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What did you first drive?

P

Paul Janke

Member
I learned to drive in a 1961 3/4 ton four wheel drive GMC pickup with a V6. I was probably about 7 years old, I know we had to look below the top of the steering wheel and the top of the dash to see where we were going. I didn't drive an automatic until I was ten. It was a 1952 Buick, and I was so short that I needed to scoot down and step on the throttle to get a little speed and then scoot back and up to be high enough to see to steer. That was in a meadow, but it did include going through gates.
 
Being a farmers son, it was of course a tractor. Farmal H. I could not reach the clutch pedal and a brake at the same time ! ( 6 yrs old) The first vehicle was a 53 Chev one ton pick up. manual with a creeper. I was driving on the road at 14.
 
My first drive was driving a 1934 Ford 1 1/2 ton truck loading baled hay. First tractor was a 1947 Farmall B with wooden blocks on pedals so I could reach them.
 
55 Chevy 3 speed was the first car. What I really learned to drive on was a TO-20 Ferguson,I ran all over our 200ac on that tractor.
 
My first truck was an 1965 I.H.Scout 80 4X4 with a 152 4 cylinder engine in it. I bought it for Auto shop and recondition the truck in my senior year. I took night adult class to redo the seats. Which I did myself in the class you might say it was had work but it paid off. Then years later trade the truck in one day for a chevy pick up.
 
I was 10 I think when I started driving in the fields, I drove the 50 Ford 1ton flat head V8 4 speed that you had to double clutch to shift. I put lots of miles taking loads of hay from the field to the barn 45 bales at a time. At 16 in high school my drivers Ed teacher never let me drive in class because we baled his hay and he knew I knew how to drive. When I went to take my drivers test I did the written test first witch I passed and went outside to do the maneuverability and driving test I was surprised to see Bill (We baled his hay for years) to give me the test. He looked at me and Said this will be easy and handed me my paper work that I passed with a 100%, He said I know you know how to drive. All my class mates who were their to take there test could not believe what had happened as I walked in to get my license (half of them failed). I drove home with mom in the 66 Ford pickup 352 auto manual steering and brakes and I drove that truck for a year and a half till I had money to buy my first car, A 68 Ford Falcon 6cyl 3 on the tree (I wish I had that car and truck back now my uncle has the 50 Ford 1 ton Picture). Bandit
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In the 5th grade, and dad put me on a Oliver 60, to disc and harrow a bean field, from then on, my brother and I were fair game, when the old man needed help. At 16 I got my first car, an old 41 Pontiac 6 cyl, 3 spd.
 
Dad put me on the Ford 9N when I was 8 years old. About a month later I figured out how to drive and shift the 1935 Pontiac to drive around out in the fields. Been driving ever since.
 
That's an easy question, 8N ford pulling a hay rack while dad was pitching hay to the cows waaaaaaay before I was in the first grade.
 
First thing I ever drove was a Fordson Major. I knocked it out of gear and it started rolling down a hill. Mum saw me flying past the kitchen window and started to have a good old panic. Dad was in the yard, heard her and raced over to the meter box and turned the power off. Thought she was being electricuted.
 
Machinery, JD 40C. Car/truck, 1949 CCKW 6x6 in the mill yard, in the fields cutdown ford model A, and 1943 Willys army jeep.
 
51 Meteor, Massey Harris 30. Brother and I did a lot of the fall plowing when we were 8 or 9 when Dad was busy in his garage.

Ben
 
First tractor 1923 Cletrac tracked tractor, First vehicle 1941 Diamond T both at my Dad's salvage yard. We used the Cletrac to run over car shells and crush them and the Diamond T was my Dad's tow truck.
 
Green '53 Chevy pickup. Took the motor apart and put it back together. Cleaned the carbon off the pistons and the head. Then I got a '39 Ford 2 door sedan, 3 on the floor.
 
A Farmall "H"....As for an "automobile" - it was a 1951 Chevy 1/2 ton pickup. I was probably 6 or 7. I got to "drive" the truck down the fence row while Dad and my three brothers built the fence....
 
the first tractor i drove was a farmall 200 pulling blower pipe up and down silos at filling time i was eight. two years later i was driving trucks to pick up oats off the combines. the first truck was a 63 IH 1300 ton truck the secound truck was a 47 chevrolet thriftmaster ton truck then grampas IH 1600 loadstar. I coulndnt reach the pedals so i turned the key on to go and off to stop all the trucks has hand throttles to speed up if i had to go faster. of all the trucks i have ever driven that old chevy was still my favorite.
 
