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Learning to Drive

 
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Jon
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Joined: 01 Jun 2006
Posts: 2421
Location: Bishop GA

1969 Volkswagen Type 3

PostPosted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 12:31 pm    Post subject: Learning to Drive Reply with quote

How old were you when you learned to drive?
What did you learn in?
Who taught you?

We are working on teaching Little Jon to drive, but apparently my instructions are not very clear and his Mom is not the right person for the job. When we tried driving in the bug, the gears were no problem, but steering and using the brakes was an issue. We are back to training on the tractor. Very Happy
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Tronview
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Joined: 29 Jun 2007
Posts: 330
Location: Bethlehem, Ga

1963 Volkswagen Beetle

PostPosted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 12:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I started when I was 10 in my grandfathers El Camino (Automatic) out in a field. Then I got my license in a Toyota Camry (Automatic). But my first car was a Beetle Manual. The best trick is to take him somewhere he can drive without hitting anything, give him some basic instructions, buckle up and close your eyes. Start with accelerating and stopping without putting you through a window. Then move to steering. I wouldn't add shifting and clutching until later. Best to start in an automatic vehicle. I learned best when I thought myself ( don’t tell my parents ) My father still thinks he thought me how to drive a stick. It is hard to focus on what you are doing when you are nerviest and your mother is screaming in the passenger seat.
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1975 Westfalia

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Jon
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Joined: 01 Jun 2006
Posts: 2421
Location: Bishop GA

1969 Volkswagen Type 3

PostPosted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 1:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Tronview wrote:
Best to start in an automatic vehicle. I learned best when I thought myself ( don’t tell my parents ) My father still thinks he thought me how to drive a stick. It is hard to focus on what you are doing when you are nerviest and your mother is screaming in the passenger seat.


I guess I should have added that he does fine driving the automatic truck around the nursery; it is driving a stick that is exciting. Very Happy
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Mountain Power House



Joined: 26 Jul 2006
Posts: 879
Location: Aircooled Heaven USA


PostPosted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 2:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

AI was 7... In an Orange 181 that I still have today. I kept stalling it so my dad put me in the 49' Willys Jeep and locked it in low range so it would not stall.

Hell, I was running errands to town and the grocery store by the time I was 12!
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57 Oval
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73 VW Thing (Will I ever finish it?)
73 Superbeetle (Suby Power!)
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Greg



Joined: 12 Aug 2009
Posts: 490
Location: Jefferson, GA

1969 Volkswagen Beetle

PostPosted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 5:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I learned to drive a stick on the beetle I have now, not sure how it survived Smile but I started out driving my mom's van (automatic). It had more power than I knew what to with. I'd volunteer to drive everytime she left the house Smile

I will say the beetle is the hardest car I've driven yet as far as using the clutch. My parents taught me, each taking a break when their patience ran out.


I agree with james, let him get used to driving an automatic first

one step at a time......
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rustyfastback



Joined: 15 Jun 2006
Posts: 71
Location: Stone Mountain, GA


PostPosted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 8:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I learned to drive on my parents '84 lincoln town car when I was 15. I started driving my '72 super bug shortly after that. After 2 days of practice I was good with the stick shift. By far the VW is the easiest stick shift to learn on. Jon, bet you can't wait for that first clutch drop & burnout Twisted Evil
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Clyde



Joined: 03 Jun 2006
Posts: 855
Location: Athens


PostPosted: Sat Jun 30, 2012 10:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
I learned to drive on my parents '84 lincoln town car when I was 15.

I bet it had a crown air freshener.

I learned to steer in a black 60's bug in our backyard track in Brohman, Michigan. I was like 6 or 7, and my brother Ron was driving with me sitting on his lap steering. My brothers used it to go hunting and running the power lines with it. They beat the poor car to death.

Learned clutching and shifting on a YZ80 dirt bike when I was like 13 or 14. Everything merges naturally once you learn the basics.
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KleineVW



Joined: 18 Apr 2011
Posts: 103



PostPosted: Sun Jul 01, 2012 7:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I learned to drive a 65 Massey ferguson tractor around the family farm first. Thank goodness I was good at it cause once I switched to a manual dodge d50 I needed the tractor to pull the truck out of the pond when I couldn't figure out the clutch. I don't know how much my parents helped in teaching me, just a lot of patience.
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Adams77



Joined: 07 Oct 2008
Posts: 142
Location: Statham, GA


PostPosted: Sun Jul 01, 2012 7:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ditto on the motorcycle, my son became a master at the stick once he learned to ride a dirtbike.


