Who taught you to drive?

[recycled sixtie]

Just wondering. I taught my daughter to drive and she got a couple of lessons before the drivers test. Conversely have you taught anybody to drive? I still remember my finger nails digging into the passenger seat!

[id10t]

Learned from Dad in the 356. (Dammit, keep your foot on the gas in the corners!)

Taught Daughter #1, son #1. Daughter #2 is only 11... so I have a few more years.

Now that I have a truck w/ manual transmission, will be re-teaching daughter #1 and her boyfriend how to drive stick.

[930addict]

I learned from my dad in his green 1965 Dodge D200 work truck while driving around the ranch. I was probably 12 years old and the clutch was so stiff I had to stand on it. When I got my permit I had private lessons. After a few hours the instructor signed me off since I had so much experience and it was pretty natural to me at that point.

My daughter recently got her permit and I've taken her out a few times. I started her out in an empty school parking lot and she did so well I let her drive the 2 miles home. She was smiling the whole time but she doesn't seem real motivated to drive yet so I'm not pushing her.

[cockerpunk]

I'm a driving instructor so i teach a lot of people to drive.

i leaned to drive through a conglomeration of people and opinions, mostly national level autocrossers. ive never been a believer in gurus, and dont believe anyone has anything 100% correct. the car and track itself are the best teachers. listen to them.

[hbueno]

I was such a car nut that I instinctively knew how to drive long before I was eligible for a license. When I finally got my permit, my father sat next to me and enjoyed the ride. It took a while to get into a manual transmission car in my 20's (an 85 CRX), and I took to that like a fish to water.

I taught both my son and daughter supplementing the half assed training provided by their high school driving program.

[stevej37]

My youngest sister decided to buy a manual Corolla about 15 years ago. I was with her when she picked it up and thought I would teach her how to drive it on the way back.

First stop sign that we came to...there was no crossing traffic...except for one car about a half mile away. I told her to give it some gas and slowly lift your clutch foot up.

She did the first part, but let off on the gas when she released the clutch. The car jumped ahead about 10 feet and stalled. I calmly told her to try it again as the car partway into the intersection.

Same results. Now we are totally blocking the through road.

I was getting worried...other car and two others are getting close. I told her to just put the clutch in and I jumped out and pushed the car backwards out of the intersection.

I'm sure the other cars got a good laugh out of that.


As far as who taught me...I learned by myself while working/helping out on my neighbors farm.

[GH85Carrera]

Mostly my brother. We built a VW dune buggy. I just turned 15 and we would drive it around in the countryside, off road. It does not take long to get good with a clutch when driving a lot. Then read the book on traffic laws, get the learners permit, and drive more.

At the test itself the State Trooper asked me after 30 seconds how long I had been driving. I replied for over a year, but off road sir! On my 16th birthday I got my license.

Dad was usually on TDY duty in some remote part of the world, or super busy at work and never had the time to teach me anything about cars. He saw cars as a big generic appliance you park outside. He did give me an interest free loan, and paid my insurance for the first few years. I paid for 100% of all other car expenses, and paid him back for the car loan in under a year.

[s_morrison57]

My Grampa did, both my cousin and I, it was a 48 Dodge De Sota Deluxe, we were about 8 or 9, the steering wheel was huge and it took both of us to turn it, we were standing on the seat we couldn't have done it sitting and wouldn't have been able to see. Grampa would take us out to check the wheat for harvest, he'd set the hand throttle at a walking pace, jump out and walk through the field, our job was to drive on a barely there road around the end off the field and come back on the other side, gramps would jump in and off we'd go to the next field. By the time we were 11 we had pillows and wooden blocks on the gas and brake, our own 1/8th mile egg shaped oval with a small valley and hill, all the kids would be there riding around it was so cool, we had my mini bike, a VW dune buggy, an old James motor cycle that we could use. It was so much fun, we weren't visually supervised but if the dust cloud got too high we were deemed to be speeding. Every Saturday 3-4 of us each got a riding mower to cut the grass, it was how we paid back for the gas for the Dodge. I'd spend the summer holidays driving, it was great!
That brought back a ton of memories, all good, thanks for letting me share that.

Finn

[Sooner or later]

My dad.

We went out to a dirt country road and I took the wheel. Automatic. He would have me go to 25 mph and he would tell me to stop at the next telephone pole. After I mastered that we made lefts and rights at the mile intersections. It was drama free.

I had previously driven a tractor and a Cushman scooter at an uncle's farm.

[ted]

As a young guy I sat on my dad's lap and learned to turn the wheel.