Ford 960 tractor. Can remember that, dad drove it off the truck and I drove it up the driveway - well on dads lap more or less, but I pushed the clutch and shifted and steered.

I guess a Rambler Classic car, don't really remember but that was the only thing on the place at the time.

Paul
 
My first driving experience was a 1945 Dodge 1-1/2 ton truck. I was about 10. Would drive in the hay fields with a hay loader hitched behind while Dad and big brother loaded.
 
I taught myself how to drive (three on the column) and how to mechanic on a 1947 Pontiac with 239 CI flathead six.

Dean
 
First I know of was a Ford Falcon. I was 3 and the milk cow was out at the far side of the pasture. I was just following Dad as he walked her in on foot. Went down a hill and the car took off.
I still remember that there was a ditch trenched from the house to the barn. First water line going to the barn. Anyway there was about 40 feet close to the barn filled in, and a 12 foot gate at the house yard that was filled in.
My younger brother was just over 1 at the time and was sitting in the back seat. He kept crying I was going to wreck in the ditch. Made it around the ditch, and got it shut off. Dad was scared to death. Chris was scared to death. I have been driving since.
Dad sent this story to Readers Digest in the late 60s or early 70s. I think it was in all in a days work.
About the only things I totally remember was Chris crying I was gong to KILL him
 
first tractor was a farmall C back in the early 60 s the first truck was a 68 gmc i was about 14 if i remember on the truck and 9 on the farmall
 
I learned to drive my grandfathers '41 Chevy with vacuum shift. Dad bought a '53 Jeep pickup 4x4 with the F head 4 cyl. It blew 7 head gaskets before I put a 272 Ford V8 in it when I was still 16. I drive it for years, bought a '59 Renault Dauphene to save gas. Cletracs and Cats came along about then.
 
Fordson tractor when I was 10. Whizzer motor bike when I was 14. Father had an Oldsmobile and a 1957 Ford station wagon. My sister could drive the Oldsmobile but I could only drive the Ford. Not easy getting a date when you drove a station wagon.
 
First car I drove was a '49 Dodge with "fluid drive", about 11, first tractor was a '50 B John Deere. about 8
 
'46 Cornbinder 1 ton in the hayfields at age 10. First car on the gravel roads was a '56 VW bug at age 12, in about 1960. I was pretty good at it by the time I got my license. LOL
 
JD 3010D around 8, Honda 110 3-wheeler around the same time. Rule on the 3-wheeler: You have to be able to start it to ride it. Same rule applied to my kids.

Mike
 
Yeah, but when you got one, you could drop the seat and have the whole back end as a ....bed...:)
Ben
 
Hi, my first memories of driving were 8N Ford and model 20/85 Ferguson tractors. Road vehicle: '53 Ford p/u. My own first vehicle was' 57 Studebaker. Ed Will
 
A Ford Jubilee and a Case 830 with Case-O-Matic drive because they were the only ones I could push the clutch on. I was about 6 then.
 
I learned to drive Dad's 62 Chevy C20 with 292 I6, 3 on the tree, and I think 4.88 rear gears. It was nicknamed "The Warhorse."

Scott
 
cant remenber which was first 830 dual range diesel pulling the feed wagon or 400 case with the loader. first truck was my dads 61 chevy viking 2 ton c60 bought it from dad couple years ago.
 
At age 5 I was driving Dads 1947 8N Ford tractor while he was on the trailer throwing hay off for the cattle...As for a vehicle probably Dads 1953 Ford F-600 truck when I was around 10 years old...
 
Model T trucks. Had two on the farm. Only problem was cranking them to start. Never sure where set the spark lever. 1930's. Farmall A after 1938.
 
Hi, my first memories of driving were 8N Ford and model 20/85 Ferguson tractors. Road vehicle: '53 Ford p/u. My own first vehicle was' 57 Studebaker. Ed Will
 
Tractor; Dads 1947 John Deere BR. Dad was pulling out thorn trees, he would wrap the chain around the tree I would snap the clutch in then haul it back when he said whoa. I was 5.
Road vehicle...probably the 1969 Mercury (yes Canadian) pick up, 240 inline six, three on the tree, manual steering.
I had the three on the tree memorized several years earlier when Dad was coaching my older sisters to drive. (One never did master that shift pattern LOL)
Still have the BR and the sisters, most of the Mercury went for scrap years ago
 
1953 WD was my first drive, but you can say I learned how to drive on a 1947 A-C C and a 1948 8N. Raking hay is where I learned to drive.