If you can find a Driving school, I would advise it. You will recoup your investment with the insurance discount!
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Tronview
Site Admin


Joined: 29 Jun 2007
Posts: 330
Location: Bethlehem, Ga

1963 Volkswagen Beetle

PostPosted: Sun Jul 01, 2012 8:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Tronview wrote:
I started when I was 10 in my grandfathers El Camino (Automatic) out in a field. Then I got my license in a Toyota Camry (Automatic). But my first car was a Beetle Manual. The best trick is to take him somewhere he can drive without hitting anything, give him some basic instructions, buckle up and close your eyes. Start with accelerating and stopping without putting you through a window. Then move to steering. I wouldn't add shifting and clutching until later. Best to start in an automatic vehicle. I learned best when I thought myself ( don’t tell my parents ) My father still thinks he thought me how to drive a stick. It is hard to focus on what you are doing when you are nerviest and your mother is screaming in the passenger seat.


Christi here, and I never knew this about my husband. I would also recommend a driving school. Our neighbor's son just finished his driver's education and is a wonderful driver. Her dishwasher broke and it was either get a new dishwasher, or his driver's education. So he has been doing dishes and taking lessons. Insurance will give your better rate also if a professional teaches him. She went through her local school system. It replaced his PE credit.
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Ken



Joined: 13 Jan 2007
Posts: 348
Location: Bethlehem, Ga.


PostPosted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 10:19 pm    Post subject: Is shifting the problem? 1st gear? Reply with quote

Stop all practicing with Jon until Volkstock VI. We have the perfect hill outside our house beginning in the culdesac. Jon and I can practice 1st and 2nd gear for 1 hr and he will be a pro!!

Everyone knows that 1st is the only gear that gives a new manual user any issue and practicing 1st gear from a stop on a slight hill teaches everything you need to know about listening to the engine.

Everything after 1st gear is just going thru the motions!!
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Jon
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Joined: 01 Jun 2006
Posts: 2421
Location: Bishop GA

1969 Volkswagen Type 3

PostPosted: Thu Jul 19, 2012 8:11 am    Post subject: Re: Is shifting the problem? 1st gear? Reply with quote

Ken wrote:
Stop all practicing with Jon until Volkstock VI. We have the perfect hill outside our house beginning in the culdesac. Jon and I can practice 1st and 2nd gear for 1 hr and he will be a pro!!

Everyone knows that 1st is the only gear that gives a new manual user any issue and practicing 1st gear from a stop on a slight hill teaches everything you need to know about listening to the engine.

Everything after 1st gear is just going thru the motions!!


Will Sledge be the training vehicle??? Twisted Evil
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kabriolett



Joined: 02 Jun 2006
Posts: 260
Location: Panama City Beach, FL


PostPosted: Thu Jul 19, 2012 9:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Beetle is probably the easiest car to learn a stickshift in. I learned in a 64 Rambler American, driving around a campground in SC, when we were visiting from NJ. When I took my driving test, I had to drive my mom's Lincoln, because they wouldn't let me take the road test in my 65 Bus Rolling Eyes
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Ken



Joined: 13 Jan 2007
Posts: 348
Location: Bethlehem, Ga.


PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 9:23 pm    Post subject: SLEDGE or Inge's Jeep!! Reply with quote

Jon would probably refuse to sit in the (UF) Sledge........But we do have Inge's Jeep which is a cool vehicle to learn how to drive stick in.

Wait - He can pretend to shift in the F-1 (1948) Truck!!!!
Laughing
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modified 72 ghia



Joined: 04 Aug 2006
Posts: 366
Location: baldwin,ga


PostPosted: Sat Jul 21, 2012 8:40 pm    Post subject: u Reply with quote

I learned to drive a 59 chevy truck, the one with the starter in ther floorand you needed 3 feet to start it because the e-brake didnt work. we had @15 acres of garden complete with terraces. I turned that into my personal 'hazzard county' the bed was rusted out and every so often we had to stop and push the bed back on. It work, I took my driveing test in my dads 61 bug. Been driving stick every since.
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