What did you pass your driving test in?

[boobydoo]

I just realised that it was exactly 30 years ago yesterday, that I first passed my Driving Test!

 

Ok, so apart from making me an old fart, I really do think that passing your test is a life-changing event. I was 17 and still at school.

 

I had nearly bought an old 73L reg Citroen Dyane in which to practice but had been eventually persuaded by my parents to buy a clapped out Morris 1000 in brown, reg no 144DJB, from an elderly relative...supposedly selling it cheap at £275. They thought it would be more reliable than some foreign,quirky thing. It was quite an ego boost to be the first lad in my year to drive to school in his own car...albeit a pile of poo-coloured, poached egg-shaped crap!

 

I will never forget the first time I drove unaccompanied...I saw it as my first step to adulthood with a whole wide world of going where I liked , when I liked ahead of me.

 

I took lessons and passed the test with 'British School of Motoring' who at the time had a fleet of Triumph Dolomites...it was £5.40 for an hour lesson. I think they were in the process at that time of changing over to the newly launched Metros, but I do remember the Dolomite being quite an easy car to drive... obviously no power steering, so a 3 point turn was a fairly strenuous exercise!

 

I did manage to pass first time....but back then it was really just a 35 minute pootle round, with an emergency stop thrown in......followed by a few easy Highway Code questions. No written exam or the like! Or parallel park!

 

30 years on and I can touch-wood say I've never had an accident.... but did get a 6 month ban for speeding about 10 years ago!

 

I think it would be interesting if people could post pics of the car THEY passed their test in...I think it would be rather an eclectic range!!

 

 

 

Oh, when I googled Triumph Dolomite it also came up with a picture of this!!!

 

 

A Contessa 1300 Coupe!....never heard of or seen one.... but it's given me the right horn!!!!

[oldford]

They did change to Metros, as two years after you, I learnt to drive with BSM. The first car was a blue Metro CVW___X, which was changed for a Yellow one HPU844Y, which was what I passed my test in. Both Essex registered with the dealer sticker S M A C, Southend Motor and Aircraft Company.

[chaseracer]

 

March 7th 1983, in this - or, rather, one very like it. LNP674X. Could this be why I have never considered buying a Ford...?

[Negative Creep]

My Dad's L reg 1.1 Uno with tweed seats. After I passed I had to buy my first car whereas he promised my sister she could have it once she had a full licence. However it took her 7 (yes, 7) attempts to pass by which time the car had been stood up so long the brakes had seized so it had to be towed off for scrap

 

 

 

eta this was it

 

[Shep Shepherd]

I passed my test on the second attempt in September 1995 in a Nissan Sunny 'Sequel' special edition just like the one in the picture, after having taken most of my lessons in a 'Preview', which was almost the same but painted metallic green. Not bad cars, but then they were almost new when I drove them:

 

[Volksy]

Renault Clio 1.9D RL, passed first time, and I had a Mini 1100 Special as my first car on the road.

[Angrydicky]

They did change to Metros, as two years after you, I learnt to drive with BSM. The first car was a blue Metro CVW___X, which was changed for a Yellow one HPU844Y, which was what I passed my test in. Both Essex registered with the dealer sticker S M A C, Southend Motor and Aircraft Company.

 

Interesting, that dealership supplied both my landcrab and Cambridge when new, plus my dad's old Montego estate (F120 MVW). You still see old BL chod driving around Southend with SMAC stickers occasionally, usually Minis and Metros. The showroom the BL part was based in from the early 1970's is still standing on Priory Crescent, albeit derelict

 

Myself? Passed with BSM in summer 2008, sorry chaps:

 

[Timewaster]

 

T'was shiney and new at the time....

[Guest]

[pogweasel]

A vile & hateful 'Rover' Metro (k-reg, I think. metallic red, I remember that much)

[rover420]

Passed my test in july 1988 in a d reg Fiat Uno 45

 

had all my lessons in a c reg Fiesta 1.6D but my instructor was on holiday the day of my test so had to do it the Fiat. Was completely different to the Ford in just about every way imaginable, had a 2 hour lesson to get used to it for the test and just about everything went wrong. Went round the roundabout outside the Willis building in Ipswich with 2 wheels on the road and 2 on the roundabout.

 

Come the test I knew I had no chance of passing so was probably quite relaxed. Managed to pass ! dont know who was more suprised me or the instructor that had been with me going round the roundabout.

 

Wouldnt want to take the test again now

[seth]

Something a bit like this I think. To be honest I can't remember. It might have been a Micra.