Jim
 
76 chrysler cordoba with my drunk father pulling over saying "you better drive".

I was 11 or 12.

Talk about white knuckles. Those cars weren't exactly sports cars - that loose steering led to a LOT of over steering and over correcting - I was like a pinball, back and forth all over the road.

We finally got close to the house, I'll never forget the look on the neighbor's face when she passed us driving in the opposite direction. I waved out of habit.
 
My dad bought me a 1929 Model A Ford pickup, when I was 15 years old.....presumably to use around the farm.. had farm plates and all. Used it to repair road side fences and picking up sawdust from the local saw mill... I put high sides on the old girl. I also drove to see my girlfriends.. back roads.. The NY State Police would stop at the farm ..from time to time to tell Dad to keep his unlicensed kid off the roads... but I was a stubborn kid.. Dad passed at 98 a couple of years back.. but we would often reminisce and recall those visits by the New York State Police.
 
Other than a tractor (a Farmall Cub was my first), it was a '67 3/4 ton Chevy with a straight six and "three on the tree". Good old truck, Dad always bragged he could go anywhere any 4 WD truck could go. Of course we knew there was a set of chains behind the seat.
 
My first driving experience was a nearly new 1941 John Deere B the summer of 1942 pulling a wagon and hayloader....I was 8 years old...First car on a road was our family's 1938 Buick Special in 1946, a 3 speed on the floor tranny, I was nearly 12. I'd driven a neighbor's old Model A flatbed truck in front of the hay loader before that. My own first car was a 1946 Pontiac straight 8 business coupe with "3 on the tree" I got in 1952 just after I graduated from High School.
 
First car/pickup was a '76 F150 with a 360 V8 and 4-speed. I was twelve. But I had 6 years' experience by then on tractors, starting with a '54 Ford Jubilee.
 

Fordson tractor. Never have been impressed with a Fordson. This was the 1920s type, not the Fordson majors. Car was a 1940 Ford which I was impressed with.

KEH
 
Other than my parents crazy, a JD 50. I was young, 5 or 6 I'd
guess. Still have that tractor. At 13 I bought a 1953 Chevy ton
and a half truck from the guy I worked for. He delivered it to my
parent's house since I couldn't legally drive it. Wish I still had it.
 
1940 SC Case-was 7 years old and drove it through open gates for dad while he kept the animals away. Then pulling haywagon with wooden Dain hayloader behind. Could turn the 90 degree windrow corners and get the hayloader to pick it all up or get chewed by dad. 11 years old was driving 5 miles on gravel roads to pull a wagon load of grain to local mill and back. 12 years old sent to rent farm 3 miles away with a 5 gallon can of gas and lunch, field working all day and driving the country road back after dark sometimes as the neat old tractor had lights. Leo
 
Dads 8N for tractor and 56 IH pu. Then he bought new 430 Case in 64, next truck was 63 F100 V8 4 speed which I still have.
 
started on a JD A when I was about 9 pulling a 9 foot tandem disk. Then moved up to a 1951 IH 1 ton pickup with sideboards on box hauling oats from field to granary and shoveling into auger.
 
Allis Chalmers WD-45, then a AC B, then a 1949 Ford F5, then I have forgotten. Worked on a farm as a kid and from there it went to maybe half a dozen different cars. All the started probably about 1962 or close to that. Tom
 
1932 Brockway ex-school bus that dad made into a hay truck. "driving" consisted of dad putting it in low low, having me steer while he walked alongside and loaded the hay bales he had just made. i was about 6 or 7.
 
1947 F6 V8 with dual straight pipes. Dad said I was 4. I just steered in dual low from chunk to chunk. If were to big. I turned switch off. Bottom ground that had flooded in the past. First tractor in field a Farmall H disking. I was 9. Got to get out of school a few days to disk in front of the planters. Dad and my cousin planted with a pair of H's with 2 row mounted planters.
 
Drove the MI to pull bales up into the hay mow. About 13 I took a load of corn to the mill driving the 1965 F100, 352 V8 three-on-the-tree, manual brakes and steering. Had a flat on the way home, couldn't get the spare out from under the truck, too heavy of a load. Had stopped at a neighbors', they raised the rear with their fork lift.
 
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