When did you first drive?

[catsinthewelder]

My first go at steering would have been about age 4 in my granddads Cortina, a metallic green mk5 on a v reg.The next time I got a go was at about 13 my dad offered me a go in his company Primera 1.6LX. We were having a day out at Croft circuit watching the racing and got back to the car which was parked on the old runway. He moved it clear of the other cars and let me go, 1st gear only but plenty of revs The Primera did seem to lose a lot of small bits of trim in the 3 years he had it but felt a fair bit faster than the 1.8 mondeo which replaced it and was the first car I got to drive on the road

 

A few years later they rebuilt the circuit for touring cars and the area that I'd been driving on became part of the circuit

[timmyteapot]

About 15 I think in my dads BX19RD (remember them?). I do remember sitting on my dads knee as a nipper steering our Mk1 Golf 1.6 CL Diesel up and down the drive (think I was about 6)

[Cavcraft]

It was that long ago I'm struggling to remember. Vaguely recall having a bash in my mate's mum's P6 2000SC circa 1975, think we crashed it into a hedge on his drive.

[HillmanImp]

Age 14. My Dad had a hire car delivered for a work trip whilst me and my mate were bunking off school. My mates brother was a bit older and had driven before so we went for a joyride in a Rover 414GSi. I had a go and reved the tits off it up a quiet country lane.

 

After that I was 16 and drove my girlfriends uncles Sierra Sapphire down some country lanes near Findon. Local bobby PC Gilks spotted us but did not pull us over. However he did pay a visit to Nippers (whose car it was) house a day or so later but he was not in. Nipper was convinced it was becuase they had seen his car in Patching down some counrty lanes and that he might be suspected for the recent series of horse slashings.......not the fact he had seen a 16yr old me driving along with no L plates on. PC Gilks did not come back so it cant have been that serious, I assume it was just to unofficially tick him off for letting us drive the car.

 

Strangely the horse slashings stopped though. (joke).

[richardthestag]

1983 NESCOT carpark in Ewell, in my mates very knackered Mini countryman/traveller with a broken cone on the front suspension. and more polyfilla than wood on the back end

 

E-R is suspiciously quiet on this thread

[CreepingJesus]

Sat on my dad's lap, steering once or twice, but my first solo run was when I was about 10, maybe 11.

We were on holiday in Morecambe, and went out to some massive beach near there. Not Morecambe Bay, with the quicksand, but exactly where I'm not sure. Anyhow, I got the Cortina estate company car nosed into a dune...mother not impressed...father and son trying to giggle very quietly. Good times.

I'd have been about 14 when he let me drive a van - round an industrial estate in Govan. The security guard wasn't impressed (maybe 'cos I nearly skittled him ), but my dad sorted him out with a quick burst of industrial language. I miss my dad; he wasn't a big guy, and quiet (mostly); but he let me drive all manner of cars and vans, and wasn't afraid of security guards twice his size!

[Father Ted]

Dad taught me to drive in the family Austin 1300 at 13.

 

Big mistake, because from the age of 14 I knew how to drive, and frequently "nicked" the car at night.

I also frequently saw my fathers belt applied at speed to my arse, but it was worth it.

[ProgRocker]

About 14 in my dad's Suzuki ST90K pick up truck. Driving around a block of council garages behind the house in 1st gear and reverse.

 

Thereafter, at 17 years old in an L reg VW Polo 'Coupé' 1.3 learner car & occasionally in my 1979 BL Mini at weekends.

[Timewaster]

father's disgusting FSO Polonez.

'let loose' in one of their decrepit Series Land Rover.

rag to death and then brutalise with an angle-grinder a Metro

'first car', father's cast-off Skoda Estelle

 

Und now Meester Pog ve understand your shite fixation and Metro hatred.

[Pillock]

Bizarrely, I can't recall ever driving a car before I was 17 and a bit, and had my first lesson in an AA Driving School Rover 114 Kensington. I was however fully up to speed on the theory behind it, and indeed on my first lesson managed to pull away first time, and get into second without scroinching it. I think that threw the instructor and he didn't know what else to do on a first lesson.

