Speaking of cars , what car did you learn to drive in ? Who taught you?

Like some here, I learned to drive on a farm tractor too .... Growing up on my grandparents farm we had a John Deere,
and it was my job as soon as I was 9-10 years old to drive the tractor while the men (Gramps, uncles) pulled bales of hay on the hay wagon every fall.
So it was my grandfather who taught me to drive... getting my drivers license at 16 was an easy experience.
 

1958 Plymouth Plaza plain Jane six cylinder three on the column stick shift.

My mother taught me.

I can still hear her screaming "Both Feet Down! Both Feet Down!" because sometimes I forgot to put in the clutch when I stopped.
 
My husband had to talk me into learning to drive. I was 21 when we got married and 26 when he talked me into it. I still don't like driving but I am so glad he did. It makes life easier when you can go whenever you need, He bought me a Vega and it was perfect car to learn to drive on. Of course he taught me to drive. His dad loved the car and drove it more than I did. He called it a Kiddy car. I passes my test on the first try. I don't think I would have gone back if I had failed.
 

Mrs. Robinson said:
1964 Pontiac Catalina. My dad taught me. It was exactly like this-same color. A boat.
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I learned on exactly the same one only it was green. My Dad taught me also. My Dad drove to our cemetery in town and let me take over. It had many winding roads to learn on and I guess he figured if I really screwed up we would be in the right place and the people were dead already. I think he also did it because I took out an entire row of his beloved rose bushes. He also had to replace the clutch twice before I got the hang of it. but I learned,and had only one accident and it wasn't my fault.
 
I learned to drive in the family 1938 Studebaker Commander...I was 13 or 14 when Dad taught me.

On the day of my 16th Birthday, July 11, 1952, I took and easily passed my California Drivers License test in my 1934 Plymouth Sedan.

Here's a 1938 Studebaker Commander: (It had Overdrive and a "Hill Holder", which was a great innovation!)

HiDesertHal
 

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Both my mom & dad said no way in hell. So I had to take lessons at a driving school. I had several instructors. They were quite fond of "pull it over to the side", where we had "talks". I passed my driving test the very first time. But actually getting to drive the family car-not so much.
I don't remember whose car I used for the test. It was 55 years ago
 
My father taught me in a VW Bug and drivers ed. It was uneventful but within a year, I totaled it when I hit black ice on a corner where there were already 2 accidents just around that corner with about a half dozen people standing in the road. I had no control on the ice. I remember thinking, this is really going to be bad, as in death. The car careened through the people (missing them), through a wooden fence, into a field, and wedged in between 3 trees. A branch went through the window just missing me, glass all over me, and I walked away unhurt though weak from fright. I was so afraid to call Daddy but when I did all he said was "I'm just glad you're okay." I couldn't believe he wasn't angry. I was never in a bad accident after that. Lesson learned.

It was unavoidable though because all roads were dry except around this blind curve where the road was shaded from a hillside.
 
In the summer, we got shipped off to my aunt and uncles place in new Hampshire. The year I got my permit, I had yet to drive a stick, so my uncle took me in his VW bug, parked it on a hill at a stop sign, put on the e-brake and said, "your turn" and damn if I didn't learn how to drive a stick and how to replace a clutch in a VW bug!.... That's learning!
 
Lara said:
My father taught me in a VW Bug and drivers ed. It was uneventful but within a year, I totaled it when I hit black ice on a corner where there were already 2 accidents just around that corner with about a half dozen people standing in the road. I had no control on the ice. I remember thinking, this is really going to be bad, as in death. The car careened through the people (missing them), through a wooden fence, into a field, and wedged in between 3 trees. A branch went through the window just missing me, glass all over me, and I walked away unhurt though weak from fright. I was so afraid to call Daddy but when I did all he said was "I'm just glad you're okay." I couldn't believe he wasn't angry. I was never in a bad accident after that. Lesson learned.

It was unavoidable though because all roads were dry except around this blind curve where the road was shaded from a hillside.
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That reminds me a little of my first accident Lara. Except mine was my own fault. I was 16 and only had my license for maybe a month or two but I somehow talked my mother into letting me take her car to work for the first time. As it turned out it was also the last time too.

It was the summer between the 10th and 11th grade and I was working as bag boy at Publix. That's a Grocery store chain in Florida. At the end of my shift I offered to give this other kid who worked there, Bob Ackerman, a ride home. It was mostly to show off that I had the car by myself. Back in the fifth grade Ackerman and I had gotten into a little disagreement that escalated into a shoving match in the boys room. Word got back to the teacher and Ackerman quickly confessed to the teacher that I had started it and it was all my fault. That got me a trip to the principal's office to get the old "this is going on your permanent record" lecture. So I was enjoying the feeling of being one up on him.

There was a light rain coming down, which I later found out is the kind that makes the pavement really slick. I was driving along feeling like King of the Mountain since it was my first time driving by myself, when suddenly Ackerman says, "here's my street, turn here!" So I slammed on the brakes to try to make the turn and the car spun out in a complete circle and wound up in the median.

There was no damge to the car and I was thinking that maybe I was in the clear. But I was in panic mode and not thinking straight so I pulled back onto the road without checking, and right in front of a car being driven by this old dude from Indiana. In Florida it seems like about every other car on the road is being driven by an old dude from either Indiana or Michigan. Looking back on it he probably wasn't any older than I am now. And he took it better that I would if some dumb kid pulled out like that in front of me. It didn't do a lot of damage to either car. His left front corner just clipped the right front corner of my mother's car. No one was hurt. But it was enough to be a reportable accident.

Right away Ackerman gots out of the car and said "I gotta go, see ya latter!" and took off. I don't blame him. I'd have probably done the same thing if I had been him. Anyway, someone called the cops, and I got a ticket. When I got home I was in deep do-do. On top of that my mother hadn't paid the car insurance bill for the that month. Our financial situation was always on the margins. She was a single mom with an 8th grade education working as a waitress at greasy spoons for nickel and dime tips. Fortunately there was a grace period after the due date before they canceled the insurance so she scraped up enough for the bill and then sent me right down to the State Farm Office in Sears to pay it. Of course I didn't say anything about to the dude about the accident. Not my proudest moment.
 
When I was 14, I got my learner's permit. I was working the summers with my contractor father. He would let me drive his old 51 Chev flat bed (converted telephone utility) to work & back. It had a 4 speed/w granny on the floor. The starter was a pedal next to the gas feed, then brake & clutch (R2L). I drove it the 2 years until I was 16 then could get my license. I took it to the testing facility, waited for the tester to climb in. In those days no seat belts. He had me turn right on Main St, go to next intersection turn right again, then after 2 more right turns I was back where we started. I waited until he signed my license, I asked, 'Is that all?'. He turned to me & said, 'Son if you can drive this, you can drive anything.' He got out walked back to the facility.
 
My dad taught me to drive his old (it was even old in 1959) 1937 Chevy. He informed me if I could drive that I could drive anything. He was right!
 

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