheel time toward the end of the year. The first car I navigated was a white Ford Taurus. Equipped with a red interior and a 3.0 V6, I only drove that car once.
Upon the Taurus going away, and the dealer likely not liking the rate at which the school was accumulating mileage, we got a tan 1988 Ford Escort. I still cringe when I think of that car.
So, what about you?
1978 Pontiac Phoenix 4-door (a dressed up Nova) and it was the Broughamed out luxury version…LJ or LS? Burgundy in/out with very plush velour interior. New cars were loaned from the local dealers with big signs on top advertising the dealer.
1992 Plymouth Acclaim, 2.5, this exact color with a blue interior. I believe it was a three-speed automatic on the column. I passed a speed trap at five over and my instructor just told me to keep going. Good times. 🙂
I can hear it …..”keep goin'”….. Made me smile!
I didn’t take driver’s ed. In my state there’s no need to do so, and the cost for the classes versus the five years of higher insurance wasn’t exactly the best ratio. Anyways, the car I got my license with was an ’07 Nissan Maxima SE. As much as I hated that car having the slow-shifting automatic with the manual touch mode it was actually really nice. Despite how well it drove, I’m not really sure if I miss it that much.
’70 Ambassador. Only in Kenosha.
My middle daughter is taking private drivers ed right now, as our schools long ago quit offering it. They have Civics with the (much needed) passenger brake.
BHS ’78! My classmates got to drive a Pacer. Not me, lousy Granada.
1969 Pontiac Le Mans. All our high school driver training cars were donated by the local Pontiac dealer. In summer 1971, summer school class was with the school coach’s as instructors. Our instructor was always telling the students to drive faster, get it up to the speed limit, especially on twisty mountain roads. The 3 year old car was pretty battered, lots of parking dents. All the driver training cars were pretty beat looking and 2-3 years old. They weren’t changed out very often, they got used up. Ours had about 35k miles on it.
At this time you could get a permit at age 15 and license at 16 only if you took driver education. Otherwise age 18 was the rule back then.
First learned to drive at age 13 in ’66 VW Beetle. That’s the car I took my driving test in. Passed first time out. It then became my first car. All the schools training cars were 8 cylinder air conditioned automatics mid size Pontiacs. As I recall the instructor had a brake pedal on his side as well.
To answer the question, 1993 Mercury Sable. Like most people, I took the test in the car I learned how to drive (and how to parallel park) with. Unlike so many kids today, I had to parallel park on my test (I’m sad to hear it’s been getting dropped from the tests lately), though only behind a car as opposed to between two cars (which is what I would require as a tester – though I wouldn’t dock them points for not making it on the first try, as long as they didn’t hit either of the other two cars and parked it reasonably well within 5 tries I’d pass them).
I got my license in 2001 and I didn’t have to parallel park but I wish I would have had to. I didn’t learn in driver’s ed either. It’s sad how many people my age and younger can’t parallel park. I get so frustrated when I’m downtown riding with someone else who drives around forever trying to find a space to just pull into.
I can do it like a pro but I have to say, my VW Bus is a rather awkward vehicle to parallel park. Especially the Panel Bus I had a few years ago.
In a VW bug it was easy parking downtown if there were 3-5 people. Just find a place that just fit the VW which everyone else had passed up, usually very close to where you wanted to go, pull the VW next to the space, get out of car and lift and slide the rear end of the car into the parking space-do the same with the front. Go do what you were going to do downtown. Only worked with VW’s and other small cars like ’58 Renault Dauphine. Did not work with a ’59 Rambler American, might have worked with a Metropolitan but it was only a two seater so not enough muscle with only two people IMO. All this from first hand experience except for the Metro.
I was briefly a CPA (car park attendant) at a small downtown lot where we parked all the cars with the minimum space around each. If someone came back earlier then expected their car may be 4 cars deep. With little room to jockey cars at midday we learned that with 4 people (3 in a pinch) you could move even a full size big 3 land yacht straight sideways. The secret was to get a person at each wheel well (or one on the bumper with 3 people) and push straight down and release at the same time. In about a minute of bouncing, you could just about dribble that thing anywhere on a flat lot.
