Did you ever drive before you were legally allowed?

"E. Julius" (soonerfrommi)
05/10/2015 at 10:50 • Filed to: Questions

The video Nibby just posted made me think of this, and I know I’ve heard quite a range of stories from people I know, so I thought it might be interesting to ask. Personally, I “drove” a car precisely three times before I was officially unleashed on public roads during driver’s ed:

When I was 10, my dad let me take the wheel of the moving truck we rented while cruising down the highway. Barely counts.

When I was 12, my mom was loading some gymnastics equipment into the back of a van with somebody, and they had me back up the van to the gym door.

When I was 14, an older friend let me drive her Pontiac Sunbird convertible in the back of an empty subdivision.

That being said, I’d been driving golf carts around my uncle’s property and a fair share of boats pretty much since I could reach the controls, so I was always comfortable operating vehicles. Never did anything like people whose parents teach them drive when they’re 13 or kids who steal a parent’s car and go joyriding though. What’s your story?

DISCUSSION (46)

djmt1 > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 10:55

Yeah, I’ve been parallel parking cars since I was 13. Apparently I’m naturally gifted at it while everyone I know sucks at it.

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 10:56

I put a few hundred miles on a Subaru BRAT in the field behind our old house when I was 14.

E. Julius > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies
05/10/2015 at 10:57

That’s awesome!

yamahog > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 10:58

Abso-fuckin-lutely.

Dad taught me how to drive automatic when I was 10 because he had a shitty old VW van on the property. He also raced enduros and had me drive his truck to fuel stops by the time I was 13-14.

...Probably not the best parenting methods, in retrospect.

Also I refused to take driver’s ed in high school, since I’d been driving for years by then and none of those clowns knew what brake lights meant and I didn’t want to ride along with any of them. Unfortunately, in New York, if you don’t take driver’s ed, you don’t get your full license until 18, and can only drive to/from work or school. Luckily I never got pulled over between 16 and 18.

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 10:59

I also learned the basics of drifting in our Volvo 240 back there when I was 13.

My citroen won't start > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 10:59

Yes, learning to drive in my mom’s armored SRT8 Grand Cherokee.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 10:59

Few instances:

- Mom let me steer the van around the circle on her lap since I was probably 5 or 6.

- I’ve been shuffling cars around since I could reach the pedals.

- Dad let me drive my girlfriend home when I was 14 (he was in the car, she only lives about a mile away)

- Girlfriend let me drive when I had my permit and she had her license. This basically happened until I got my license in April.

Luke's Dad Sold His 2000TL To Get a Sienna > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 11:00

I remember sitting on my grandpa’s lap after he picked me up from school in Hong Kong and he would let me turn the wheel and play with the signals after he parked in the parking structure near home. (Totally counts.)

First time would probably be 14, I backed a car off our driveway. Woop.

First time I drove was the week after I got my permit, my dad let me take my aunt’s TSX around the parking lot behind our house.

WOW MY FIRST DRIVING EXPERIENCES ARE BORING. THANKS FOR MAKING ME REALIZE IT GAWSH

Your boy, BJR > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 11:00

First time I ever drove, I was 14. It was my mom’s first gen CTS. Yup, first car I ever drove was a Caddy.

E. Julius > Your boy, BJR
05/10/2015 at 11:02

It was destiny

EL_ULY > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 11:04

I was 10. I was in our first gen Taurus on an open baseball field with my dad. Funnest day ever!

My brother was in the back seat (no seat belt). I slammed the brakes and my brother went flying lol

area man > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 11:04

When I was 14 my mom broke her wrist and I convinced her to let me move her car down the driveway. It’s a long curving one along a hilltop, but there’s a little downward-sloping paved spur close to the garage that you can use to make a two-point turn and drive down forwards instead of backing down the whole thing. So, with her in the passenger seat I successfully backed down from the garage into the spur. As I went to shift it into Drive I thought the car would continue to roll backwards, as this car was the first automatic my family had owned, so when I let off the brake I punched the gas and we shot across the driveway and would’ve gone into the woods if my mom hadnt pulled the Ebrake. Whoops.

4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 11:06

My dad and I have followed Speedway since I was about 8 years old, and from the age of 11 on a Sunday night after the race meet, I was allowed to drive his Saab 900t back up through the rural hills to our house. This is where I learnt clutch control, gear changing, braking, and just got the general feel of a vehicle. From the age of 13 he let me do my first ‘Speedway start’, which was an uphill burnout up a straight bank. I don’t think I’ve ever grinned as wide since. He replaced the 900 with a BMW 7 shortly after, and that killed a little bit of me inside as I felt something special every time I got to sit in the front seat of that Saab, with the wraparound cockpit, centre ignition and weird rubber knobs on the air vents, and it just wasn’t replicated in the BMW. Soon after my mum got a Ssangyong Musso GX220, which I learnt to drive around the fields near my house (thanks to a very friendly local farmer) and that really sparked my love of the art of losing and finding traction. Looking back, the Musso was a bit shit. The 4wd was lazy and incapable, the road tyres and my general incompetence got me stuck a good few times, and the brakes were bordeline dangerous after splashing around in muddy puddles. But the engine was good, and I’m still enjoying muddy puddles 15 years later :)

Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 11:07

I didn’t really.. unless if counts that I had to move a car 10 feet to park in the driveway before I even knew how to drive, or was legally allowed to, my experience with a Logitech G25 on the PC translated well to a real car.

