What car did you learn to drive stick on?

[Dinner]

I first started learning to drive on a 1985 Ford Mustang V8 with a 5 speed manual. Though most of my practice and early years of driving were done in a 1974 VW Beatle which had a fuel injected 1976 Super Beatle engine in it. Originally my sister owned the Beatle but she forgot to put oil in it so when I was 15.5 my dad and I switched out the engine and wired the computer system from a salvaged 1976 Super Beatle into it.

Which car did you learn to drive a stick on?

[Lorizael]

My oldest brother's Saturn Ion. But I learned to drive in an automatic and the two cars I've owned have been automatic, so my skill with a manual is very rudimentary. If necessary, I could probably get from point A to point B.

[ZEE]

Some ****ty Ford pickup. Or was it a Chevy? My memory is all but gone.

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[Aeson]

I think it was a Toyota. A beat up old truck. I was at work and told to go pick up some things, No instructions on how to drive it other than a pointer that to start I needed to push in the clutch all the way to the floor.

[spambot]

I've never driven a stick shift car.

[-Jrabbit]

Buick Special, 1967 base model with 3-in-the-tree

[Proteus_MST]

With the Car that was provided by the driving school (in germany you don't learn driving from some relative, but rather take driving lessons by certified driving teachers at a driving school)
IIRC it was a VW Golf II or III

[-Jrabbit]

Most US high schools used to offer Drivers Education, including behind the wheel. I understand that has largely ended. But even back in the day, they don't teach manual transmission. Stick shifts are only found on about 3% of new US cars, and that number is dropping. My understanding is that manual is still common in Europe.

[Proteus_MST]

Yes, it is. Learning driving on a manual transmission car is still the norm here in germany.
Actually, if you do your driving lessions and practical exam with automatic cars only, you get a driving permission that restricts you to automatic transmission cars. Therefore choosing to learn driving with a manual transmission is strongly recommended (especially as the costs per hour of driving lessions aren't cheaper (often the costs for a driving lession on an automatic car are even higher, as many driving schools don't have automatic cars readily available and have to lease them in the case that someone wants to do a driving exam on an automatic)).
Therefore, I guess, 90-95% of all drivers here in germany are proficient with manuals (and I guess that's also why manuals still are the favored cars here in europoe ... most drivers prefer the type of transmission they have been taught to drive and don't want to delve into something they are unfamiliar with)

[rah]

Some Japanese piece of crap utility truck picking up golf balls at the range and other misc tasks. A lot of kids learned on it so it lost First so it was really a challenge but a good learning tool. Especially since most of us went on to be car parkers there at the CC so I guess it was better that we destroyed a piece of crap instead of all those expensive sports cars.

[Lorizael]

With the Car that was provided by the driving school (in germany you don't learn driving from some relative, but rather take driving lessons by certified driving teachers at a driving school)
IIRC it was a VW Golf II or III

We have driving schools in the US, too, but there's a trial period before your license when you have a "learner's permit" and are practicing with a parent.

[Proteus_MST]

We have driving schools in the US, too, but there's a trial period before your license when you have a "learner's permit" and are practicing with a parent.

Ah
We also have some trial period (nowadays, not at the time when I got my drivers permit), but this is in force only after you get your drivers permit.
After getting your drivers permit you have a certain period of time (AFAIK around 1-2 years) where you are punished harder for commiting traffic violations or being involved in accident (as guilty party).

Some kind of learning permit is totally unknown here (i.e. in public space you are only allowed to drive a vehicle with a full drivers permit) ... but those rules don't apply for private properties or special traffic training grounds, where you are allowed to train without a license

[rah]

We took drivers ed in High School, supplemented by driving with our father. The best he did for us was taking us to an empty parking church parking lot in the snow and let us feel what to do when you lose control.

[Lorizael]

Proteus: Not sure why your posts are starting out unapproved. Perhaps Poly thinks you're a bot? Try being more sentient.

We took drivers ed in High School, supplemented by driving with our father. The best he did for us was taking us to an empty parking church parking lot in the snow and let us feel what to do when you lose control.

Driver's ed in high school disappeared pretty suddenly as I understand it. Like, I think my older brothers had it, but it was gone by the time I got there.

[BeBMan]

In the near future we all need to re-qualify for driverless cars

[Buster Crabbe's Uncle]

A something 280zx, lessons from a blonde friend I desperately wanted, college, 1988. -Never enough practice to achieve real competence. Never managed to hit that.

[Dry]

It was daddy's old 504 xsd car (xsd = super luxe diesel). I learned to park without power steering and to overtake with a trailer and without turbo. That's what I call a hard drive. My mother called it "the tractor". Good old times.