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Driving
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I bought my first car before I was legally old enough to drive. I always wanted to and would never give it up.
I like cars, car racing (watching!) and driving.
Fist bump!
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Well we are all different. Even now I enjoy detailing my car and I've been a car owner for 30 odd years.
I just wiped mine down a bit, roof down, getting ready to go for a cruise to a local Mexican joint
And where do you live? I grew up in Boston and have lived in NYC, where learning to drive was optional. My brother didn’t get his license until he was in his forties, because he did perfectly well biking, riding public transportation, or occasionally grabbing a cab.
I have lived in different parts of the country, including the Midwest and SoCal, where driving was almost a requirement.
To answer your question, I got my license as soon as was legally possible, and I love driving. I even had a car when I lived in Manhattan, which was a total luxury and way too expensive, especially since I mostly took the subway to work, but I just love driving when I want.
I have lived in different parts of the country, including the Midwest and SoCal, where driving was almost a requirement.
To answer your question, I got my license as soon as was legally possible, and I love driving. I even had a car when I lived in Manhattan, which was a total luxury and way too expensive, especially since I mostly took the subway to work, but I just love driving when I want.
Around here, an 18 year old who can't drive is the exception rather than the rule.
The reality is that unless you live in a largish city with good public transit or are content to stay within walking distance of everything, you're going to have a hard time NOT driving. Just as an example, Louisville, KY has a decent bus system and I COULD take it to work provided that I budgeted an extra hour and a half every day. By contrast, unless there's a serious accident(which would slow the buses down even more since they can't take an alternate route) work is a 10-15 minute drive. I don't want to think about how long it would take to walk. The nearest grocery store is about a mile away, which is certainly walkable but the the way there isn't overly pedestrian friendly.
My parent's house is about 5 miles from the nearest grocery store, and walking there is a sure death sentence. Although both are now retired, there's no realistic way either could have walked to work. Even though it was a ~10 minute drive(in different directions), walking again would have been a death sentence as there was no safe place TO walk. There's some token public transit, but the nearest bus stop is a fair piece away from where they live.
All of that aside, I ENJOY driving. I like cars and I like tinkering with them. If you wade through the car thread and look for my posts, you'll see a lot of fun "adventures" with my 1970 MGB. I spend a lot of time working on it, but especially on a crisp fall or spring evening I love just hopping in and driving somewhere. I've just pointed the car one way and kept going before, or thought "Madison, Indiana would be a fun place to sprint up to(~150 miles round trip)" or "I haven't been to Mt. Eden in a while(~100 miles round trip) and gone there just to head back a different way than I went. That, to me, is good,(relatively) safe and inexpensive fun-I might find a greasy spoon diner or some other little local place to pop in for dinner and swing by some notable place. I mention Madison, IN because the last time I went(a while back) part of my thought process was that they'd built a new bridge across the Ohio river and I hadn't seen it/been across it yet. Maybe that doesn't appeal to you, but cruising along in that car with the wind blowing through my hair and listening to the engine(that I have a lot of literal sweat and blood in) is just relaxing. There's also the occasional roadside repair in that car that can be frustrating but just makes a better story for the trip.
There's also a certain freedom that comes with it. I collect older Macs(see my signature) and have made plenty of buying trips on a moment's notice. I remember posting a WTB for a G3 Minitower and 9600 on the LEM Mac swap list, and a guy who lived a bit South of Indianapolis responded. He said he had two minitowers, a 7350, and although he didn't have a 9600 he had an 8600(the two are fairly similar and actually share a case, although the 9600 has 3 more PCI slots and some other features that make it a lot more upgradeable). We agreed on a price, he asked "when are you coming" and I said "how's 7:00 or so tonight." I loaded up after work, headed up his way, bought the computers plus a bunch of other stuff, and headed home.
If you don't get it, I understand, but being able to drive is a way of life.
The reality is that unless you live in a largish city with good public transit or are content to stay within walking distance of everything, you're going to have a hard time NOT driving. Just as an example, Louisville, KY has a decent bus system and I COULD take it to work provided that I budgeted an extra hour and a half every day. By contrast, unless there's a serious accident(which would slow the buses down even more since they can't take an alternate route) work is a 10-15 minute drive. I don't want to think about how long it would take to walk. The nearest grocery store is about a mile away, which is certainly walkable but the the way there isn't overly pedestrian friendly.
My parent's house is about 5 miles from the nearest grocery store, and walking there is a sure death sentence. Although both are now retired, there's no realistic way either could have walked to work. Even though it was a ~10 minute drive(in different directions), walking again would have been a death sentence as there was no safe place TO walk. There's some token public transit, but the nearest bus stop is a fair piece away from where they live.