My ‘drivers test’, if you can call it that was a total joke. My dad had been grilling me for weeks, based on the test he took as a kid back in NJ. I could parallel park, do a K turn, merge onto a freeway, do hand signals…you name it. What I was subjected to amounted to little more than Han Solo’s ‘maneuvers’ used to escape that Imperial star destroyer….we drifted lazily around a left turn and came back within about 3 minutes. Dad was waiting at the DMV looking pissed thinking I flunked the test. He just laughed when I told him the truth, which was that a monkeys corpse could have passed that ‘test’ with flying colors!
“Man that guy knows some maneuvers!”
Yeah my DMV test was the same way, I took the DMV guy about a block around the building and he said “good job”. It took longer and was more stressful to sign my name and get my picture taken afterwards. Funnily enough it was my high school that overprepared us, as evidenced by the comments in this we actually got taught a lot more than many, I remember the DMV tester asked me during the drive, where I was almost comically thorough in the short little drive, “where are you from?” Roselle I said, and he was like “yeah I can tell” lol. I guess we had a squeaky clean reputation.
Parallel parking wasn’t even part of our curriculum, which I found quite odd. Wasn’t on the test either. Dad had to teach that to me out of class.
It’s a skill that’s come in handy though, considering that I had to do it every day for the 3 years I lived in a downtown apartment building with no off-street parking.
I didn’t take Drivers ED, I drove various relatives cars while “learning” (in the old fashioned way LOL) First car I can remember piloting was a neighbors 1959 Ford 2dr “ranch” wagon (a 6yl/3spd) – I was about 10 or 11 and my “instructor” (it was his dad’s car) was just licensed himself…..We survived without killing ourselves or causing any property damage!
Ah yes, Drivers Ed! Back in the 70’s in New York, you could get a junior license at age 16. It restricted you on hours and some counties ( and all the boroughs of New York City)but allowed you to drive without a licensed driver in the car. By successfully completing a course in drivers Ed, you could change a junior license to a full-fledged regular license, with no restrictions. I had my junior license almost a year when I took Drivers Ed. Our car was a brown 76 Ford Granada 4 door sedan, with that Chamois interior that so many mid 70’s Fords seemed to have. Since I had already had a license and was then driving my 68 Impala Convertible (which I still own to this day), the instructor had a tendency to let me head east on the Southern State Parkway, and he’d promptly fall asleep until one of the other students complained that I got too long of a turn at the wheel. That Granada had only an AM radio and I swear, I think we heard Moonlight, Feels Right by Starbuck, 10,000 times during that summer in that car. That song still reminds me of that car to this day!
1986 Chevrolet 1/2 ton pickup truck. 305, 4 speed automatic. It was a great truck and drove perfectly. Yes, I went to a redneck school.
1978 Chevrolet Nova.
Took drivers ed through a private driving school in 09. We had few mid 90s corollas and Geo Prisms, The “nicer” cars the school had at the time were late 90s Camrys. One of which I took for my road test. Nowadays they still a few Camry and corollas left mixed in with a few mid 2000s Chrysler products.
Years down the line when I took EVOC for the police department there driver training cars were all marked 2011/2012 Impalas and a few mid 2000s ford vans and they all had dual brakes
Never had an official lesson, my Dad taught me. So the first time I drove on the road was in a Peugeot 504 estate, and I also got to drive my brother’s car – an 850cc mini. Both good cars to learn in.
1975 dodge dart swinger 2door ht blue on blue
1978 or 79 Plymouth Volare, baby blue over baby blue. I took drivers ed in the summer of 1980. Good times.
Chevette. With an automatic and what must have been the base engine, definitely the slowest and most bare-bones car that I have ever driven, although those are not bad things in a driver’s ed car.
