IIRC my lessons and the 1961 test were in a school Mini, and topped up with practice in SWMBO's Mini-van. We weren't married then, so my driving can't have been too awful.

Mazda 323 1979 1.3 orange. Nice car, that was the school car. I did more with my Dad in a 1963 Ford Corsair 1500 deluxe.

What is a Pug 205? :D

A brand new Mini Metro to start.

The teacher was sooo concerned about incorrect gear changes damaging his car I was a nervous wreck at the end of each lesson.

Mum recommended her teacher, by then retired, but persuaded to do one more as a favour.

He had a huge Rover P5 3l. Easy car to drive, the engine was so powerful it almost didn't matter what gear you were in!

He had a wonderful teaching style and was so laid back it made learning to driving a pleasure.

I was blinkered by a rev counter and some red piping into buying what had been an office pool car.

Surely the red seat belts must have played a part too SLO!!

**note for the later generations and those in good salaried jobs who go on the sick at the drop of a hat, no such thing as sick pay in those days, and there still isn't (bar that ssp pittance) for millions of working class people, no workee no payee.

Yeah, as a self employed window cleaner, no sick (or holiday) pay for me!.

I remember being horrified not that long ago when my pal told me his step daughter, a childrens nurse of all things, regularly 'pulled sickies' so she could binge watch box sets!.

Passed my test in Jersey In a Vauxhall Viva in 1976.

Long way to go pass your driving test! :-) How long did you have to wait before being able to put your foot down on a proper fast road, given Jersey has no roads with a limit over 40mph?

Passed my test in Jersey In a Vauxhall Viva in 1976.

Long way to go pass your driving test! :-) How long did you have to wait before being able to put your foot down on a proper fast road, given Jersey has no roads with a limit over 40mph?

I lived there at the time... Booked the test, took a few diving lessons as I had been "driving" since i was about 17.. (but lets ignore that) The driving test started at the offices on the side of mt Bingham, drove up to a bit of the road where they had bays that you had to reverse into at 90 degrees from your left and right. then around Mount Bingham and back throgh the tunnel back to Pier road in front of french harbour, do the emergency stop, Was asked 3 questions, could not identify no entry sign, but passed.

Spent 3 and a half of the happiest years of my life there, lived in Rozel overlooking the harbour.

How cool is that "Diving lessons"? Get Scuba qualified and then they let you drive around... shame it has changed.

I'm sure we've done this before, more than once!!

I learnt / took test in my Dad's Citroen Visa 11 Super E (SDL 20X) on the Isle of Wight - 1st time pass, 9th March 1992. Both me Sisters (one older, one younger) also learnt and passed in the same car. Mostly taught by my Dad, with a couple of polishing lessons from an ADI friend. By the time my younger sister did hers it was 12 years old well over 100k miles, the clutch was well past its best, and syncho on 1st and 2nd was hit and miss!!

Received wisdom on the IOW was that you came back round the Coppins Bridge roundabout (more lights and lanes than you can shake a stick at) on the way back to the centre if the examiner thought you were good enough. On my test day the lights between the bus station and Safeway were not working - we went direct from the test centre, turned right at the non-working lights, then down onto Coppins Bridge, before even doing emergency stop up Staplers Road (all of which means nothing to anybody, unless there are any Caulkheads here!).

Some fabulous memories. Brings a smile to my face. All those old cars we thought were the bees knees. The excitement of driving, especially when out courting. Someone did mention however the motorbike test. I passed my driving test when I was 19. Previously though I had a series of bikes, which obviously helped with the road awareness when driving a car. So 6 lessons nailed it for me. The bikes though were great. There were quite few apprentices who had them and we would clean and maintain them after work or in breaks. Great fun at the time. A James Captain 197, a BSA Ambassador 250 then a BSA Gold Star 500. In many ways it was the best way to get to work because we did a lot of site work as well as workshop. Lots of freedom too. Great days, sadly not to be repeated, and happy times mostly.

Cheers Concrete

Learnt to drive in many different cars - Dad was a second-hand car dealer so we would throw the L plates on to anything which was taxed. First car on the road was an M-reg Viva. Also used our VW camper van which impressed my mates no end.

My driving instructor updated his Chevette to the new Nova so most of my 8 lessons were in that. My instructor chain-smoked Players No 6 throughout my lessons.

Failed my first test, bad luck with a car sat on my rear three-quarter when I needed to change lanes, but took my second test in my Grandad's Fiat 127 and passed.

The same afternoon I passed Dad had me run up to Blackbushe with him to collect a car he had bought so I got my first experience of the motorway in a Talbot Solara.

Something huge, I think it was a Toyota Corolla estate from the 80s.

The instructor said that a bigger car was better because we wouldn't be bullied as much on the road compared to a small car.

And if you could master driving and parallel parking that beast (with no power steering), then I'd be set up to drive anything!

He was a great guy - Colin Fish - well known around Sheffield who set up one of the country's first driving schools there, and teaching well into his 70s.

He retired to Lincolnshire but was sadly killed by a deranged carer.

Various cars started with driving my dads 1973 datsun 1200, 1975 toyota corolla, 1979 toyota atarlet. Had on off driving lessons at £5, driving various cars, toyota corina b reg toyota corolla, 1982, nissan sunny 1993, as was studying at college, passed at 1994, wasnt intrested in driving a car as my dad was a regular driver till he insisted that i should in his own words most important to pass the driving test.

Its only when i realised what he meant u need a car to drive to work, shop, visit family freinds etc.

Now drive a honda civic 2.2 desel 59.reg having had its clutch flywheel changed recently

Austin A35.

In 1964 I had 7 lessons in a Triumph Herald and passed 1st time. My parents didn't own a car so that was my only experience of driving one. A month later, I broke my leg in a motorcycle accident and was unable to drive anything for 2 years. Then, because of my leg injuries, I was advised to retake my test. I had 3 lessons in a VW Beetle and passed again. This time, however, my license was restricted to 3.5 ton vehicles rather than 7.5 tons. When I renewed my license at 70 I discovered I'd failed to notice that, at some point, the restriction had been removed.

One reason I passed the car test with just a few lessons is that, from the age of 11, I'd done lots of tractor driving in school holidays. I drove them on the road with L plates as soon as I was allowed. Much of that was on main roads with 2 or 4 wheel trailers. When they had high loads I remember using a pitchfork to do right turn signals! At that time, farm tractors and trailers were not equipped with indicators.

Another reason is that I had 3 uncles who were lorry drivers. I loved travelling in the cab with them and, from a young age, knew exactly what pedals to press and when. When I finally got behind the wheel of a car I just had to unlearn most of the double declutching.

MG1100

No traffic lights or zebra crossings in Banff then...

I also learnt in a Datsun Sunny 120Y. The only thing I didn't like about it was that when you put on full lock doing a three point turn, the front tyres would rub noisily on the wheel arches. The instructor said just to ignore it!