All of that aside, I ENJOY driving. I like cars and I like tinkering with them. If you wade through the car thread and look for my posts, you'll see a lot of fun "adventures" with my 1970 MGB. I spend a lot of time working on it, but especially on a crisp fall or spring evening I love just hopping in and driving somewhere. I've just pointed the car one way and kept going before, or thought "Madison, Indiana would be a fun place to sprint up to(~150 miles round trip)" or "I haven't been to Mt. Eden in a while(~100 miles round trip) and gone there just to head back a different way than I went. That, to me, is good,(relatively) safe and inexpensive fun-I might find a greasy spoon diner or some other little local place to pop in for dinner and swing by some notable place. I mention Madison, IN because the last time I went(a while back) part of my thought process was that they'd built a new bridge across the Ohio river and I hadn't seen it/been across it yet. Maybe that doesn't appeal to you, but cruising along in that car with the wind blowing through my hair and listening to the engine(that I have a lot of literal sweat and blood in) is just relaxing. There's also the occasional roadside repair in that car that can be frustrating but just makes a better story for the trip.
There's also a certain freedom that comes with it. I collect older Macs(see my signature) and have made plenty of buying trips on a moment's notice. I remember posting a WTB for a G3 Minitower and 9600 on the LEM Mac swap list, and a guy who lived a bit South of Indianapolis responded. He said he had two minitowers, a 7350, and although he didn't have a 9600 he had an 8600(the two are fairly similar and actually share a case, although the 9600 has 3 more PCI slots and some other features that make it a lot more upgradeable). We agreed on a price, he asked "when are you coming" and I said "how's 7:00 or so tonight." I loaded up after work, headed up his way, bought the computers plus a bunch of other stuff, and headed home.
If you don't get it, I understand, but being able to drive is a way of life.
I agree. When I lived in London you could get away without a car due to the tube and buses.
But even then, food shopping was much easier with a car!
lol ... Yep so do I...
(Thank goodness)"Smoking is very very bad at an young age, but once you turn 21, it starts becoming very very good."
Harsh. I've not written a car off in yearsI've heard otherwise. Your reputation precedes you.
Sears driving school in January of 1986 when I was 15 and a half. Got my permit in summer of '86.
Licensed on my birthday in September 1986 when I turned 16, the legal age to drive in California at that time.
Learned to drive on a 1980 Datsun 210, which is stick (manual - 5speed). That car is still in my garage although it hasn't run for several years.
I love to drive, particularly long stretches. The drive between Phoenix and my parents house in California is a straight shot down the I-10 freeway and about 4.5 hours so I get a lot of driving in once a year or so.
I do not however, love to drive so much that when it comes time to stop and surrender my license I won't.
I refuse to be that old person on the news who mistook the gas for the brake and plowed into a store front. Or worse yet, ran over and killed someone.
Hanging it up will be hard but the consequences of not doing that are too much for me. And I will have had decades of driving so I can't say I didn't have my time.
While you're rare if you're American my grandmother never learned to drive and never wanted to.
omg the 1980 Datsun hatch B210 was my dream car of all time. I drove mine into the ground and spent the next ten years asking a truck-driving bro to keep an eye out for one up on blocks in some barn with the door open as he passed by to some stone quarry or lumber mill. Anyway it's what made me stay with a manual 5-speed all these years. What a great car that particular Datsun was.
To answer OP's question, got my license at 17 iirc but learned how to drive before that on a farm. I still took driver ed in high school. It's true you don't need a car in the city but in the boondocks you need something for transportation besides shoe leather. A truck or a horse?
My grandfather's last girlfriend never drove either, and that was in a middle-of-nowhere town in the NC mountains.
Her late husband did all the driving, and then of course my grandfather drove her everywhere. Aside from that, she worked at the little diner that was down at the base of the hill where she lived and could walk to it. Now, she counts on her son and grandkids, although sometimes the senior citizen center can get her to doctor's appointments or elsewhere.
She gets by alright and always has, but at the same time has always had someone in her life to take her places.
I agree with you that they were/are great cars.
And I don't mean to nitpick, but this is a B210…
The B210 was discontinued in 1979 when the 210 replaced it. The car I drove/have is a 210, which is this car (note, this is the ACTUAL car)…
The difference is mainly body style, but they are very different when it comes to parts.
You don't know how many times I got screwed because a mechanic assumed B210 when I specifically stated 210.
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I agree with you that they were/are great cars.
And I don't mean to nitpick, but this is a B210…
The car I drove/have is a 210, which is this car (note, this is the ACTUAL car)…
View attachment 725956
The difference is mainly body style, but they are very different when it comes to parts.
