Driver's Ed Cars

[fan-of-fans]

I was thinking back to this the other day, what car did you use in driver's ed?

I'm dating myself here on the younger side, since for me it was a 2006 Chevy Impala. Gray exterior, but I cannot remember if the interior was gray or beige. It was a very basic LS trim that had a front bench seat with column shift, instead of buckets with a center console.

Another suprising thing is it stayed in production all the way to the 2016 model year, even after the latest Impala came out for 2014. They sold the older model to fleets and rental companies.

I really considered one in LTZ trim for myself, but when I got my first car they were far too expensive. When I traded last year, I looked again to get one, but late 2000s models were impossible to find with low miles. And newer ex-fleet/ex-rental years of them just weren't much cheaper than a car that had newer design and features.

I can remember my aunt talking about how she took driver's ed and had much trouble passing the parking test because the car they used didn't even have power steering!

 

[fan-of-fans]

Oops. What I forgot to mention above, was how that Impala, even though it was a brand new model at the time, looked like an older car. At least as far as the exterior, it reminded me of a car out of the 1990s. And for that I quite liked it.

 

[turquoisedude]

Oh lord, it was a Plymouth Volaré. Easy to handle, but gutless. My driver's ed instructor once said to me that I was trying to accelerate too quickly and that "no car has that kind of pickup". I asked him if he'd ever owned a Chevy... LOL My late mother's car at the time was a 76 Malibu Station Wagon with a small 8, my father drove a 67 Chevy with a kick-ass 6, and the 'spare' car was a 66 Pontiac Grande Parisienne with a huge V8. I was used to acceleration... LOL

 

[tomturbomatic]

We had an Olds Cutlass. It had the second brake pedal on the passenger's side, great acceleration and very good air conditioning which was welcome after the unair-conditioned classroom in summer school. It was very comfortable for the three of us and the teacher.

 

[circlew]

Chevrolet

I took driver ed in June, 1972, and the vehicles were provided by the local Chevrolet-Oldsmobile dealer. One was an Impala 4 dr in Gulf Green, and the other was a Kingswood wagon in Ascot Blue. I doesn't seem long ago at all I started driving - can't believe it's been 47 years!

 

[chachp]

1970 for me..

 

<span style="font-family: 'courier new', courier;">My driving instructor had a mustang and my Mom had a Chrysler Town and Country Wagon.  I remember doing most of my driving and practice in the Mustang but then had to take the test in the Wagon.  Luckily she taught me a fool proof method for parallel parking any car so it wasn't too bad.</span>

 

[ea56]

I took drivers Ed in 1967 and the training car was a white 1966 Dodge Coronet, the same as the CHP drove at that time in Calif., only I’m sure they had bigger V-8’s than the drivers ed car, which was I believe a 318 with a 3 spd auto trans. It had good acceleration and was an easy car to drive. I got my drivers license in Jan 1968 driving the neighbors 1961 Chevrolet Nomad station wagon with a 348 and Turbo Glide. And neither of these cars had AC. Back then in Northern California AC was still not that common.

Eddie[this post was last edited: 7/30/2019-10:45]

 

[paulg]

1979 Dodge Aspen

Much like Paul Chaks, my driver’s ed car was the Dodge Aspen, a clone of the Volare’ .
Similarly, I also was chided for driving too fast during practice. Hmmm. Was it the car and not our driving skills??

Ultimately I did buy a pristine Aspen wagon which saved my life (the first time) after a sliding semi-truck pushed me into a bridge. I replaced it with a 1980 Volare which lasted forever. The heater blower was so strong that I used it to dry my hair on the way to work. Thankfully I still have most of my hair.

 

[norgeway]

1980

We had a new 80 Cutlass Supreme 2 door I hated it compared to my Mothers 76 Cutlass 350 four barrel which was a great car.

 

[cfz2882]

1986 Chevy celebrity and 1986 Ford tempo-both had the extra cable-operated brake pedal for the instructor,but that was the only modification from stock.

 

[wayupnorth]

I took Drivers Ed in a 1969 Dodge Coronet and took my licence test in my 1963 Rambler wagon with no power steering. Back then you could get your licence in ME at 15.

 

[philcobendixduo]

Summer of 1974 and I had driver's ed. in a full-sized Chevrolet sedan (Impala or Caprice probably....). The family car I practiced my driving in was a 1968 Ford Falcon Futura Sports Coupe.