 

I drove a DAF 3300 tractor unit when I was 15 though. Work experience as a truck fitter, they let me loose in the yard

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

Nearly all of my formative driving experiences were on the bumpy half mile farm track to my granny's house. I think I was about 7 or 8 when my dad let me loose in my mum's burnt orange Chevette 1.3L saloon, first being allowed to steer, then operate the pedals while dad steered, finally all the controls at the same time.

All I remember is a lot of kangarooing.

[brammy777]

Ha, I first drove at something like 17, when I attempted to reverse my girlfriend at the times KA, suffice to say, I stalled. Considering I have a relative with a farm, I should have asked if I could drive up and down the road, only got as far as the quad bike sadly. I seriously missed out! I could have driven the Marina which had been dumped by the barn, or the Allegro, or the Cortina MKIV....

[Albert Ross]

Is that Ivan Jellical?

[Guest]

I first steered a car at 6, sat on my dad's lap having a go of his Sierra Estate on a beach on Faro in Denmark. The steering must have been unassisted because I remember needing to use both hands to make the car move from left to right a bit. It was an odd day that. My dad found it hilarious, MOTHA_WAT looked on in despair and UB 40 blasted out of the stereo. Great times.

 

After that I did an Early Drive course at Oulton Park in the world's most shagged Kia Pride. The best bit was when the instructor took us out round the full circuit as fast as the reheated 121 \ Festiva mutant could carry us. And yes, it did have white sidewalls.

 

I briefly had a go in FATHA_WAT'S second Espace on Blackrock Sands shortly after. I remember being stunned at how light the controls were. It was a cool piece of kit that Espace - it had the mental dashboard with seat trim on it, a central speedometer and a massive glove box you could fit a briefcase in. The stereo was hidden in there as well. I think it might have a had a three on the tree column autobox as well.

 

The shadiness started soon after. I was tasked with delivering a brand new Clio to the house of my erstwhile boss at a well known garage. He couldn't be arsed making two trips and knew I could drive. The problem was, I was 16. The car was sold locally and when I eventually passed my test I winced at the thought of the appalling clutch and throttle control I subjected it to when it had 11 miles on the clock.

 

Soon after I should have been revising for my AS levels, and I bunked off with my mate Alastair to go and fire up my Renault 10 Auto that I owned at the time. It lived in the yard of the aforementioned garage owner. Nowadays the yard is pure tarmacadam. Back then it was a pock marked gravel pit with holes that could trash the front suspension of your car given half a chance. If you can picture a busy garage in the middle of the day, and a couple of unlicensed spotty teenagers bouncing around in a knackered old car inches from a million pounds' worth of brand new stock, you can probably picture the bollocking I got when news filtered back to FATHA_WAT.

 

Luckily for me a first time pass and a second hand Ka 3 beckoned soon after.

 

5 years on, and recovering from a bout of depression, I bought a Citroen C4. My life hasn't been the same since.

[richardthestag]

Is that Ivan Jellical?

 

[Guest]

The first time for me was when i was in the womb helping my mum drive better

 

Seriously though i was 12 as well driving up and down the allotment road in a Mk2 Escort. I did own a Mk1 ten years later.

[dollywobbler]

Lap drove a Mk2 Cav a few times around caravan sites, but (and I may go on about this far too much), my first drive of a car was J34 VKV - a Land Rover Discovery 200Tdi auto prototype (no 200Tdis were sold from the factory) at the Eastnor Castle proving ground. Best school work experience ever! I was only 15. Apparently, this car is still out there somewhere - presume they fitted a manual back to it? Quite odd for them to sell prototypes.

 

But, in a proper shite manner, my next drive was in a car park behind the wheel of my Dad's burgundy Nova Merit saloon. I really liked that little car and despite it being my first manual, took to it like a duck to water. Then I didn't drive again until I was 17 - sticking with Vauxhalls with a purple Corsa B three-door with BSM all over it.

[pompei]

On my 17th birthday in dad's Fiat 124 on an industrial estate. With a hangover. Me, that is, not my dad. He'd probably not have taken me out if he'd known.

[cms206]

First drive was an MAN 22.332 6x2 tractor unit... F233 HSA IIRC. Was cut in half, stretched and eventually became a wrecker with Jack Dunsmore in Larkhall. First car I think I was sixteen, my uncle Robert's Series III 88in, SKS 801N...