Post your coming of age stories here

[Louie Detroit]

I'm not talking about your make believe Penthouse Forum bullshit.

Back in midsummer 1974 my Grandpa and I went up to Indianapolis to watch the AAA club Indians, I believe it was against a Reds or Cubs AAA affiliate, but I can't remember for sure.

After the game when we left the ballpark and got to my Grandpas 3-on the tree beat up farmer pickup, he handed me the keys and told me I had to drive home and hopped in the passenger seat.

I said hey Grandpa I'm only 14 and don't have a drivers license, he just snuggled into the passenger side of the truck and said let's go. Fortunately I'd driven the truck around the farm a couple of times and had it handled.

The stadium was maybe 2 or 3 miles directly north off US-36, as soon as we got on it back due west 50 miles or so to Parke County, Hollandsburg IN, Grandpa fell asleep.

We made it back to the farm in one piece and I had one of those few life great moments we all get.

[LisaJohn]

My gran would pick me up on Friday or Sat afternoons to spend the night and help her clean house when I was a teenager. She had a bad back and back surgery from working at tire plant. I had just turned 15 and gotten my permit. When she came to pick me up one Friday she threw me the keys and said you can drive. Mom and dad were still at work. So off we go to her house 30 minutes away with me driving the fairly new 70 something caddie. I still miss her.

[ratflinger]

Driving?? I want to hear the BS Penthouse Forum stories!




There was this one time ....

[Louie Detroit]

Originally Posted by ratflinger

Driving?? I want to hear the BS Penthouse Forum stories!




There was this one time ....

Start your own thread.

[DAB]

the yellow Pinto did not catch fire during my driver's test. yay.

[Bill]

My parents finally agreed to let me get my driver's license when I turned 17. Dad announces, "I'll take the boy and teach him to drive." After a couple hours practicing in the school parking lot, we get back, and Dad says to Mom, YOU teach him. Mom sighs with that "yeah, I always have to do the hard work around here," and says, OK, no problem. So after an afternoon with her in that same empty school parking lot, we return home and she says, "We're sending him to driving school."

I'm not saying that's when my parents' hair first started turning gray, but I'm not NOT saying it, either.

I did eventually get my DL on the first try, although I didn't pass the eye test, and had to beg the examiner to pass me. I promised her I'd go out and get glasses, and I did indeed get the glasses, because that's just the honest kind of guy I am.

[slewfoot]

My son now 37 and an engineer at one of the national labs was in his mid teens when my mother started slinging that "wait til you have kids" back in my face through my son.

Such things as "why don't you ask your day how old he was when he got his license." Years earlier, I recall, ask your dad how old he was when he started skiing?"

[Aerovette]

I remember my first solo drive. My dad needed something at the hardware store and he was dirty and covered with sawdust etc and I had just gotten my license about a week earlier. He told me what he needed and tossed me the keys. My mom was less than thrilled about it. Man did I take the long way to that hardware store and back. Me, cruising in a 1969 Eldorado. ( a twin to the one pictured)

[JRD77VET]

I grew up on my Grandfather's farm and the farm across the road. Plenty of tractor driving and farm truck in the fields.

My dad remarried when I was 12. My stepmom's parents had a farm too. My Step Grandfather worked for the township and when it was harvest time, he would use the township's (1953?) B series Mack dump truck. I was driving that beast when I was 14 and the short distance to the farm too.

My step Mom's brother used to let me drive his '51 Studebaker too.

By the time I turned 16, passing the test for my driver's license was a piece of cake.

[ToolMaker]

When I was 12, my BIL took me to a farm and taught me how to drive his 4 cyl Ford Cortina. He must of had the patience of a saint by the time I got the hang of the clutch with a low powered 4 banger!

[ratflinger]

Okay, I'll play - We had Drivers Ed at school, before class started - 6:30 or 7. Usually be 4 or 5 plus the teacher in the car. This back around 1970 so we had big Pontiacs to drive, no dual steering but they had an extra brake pedal on the passenger side. We had a nice 4-lane highway running from Canyon to Amarillo so we'd drive that to get used to the traffic. It was my turn to drive back. Of course at 7:30 it was a mad rush from Amarillo to the university in Canyon. Teacher asked me how fast I was driving - umm 85, Why he asked? Well you told us it was important to pay attention to the flow of traffic so as not to be an obstacle. He was like, yeah I did but lets slow down to 70 anyway okay.

[Louie Detroit]

Hey guys, this thread wasn't intended for driving anecdotes only. I was kinda thinking of all kinds of youthful stories, something like someone lost a family member and had to step up and deal with the consequences.

[Aerovette]

Nothing really significant has happened in my life that was a "coming of age" event. Closest would be buying my first house. I watched friends stay trapped in apartments unable to save to escape. I knew I never wanted to live in an apartment so I stayed longer at home than most.

I helped a friend move and thought his house was a perfect size for me if I was going to buy. Turns out right down the street was the same floor plan for about $12k less than he paid. At 25 years old, I had my own house, a 74 Charger, and a Corvette. I thought I was in high cotton. I felt like a genuine adult at that point.

[snide]

Originally Posted by Louie Detroit

Hey guys, this thread wasn't intended for driving anecdotes only. I was kinda thinking of all kinds of youthful stories, something like someone lost a family member and had to step up and deal with the consequences.

What makes you think you can control which direction a thread goes?

[Louie Detroit]

Originally Posted by snide

What makes you think you can control which direction a thread goes?

Being the OP and shit.

[Olustee bus]

I was 15 and me and a friend were tearing down a barn and a house to get the lumber one hot summer. We were putting it in an old dump truck.(six cylinder chevy). We put all the lumber we could in it so we thought it was up to us to take it to where it was supposed to be. I had been driving a little. I hopped in and wrestled that truck home.

[slewfoot]

Originally Posted by Louie Detroit

Hey guys, this thread wasn't intended for driving anecdotes only. I was kinda thinking of all kinds of youthful stories, something like someone lost a family member and had to step up and deal with the consequences.

Okay,

1970, at 14, I got my first job as a dishwasher in a restaurant at the local ski area (Cranmore-Toolmaker).

Most of the waitresses and such would park their cars on the side of the building. There was a big exhaust fan up above the dishwashing machine and sometimes when we got bored and if nobody was around, we would see what kind of food would go through it.

Potatoes and most vegetables were the best. This only went on at night. Never really gave it much thought since we were 14 yrs old as to the cars on the other side below the fan.

One lady told us the next day she saw some birds eating on the hood of her GTO-Judge. She thought it could have come from some other bar or place in town.

It was at least a month into it before we realized it all and stopped. Since it happened on a semi regular basis and some of the staff also frequented other places in town, they never gave us a second thought

[Don Rickles]

Picture surplus USA WWII Jeeps and a 400 + acre glider field! Three speed, camouflaged painted, beater Jeep.

[Louie Detroit]

Originally Posted by Don Rickles

Picture surplus USA WWII Jeeps and a 400 + acre glider field! Three speed, camouflaged painted, beater Jeep.

And? Fill us in on the details you hockey puck.

[MEANZ06]

For me, at age of 23 and my first child was born. That's when shit got real, no more being irresponsible. Partying like I was still in high school stopped real fast.