What was the first thing you ever drove?

[BrumJim]

Sit on Lawnmower when I was little.

First car I ever drove was a Ford Cortina 2.0l estate around a car park. My Dad loved that car - enough pulling power to tow with ease, and enough load space for a family holiday without worrying about what not to pack.

On a road? Must have been my Mum's bright green Ford Escort Mk 1 auto estate. The one with a rear window that went on and on and on and on.

 

[Slick]

What does a fitter do? My dad was a body builder (he made the wooden frame of the bus....i think) at East Lancs Coaches in Blackburn,Lancs for 49 years. If you mention body builder,folk think you mean weight training and stuff.

Round here a fitter is a highly sought after specialist who can drop a gear box at the side of the road and get you going again. A mechanic for the heavy stuff.

 

[MontyVeda]

What does a fitter do? My dad was a body builder (he made the wooden frame of the bus....i think) at East Lancs Coaches in Blackburn,Lancs for 49 years. If you mention body builder,folk think you mean weight training and stuff.

Just a mechanic but when it's specifically diesel, they tended to call them diesel fitters, or just fitters.

To confuse youngsters even more, say your dad was a body builder who worked in the body shop.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Dolomite Sprint, learned to drive in one, very nice.
View attachment 545883

Glorious!
I'd have one now, but in Mimosa Yellow, please!

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

The Land Rover that my father sometimes came home from work in
He worked as a butcher, & occasionally called home in it, after dropping the stock trailer, to collect Sheep for slaughter
He'd stick it in low-1st, on the old lane near our house
(I was probably about10)

Then. legally (post 17)
Either my mothers Mini Clubman (quite far gone...), or my fathers Vauxhall Cavalier (the first shape, a 2-door saloon)

 

[MntnMan62]

The first thing I ever drove was my grandmother's Ford Maverick. I was probably around 12 years old. She lived in Wisconsin near Milwaukee in an apartment complex that had the parking in a large garage underneath the building for all of the tenants. I told my grandmother I wanted to go out for a run and she gave me the keys to get back in the building and the apartment. And it just so happened that her car keys were also on that key chain. So instead of going for a run, I head straight to the garage, find her car, get in it, start it up and drove it around in the garage. I didn't venture outside.......that time. The next day I said I wanted to go for a run and again she hands me the keys. This time I not only drove it around the garage but I venture outside the garage and drove around the complex. The driving part just seemed so natural to me. I probaby drove her car a couple more times on that trip. That was my first time driving.

 

[Mo1959]

The first thing I ever drove was my grandmother's Ford Maverick. I was probably around 12 years old. She lived in Wisconsin near Milwaukee in an apartment complex that had the parking in a large garage underneath the building for all of the tenants. I told my grandmother I wanted to go out for a run and she gave me the keys to get back in the building and the apartment. And it just so happened that her car keys were also on that key chain. So instead of going for a run, I head straight to the garage, find her car, get in it, start it up and drove it around in the garage. I didn't venture outside.......that time. The next day I said I wanted to go for a run and again she hands me the keys. This time I not only drove it around the garage but I venture outside the garage and drove around the complex. The driving part just seemed so natural to me. I probaby drove her car a couple more times on that trip. That was my first time driving.

Jeez......what size of garages do you have........takes you to fit a car in most UK garages these days.

I remember sitting on my dad's knee steering whatever car we had at the time, then an old lorry in a field that he used for carrying fencing equipment for his work.

 

[MntnMan62]

Jeez......what size of garages do you have........takes you to fit a car in most UK garages these days.

I remember sitting on my dad's knee steering whatever car we had at the time, then an old lorry in a field that he used for carrying fencing equipment for his work.

Milwaukee is in the midwest of the US. Nothing but lots of land and open space. This garage was underneath a fairly large apartment building. And I gather most of the residents were older. So if you want your residents to be happy, you need to make sure they have plenty of room for error when it comes to parking and maneuvering their cars. I had no problem.

 

[screenman]

Cannot remember the first thing I drove and rode, but I can remember the first car I rolled, a black MK2 Ford Consul and it was on Hounslow Heath when I was about 14.

 

[gbb]

Firsts for me
Car...dads Mk1 Escort, probably a 1300. He was teaching me the basics before I went on lessons.
Own car, Morris Mini 850, registered 1960 i think...MKS 988..
Driving school car...a very new Escort 1600 Sport with Rostyle wheels, nice car.
Two wheels...a Lambretta TV175. Apparently they're worth some serious money now (the TV175, quite rare)

 

[CanucksTraveller]

It's not a glamorous answer, but my first drive was a 1990 Metro identical to this one.

The RAF taught me to drive and this was their basic pool car at the time. All of them were either in hearing aid beige, or sky blue.

 

[derrick]

Bantam when i was 12.

 

[Smokin Joe]

View attachment 546598
It's not a glamorous answer, but my first drive was a 1990 Metro identical to this one.

The RAF taught me to drive and this was their basic pool car at the time. All of them were either in hearing aid beige, or sky blue.

When I started as a driving instructor in the mid eighties I did a few months with BSM. To a man, every instructor hated those things, the standard BSM issue at the time. When I got my first car (A spare while I was waiting for mine) I could not understand why it had a flattened fag packet forced under the glass in front of the instruments, as did everyone else's car. When I removed it I found out why - the rattle from the ill fitting glass was so bad I soon jammed it back.

I had to go to Coventry to collect my own car. On the way back to llford I stopped at a service station and it wouldn't restart, I had to get the AA out. Next morning it broke down again on the first lesson, both stupid quality control issues where wires had been fitted loose. On one lot of cars that were delivered to the branch the exhausts used to part company with the downpipe during emergency stops. The cars were full of niggles and no two ever felt the same, the engineering was so variable. We kept the cars for about 14000 miles before they were replaced, and by then they were old bangers that felt like they had 100k on the clock. This was at the height of BL's bad old days, and it was no surprise when the company went tits up in the end.

 

[JtB]

An Austin Allegro with a square steering wheel and a suspension so spongey that the car couldn’t brake, accelerate or corner without sliding all over the road.

 

[Dave7]

1964 Ford Anglia.......thats when I passed my test.
I remember the instructor gave me a pen embossed "you passed first time with the Birkenhead school of motoring"..
I then taught my Dad to drive in his brand new Ford Cortina. Within days of him passing his test the moaning old sod was telling me how to drive