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This is a topic from the The 1980's forum on inthe00s.
Subject: Driving Age
Written By: ThunderVamp9 on 01/24/02 at 10:44 p.m.
How old were you when you got your drivers license, and what was your first car?
I was 16 when I got mine, and my first car was my parents old Plymouth Volare Station Wagon. Affectionately referred to as the Junkmobile or Shaggin' Wagon, depending on circumstances. I wrecked it in Portsmouth, New Hampshire about 4 months later when I missed a stop sign (hey, it was hidden behind a bush!). The car that plowed into me also happened to be doing about 40 in a 25. Hit me so hard he spun me completely around through the intersection and over a curb on the other side, and bent my car so bad the drive shaft was pulled completely out. His own engine was practically sitting next to him in his car...
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: CeramicsFanatic on 01/25/02 at 01:26 a.m.
I was 17. The only way I learned how to drive was to bug my older brother to take me out so I could practice. They didn't have driver's ed back then where I lived. Once I got my license my other brother decided that he didn't need to get one for himself...he could just use me to bus him around to wherever he wanted to go! I didn't mind it so much because he always bought me something in return. LOL!
I never had my own car. After I got my license I was allowed to drive the family pick-up truck to and from school and then occasionally on the weekends.
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: BrianMannixGirl on 01/25/02 at 02:16 a.m.
We get our license here at 16yrs and 9 mths.
I bought my first car (twin cars actually) in 1986, two morris 1100's named Boris and Doris (Boris was spare parts !).
Now dont laff - I never got around to getting my license way back then - and to this very day - at 33 and a bit - I still do not have one. I am officially a "non driver".
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: aphasia2000 (Guest) on 01/25/02 at 02:27 a.m.
I got my license at 16yrs 9 months thru Driving classes at school.
Since then until this day, I have NEVER used it! I dont own a car, and I'm 29 in February! Hee! ;D
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: Jonman on 01/25/02 at 02:58 a.m.
Back in "my day" we could get our licenses when we were 16...first we had to have a "learners" permit and couldn't drive without adult supervision...2 weeks after you got your learners (written test only) you could take your "drivers" exam road test...but in my family we could get our learners at 16 but we couldn't get our drivers until we were 17...they figured a year of practice....I got my license 2 weeks before my 17th birthday b/c my brother was getting married and I needed to drive the wedding car!
My first car was a Kingswood Estate station wagon lovingly referred to as the "SS Kingswood" b/c it was a huge boat of a car....I even flew a flag from her!! LOL
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: Gis on 01/25/02 at 03:24 a.m.
In the U.K you get your Provisional licence at 17 if you apply for it.When I learnt to drive you had lessons until the driving instructor decided you were good enough and then put you in for your test.Now you have to do a written paper first and then have a year after you pass it to take your driven test otherwise you have to take the written one again etc.I finally got around to learning at 21 and passed 9 months later.My first car was a Ford Escort(no surprise there just about everybody and his dog drove them in the 80's!)I haven't had a car or driven for years and as my fiance doesn't either I'm considering getting behind the wheel again......
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: BrianMannixGirl on 01/25/02 at 07:20 a.m.
OMIGOD Aphas' - you make me feel completely normal now !!!
But dont you live and work in Northbridge !!! Thats gotta make life easier. I was seriously thinking of turning my house into an investment and buying one of the Maltings - so I could walk to work !
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: merry-beth on 01/25/02 at 07:44 a.m.
I got my license at 16.....my first vehicle was a Mazda B2200 pickup....standard trans, no radio, no a/c, no power steering.. learning like that, I feel like I can drive just about anything now.
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: cs on 01/25/02 at 09:01 a.m.
I started driving at 16. I bought my 1st car for $1500 from a lady I worked with. I saved my paychecks to buy my beautiful (yeah, right) 1981, red, 2 door, 4 speed, Dodge Colt.
It finally died my sophmore year in college. :'(
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: Shannon on 01/25/02 at 09:02 a.m.
I got my driver's permit just before turning 16. Two months later I experienced my first car accident, I hit a bus from the rear. Then at 16 I took the written test, passed that pretty easily. Then came the driver's test, failed that 3 times. :-/ About a month after getting my driver's license I got into my second car accident. Hit a truck this time, still from the rear.
The first car I drove was the "kid's" car, a Mazda something. Poor car went through quite a beating. The car that I could officially call "Mine" was a white Honda Civic.
