KJ Christopher wrote:
john deere model G (hand clutch, so maybe that doesn't count)
ford model NAA Jubilee
Cars? I think it would be my uncle's mid-seventies toyota pickup or possible the 1977 Ford F-100 custom, three on the tree. I learned at a very young age out on my grandfather's property. At 10 I got to drive a semi-truck around the property, at 12 I was driving into town, though supervised. Mom had limits.
I learned to drive in a 1979 Pontiac Firebird TransAm, with the 6.6L engine. I couldn't reach the pedals because I was only 10, so I had to sit in my father's lap. The car seemed so fast at the time, but I was looking back at the stats for that car and the '79 Firebirds with the 6.6L (400 cubic inches) only had about 220HP. Those things consumed gas like college kids drink beer from a beer bong! It's so scary to think that an engine that massive only produced 220HP! They weighed in at about 2 tons, but could still do a 1/4 mile in around 13.75 seconds. I wonder how fast they would have been if Pontiac had shaved 1,000 pounds from the car.
I drove my first stick in a Datsun B210 when I was 12. I guess that's where my obsession with Nissans started. The B210s weren't the fastest cars in the world, but they had a lot of pep for such a small car. Plus, when compared to the T/A, the gas mileage was outrageous!
Since I grew up in "rural" Florida, it was easy to learn how to drive because there was hardly any traffic to be concerned about. Of course, the part of Florida where I grew up is not very rural now. The 2-lane roads have been replaced with large, divided 6-lane highways now; and all the dirt/clay roads we used for riding motorcycles and driving our cars like we were rally car drivers are now paved. It's much harder for the young drivers of today to find "safe", traffic-free places to goof off in their cars. Maybe that is the reason for all the street racers getting caught or in accidents.
We had places that were free of ALL traffic, and away from any police, to race our cars. Plus, I think we learned how to control our cars without being a danger to anybody besides ourselves. I believe kids are going to race their cars regardless, but the streets of today are too congested, and kids have no place to "show-off". I wish there were more places to allow kids to race their cars safely, and without the threat of police hassling them.