I challenge anyone to say that they had a worse driver’s ed car than a Chevette! A 1970s Torino was bad too, but in an entirely different way, so I would declare that match a draw.
I took it through a private driving school in an ’80 Toyota Tercel. Later I taught for that same school in an ’84. All the in-car instructors were so-called “independent contractors” to the school, so you provided your own car, but the owner pushed us to use Toyota products as that way you essentially never missed a lesson. We did teach emergency collision avoidance manoeuvres, so they did take a beating.
1976 Ford Granada. It had all of 200 or 250 smog-strangled cubic inches. The unloaded car was too heavy for the power. With 5 aboard, pressing the accelerator pedal gave me… almost nothing. I recall taking the trumpet off-ramp from southbound i-94 to eastbound Wi-158. The exit was marked ’50 mph’, and the right 60 degree bend was taken at 50. Missed the little sharp curve sign and ’30 mph’ suggested for the left 150 degree bend. Tires were squealing as I expertly piloted the leaning ship. Nobody said a word, but my turn was over.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/76-Ford-Granada-Ghia-e1346788773522.jpg
1978 AMC Concord and a 1979 Chevy Nova. The Concord was a much nicer ride.
Concords were a very nice ride. Too bad most people never experienced them.
Going back to 1984, a refrigerator white VW Golf Mk1 diesel with a 4 speed manual.
I clearly remember how utterly easy it was to drive. Once the engine was warm you could put it in first gear, then gently release the clutch pedal and it just rolled down the road at walking speed without ever touching the gas pedal.
That little oil burner really worked flawlessly.
Lucky Europeans, you had to start with a manual. If only American driving classes would take the same attitude.
Legally you’re not allowed to drive a car with a manual if you got your driver’s license in an automatic. The other way around is just fine.
Same here because you dont learn to drive in an automatic you only learn to steer.
My state stopped putting automatic-only restrictions on people who took the test on autos sometime in the ’70s; my Aunt Betty was the last person I knew with that on her license.
It’s not uncommon to buy a manual car and learn to drive it on the way home from the dealer.
I’m sure dealers do a fine business in clutch replacement in such cases …
…and for the sake of public safety I sure hope the dealership is situated at some desolate road. Of course you can always sue the automaker because the car suddenly seemed to have its own will….
In the late 1960’s, most economy cars in the US were still manual. The local VW dealer donated a car for DE. I liked that car so much, I ended up buying one just like it, a ’67 Beetle.
1970 Impala 4 door sedan with 350/THM350. It was brand new and quite a nice driving sedan. Since I had a driven quite a lot before then already (illicetly), I told the instructor a BS story that I had already had my learner’s permit in another state. So he let me skip the initial parking lot first drive, and just let me go drive on the road. A very pleasant drive from Towson High out and around Loch Raven Reservoir….
Still one of my favorite drives Paul… In ANY car. ?
What? No one else was as lucky as I was to have a Fairmont for their driver’s ed car? Mine was a 1982 Ford Fairmont sedan – white – AAA had a fleet of ’em. I thought they drove like a metal box on wheels. I tried to floor it a few times and the instructor laughed!
A “Fox” body ain’t a bad way to start.
I did…1980 Fairmont. Plain white stripper, 3.3 and A/T. It was the car that they used for the freeway part of the testing (the other driver’s ed car, a 1980 Datsun 210 sedan with an automatic was laughably bad around town, let alone wheezing up to speed on I-5).All I ever got from mashing the gas pedal to get on the freeway was pinging instead of acceleration. Oh the joys of driver’s ed cars in the middle-to-late Malaise Era…
I had those same wheel covers on my 79 Futura Coupe!
This. A big bumper era Ford Maverick sedan – in stripper trim. Just to make it blander, it was beige.
The pretty girls in the photo do remind me of one positive, my student driver mate was a pretty girl that I was friends with. I had not thought of her in a long time.