 

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

My driving instructor's Renault Clio DCi 105, it was a very pleasant thing to drive. I wouldn't mind one if I wasn't so allergic to common fail.

 

For my Pass Plus qualification I drove the instructor's mk2 Corsa 1.0, horrifically inert thing to drive.

[wuvvum]

Peugeot 205 diesel. I learned to drive in various 205s (my mum had two, and the driving school I used ran them) and my dad's 240 estate.

[Richard]

I passed my test in YSN209T, my mum's Viva Estate, which I wasn't insured to drive. I didn't have much choice, it was a cancellation that I only found out about the night before for a 9am test.

 

It looked like this, but nowhere near as tidy.

 

AUGUST 1973 VAUXHALL VIVA 1256cc ESTATE NBC478M by Leicestershire-Vehicle-Photography, on Flickr

[Captain Mainwaring]

You older lot are lucky bastards. Corsas/Focii all round for the younger generation.

[Richard]

I passed my test in 1987, it should have been a Mk4 Escort or similar. You should have seen the examiner's face when he saw the Viva.

[flat4alfa]

Believe it or not, a Metro Turbo, in white like this one

 

It was supposed to be the Mitsu Colt I'd been learning in, but he went off to Jamaica on hols that week. So this local woman stepped in to take on his 'students'. This was her driving school motor:

 

[Vinylseats]

I learned and passed in my driving instructor's purple Corsa like this one. The registration was N*** AOK.

 

 

 

My dad also gave me a few lessons in our white Rover 100 which was a lovely car.

[garycox]

I learned to drive in a W reg Corsa, and then passed my test in a Y reg Micra. Both were brown, strangely.

 

I also had a few lessons in a white 51 plate Micra, and did the Pass Plus thing in a later bug-eyed Mirca. Which was red. And horrible.

[Albert Ross]

6 lessons in something VERY similar to this.

1 test in something VERY similar to this.

But obviously a little larger!

[tabact]

Took my test in an old Anglia van HYO72C my brother gave me, passed first time Dec 1976. My brother taught me to drive and made me spend hours reversing using the wing mirrors round left hand corners. The examiner gave me a right hand corner as it was a van, just hung my head out of the window.

[Captain Mainwaring]

Believe it or not, a Metro Turbo, in white like this one

 

It was supposed to be the Mitsu Colt I'd been learning in, but he went off to Jamaica on hols that week. So this local woman stepped in to take on his 'students'. This was her driving school motor:

 

 

OOOOF!

[chaseracer]

You older lot are lucky bastards. Corsas/Focii all round for the younger generation.

And the ubiquitous Fiat 500 until recently, when the testers complained they couldn't fit in the back.

 

Or through the back window...

 

 

[chaseracer]

6 lessons in something VERY similar to this.

1 test in something VERY similar to this.

But obviously a little larger!

Both GR9 4 DRIFTIN, YO - but not till you've passed!

[mattblack]

A 'proper' mini... instructor bought a new one while I was having lessons so would have been an '86 IIRC.

 

O/H learnt/passed in a Rover Metro/100 thing, which so traumatised her that I am BANNED from buying one. This bothers me greatly, obviously...

[eddyramrod]

Mk1 Fiesta provided by BSM, UYM 717S in Peppermint Green. Monday 26th June 1978. (Something like this...)

This was my second attempt, previously they had switched me to a Mk2 Escort just before my test; (something like this...)

...a model I hadn't been getting along with at a previous school, and had changed to BSM to avoid. Not surprisingly, I failed. Also not surprisingly, I have failed to sustain a soft-spot for these Escorts ever since. You might not think that from my postings on the subject, but it's true, I actually dislike them and would take quite a lot of persuading before I took one on. Better not let my Cypriot friends read this!

On the day of my first test our family car died, a 1963 Triumph Herald which I had been using for practice. Omen?

[Rebuilda]

 

Snap, '84 Toymota Corolla. 3rd attempt.

First attempt was in a 1969 escort estate

second attempt a dolly sprint

 

That the corolla twin cam? Paintwork and alloys look right.

[boobydoo]

I just remembered you didn't even have to wear a seat belt on the test....not a legal requirement in 1981...the instructor would inform you that " you could fasten your seatbelt, if you wish but may prefer to remove it when doing a reverse turn."

 

Can't remember if I did or didn't!!

[peter9000uk]

Beige Fiat 124

 

No need to say anymore