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Celebrating our two-lane highways of yesteryear…And the joys of driving them today!

Your First Time...


knightfan26917
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Simple questions:

When/Where was the first time you drove?

What did you drive?

 

 

For me:

August 1988, Holsopple PA

1979 Blazer (2-tone red/white)

 

While I was visiting my Aunt Thelma and Uncle Glen for a couple weeks, my Uncle Glen (who died 10 years later, the day the loan for my 1976 Monte Carlo was approved) took me with to do some errands. On the way back, instead of pulling into their driveway, he turned into the grassy field across the street, parked the Blazer and asked me if I wanted to drive. Naturally, I did. After that, my parents allowed me to move their '81 MC SC (now mine) out of the garage whenever we took that car.

 

 

 

Cort | 37.m.IL.pigValve.pacemaker | 5 Monte Carlos + 1 Caprice Classic |* Rt 66+northwestUS, 2011?

MCs.CC + CHD.models.HO.legos.RadioShows + RoadTrips.us66 = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort

"I've always seen myself as a hopeless romantic" ... Gary Morris & Crystal Gayle ... 'Another World'

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Love those Dodge 241 small block hemis. Built several 1938-1940 Dodge coupes with the 241 bolted to 4-speed Dodge 1½ ton truck trannys and adapted ¾ ton pickup rear axles to it. Sort of had to build my own - we weren't poor and we weren't rich, but Dad was of the opinion if Jr wanted a car, Jr had better figure a way to get it himself. Those things would do everything anybody could want - except stop. :D 1938-1940 brakes weren't really designed for a small block hemi!!!! If I did it today I'd sure put disk brakes on at least the front. Fun to drive back in the day - and raced a couple of them too.

 

 

Hudsonly,

Alex Burr

Memphis, TN

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

My first drive was in my dad's 1978 Chevy van. Manual steering, manual brakes. I drove it around a parking lot. Not very exciting!

 

Heh ... by the time I was driving with a permit, my parents had an '82 Chevette ... manual brakes and steering ... that was the car I had to drive, if I wanted to drive. I didn't like it at first, but I got used to it.

 

 

And, reading the other experience just reinforces my belief that I should've been born a decade or two earlier.... Older cars are my passion ... and, at times, I wish I had been able to experience driving some of the older cars that people reminiscent about these days....

 

 

 

Cort | 37.m.IL.pigValve.pacemaker | 5 Monte Carlos + 1 Caprice Classic |* Chicagoland Meets, 2011?

MCs.CC + CHD.models.HO.legos.RadioShows + RoadTrips.us66 = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort

"Push the pedal down watch the world around fly by us" ... Mat Kearney ... 'Nothing Left To Lose'

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I was looking back thru this post and had a nostalgia attack. Got to thinking back - the first time I "drove" a vehicle was in 1944 at the age of 7!!! During WWII Dad had a large truck garden (and how he managed to take care of that and work 12 hour shifts at the nearby Naval Shipyard I'll never know) and come harvest time some friends of his that had worked with his Dad would come by to help pick the crops. They'd box them up - then I would be put behind the wheel of the 1937 Ford pickup Dad had to steer it down the rows while the men loaded the boxes. Dad would pull out the hand throttle so the truck was moving about 2 or 3 mph (those old cars and trucks would lug really low speeds back then), then I'd steer to the end of the row. I did learn to push the clutch pedal in - a reach for a 7 year old!!!! - so I did that at the end of the row. I probably stalled it out more often than not.

Because Maine was still quite rural in the 40's and 50's driver's licenses were obtained at the age of 15. That changed in 1954 to 16 - I got mine in 1953 just before the change over. Now-a-days working on the farm would be considered child labor and against the rules and regulations. But back then it was a necessity - we didn't have the, ok, illegal labor force that is around today. And kids have lost a lot by not having that work environment, IMHO.

I think kids back in that era learned to be more responsible much earlier in life than they are today. My sisters, at that time around 14 and 15, would take care of the vegetable stand Dad set up beside the road. The girls would sell the goods, make change, take care of the money, etc.

 

 

Hudsonly,

Alex Burr

Memphis, TN

Edited by Alex Burr - hester_nec
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I was looking back thru this post and had a nostalgia attack. Got to thinking back - the first time I "drove" a vehicle was in 1944 at the age of 7!!! During WWII Dad had a large truck garden (and how he managed to take care of that and work 12 hour shifts at the nearby Naval Shipyard I'll never know) and come harvest time some friends of his that had worked with his Dad would come by to help pick the crops. They'd box them up - then I would be put behind the wheel of the 1937 Ford pickup Dad had to steer it down the rows while the men loaded the boxes. Dad would pull out the hand throttle so the truck was moving about 2 or 3 mph (those old cars and trucks would lug really low speeds back then), then I'd steer to the end of the row. I did learn to push the clutch pedal in - a reach for a 7 year old!!!! - so I did that at the end of the row. I probably stalled it out more often than not.

Because Maine was still quite rural in the 40's and 50's driver's licenses were obtained at the age of 15. That changed in 1954 to 16 - I got mine in 1953 just before the change over. Now-a-days working on the farm would be considered child labor and against the rules and regulations. But back then it was a necessity - we didn't have the, ok, illegal labor force that is around today. And kids have lost a lot by not having that work environment, IMHO.

I think kids back in that era learned to be more responsible much earlier in life than they are today. My sisters, at that time around 14 and 15, would take care of the vegetable stand Dad set up beside the road. The girls would sell the goods, make change, take care of the money, etc.

 

 

Hudsonly,

Alex Burr

Memphis, TN

 

Alex,

 

Good story and points well taken. As another member of the "older" generation, I would add my accumulated wisdom to the dialog, but I'm not giving away the secrets of life for free!

 

My driving lessons were in a 1948 Pontiac, on the parking lot behind BiWise Market.

 

I later inherited the Pontiac, which had a flat head 8, and enough torque to pull tree stumps! I would drag 1st Street in San Jose and wipe out everything else. There were signals at every cross street and they were timed for maybe 25mph, so they were always red at the next intersection if you were dragging. I could beat anything off the mark and for a block. Two blocks and I was a has been, so I declined challenges that took me out into the countryside!

 

Dave

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

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Good story and points well taken. As another member of the "older" generation, I would add my accumulated wisdom to the dialog, but I'm not giving away the secrets of life for free!

 

LOL!

 

 

Kids these days just don't seem to take time to learn responsibility ... or even "listen to their elders". Admittedly, when I was younger, I didn't care much for either, either. BUT ... the older I get, the more intriguing the past ... as told by the old highways AND the older generations that are still alive to talk ... becomes. What you may think is irrelevant to "today's" lifestyle, may, in fact, be VERY relevant ... and help in the growth process.

 

Too bad more people don't "get that" at an early age..... Sometimes, understanding this is driven by the realization that life is way too short ... something I learned at a very early age.

 

 

 

Cort | 37.m.IL.pigValve.pacemaker | 5 Monte Carlos + 1 Caprice Classic |

MCs.CC + CHD.models.HO.legos.RadioShows + RoadTrips.us66 = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort

"Don't let your life pass you by" ... Sarah McLachlan ... 'I Will Remember You'

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