So, yeah, unlikely as it was for me, my stripper Maverick did come with a girl worthy of this photo!
I actually liked that beige they had then.
Its…a Matador! I had only driven a Chevy Monza up to that point. The steering was so slow I almost put it in the weeds a couple times.
My high school (George Washington H.S. In Danville, VA) had an agreement with Wyatt Buick. I mostly took driver’s ed in a ’88 Skylark. But then I switched up with a ’88 Regal coupe (in red!). I took D.E. in summer school and we weren’t allowed to use the air conditioning while on the driving range. I remember one classmate messing up the quarter panel of an ’88 Lesabre by backing into a guardrail. The old driving range (now sadly gone):
’67 Ford Fairlane (or whatever the called the size in between the Galaxie and Falcon) with dual pedals. Best memory is the chick in our driving class, when told to park the car to change drivers, slammed the shifter into park at 45mph.
I also remember a ’65 Nova with dual pedals that dad brought home for my mom’s sister (who lived with us) to go out in, as it was decided that she should finally get her driver’s license. Which she did, and then mom and dad (and me, later) went right back to chauffeuring her to her nursing job, just like we’d done for the decade or so before.
LOL! (to the “parking” at 45mph)
You’d be right Our family had a ’67 Fairlane wagon, It was slotted between the “Ford” (Galaxie/LTD) and Falcon.
2000 Ford Escort from Tipton Ford in Nacogdoches, TX. The only reason I remember is because the license plate frame was still on the car and I thought it was weird that Houston Community College would procure their car from outside of Houston. My class was taught by a football coach at my high school and I guess he was also employed by HCC. I was never taught how to parallel park and I’m 31. Our lessons consisted of driving said coach on miscellaneous errands like going through the Wendy’s drive thru or taking his daughter to work. Our final test was driving on the freeway…
Wasn’t parallel parking part of your drivers’ test? It was part of mine in Texas, and I flunked it the first time because I flubbed the parking!
Despite lots of practice in the driver’s ed 88 and at home with my Dad, I still failed parallel parking, I did well enough on everything else that the trooper let me skate by with the minimum passing score.
That’s surprising, I’m a few years younger and parallel parking was one of the things they really grilled into us. We practiced with cones and tested between two other drivers ed cars.
Weirdly I was much better at it then, I always end up two feet from the curb now a days. I wish they taught us about roundabouts, I’ve encountered a few in Wisconsin over the last few years and I basically wing it, other drivers seem to do the same so it’s basically a circle of chaos.
When I got my license in 2000, I didn’t have to do a road test at the DPS, which is why I never learned to parallel park. Apparently the combination of classroom and road time with instructor fulfilled that obligation. I do believe I had to take the written test but no road test. However, I believe this is no longer the case in Texas.
I always got the impression that the troopers at the license offices didn’t exactly graduate in the top….oh let’s say 80th percentile at the DPS Academy. They always had this frustrated scowl on their faces knowing they weren’t good enough to be assigned to the Highway Patrol.
I distinctly remember standing in line with my Dad to take the driving test and him noticing the trooper’s very poorly maintained pistol.
My father taught me to parallel park when teaching me to drive, but Connecticut, in 1999-2000, did not require parallel parking either. Instead, you had to back-park the car into the parking spot. It was a good 20 minute driving test, you had to get on the highway, take a few secondary roads, a bit of stop and go, and then come back to the DMV and back slowly into the parking spot to end the test. A lot of people had trouble with it, one of my friends backed into the parking spot sign. I was driving my box Panther Crown Victoria for the test and after I backed in slowly, the DMV evaluator, a retired state trooper, taught me a few tricks about quickly back-parking a big car using a kind of K-turn maneuver that he had used with his cruiser instead of slowly backing in like everyone else was doing. Still use them today.
We don’t have driver’s ed. (is that just an American/Canadian thing or is it done elsewhere too?)
