Do you remember the first time that you drove in snow?

Jstpssng · Dec 22, 2021

Unlike many here, I never drove a car until I was 15 and took driver's ed. It was a summer course so we never drove on ice. Fast forward to when I had my license, had to make a flower delivery in our 1966 Ford Fairlane, and we'd had our first storm of the year. I was apprehensive so when I got to the first snow covered hill I shifted from "Drive" down into "2". That wasn't slow enough for me though so I kicked it down into low, locking the rears up, going into a skid, doing a 180. I slid across the road and hit the snowbank backwards. This stopped the rearend but I had enough momentum so that the front kept sliding, pulling me back onto the road in the direction I'd been headed in the first place. I reached down, hit the starter and was back on my way with no harm done except to my ego.

Times have changed, with traction control I miss doing controlled skids in snow.

MossRoad · Dec 22, 2021

Yes, I remember the first time I drove on snow. I got my beginner's permit in early February, 1976. That week my mom took me out to some big parking lots and taught me how to do donuts in the VW bus, how to control the thing in a slide, etc.

Thanks mom!!!

ljjhouser · Dec 22, 2021

There have been so many times, don't remember the first time. But I remember the BAD slick snow times over the years.

deserteagle71 · Dec 22, 2021

It would have been about 1955 or so...and no, I don't remember that far back. But lots of snow way back then where we lived - every winter it was deeper than the fences were high so sledding was not restricted by the fences around the fields.

TractorTYMe · Dec 22, 2021

Got my drivers license in Norway December 20th 1989, drove my dads 1984 Ford Escort for the 1st time in a Blizzard. Two weeks later I bought my 1st car, a 1969 Volvo Amazon 122S.

oosik · Dec 22, 2021

It was 1965. We were married and living in Seattle. Last quarter of my college life. We had a Vespa motor scooter. All we could afford. We went to a party. We left around 10:30 and, by golly, it had snowed. On the way home we slipped and went down. Nobody got hurt but the remainder of that trip was completed with great care. That was the first/only accident I've ever had - summer or winter - in my entire driving life.

RickB · Dec 22, 2021

No, that would have been half a century ago and there's been hundreds of repeats since.

k0ua · Dec 22, 2021

MossRoad said:
Yes, I remember the first time I drove on snow. I got my beginner's permit in early February, 1976. That week my mom took me out to some big parking lots and taught me how to do donuts in the VW bus, how to control the thing in a slide, etc.

Thanks mom!!!

You must have had a very cool mom

MossRoad · Dec 22, 2021

k0ua said:
You must have had a very cool mom

Dad thought so.

Larry Caldwell · Dec 22, 2021

I irrigated in the summers even before I got my license. I drove a '40 ford flatbed with no clutch, often drifting around corners on hard packed dirt covered by a thin skin of mud. Great fun. By the time I hit snow, it was NBD.

PILOON · Dec 22, 2021

In my teens we lived by a river and could drive onto the ice so I got a lot of practice without hitting anything or anybody.
We sure learned all about skid control.
Must admit that those practice sessions came in handy many a time.

Our fun thing was to rope a metal 'flying saucer' and whip the rider around trying to dump him.
Kind of a modern version of 'ski joring'.

coobie · Dec 22, 2021

Yes I do,1967 chevy impala SS with bias ply snow tires in the back and 500 lbs of sand in the trunk.Fun ride.

Oaktree · Dec 22, 2021

Don't really remember much about learning to drive in snow except that my parents lived halfway up a fairly steep hill and that you needed a good running start to make it up if the plow hadn't been by yet. This was mid-60s...rear wheel drive and bias ply tires.

One thing that does stand out in my mind though was coming down a somewhat winding hill (not our road) in an ice storm. Couldn't use brakes because that locked up the front wheels & couldn't steer. Ended up turning the engine off, putting it in 1st gear and feathering the clutch all the way down for just rear-wheel braking. Not a fun trip, but made it safely. I was 17 or 18 at the time.

dodge man · Dec 22, 2021

We had a 1977 Ford Granada, what a piece of crap. My dad put about 200 pounds of salt pellets in the trunk for weight. It helped but it rode low in the back so people were flashing their brights at him all the time. He took all the weight out of the back without telling me and I did a donut across 4 lanes one night going home from work. Luckily it was late at night with no traffic.

LouNY · Dec 22, 2021

I don't recall the first time as it would have been on tractors,
the first highway vehicle would have been the 59 Chevy C??? 6100??? 2 1/2 ton truck.
Going between farms and feeding heifers in the winter before I got my license.
Took my drivers test in a snow storm with a 64 Pontiac Wagon.

Citydude · Dec 22, 2021

Yes. It was slick. Just like every winter here.

mapper · Dec 22, 2021

First time must have been around 1968, my folks had a Greenbriar van (Corvair). One would assume that with the engine in the rear it would have handled ok in the snow, not true was one of the worst handling vehicles ever made. Folks lived at the end of a quarter mile driveway, first part flat second part about an 8% winding grade. Would not make it up that hill at all. Would go sideways about 1/3 of the way up.
My first car was a 1959 MGA roadster, never had a problem in the snow. Because the roof and windows leaked all of the time the seat cushions were damp most of the wet season, they were generally frozen when it was snowy. Always had a stack of old towels in the boot behind the seats to catch drips, and to sit on during the winter. Fun little car but not for those who wanted all the creature comforts.

deserteagle71 · Dec 22, 2021

50 years ago I lived in a tiny Nevada mining town that had no potable water. 9 wells served the town and mine - but the water came out of the ground hot and full of various minerals including arsenic. So everyone hauled their potable water from a spring at 7600 feet elevation in the mountains. I did that on my trusty Honda SL350 with a 5-gallon jug on the back. Needless to say, in the winter it was an interesting ride, especially after the ruts in the snow froze. But I was young then...if I crashed I'd laugh, pick myself and the bike up, and keep going. If I were to do that now I'd still be laying there in the snow.