Name the car you passed your drivers license in?

[JJT]

Passed at 16 in 1978 with Mom's 1974 VW bug, with an automatic stick shift, (no clutch, w/ 3 speed manual gearbox). A year later I added a motorcycle endorsement riding a 1976 Yamaha two stroke RD350.

 

[scootr]

Took Driver Ed in high school. That covered the testing

 

[ultrarunner]

High school dropped Driver Ed the year I was to take it…

Another district offered for a modest fee and I signed up…

Cars used had dual brake pedals ;-)

 

[scootr]

High school dropped Driver Ed the year I was to take it…

Another district offered for a modest fee and I signed up…

Cars used had dual brake pedals ;-)

Never heard of that. Front and rear? Wow- manual ABS
Of course left and right side could have led to a lot of shenanigans. Like the turning brakes I put on my VW bug. It was great fun in the sand washes.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

1951 Willys Jeep

That's what I drove for my first license in the USA, which I had to have to get insurance.

The official conducting the test was less than pleased as he fought to get into the passenger seat of my sprung-over CJ3A. But what nearly made me flunk was when asked to turn around on a crowded and relatively narrow street.

As it turned out, there was an empty parking spot on the opposite side, and combined with me knowing exactly what my Jeep could and couldn't do (after having driven it for a few years by then) I eliminated the 3-point turn and made it a simple U-turn.

Yes, I was within two inches or so of the parked car to the right when starting, then cleared one car and the curb on the opposite side by about as much, but so what? I did turn around as I was asked.

He eventually calmed down and passed me, after I pointed out that he told me to turn around, not to make a 3-point turn.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

Never heard of that. Front and rear? Wow- manual ABS

Probably one on the passenger side, to increase the survival rate of people and vehicles.

 

[ultrarunner]

Never heard of that. Front and rear? Wow- manual ABS
Of course left and right side could have led to a lot of shenanigans. Like the turning brakes I put on my VW bug. It was great fun in the sand washes.

Plain Jane 75 Chevrolet Malibu… passenger front seat floor well had its own brake pedal for instructor use… and he did use it as 1 instructor with 4 students in the car… not sure that happens anymore as I only see one on one.

The cars were from the local Chevrolet Dealer and the pedal would be removed when sold later as demonstrators..

 

[Runner]

This was our HS driver training facility in 1975. We had cars supplied by the local Chevy dealer including (brand new) Impalas, Chevelles, Novas and (I think) Monzas. Some of the Impalas were equipped with remote tire valves so they could simulate flats on either front or rear wheels.

The teardrop shaped area was the skidpad and they would have sprinklers running on it to make it slick.

You would enter the skidpad from the pointy end, drive into the teardrop, crank the wheel and see what happened. This was done with a carload of people - kid driver, instructor right seat and three kids in back. Great fun!

The big square area was set up with cones and painted lanes in a grid pattern with stop lights, all kinds of traffic signs, places to parallel park, etc. and there was a "control tower" on top of the building in the lower center. The instructor would sit in the cab of the tower and yell at kids over a loud speaker driving the Monza's and Malibu's for blowing stop signs, speeding, knocking over cones, etc. We would also do actual road driving in the Impalas full of kids and an instructor.

Inside the building were classrooms and driving simulators which resembled arcade games with big TV screens, car seats, steering wheels, pedals and different types of shifters (I vividly remember a three-on-the-floor, but there may have been others). There was also an auditorium type classroom where they would show the usual gory driver training movies.

Looking back, its hard to believe this type of training was even provided for free by a school district, particularly since my district was not a "well to do" area at all.

This facility is no longer owned by the school district (surprise) and I think it may now be used by a truck driver training company or such thing.

Coincidentally, the road this facility is located on is one of the more interesting and fun driving roads in the immediate area and we TORE that road up when driving on our own. I hadn't driven on this road in many years and recently decided to go through there for old times sake and it scared me doing 25mph....

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

Those were the ugliest cars back then. Still are, now

I had one for a while (I collect AMC cars ). At the time the designers were after a smaller car with same interior room as a large sedan with lots of glass, no blind spots.
The running gear was fine so I saved the 258 six & Torqueflite trans.
Esthetically it was a design flop, but there have been other ugly ones before and since.
There even was a Pacer X available with the 304 V8 which meant a 390 or 401 would easily swap in.
AMC should have had this model:

 

[grsthegreat]

We had the simulators also, both auto and stick shift. Also the gory films……dont speed.

Films today would be dont text

Training cars were all automatics with instructor brakes as well.