You can legally drive at 17, so a handful of kids at school had their licence (I went to a sink school so most kids left at 16) but none had cars. The idea of your parents buying you a car was outlandish to us, as was the idea of putting a teenager in anything with an engine bigger than 1.4 litres. My wife’s first car (she’s from Minnesota) was a 4.6 litre Crown Vic. This, and the fact that she informed me of the existence of something called a “Students’ Parking Lot” had my eyes out on stalks. This side of the the Atlantic, the notion of handing a 16 year old a V8 would be considered borderline irresponsible, but I guess the perception there is that big = safe. Here (for young drivers anyway) the attitude is “give them as little horsepower as possible”.
In the UK, (unlike some Euro countries, as this site has taught me) getting a licence isn’t necessarily expensive, there is no mandatory training, you just have to pass the test, however only 40% pass first time, so it’s recommended to get at least a couple of lessons with a professional.
My first attempt to drive was 5 minutes in an industrial estate in my parents’ Fiat Punto, with woolly unassisted steering and hopeless intructor (mum). I then took a lesson with a “professional” instructor who did little to no instructing – this was in a 1 litre, 3 cylinder Vauxhall Corsa. I lost confidence and gave up for a few months, before doing a 1 week intensive course with a good instructor in a late 90s Fiesta, and passing the test. Working at Avis, I discovered those Corsas were the easiest car in the fleet to stall, so maybe not the best choice for BSM. (Britain’s biggest chain of driving schools)
If you take your test in an auto, you get an automatic-only licence.
67″ Beetle… in the driveway initially at age 13. Then later on, in an empty parking lot on an early Sunday morning right after it snowed and learned controlled skids and sliding. After that it was a 64 Country Squire, followed by a 67 Pontiac Catalina. No formal school driver’s ed.
1961 Chevrolet Biscayne 4 door sedan in arbor green, 135 hp 6, 3 on the tree. Seneca High School, Louisville, KY, class of ’63.
p.s. I think it’s really cool we have so many younger readers.
a Biscayne with a 6 and a three speed! Luv it! (How many Biscaynes were “sacrificed” to make “Bel-Airs”, honks me off.)
1967 Plymouth Fury II 4dr. The first time I got behind the wheel the hood seemed to go on forever in comparison to my folk’s 63 Rambler Classic that I had been driving.which was over 2 feet shorter.
See below. Basically, same car I had, only ours were Fury III 4-door hardtops.
A 1992-1995 Taurus. I really liked that car. The odometer was 5 digit, but the instructor said that it was near 300k miles on the clock. In Wyoming, that’s not common, but it’s not rare either.
Perfect way to find out everyone’s age — ask about their drivers ed car! I guess I was lucky (or maybe everyone in the Plano, TX program was). We got a very nicely equipped new 1983 Buick LeSabre Limited sedan, which was right up my alley. I loved it! Later that summer, my parents bought its Olds equivalent, a Delta 88 Royale Brougham.
1972 Plymouth Fury I-in high school Clarkstown NY. Fortunately my class was in the AM and the drivers ed teacher liked to listen to Imus. That’s how long the old goat has been on the air.
A 1972 Triumph Toledo (Mum’s) and a driving school 1978 Ford Fiesta 1.1L. Passed first time of course;-)
First car I moved under its own power was a Chrysler 2 Litre Automatic, in and out of the garage.
Boring old Toyota Corolla in the summer of 2004.
No high school drivers ed here, I learned with our next door neighbour in his work Austin Gipsy on farm tracks and the county back roads, The Gipsy was a BMC competitor to the landrover all steel with optional fibreglass roofs in two lengths, pick up or wagon the one I drove was one of the last a 66 with leaf springs all round instead of the rotoflex? system that tended to promote roll overs, great old truck I loved driving it.
Passed my test first time in a Morris Minor 1000.