20 years ago did the PCA instructor gig for a few years, was fun teaching car control to adults.
Pathetic most learn to drive get a license at 16 and think there is little left to learn.
Now with all the nannies a typical driver's skill is even less likely to improve and more likely to become complacent.

Road racing/track events for the last 25 years has helped me to learn to drive more than any teenage driver instruction.

[jhynesrockmtn]

My Dad taught me, then made me teach my sister. I taught my son in my 911 SC. He now owns it. I taught my daughter in an old Jag Series III XJ6. She refused to learn a MT only to express regret when she was just out of college. Nobody knew how to drive the drunk guys car home from a party.

[masraum]

My dad taught me to drive, and then there was also required drivers training that was run through the HS.

[Seahawk]

Learned how to drive when I was 13 - a 1959 or 60 El Camino that was the ranch manure truck, 3 on the Tree. Since we lived on all private roads, my Dad taught me the basics and I was then on my own.

I delivered the manure to some of the farmers in the area, all on dirt roads.

Drivers Ed in HS and the day I turned 16 I got my solo check

I taught both my kids how to drive on the farm, a manual Toyota Tacoma...my daughter was a breeze - she remains an excellent driver. Jack is a tier down. Slow and steady!

Jack got the Tacoma, which he drove in HS and college. We sold it his second year of law school.

[PorscheGAL]

Drivers Ed in HS taught basics and auto transmission. Dad taught me a manual. I turned around and taught my sister. My father was super impressed when she first got in the car and could drive the manual. We never told him. Husband and I shared teaching my son but honestly, I was a nervous wreck the entire time.

[Otter74]

Largely my dad at first. First time I ever drove was the summer before I turned 13 in my dad's blue 320i, in an office park in the Atlanta suburbs.

I remember sitting on my cousins' grandfather's lap and 'steering' his '53 Dodge when I was maybe 6 but that doesn't count

[HobieMarty]

I took Driver's Ed in highschool, but my Dad taught me to drive also. We had four cars and I remember parking them in a way that I could practice parallel parking. We were returning home from Mobile, Alabama back to Niceville, Florida on I-10 once and Dad pulled over and let me drive on the interstate. The speed limit was 55 mph and the car was a 1974 Oldsmobile 98 Regency, I was 15 with a learner's permit, lol, good times. The first manual shift car I ever drove was a 1981 Plymouth Reliant K. Dad had bought it thinking it would be a good work car. It was very basic with a bench front seat, 4 speed and an AM radio. Dad taught me the basics of shifting and then I honed my skills in my TR-6. I taught my kids to drive basically by just letting them do it, usually starting out driving around our neighborhood and then little by little getting out on the road. I took my daughter downtown on a Sunday afternoon where there were some parallel parking spots and let her practice. We did that in our Nissan Quest, figured if she could parallel park that thing then she could park anything, she scored a perfect 100 on her driver's test when she got her license!!! Good times!!!

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[GH85Carrera]

One of my dad's friends was working in the garage, and accidentally severely cut his arm. He was bleeding a lot, and need to get to the hospital ASAP. His Mustang manual shift car was blocking in his wife's car. She had to run next door to get the neighbor to move the Mustang, and then get her husband to the ER.

He recovered, and first off he taught his wife how do shift and drive a manual. She did not need to be a great driver, just enough to know how to move the car.

He made 100% sure all his kids could at least drive a manual.

My wife owned a Mercedes 190 with a 5 speed when we were dating and first married. She learned to drive in a Pinto.

[masraum]

I honestly can't remember how our kids learned to drive. Most of that time period is a blur to me. We had to send them to a drivers ed course which is required here. I can't remember if we drove with them before or after that, probably after. I know both myself and my wife rode with them. I think my wife did a most of the on the road with them. I know I did a fair amount of manual trans training with our son.

From what I remember, at first, our son seemed like he was going to be great, and the daughter not so much. Then, the daughter caught her groove, and the son took much longer. To this day, she's absolutely the better driver, and he gets where he needs to go. They are in their mid 30s now. I think my wife still thinks his driving is scary.

[gregpark]

My grandfather taught me to drive a 3 on the tree Ranchero on dirt roads in the fields of tiny Parma Idaho. He owned the Parma Seed Co. and was friends with the chief of police. By the time I was 11 I was driving through town. The chief said "well, he drives better most around here so I guess it's ok". The early 60's in podunk Idaho was a different and wonderful world from today

[GH85Carrera]

I ask the same rhetorical question as the title of this thread to other drivers on the road almost every day. I am usually alone in the vehicle and watching some idiot driver doing something really stupid.