Ash78, voting early and often > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 11:08

Almost every weekend from age 12-14. My dad was traveling a lot and every weekend he’d bring home a new remtal car. I probably drove every mainstream sedan from 1990-1994. I remember the Mazda 626 being my favorite.

(In a 25mph neighborhood, small town, dad in right seat, almost no traffic. And I was over 6’ by age 13, so nobody thought much of it)

yamahog > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 11:09

It was density*

Tinfoil Hat in a thunderstorm, now with added diecast > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 11:16

Guilty as charged. Many times on the road starting at 14 yrs old(late eighties) Many different cars but none ‘stolen’ so to speak. One was a friends Aunty who let us drive it in the driveway when she left it at his place. Friday night was Bingo night and she got a lift there. We didn’t stay in the driveway. Another was my mums 1981 ISUZU Gemini, with a friggin non turbo Diesel engine! That thing got stolen for real and dumped up the road later in it’s life, even the crooks thought it was shit. I don’t know how my parents never heard it start up late at night but they never knew I took it until years later. Always topped up the fuel. Don’t know how we got away with filling up the car but we did, suppose the late night crew saw stranger shit or were just happy we paid. Plenty of other times including city trips late at night! I lived in the country(still do) and the city was an hours drive each way. Never got busted somehow, although I got dobbed in and had a court appearance for test driving my un registered 1956 beetle on a dead end dirt road! If only they knew....

Leadbull > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 11:17

Yeah, I already knew how to drive stick, and had some experience on backroads, before I took drivers’ ed.

It felt kind of pointless taking that class, but the teacher was really entertaining and made it worthwhile.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 11:19

One time.

It was probably a week or two before I got my learner’s permit. My dad (who is obscenely intense about rules. Best example I always have ready. My sister turned 13 the next day, he would NOT allow her to go to a pg-13 movie. Yes, this is real life) took me to a massive empty parking lot to get a feel for driving. He wanted to show me a thing or 2 before I had a permit and was on open roads.

I think I’d maybe moved his truck forwards or backwards in the driveway before, but nothing more than that before the above mentioned parking lot trip. I’d been around/working on cars for years though so it was a natural transition.

AJ Feldman (alecmets2011) > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 11:27

My father let me help steer his 89 thunderbird 5.0 when I was only 2.

Fifteen years after that he got me a 5.0 Mustang as my first

Destiny definitely plays a factor with first cars

LongbowMkII > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 11:54

Couple driveway runs. but the most extensive was my dad letting me drive his C10 in a snowy highschool parking lot when i was 14. opposite lock is fun.

StoneCold > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 11:58

My sister let me drive her car on my 14th birthday. That’s the time I knew I loved the way cars felt. The steering response, the throttle, just the vibrations of the entity, pumping with an energy I could get the privilege of sharing. Now I continue that tradition and let my local cousins who turn 14 drive my car in the same parking lot.

MLGCarGuy > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 11:58

Not a huge story, but my dad let me park his Accord before. Kinda stressful in not hitting the curb.

Alex B > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 12:04

Kind of. My dad would let me sit on his lap and steer our old 93 Grand Cherokee into the garage. Other than that nope. Not yet. :(

desertdog5051 > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 12:06

Of course. Me and friends would take their parents cars in the middle of the night and drive everywhere.

E. Julius > desertdog5051
05/10/2015 at 12:07

Ha you say that like it’s something everybody does!

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 12:12

Drove in a state park about a 1/8 of a mile when I was 15.

E. Julius > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback
05/10/2015 at 12:28

Honestly it’s refreshing to read somebody who didn’t do something crazy haha

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 12:35

Had to do a K-Turn there as well, freaked me out because a bunch of people came by after I missed my turn. Woo, that was an interesting first drive.

desertdog5051 > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 12:43

Ya mean...?

John_Harbinson > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 12:57

Well, my parents got me a 1967 Cub Cadet 124 for my 7th birthday, because I kept ripping up the lawn with my mini z with go kart tires on the front. That’s when I started “driving” a vehicle routinely. I learned how to back up a trailer when I was about 10, and my dad would let me steer occasionally in an empty parking lot from the time I was able to see over the wheel on his lap, but the first time I actually drove before having my license on a public road was when I was twelve. Granted, we were in the middle of nowhere, nevada, on TopGear’s “lonliest road in america”. I bet my dad if we didn’t see a car for 90 minutes at 90 mph, he would have to let me drive. And the day I got my learners permit, I was let loose in manhatten for a hour in my dad’s F250 Crew Cab while he was in a meeting. Talk about trial by fire.