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: Crazy Don on 01/25/02 at 09:11 a.m.
I never got my driver's license although I really would like to have one. When I got a learner's permit, the first thing I did was crash my dad's truck. End of story.
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: Syanne on 01/25/02 at 09:25 a.m.
I've been driving since I was 15 but only got my license at 27 :-[ I had no excuse other than the fact that I was afraid of failing. Now that I think about it, I can't believe that I never got stopped or in an accident!
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: spdracr on 01/25/02 at 09:27 a.m.
Like many others here, 16 and 9 months. My parents bought me an 85 Plymouth Horizon. That little car was awesome. It really had a lot of get up and go! I got to drive to school everyday after getting that car. It was no more yellow bus for me! :D
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: cs on 01/25/02 at 09:32 a.m.
Quoting:
I got my driver's permit just before turning 16. Two months later I experienced my first car accident, I hit a bus from the rear. Then at 16 I took the written test, passed that pretty easily. Then came the driver's test, failed that 3 times. :-/ About a month after getting my driver's license I got into my second car accident. Hit a truck this time, still from the rear.
The first car I drove was the "kid's" car, a Mazda something. Poor car went through quite a beating. The car that I could officially call "Mine" was a white Honda Civic.
End Quote
Please put out an APB before you drive through KY! ;)
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: ChuckyG on 01/25/02 at 10:03 a.m.
hmm.. got my learners at 16, my license at around 9 months later.. my first car was my Boy Scout Masters former car, whose son totaled it the night of his senior prom. I show up at my fathers station with my fresh new license, and my father puts me to work for two hours dredging speedy dry mixed with oil out of the pit in the garage. I of course am covered from head to toe in this sticky crap, my clothes ruined. He turns to me after washing me down with the hose, and says, you aren't going home in my car like that, you'll ruin it. He hands me the keys to this thing, a 1978 Olds Cutlass Salon, two-tone grey with a white nose and a white trunk lid, and a rear quarter he repaired by cutting it, and attaching a tow-truck wrecker to it, to pull it back out and then welded it. The ceiling was cloth and had suffered water damage, so it no longer stuck to the ceiling properly. I was rather nervous driving it home (first time alone in a car), but did ok.. I bumped into a couple of things with it over the years, but never destroyed it... he actually sold it for a few hundred dollars four years later to an older gent who just wanted something to drive around the city in. He junked it a year later, but it was still running. Just couldn't legally pass inspection and had a bad exhaust leak in the manifold..
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: DJ Midas on 01/25/02 at 11:52 a.m.
Got my learner's permit at 15 and 7 months, driver's license 12 days after I turned 16.
First car was a Datsun 510 wagon inherited from my mother...I added decals from Mossimo, Body Glove, Local Motion and Oakley...the sun visors had broken off due to extensive heat cracks (my dash was cracked also from the desert heat) so I put a dark tinted strip at the top of the windshield to cut down on the brightness/glare of the sun.
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: Wicked Lester on 01/25/02 at 05:27 p.m.
I learned to drive at 13, and got my liscense at 15. My first "official" vehicle was a 1968 candy apple red GMC pickup, long wheel base.
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: jumbles on 01/25/02 at 05:31 p.m.
I got my full licence aged 18. My first car was a 1978 VW Polo - It was red with one green door, and tasteful seat covers made from old pairs of jeans. The exhaust would fall off at regular intervals making the car sound like a tractor, which really annoyed the neighbours as I used to leave for work at 5am, oh and fans of the beastie boys used to nick the badges to use as medallions >:(
Eventually I pranged the poor old thing after accidentally running a red light - The impact left a big pile of rust in the middle of the junction and a rusty trail leading to where I eventually stopped. The Police accident investigator seemed to find that quite helpful though.
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: dagwood on 01/25/02 at 07:26 p.m.
I finished Drivers Ed on my 16th birthday (I thought that was cool ;)). I got my learners permit right away, and my mom finally let me get my license the day my permit expired.
My first car was my brothers. He was buying a new one and he could sell it to us for more than he would get trading it in. It was a 1979 Pontiac Phoenix. I hated that car >:(. I hardly checked the oil, I wanted it to die. As far as I know it is still alive, mocking me. One good thing about it was that I could fit 8 people in it.
To be a teenager again.
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: melissa2900 on 01/26/02 at 05:44 p.m.
