26. How old were you when you learned to drive?

Who taught you and what kind of car did you drive?

From: Lois Rotella

I think is was the easiest question of all. I learned how to drive at 18 but never got a licenece. I never felt a need since I live in a city where there is hardly any parking. I could take a subway or bus just about anywhere.

From: Lucy Welden

I was 16 when I learned how to drive and my dad taught me on a automatic shift (Hudson), I also learned to drive Standard shift.

From: Philip Harris

I was about 14 years old when I learned to drive. My friend Puzzy Coon 's father had a old 1929 Model A Ford. We used to drive the car in the fields and woods near his house. The car was not licensed and soon the body fell off. We would drive the car thru woods and back roads to a square dance in Kingsbury.When I was older my father let me drive and was suprised that I already knew how. I got my first car when I was 16, a 1941 Chevrolet.. The car had a problem shifting from first to second gear. I would have to stop the car, get the hood open and flip the gear that would had stuck. Getting back into the car I would then start out in second gear. The fenders eventually fell off the car but I still drove it.

I had a date with a beautiful girl after I bought the car. We went to the Dix Drive In theater in Hudson Falls.The movie was " Casablanca" with Humphrey Bogart. The beautiful girl snuggled up to me in the front seat. She wisperd in my ear. "Do you want to go into the back seat"? It was a strange request I thought. I looked her in the eye and said " no I would rather stay up here with you.. It was a great movie and my first time at a drive inn with a beautiful girl, and I didn't have to watch it from the back seat. Those old cars I had bring back beautiful memories.

From: Connie Farrington

I was probably 17 the first time I drove on the highway. Since I was 15 all of my senior year of high school, I had not been old enough to take Driver Training. My Dad decided to let me drive on the highway when we were on a family vacation in Florida. I must have had a permit and he decided I could just start driving in the heavy traffic. As I remember it, my mother and sister and father were all yelling that I should be driving faster. Dad insisted I pass a truck that was going to slow. I didn't want to since it was only a two lane road with lots of curves and dips. Finally I passed the truck, then pulled off the edge of the road and let the truck go right past. I handed Dad the keys and told him he didn't need to let me drive again. I was no longer interested. A year or so later I decided I was ready to take the driving test on my mother's car. While I was parallel parking in a snow storm in front of the Queensbury Hotel in Glens Falls during the test, the automatic transmission stopped working while the car was only half way into the spot. The engine whined and went nowhere. I decided I wasn't destined to drive. But the guy passed me and I had a license.

I don't remember that anyone taught me. I just read the driver manual and watched what other people did. I thought my family all drove too fast and I just wasn't eager to do that.

As an adult, I taught the 8 hour National Safety Council Defensive Driving course to fellow DuPont employees where I worked. That made me a much more careful driver.

From: Connie Olson

I was 15 my father told me to get behind the wheel I was going to get my first "Learning how to drive lesson" He then proceeded to explain the shifting process to me.
The car was 1948 Plymouth 4 door sedan, a straight stick, which meant a clutch. He showed me where the gears were, and how not to "grind off a pound of metal" putting it into the different gears. Well, he did that several times over, and over, and over he had me go throughout it, until he thought I had it down to a "T" to his satisfaction anyway.
Then off we went to a big parking lot across from our house. That's where he had me practice putting it into gear, stopping and starting for 100's of times it seemed. But by the time the driving lesson was over I knew the basics and was all gung -ho to do it again. Parking was my next lesson. Then it was on the road to put my new found skills to a test.
At 15 I had my permit and at 16 my drivers licensee. I passed both the written and driving test with nothing wrong 100% My dad was a good teacher. My mom never did learn to drive and my sister wanted nothing to do with it. In fact she just got her licensee at age 60. She now drives all over. My dad would of been proud to know she finally got enough nerve to get it.

From: Brenda Olszewski

I was 16 yrs old when I learned to drive. Dad taught me and I had to learn on the Volkswagon beetle and van we had. They were both standard, and I had to learn if I wanted to drive. I caught on pretty quick and had fun. I would wait for dad after church so I could drive home. I ground the gears a few times but for the most part I did fine. I took my road test in Sis. Taylor's car. Her's was an automatic and it was the first time I drove it on my road test. I did great.

From: Jenny McMurray

I was 16 years old when I learned to drive. My husband taught me when we were dating and I learned to drive in a civic which was a standard. I took my road test in my parents minivan. My dad took me to get my own keys made after I passed and then let me have the car for the rest of the day.

From: Joyce Eggleston

My husband Jerry taught me how to drive. I was about twenty years old. I learned on our 1956 Chevrolet. It was green and white. I took my test twice. I got my license at 21 years old. On my first time out alone, Heidi (3) and Wes (infant) were with me. I went through a red light on New Pruyne Street and Broad Street in Glens Falls. I was a little shook, but did better driving after that.

From: Heidi MacDuff

I was 16 when I learned to drive. Mom was with me most of the time. I also took drivers education in school. I learned on a 1965 Rambler.