What did you learn to drive in?

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My stepfather taught me to drive stick on a 1976 Datsun B-210. His was blue.
My mother had a B210 also! It was green with an automatic.

I don't remember exactly the first car, but the Datsun would have been one of the first that I started out driving with a learner's permit. I'm sure there were others that I got behind the wheel on a limited basis at an earlier age.
 
1954 Chevy 210. 3 on the tree. Base model. They had a 210 Deluxe and the very deluxe Bel Aire using the same body.

Was my grandmothers car so it had few miles on it when we drove it home. I remember that drive. Dad driving, me playing with the dash clock. Mom driving the other family car home. Below is a picture stolen from the www. My sister nicknamed it "Petunia". It never looked this good. I spilled brake fluid on it one time so there was a big streak on the fender. Only black wall tires. Dad would never spend more that $2 for a tire so I got good at changing flats. There were usually 3 or 4 spares in the trunk. I remember a road trip to the Anamosa state prison where one of the lug nuts broke off and we got it fixed in Mechanicsville. A few days later a front wheel fell off. A bent wheel stressed the lug studs and they all broke off. This was 2 blocks from the service station where his buddy worked (and sold him the $2 tires). I doubt it ever went through a car wash. This one other time, a neighbor kid rode his bike too close and got skewered by the chrome trim on the side that was hanging loose. It went clear through his leg. One cool feature of the 4 door was you could sit about 5 across in the rear seat and still have room to roll a full size road bike in front of your legs. In one door and out the other. A younger brother got broadsided in the 1954 at a 4 way stop sign (other drivers fault) and the car was totaled.

Grandmother got a 67 Nova to replace the 54 so it would have been about 1967 when we got the 1954 Chevy. My grandfather died in 1967. She leased the farm and moved into town where she bought a house and new Nova. We later got the Nova when Grandmother passed away. The Nova had the 2 speed automatic, straight 6, bias ply tires. As base as you could get. Gram only drove it to church on sundays, really. About 1 mile a week for about 15 more years. I think it had about 7,000 miles on it. Drove pretty bad with the bias ply tires and no power steering. It was hard to keep it going in a straight line. I replaced the starter solenoid 4 times in 1 day. Made of a too-brittle bakelite. The final turn of starter wire terminal nut.. Snap. Snap. Snap. Maybe the local car parts store had a bad batch of them. I figured out how to diagnose and replace the choke pull off diaphragm. Those tended to gum up or rot out about every 6 months. A $2 part that needed replacing at every tune up (whats a tuneup?) Really hard to keep it going in a straight line, like the Nova. Bias ply tires and city streets we drove on were wavy asphalt. I built a bike rack to bolt to the rear bumper using some scrap steel from the phone company. Also totaled. Mom was stopped at red light when the Nova got rear ended and shoved into the car in front of her too, some time after 1980. When the car was rear ended and totaled, the bike rack was still straight. Back when bumpers were made to take anything.

When I took drivers ed, I was the only student with any experience driving a stick (the '54). The schools had a 'driving range'. A fully fenced facility with stop signs, traffic lights, parking spots, etc. Like a 10 acre mini city. The teacher would get up in a tower with a AM transmitter that we could receive with the car radio for instructions. (yeah, sure there was rock and roll station to listen to) The fleet was 20 all brand new 1972 Malibus (auto) (no way they were SS versions) on lease from a local Chevy dealer and 1 Opal Kadet (stick). I got the Kadet which was far easier to drive. Backing through the figure 8 course was a breeze. Bumper cars it wasn't but one girl managed to crush a door in turning too tight a red light post.


1954-chevrolet-210.jpg
 
1965 buick sport wagon, green looked like the one pictured below, it belonged to my older sister Molly she passed away in 2011 ,I really miss her , I'll never forget driving that beast I was 9 years old...
sportwagon.pass_.side4_.jpg


Rafael ~
 
Well, I got my Learner's Permit on a Radioactive Orange 1975 Pinto-Automatic on the floor, Inline 4 engine, smooth and dependable driving. Just what a 15 year old needed for daytime trips to the library and the grocery store. Sadly, the poor beast did not make it to my 16th birthday-Dad borrowed it to get to a fire (he was a Volunteer Fireman until he turned 75, and stayed involved with the Fundraisers and such until his death) and a snapped brake cable on a hill turned the poor Pinto into the filling of a Firetruck Sandwich. :20: Contrary to the myth however, the gas tank did not explode....

Since Dad technically wrecked my ride, he offered to pay for the next one...but I wisely refused to take advantage of him and kept my sights low, searching for Used, Runs Well and Decent MPG. Turns out that my paternal Grandfather was getting rid of his 1970 VW Fastback for something with more luxurious seating options, his longstanding chronic back problems demanding it...money changed hands, Dad gave my a twenty minute tutorial on operating a 4-speed stick with clutch, and turned me loose. I had that Fastback for over 16 years with only a replacement fuel pump and regular oil and tire changes, right up until a Dealership expressed an interest in my ride on behalf of a collector...after some haggling, they offered my a 1987 Nissan Sentra with only 26,000 miles on it plus some folding cash, and I bid farewell to the VW with over 450,000 on that Suitcase Four. For all I know, that Fastback might be running to this very day and showing up at the San Francisco Classic car shows...

The Pictures aren't from the original cars-but the Make, Model and Colors are a perfect match:
 

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Early 70's El Camino that my gearhead uncle dropped a big block in. He was the local phone-man for decades, had me sit on a stack of phone books to reach (I was 10 yo) while he downed a few of Milwaukee's best! :21: When he told me to punch it, I put it to the wood, starting my speed addiction!
 
Old Ford Ferguson tractor on our apple orchard.
I invented tractor baseball. Get her rolling up to third gear [fast when you're when you're in a furrowed orchard].
Slalom through the trees as fast as you dare, hit three trees and you're out!

Shown here with my younger brother and stepdad.
image 419-1.jpg
 

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