Age 11 in a 1948 ****** CJ-2A at 11000 feet elevation.

 

About age 15, I was a city boy so not a chance before 17. Luck came into play though as a high school friend lived on a farm. Went over there one day and he said wanna drive the dirt farm roads some? Whaaaat? For sure and he pulled a 55 Pontiac out of the barn. Man that was a blast!

 

age 11- 1969 VW bus

My grampa and i were working on their fixer-upper house across town from where they lived... Riding up in the homemade elevator when the gearbox stripped and it dropped us a full floor. Grampa broke his left ankle & heel on impact and couldn't push in the Bus's clutch.

I'd never driven anything... But I got up there and he told me what to do, rev it up and dump the clutch... It was not the smoothest drive across town, but we made it.

 

Go Cart around 8
AMC Hornet around 10
Mini bike around 11
Honda Trail 70 around 12
Yamaha 100 around 13
Ford Truck around 14
Suzuki TS 400 around 15

Bought my first car in 1976 @ 15 and it was an Ex A/FX 1965 factory drag car, didn't have a 427 cammer or 427 med riser engine anymore but it did have a ultra high compression Boss 302, toploader 4 spd, 9" rear with 4.86 gears. Straight axle frontend.

 

Age 16, in a 10 year old 1984 Cutlass Ciera LS, L4. Perfect for a kid, could barely do 55 on the highway unless going downhill. My dad had an '87 Cutlass Supreme, I only got to drive it once.

 

15, 71 Ford Torino 302...
Not counting the motorcycles I'd been riding to school since junior high!

 

Massey Ferguson 35 on Dads farm aged 12.
The first road vehicle was an ex army Austin Champ (like a Jeep), also on the farm when I was 13.
The first car was a Peugeot 403b (like Columbos!) on the private road to my uncles farm aged 13.
First car I drove legally on public roads was Mums 1960 Mini aged 17.

Biggest vehicle (but not on the road obviously), HMS Kent, a Royal Navy destroyer. OK I didn't do it on my own but I was helmsman a few times.

 

Rural roads of Vermont at about age 14 driving a 1978 Cutlass Cruiser Wagon.

Thread reminds me of the Alan Jackson song, "Drive". Great song from a living legend...

 

Brought home from the hospital in a 48 Mercury. First drove [13]a 55 Mercury. My grandad had a Lincon Zephyr and for a while my parents were trying to catch up.

 

Farmall F20 tractor or one of the many cars or trucks I had to steer when dad had to move something. I think I was 7 or 8 when I started doing that.

 

I learned the shifter H pattern at a very early age. Practiced often.
Dad had me try the VW Bug at too early an age as I could not get the seat far forward enough. I recall smacking into the garage door and luckily killing the engine about the same time. No damage to the garage door or the 58 Bug. Had to be under 10 years old then. Drove often up and down our driveway but the 1st road trip was at 13 in a family friends Bradley GT.
Will always recall that trip!

 

My first 'driving' adventure was in Mom's 39 Ford Sedan when she left me alone to make a short stop at a local grocery for a few items. I was probably 4 or 5 and I pulled the floor shift out of gear and into neutral ( I'd seen both Dad and Mom do that I'm sure). The car was on a slight incline and rolled backward into the street. Lucky for me and the Ford the cars on the street stopped and someone came into the grocery and asked who owned the grey Ford sedan. My butt was 'spank me red' for a couple of hours after that.

Like MDchanic I studied everything my parents did when driving and just knew by age 8 or so I could drive. At age ten I filched the keys to the then new 50 Pontiac Chieftan and backed it up and ran it forward on our driveway every chance I got. The drive was about 50 ft. long. But I remembered the sore butt incident vividly and didn't dare take anything out of the driveway until I got my permit at age 14.

My first car at age 15 was a 39 Olds two door sedan I bought for $35. A big lesson came along with that as the condition of purchase was that I had to purchase a year's insurance in advance and show my parents the proof, plus I had to have an after school job and buy my own gas and start buying my own clothes and other items. Finally, Dad told me I had to give Mom $20/month for board and room since I had taken on the adult responsibility of owning and driving a car. I wanted that Olds so bad I readily agreed to all of it.

 

Age - 12 83 Chevrolet Van

My grandparents have a house in Franklin, Tx(country to me being from Houston) but whenever my grandmother would need something from the store, grandfather would tell me to go. After about 3 trips grandma finally figured out how the food was getting to the house without my grandfather leaving.

 

My first drive was in a 1965 Dodge Dart, 6 cyl/ 3 on the tree. I perfected my skilz in a 1967 Cutlass S, which became my 1st car.

 

i took my first driving test in my brother's W-31

manual steering and a 4 speed.

 

when I was 13 my oldest brother bought a brand new 1962 Ford Galaxie 2dr Post 406 tri-power 4-speed 4:11 nodular rear end posi. After taking delivery of his first new car he was drafted into the Army. The car stayed at our house while he was gone with the keys in my parents bedroom on top of my dad's dresser. I would sneak into their room at night and take the 406 out for a ride. It was sweet and when you kicked in the end carbs you could really hear the damn thing roar. Scared the crap out of me everytime I took it.

 

Learned to drive in a 1956 Oldsmobile 88 holiday coupe when I was 14. Took my drivers test in our 1960 Buick Invicta 4dr flattop when I was 16 in 1961.

 

Seems like many here learned at age 13-14!

I learned at age 13 (1987) on my father's 1965 Jetstar 88 2dr.

 

I think I was 12 in Ireland on vacation for the summer - driving an old Massey Ferguson Tractor towing a trailer full of bales of hay down the roads for my uncle every day.

 

I dont remember lol it was one of the cars we had at my dads shop when i was like 14. I remember the first car I owned a 1990 Dodge Daytona but i never actually got to drive it lol first car I owned that I got to drive was a 1971 Plymouth Valiant ugly little car but it was still fun because of the uniqueness and that 318 could squeal the tires