 

[vacerator]

1976

Chevy Nova 305 V8, 6 cylinder Ford Granada, Dodge Aspen sedan with 318 V8, and an Olds Omega brougham 350 V8.
Recall thinking the Granada had power brakes, then got into the Aspen on the parking lot course, and sent the rear seat passengers for a forward jerk. Drove the Nova first on the street. It had a steering wheel for the instructor. I nearly went up the curb on my first turn. The Omega was a very smooth and quiet car. Same as the Nova, but with the larger Olds engine, and more sound absorption.
Drove with permit, and took my road test in our '70 Kingswood.
My first nice car was a Cutlass Supreme.
The Impala of the 2006 model year generation was last produced for the 2013 model year.

 

[maytagbear]

The training car

was a 1978 Dodge Aspen with the 225 cubic inch Slant Six and Torqueflite, and the car my sister and I shared was a 1978 Plymouth Volare with........225 Slant Six, Torqueflite, but ours had air conditioning!!

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[iowabear]

1984 Chevrolet Celebrity.

 

Our instructor allowed the radio to be played and I remember hearing the Pointer Sister's song "Automatic" during several outings.  I will always associate that song with Driver's Ed...funny how the human brain files music with specific events.

 

In Iowa at that time, if you passed your driving test in high school you were exempt from taking a DOT driver's test...except for a special lottery where an unlucky few were drawn and required to also take the DOT test.  Fortunately I wasn't selected!

 

[ea56]

I really wish that our schools here in California would once again include Drivers Education in the curriculum, and make it mandatory, like it was in the Dark Ages when I attended HS.

Since it has no longer been required here for at least the last 20 or more years I’ve noticed a decline in the consistent observation of the Rules of the Road. Every driver seems to have their own idea of what is the proper way to observe the law. Many seem to believe that stopping at red lights and stop signs, and the use of directional signals are optional, and I’ve noticed that the police are the worst offenders for failure to signal a turn. Apparently the think that as long as they know where they are going, thats good enough.

Eddie

 

[firedome]

Spring 1967: car: a '67 BelAir 4 dr in dark turquoise with 283 and Powerglide from Marsden Chevrolet. The teacher: Mr. Glenn Adkins, a nerdy glasses-wearing and thinning hair man about 50, also endowed with nerves of steel. My student driving companion: Alison K. a super cute Cher lookalike with ruler-straight long black hair... frankly I was far more interested in Allison than in the driving instruction (since I'd been surreptitiously driving since age 12). Mr A. demonstrated his legendary "sang froid" (maybe he kept a flask in his desk?) one time when the lovely Alison pulled up to a light a bit too far into a busy intersection in the Baltimore suburb where we lived. He calmly asked her to back up 10 feet, which she did. When the light changed she hit the gas HARD and "BAAMMM" backed right into the Coronet behind us. Adkins calmly said "Move forward and put the car in Park". Then he got out, ascertained that there was no damage, with the other car's driver, got back in the shotgun seat, and instructed a very shell shocked Allison to "Proceed please"... and he never said another thing. True story.

 

[iheartmaytag]

Driver's ed cars were donated, lent by the local Pontiac dealer.  Learned in a 76 Pontiac Bonneville, and a 76 Pontiac Lemans.

 

I took my driver's test in a 73 Vega 4sp, nothing power.  It did, however have air-conditioning, and a good heater.  Nothing else was good about the car.

 

[goatfarmer]

1976 Olds Cutlass.Gold color.

 

[DADoES]

 
Driver's ed car was a Chevrolet of some model, probably an Impala.  The local dealer provided them to the school district.

License test drive was the family Ford LTD Wagon.

 

[yogitunes]

had driver training first in the simulators....typical projector on screen....once you completed 50 hours....then onto actual road driving

on road driving was a 1980 Mercury Zephyr(Ford Fairmont)….which was actually a nicely equipped vehicle....I wanted one after graduation but ended up with a 1982 Mercury Capri RS Turbo....this dealer supplied Drivers ED with our cars, and a nice discount if you bought a vehicle from them...

if you took the written test in school, it was 100 questions, at the DMV was only the same 20 as in the back of the book, just scrambled in different order...

in NJ, you had to be 17 to get your license......I got mine at 16, somehow they screwed up after taking my written test, you got a permit, and a date/time of when to show up for your driver test, going out on an actual road....not a test track as they do today...within 2 months I had my license....I didn't question it....

 

[gusherb]

For me it was a Dodge Caliber....in safety yellow. Somehow the Drivers Ed school I went to still has that car in their fleet 10 years later, even despite the fact that the Nissan/Jatco CVT those things had were notoriously unreliable.  