:) ;) :) Got my license @ 16 failed the written test once, the driving test once. I was so nervouse everytime the officer told me to turn right I turned left also, completely missed the parallel parking. Next time I went I painted L and R on my hands. First car brand new 1984 Mustang. (I was a little on the spoiled side.) loved that car until the engine froze up, who knew cars needed OIL????? :) :) :)
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: Shannon on 01/27/02 at 04:14 a.m.
Quoting:
who knew cars needed OIL????? :) :) :)
End Quote
That is too funny. I didn't know you had to change the oil also until a boyfriend at the time checked my car and found out that the oil was quite dried up. Luckily, it was caught in time before anything major happened. ;D I was so bad that I never even knew how to pump gas on my own until fairly recently.
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: Shannon on 01/27/02 at 04:35 a.m.
Thought I would mention that I was allowed to pass the driver's test the third time, if I promised the instructor that I would always make a complete stop when turning at a stop sign. ;) Apparently, I didn't during the test.
And I have kept that promise. ;D
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: Bobo on 01/27/02 at 06:05 a.m.
Good for you... unfortunately I don't think I'll ever be able to drive, due to underlying medical problems.
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: Wicked Lester on 01/27/02 at 09:10 a.m.
Quoting:
And I have kept that promise. ;D
End Quote
Are you absolutely sure? Something about that grin makes me wonder... ;)
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: XenaKat13 on 01/27/02 at 10:15 a.m.
We never had much money when I was growing up, and my parents declared that no one could learn to drive unless there was a chance that a car could be purchased soon afterwards. Mom justified things by saying we lived in the city, and there was a decent public transportation system. There was no place it couldn't take us (yeah, right.) :P
I managed to finagle rides with friends if I wanted to go somewhere a bus didn't, then my cousin finally got his licsence at age 22.
After he told me all the major mistakes he made on his road test, and was still granted a licsence, I was a bit fearful--we are known for our really bad divers around here, and I didn't want to get killed in a car crash before I'd had a chance to live. In fact, the same cousin nearly did kill me on our way to a concert. He took the 30mph exit at 75mph in a driving ice storm. Hit a slippery spot and spun the car 3 or maybe four times (I had my eyes closed, screaming as if the sheer volume would save my life). Other cars swerved to avoid us, and crashed into each other, missing our car by literally inches.
I'm now 34, and seriously looking at getting one myself, as I live in a section of the city that provides bus service only on weekdays. Trying to go anywhere on a weekend resembles going out on a camping trip, if I walk out to the nearest bus line, or costs just under a day's pay if I call a taxi.
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: Shannon on 01/28/02 at 01:29 a.m.
Quoting:
Are you absolutely sure? Something about that grin makes me wonder... ;)
End Quote
Of course, I follow all the rules of the road. I slow down whenever I see a yellow light, wouldn't dare speed up, signal for every turn, never go past the speed limit. And if you believe that....;)
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: aphasia2000 (Guest) on 01/28/02 at 03:25 a.m.
>>I was seriously thinking of turning my house into an investment and buying one of the Maltings - so I could walk to work ! <<
OMG BrianMannixGirl!!!
Now you are REALLY scaring me!!!
I live across the road from the MALTINGS (on the same STREET)! Its a complex named "Rialto terraces".
Girl, You are FREAKIN' ME OUT!!!
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: BrianMannixGirl on 01/28/02 at 04:42 a.m.
hehehehe Phas' - we probably walk past each other each day !
I dont know the Rialto's - I liked the look of the Maltings when they released the designs a few years ago.
I just dont know that I could ever give up my quarter acre of land tho. i love my land !
Kat - I do know what you mean with going out sometimes feeling like a camping trip etc tho I no longer begrudge myself my taxi money. My ex room mate and I once sat down and itemised what it cost per year each. She added up, car loan, interest, maintenence, fuel, tyres, rego, insurance, parking fees etc etc.
I added up my daily commute of $5.60 per day and an average of 3 taxi rides per week costing between $15 and $35 each, I came out spending approx $2500 - $3000 per year. My friends yearly costs came out at $4500. She was quite shocked as she was convinced I was throwing money away with all the taxis.
I will probably be one of those 85 year old dears that up and decide I want my licence !!!!!!!!!!
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: Criz on 01/28/02 at 12:52 a.m.