After I got my learner’s permit in 1975, my grandmother paid for driving lessons with a local driving school that advertised. 1974 AMC Matador Coupe (!) charcoal grey all decked out with a complete set of right-hand controls. The phlegmatic instructor was non-plussed by my lack of skills, but learned some basic stuff like distance counting and steering. Seemed to have the turning radius of the Titanic. Mom had had enough of parking lot panic trying to teach me in her 1965 Dodge Dart (225 \6 and Torqueflyte–a really reliable car). And I still had to take high school DE with my chemistry teacher, Mr. Green, another man who did not fluster easily, but shared his displeasures early and often. The school car was I think a 1976 Olds Cutlass Supreme (beige / beige with vinyl top) with a panic brake on the passenger side. Fairly new and power everything as I recall. Nice car, but I had more fun driving my grandmother’s 1969 Olds Ninety-Eight with the Rocket 455 4 bbl, and I could parallel park that battleship better than my mom ever could. I learned to drive stick on my dad’s second wife’s MGB after I got my license on the first try (it wasn’t that great a car).
This is the most flattering photo.. ours was green, and we usually had a full load. I remember going on the highway and the instructor telling me to floor it to get up to speed lol.
Took my drivers test in my dads ’85 Eldorado.
A ’78 Plymouth Volare, same color as this one:
1990 or so Mitsubishi Galant. Driver’s test in a ’67 Impala fastback!
Bright blue Triumph Dolomite – very much not a Sprint – courtesy of the British School of Motoring. First car I drove solo was my mother’s Mk I Fiesta Ghia.
Summer 1985.
The range cars were mostly AMC Hornets, but I got one of the 2 Plymouth Volares.
A week later we hit the road in a ’76 Olds 98.
Being an old geezer, we had a 1964 Fairlane 4 dr 6 cyl 3 on the tree. Yes we had a stick. Had to stop while going up a steep hill, parallel park, then pull out without rolling back more than a foot when you were not supposed to. Fun times. The local dealers provided fresh cars every year.
Easy question! Although I’m entering that time of life where brain fade starts to take hold, I remember that car perfectly. A 1969 Pontiac Catalina, 4 door sedan, dark green with green brocade cloth seating, generously provided to the BH School System by Royal Pontiac. I remember the Instructor taking us, 3 students, up to Pontiac for some “downtown” experience. After instructing me three times to “turn left at the intersection”, I finally caught on to the concept of one-way streets…
A white ’95-’96 Toyota Camry in 2007-2008. That car had been put through so much abuse over the years but you couldn’t tell by the way it drove and held up. I’m no Camry guy by any means but time with that car backed up why I thought that generation Camry was the best one, imo.
As mentioned following Jason’s April Fool’s classic, I went through DE during the fall of 1984 in a brand new ’85 Delta 88 Royale sedan. Triple blue, 307, crank windows (but it did have power locks), plain AM/FM stereo, cruise/tilt and wire wheel covers. A classy looking boat to say the least.
For many years in Texas, driver’s ed (especially in large urban/suburban districts) was often contracted out to one of the state’s regional Education Service Centers. The ESCs provided instructors, cars and a simulator trailer in a turnkey package. The cars were supplied by local dealers (in the Houston area it was almost always Olds) and replaced each semester. Once the classroom/simulator portion of the course for the spring semester was complete, the simulator trailer would be hauled off campus until the next fall semester.
Once it was time to start the road portion of the course, the class was divided into groups of four students, each with a designated car and instructor (the instructors got to take the cars home) for the duration. The group I was assigned to had to make do with a mere Royale instead of the Royale Broughams (with the prized cassette player) that some of the other groups had. There were a couple of days when our group got a different car. One day we had a service loaner Cutlass Supreme Brougham sedan, while on another we got the queen of that semester’s fleet at Spring High, a loaded white Royale Brougham coupe with a blue landau top and pillow velour seats straight out of a 98.
The ESCs dropped the driver’s ed program in the early 2000s due to budget cuts and changes in graduation requirements mandating more time for core academics. Enrollment was down to almost none. Most kids go to private driving schools, although many rural districts still offer in-house driver’s ed as they always had.