Sn210 > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 13:09

From 13-15 I drove a couple of cars in fields and on ATV tracks. It’s how I learned. My mother let me drive home one day when we were one street away once too.

f86sabre > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 13:16

Got my first dirt bike when I was 3 and was riding motorcycles or driving ATVs from that point on. I was 7 or 8 when my dad needed someone to drive the 1956 Chevy one ton that was pulling a hay trailer around the field. 10 minutes or so of of instruction and I was off. It had a granny gear so no throttle input needed. Just gently let the clutch out. Pretty regular driver on, and around the farm, from then on. Bought my 68 Mustang when I was 15. Soloed a Piper Cherokee when I was 16 as well and got my pilots license a few years later.

The Compromiser > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 13:24

School bus when I was 3 or 4.

Moped when I was same.

had a dirtbike when I was 3. Raced when I was 4.

Derby car when I was 8ish. Dad drove it across town and around city hall to take it to the fairgrounds On the other side of the city. I only got the yard. HD sportster when I was 13. Dropped it in the backyard putting it away. Couldn’t lift it so wasn’t allowed to ride it.

E. Julius > The Compromiser
05/10/2015 at 13:38

I know nothing about dirt bikes or anything like that, so I find it absolutely shocking that a three year old could ride one. I don’t even think I could ride a bicycle without training wheels when I was three, let alone control a motorized vehicle. Like I said though, I don’t know anything about them, so I could see it being true. Crazy though.

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 13:55

Learnt to drive at 11 on a 1964 Land Rover Series IIa (biggest issue was trying to turn the bloody wheel!), at age 13 I had to drive my dad home from the bar because he was shitfaced. Never drink and drive people, just have your kid drive you home lol.

Rainbow > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 14:05

When I was twelve or so, I sat in my dad’s cousin’s WWII Jeep and worked the clutch as we tried to push-start it. It was at the bottom of a hill and I was the lightest person there, so I had to be the one inside. I didn’t actually drive it, though, and I don’t think we got it started until some guy on a quad gave us a jump. Pretty damn lucky, considering we were in the outskirts of Curtisville, MI, which has so few permanent residents that it has never been included in a census.

But other than that, nope. Unless riding lawnmowers, golf carts, and/or go karts count.

Stang70Fastback > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 16:12

When I was 13, my mom had just gotten a new Subaru Outback (‘98 Legacy Outback Limited.) One winter, she and I were getting home. About 6” of snow on the ground, and a steep driveway which had, under the snow, sheet ice. The driveway was also STEEP. Needless to say, my mom tried twice, but couldn’t make it more than 1/4 of the way up. We parked it along the curb in the street, and hiked up the driveway to the house.

I asked my mom if I could try, and my mom - in one of her WTF-WAS-SHE-THINKING moments - said “sure!” I won’t bother boring you with the details, but needless to say, it took me three attempts, with the third one starting with the car facing the driveway, back wheels against the opposite curb, and basically WOT all the way up to the top, with snow FLYING over the hood and pretty much obscuring the entire car, while my mom waved frantically form the front deck. I made it tho :)

The Compromiser > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 16:19

It wasa thing in the family. This was the 70s-80s and all was allowed as long as no one bitched.

I learned to ride with out training wheels that summer and got the bike for Christmas. Snow was gone and I started trying to kill myself on it.

E. Julius > The Compromiser
05/10/2015 at 16:39

Crazy. Cool though.

911e46z06 > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 17:38

No police in the town in Alaska where I hang out. I've been driving the VW bus since I was probably 8 or 9. By myself since I was about 12.

Maidee > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 22:31

The first time I ever drove was with an instructor after I got my permit. My lesson started after school where the previous student and the instructor drove to my high school and picked me up. It probably scared the other guy when I said I had never driven before but I was decent. Didn't hit anything nor unnecessarily braked hard. But strangely driving was easier than I thought.

shop-teacher > E. Julius
05/10/2015 at 22:36

No, I was too scared of getting caught and delaying when I could actually get my license.

I remember vividly bringing home my newly minted learners permit on a dark and snowy night. I walked through the door and my dad said, “Alright, let’s go.”

I said, “Really? But it’s dark and snowing, and I’ve never driven before.”

Dad responded, “You mean you’ve never stolen the car before?”

So, I drove for the very first time in the dark, with about 3” of unplowed snow on the ground. I’ve loved driving in the snow ever since. When we got home, Dad regailed me with stories of him and his friends getting one of their older brothers drunk until he passed out, and then stealing his car ... Repeatedly

thebigbossyboss > djmt1
05/11/2015 at 11:57

sometimes...I parallel park strangers cars for them when they really really suck at it.

thebigbossyboss > EL_ULY
05/11/2015 at 11:57

Thats what brothers are for.

Jordaneer, The Mountaineer Man > E. Julius
05/14/2015 at 19:26

I drove a golf cart before I took drivers ed (which was 2 years after I could have taken it because my mom wouldn’t let me) and my mom let me drive 100 ft down a gravel road, other than that, nope :(