You don't know how many times I got screwed because a mechanic assumed B210 when I specifically stated 210.
Great looking car... you should be driving it! On parts: either way with those cars if you needed items not commonly stocked then it was wait for shipment from Japan and it could be weeks back then. I had to replace a wiring harness for the rear lights at some point and spent quite a few weeks driving with my flashers on, which on long runs got really old.
My grandma did want to learn and so one day after my granddad had walked over to his job at the bank, she stepped out to the yard and asked the guy who mowed the lawns could he just bring the car around to the porch door, as she had some errands to run. See the car was parked so she'd have to put it in reverse to depart the premises, and she wasn't sure she could manage that right off the bat. She'd never actually driven, just watched Papa while he drove.
Right so she took the car out to a back road by the lake and spent all day driving until she figured she had it nailed down enough to drive it back home before time to make supper. Did that a few times and then asked him to teach her and surprised him by being "such a quick learner" LOL. I think that was sometime in the late 1930s. A bit daring for the times, which had become rather more conservative than what all went on during the 1920s.
Yah I'm only half-rueful that I've made a big point of saying I'm giving up my license when I turn 80. I have more than a few years left to make good on that yet, but I must say it was easier to say it when I was 40, than now when the mark is a lot closer.
I've seen elderly neighbors over in the village quit driving, and end up comfortable having switched to making arrangements for other transportation. I'll miss some of the independence but I won't miss being responsible for steering my way out of collisions with idiots in pickups texting while driving. I realize that even after I surrender my license I could end up dead in the passenger seat in such an incident. I just don't want to be the one creating the problem.
To be honest driving is not as much fun as it used to be even though I still like to run through the mountains in good weather on 206, especially after they repave it. There's a level of concern about distracted drivers now that does lessen the enjoyment.
I can still hear my grandmother saying "No body's gonna tell me I can't drive." She was a feisty and stubborn lady, and if you'd heard her say that you would know that when the day came you'd have a fight on your hands.
Fortunately, no one "told" her. She was at Walmart one day and had turned the wheel in such a way that it locked. She didn't have the strength in her arms to turn it to unlock(she died of ALS, and we now suspect that may have been an early symptom) and had to call my uncle to come and get the car started and backed out for her.
She didn't say anything, but she went from going SOMEWHERE nearly every day to her car sitting for a week. After a week, she calls my aunt one morning and says "I've been thinking about it, and Steve's(my uncle) car is in really bad shape and he needs a new one. How would you feel about me giving him my car." My aunt, while quietly rejoicing, played it cool and said "Well, mom, if you think that's the right thing to do, I think you should and I don't have any problem with it." She then said "Okay, I have to call Susan(my mom) and Richard(my uncle) and ask them also."
My aunt immediately gets on the phone, calls my mom and says "mom's going to call and ask you if it's alright if she gives away her car-please say yes." My mom's response was "thank goodness."
The decision was unanimous, and my uncle took the car-that trip to Wal-Mart was the last time my grandmother got behind the wheel. All said and done, it went far smoother than anyone could have hoped. And, and the end of the day, no one TOLD HER that she had to quit driving-she stopped on her own.
When I was dating my wife she needed a car so my dad (who owned the car) sold it to her for $1. That was around 1996 or so and by this point even junk yard parts were starting to get scarce.
Our particular car had the bad habit of going through U-Joints on the driveshaft. Getting it fixed through a machine shop only worked once or twice before it broke again (clunk, clunk, clunk down the road). But finding new driveshafts was damn near impossible because the junkyards only seemed to have 1981 or newer 210s.
Well, Datsun changed the driveshaft flange in 1981 and that car is a 1980. So, a hacksaw and a hammer were necessary.
My mother loved the independence that driving gave her, and loved it even more when a promotion at work (her boss had died and she - his secretary, who knew the company inside out - was promoted to replace him - a huge thing in the early eighties, as it was a position that had always been held by a man) enabled her to afford her own car - rather than use the family car - which was also necessary for her job which required a lot of travelling.
She loved car, job and driving and thrilled to the autonomy and independence it gave her.
These days, she suffers from advanced Alzheimer's, and - with an ever decreasing radius to her journeys by 2011, - she firmly (the doctor was prepared to sign off allowing her to drive for another year, citing the independence and confidence arguments, and - by then anyway - Mother's journeys were confined to the very local, local shops, the local bank, collecting her pension, etc), with reluctance but very clearly - took the decision to stop driving in 2012.
She ordered my brother to sell the car in late 2012 - I was abroad at the time, and would have bought it from her, but I think that she didn't want the reminder of her former independence sitting in the driveway, mocking her with memories.