Weekend Assignment #124: Learning to Drive

From John at;  http://journals.aol.com/johnmscalzi/bytheway/entries/2006/08/10/weekend-assignment-124-learning-to-drive/6335

Fasten your seatbelts because this week's Weekend Assignment (suggested by BeYankee) puts you behind the wheel:

Your Weekend Assignment #124: How did you learn how to drive? How many tries did it take?  What was the first car that you bought?

Extra credit: Got a picture of that first car?

 

I first drove a vehicle the summer between 5th and 6th grade....my dad's 1939 Ford pickup out in the field while he and my mom pitched the dry hay into the back of it.  Of course I was probably only going 5 MPH.  I remember the windshield tipped out from the bottom and I'm sure I didn't get out of 1st gear. 

I took drivers training at school, it was a regular class like English, Math, etc.  I took it the fall of 1957, as I turned 16 in January of 1958.  I only had to take the driving test once when I got my license.  I still have the paper copy of my test scores from that written test.  The trooper who take me out for the driving part was young and very handsome.  That made me very nervous but I did ok.  The awful part was, as we were driving along, my bra strap slid down and I "casually" reached thru 2 buttons on my blouse to push it back up.  Well, my hand got stuck and I almost had to rip a button off the blouse to get my hand out and back on the wheel.  I was so afraid, he'd look over and see what happened....I was so embarrased.  Many years later, this couple moved back into the area and came back to the church we were going to at the time, it had been their church when they were young and first married.  He was with the State Patrol and got transferred around the state alot.  At a potluck one night, I got to talking to him and he said one of his first duties as a young trooper was giving driving tests to people who were applying for a license.  So I was telling him and his wife about my testing experience.  We all got a big laugh about it.  Later, I dug out my scrap book and looked at the paper I'd saved all those years and guess whose name was on the bottom of it?  Yup, it was none other than Bruce, the young hansdome trooper who made me so nervous.  At another get together, I took the paper and showed it to him, he couldn't believe it. 

I did not have a car as a teenager, my folks did not have the money for such things.  I rode the school bus even as a senior in high school.  I actually did not get a car until I was like 20 years old.  It was a black 1949 Chrysler (looked like an upside down bath tub) with "fluid drive" transmission.  I bought it from a retired school teacher who lived down the street from us for $75.00.  I was working at the phone company (making $200 a month gross) and actually had to get a loan for the car as I did not have the money.  I only had it about a year when I had an opportunity to buy a 1954 Chevrolet, that was much classier looking than the Chrysler. 

Extra Credit: somewhere there may be a picture of that Chrysler but it's probably in the bottom of the big tub of pictures and I don't have time to look for it now.  If I ever run across it, I'll post it and a picture of the Chevy for all to see.

I still have all these clothes to iron..........Linda