Quoting:
In the U.K you get your Provisional licence at 17 if you apply for it.End Quote
I actually got my provisional about 6 months before i turned 17, so you can now apply when your 16 for one. Am having my first driving lesson very soon and I'm scared as hell! :)
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: Bobo on 01/28/02 at 01:10 p.m.
Apparently I heard that over here in Britain, they're thinking of lowering the driving age to 16, so that those of us (and that includes me) in year 11 can drive to school, instead of being driven, as is the case in our area...
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: shanell on 01/29/02 at 10:36 p.m.
Got my licence at 16. My first car was a Plymoth Horizon, a piece of junk if you ask me. The truck that I have now is a Ford Bronco, and it to is a piece of junk, but it runs. :P
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: Marci on 01/30/02 at 00:13 a.m.
I had my learners permit at 15, but my parents didn't let me get my actual license until I had a B average (said it was better for insurance)........so I was 18 and a senior by then. ;D
I guess my first car I was able to drive around was my parents' Pontiac something or other. It was all computerized, which was really cool. Then I got a job after graduation and my Dad picked out a red/orange 1980 Pontiac Sunbird coupe for me. He'd always told us he'd match every dollar to us for our first cars, so he found a $1300 car that ran well and that I thought was cute. (The getting it part was a complete surprise..you oughtta see the video...but he'd taken me out for several months before asking me what body styles I liked or didn't like around that ~$2000 price range. )
Anyway, that poor car sure got a beating in it's first two years with me. I hit black ice one night, ended up in a ditch against a barbed wire fence (egads, you should've heard that squeel!!) Scratched paint and a broken window. :(
Then I ran into a car that was waiting to turn...whole front end destroyed. :-to this day runs??! My husband drove it around for quite awhile as a second vehicle until he found one he wanted. And that car of his has had tons of problems..we sold my Sunbird and we STILL see it running around town!! ;D
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: daylily on 04/24/02 at 01:02 p.m.
Well, er, um, I'm 28 and still haven't got a license. In fact, I've never been behind the wheel of a car. I took Driver's Ed my senior year of high school, and did OK in the classroom part, but I was up to my eyeballs in rehearsals (choir, stage crew *and* opera that year) and never once had free time to schedule any road lessons. When my mom found that out, she made me pay her back all the $$ she'd paid for me to take Driver's Ed!
It's not like my parents would ever, ever have let me use their car. It was a big Dodge van that I'd have been afraid to drive, and my parents didn't believe in teenagers driving anyways--it took me most of my sophomore year to convince them that it was okay for me to ride in cars my friends drove. (Originally, they'd said they'd have to give my friends a driving test before I was allowed ride with any of them. Yes, I know. Honestly, it's no *wonder* I was such a geek.)
Unlike poor Kat, I live in an area of town that's serviced really well by public transport, right up until 1:30 or whenever it is that the Night Owl bus stops running. (And the only time I'm out after that is for night rehearsals at MIT, which is a $9 cab ride away from my house--short enough to walk if it were safe to walk through Kenmore Square alone at 3 am.) So I've never really felt the lack of a driver's license, except for occasionally when I absolutely have to go to a rehearsal or performance in someplace like Acton, and have to bum rides from people. ("I could be a walrus...") In truth, I'm terrified of driving--which, in Boston, is a sensible attitude.
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: RockandRollFan on 04/24/02 at 01:15 p.m.
17...the first car I drove was a 1976 Mercury Monarch (Automatic) then one day my dad took it to work and left me with the Volkswagon fastback. It was either teach myself to drive a stick-shift or be late for work....well I learned fast :)
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: Kryllith on 04/24/02 at 02:10 p.m.
I got my permit at 15, but didn't get my license til I was nearly 18. And the primary reason I got it then is because I didn't want my girlfriend and I to have to be chauffered everywhere if we wanted to go out...
Kryllith
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: vballchick on 04/25/02 at 00:12 a.m.
I started driving when i was 16, and my first car was a 1964 red vw bug, what a blast, but my favorite cas was my sisters 71 javlin, 3 speed on the floor, what a cool car. 8)
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: southernspitfire on 04/25/02 at 00:26 a.m.
got my license at 16....after failing my test the first time..... by one question....and started driving my moms Grand Prix...got "my" first car at 18..an 89 Pontiac Firebird Formula!!
Subject: Re: Driving Age
Written By: goldie on 04/25/02 at 00:31 a.m.
I got my learner's permit at 14, official license at 16 and got my car for graduation!