Here’s an ’84 Royale. Other than the grille it’s identical to the ’85 I drove in DE…..
Sounds like Plano, TX may have used the ESC you speak of as well. We had the trailer with simulators parked in the front drive of the school, and we had an ’83 Buick LeSabre Limited (pretty much the same thing as the Royales you had.) I think some Cutlasses and Regals were used as well, from what I remember.
1988 Ford Tempo, June of 1988 exactly like this one. Brand new car 100 miles on the clock, on loan from local dealer. Passenger side brake pedal was the only modification. My instructor (H.S. basketball coach) did not like me at all. One day the other 2 students (girls) missed the same day so I drove the whole session that day. I had to take him through mcdonalds drive thru and get his breakfast. Offered me nothing. Then next class we were back together he made it a point to tell me he bought the girls mcdonalds the day they made up for the missed day. They got A+ for the course, I got a C. I was tasked with fueling the car also. I accidentally dinged the sheet metal with the gas nozzle once.
Our simulators were on their retirement year in 1988. They were straight out of the early 70’s with the basic fleet style horizontal speedometer. The simulation film was shot from a full size fuselage era Chrysler. Bottom 1/4 of the screen was the hood with fender mounted turn signal indicators visible.
I took Driver’s Ed at San Rafael High in the summer of 1975. In our group (some driving experience) we had; 1975 Buick Century Station Wagon and for stick shift, a 1974 Chevy Nova Sedan (350 V-8).
High Schools here in BC don’t, and never have to my knowledge, teach kids to drive. My Dad taught me starting from about 14 in whatever he happened to be driving. My brother ended up going to a driving school the following year after he and Dad damn near came to blows though.
There was a ’68 Olds 88 with a 455 4 barrel, a ’74 Corolla with a 4 speed and finally whatever demonstrator from the Chev-Olds emporium he happened to be driving. A ’74 Z-28 with a 4 speed that was traded in was memorable. He also used his fishing buddy’s ’50 or ’51 3/4 ton Chevy pickup for a little “toughening”. I got a pretty good cross section.
I’m curious about something though, in the US it sounds like you could take Driver’s Ed, pass and the state would issue a license from that in some places. Is that really how it worked?
After you completed and passed driver training, you would have to go to the local DMV office and take a driving test with a DMV employee. If you passed that test then you would then be issued a license at the office. If you failed you could retake the test until you passed. This is how it worked in California, most if not all states are the same.
I already was taught to drive by my Dad at age 13, but could only get a license at age 16 by taking the driving class. If 18 or older, no drivers ed class was required. You just took your learners permit to the DMV. Then you took the driving test and if the tester riding with you passed you, you got your license the same day.
OK Thanks. We had the same type of test, and sadly the hardest part was the dreaded parallel park. In those days if you passed you walked out of the courthouse 20 minutes later with a license. Now it takes a couple of years to get fully licensed.
My Dad made sure I knew how to drive before he ever let me take the test, but I was lucky. Not everyone’s Dad did.
My family was lucky in that our high school was on the way to where my dad worked. All 4 of us kids spent a year driving 6 miles to school with him in the passenger seat and taking the bus home before he let us drive alone routinely.
My driver’s ed car was a new white ’63 Fairlane 500 four door with 260 V8, auto, and instructor side extra brake pedal. Once while riding in the back and a girl driving, I was horrified when she took her hands off the wheel to cover her eyes while driving down the highway. It had just rained and since it was summer and the car had no AC we had the windows down. A passing semi sprayed a little mist in the window and she panicked. The instructor quickly reached over and grabbed the wheel to keep us on the road and out of opposing traffic. She got a good lecture from him.
I took my drivers test in my Dad’s ’62 Olds 88 wagon. Parallel parking was not easy, especially since I had never done it with that particular car, but I made it. When I took our youngest daughter to take her test we used my ’95 Ranger since it was the shortest vehicle we owned. However, she was not asked to parallel park it.