 

[countryguy]

I got my driver's license in June 1975 and in the fall I took the driver's ed course at school just so that I could get lower insurance rates. The car was a '75 Pontiac Lemans 2-door.

Gary

 

[justjunque]

Since I was a certified car nut in my youth, I can't believe I don't remember the car in intimate detail.
The year was probably 1983, maybe 1984.
I'm 99% sure the car was a white Pontiac Phoenix; the GM sibling of the Chevy Citation.
I seem to recall it being a two door notchback.
I was always a fan of really big cars, but I thought the little Phoenix was pretty fun to drive.
I was pretty skeptical about the newfangled front wheel drive thing, but it didn't end up causing me any grief.
To this day though, I've never bought a front wheel drive car.
The only reason I have one, a 2001 VW Passat, is because it was given to us.

Barry

 

[twintubdexter]

fun question...

<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">A 1966 Dodge Coronet 500, yellow, bucket seats, console shift...so sporty. When I went home the only car I had to practice driving in was my parent's totally disgusting 1959 Ford Country Sedan station wagon. It was a toss-up...which was worse, that car or my bicycle. I remember listening to the radio in that Coronet and the teacher singing along with "Hang On Sloopy", a big hit at the time, and him singing "Hang On Snoopy".</span>

 

<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">This could be just a way to separate the kids from us oldsters. I'm watching for someone to say they took driver training in a Hudson.</span>

[this post was last edited: 7/30/2019-22:43]

 

[jamiel]

1980 Oldsmobile Delta 88. Dark blue. This was the refresh (aerodynamicized) of the GM 1977 Full Size....flat wheel covers and raised decklid with aero lip. Remember getting into a big argument with the drivers' ed instructor about what a curb was for parking--I cramped the wheels the "wrong" way but he relented when I showed him what I thought a curb was...

 

[fan-of-fans]

"The Impala of the 2006 model year generation was last produced for the 2013 model year."

Nope, that was the last year it was sold as a direct to consumer vehicle. But it was produced for 3 more model years as a fleet only vehicle and also to car lease companies such as Enterprise.

Similar to my first car, a Chevy Malibu was superseded by the 2004-gen, but continued to be sold as the Malibu Classic through the 2005 model year.

https://www.motortrend.com/news/che...uction-extended-to-2016-for-fleet-use-420685/

 

[jmm63]

Driver training was on a 79 Olds Cutlass Supreme Brougham. Just like the one below. I remember being impressed by the plush interior, nice ride, and how smoothly it shifted.

Drivers test was on our 76 Ford Gran Torino, my Mom's car. It was the same color as the pic but had a tan 1/4 roof. I bought that same rims and wheels and put them on in 80. I drove that car everywhere!! I don't think she drove it from 79 - 82, I had it all the time.

Then got my first car, an 81 Mercury Capri GS. Mine was a beautiful midnight blue with a Pewter interior, loved that car too.

Unfortunately, my brother T-boned a pick up truck in the Torino and totaled it. The Capri started to rust through the floor pan, which I was shocked because it was in such great shape.

 

[gansky1]

Early 80's white Dodge van (probably 11 seats) with instructor and 3 students.  The instructor had an add-on brake on the passenger side, used only once for another student.  

 

We had a semi-trailer in the parking lot of a local high-school with driving simulators on either side of a narrow main aisle.  

 

[westtexman]

I took Driver’s Ed in the summer of 1991 when I was 14. We had just moved from Texas to a rural town in Eastern New Mexico. At that time, you could get your license at 15 in New Mexico, which was the only redeeming thing about moving there.

We had the choice of 4 cars, which were loaned to the school by the local Ford dealer. We could drive a Ford Taurus, a Ford Tempo, a Ford Escort and a Ford Mustang. I have always been fascinated with vehicles with manual transmissions, so I chose the Escort as it was the only manual in the bunch.

I took my driving test in my mom’s 1986 Chevrolet Celebrity Eurosport. The color was “Dusty Rose Metallic” (aka “Mauve”) with burgundy interior. As was common with many GM vehicles of that era, the paint on the hood, top and trunk was faded and splotchy, but that car was handed down to me and I was happy to have it. I detailed it almost every weekend, which was a challenging task given we lived in the country for about 18 months and it was dusty on those desert plains. I took the front seats out at least once a month to shampoo the carpets, and I cleaned the A/C vents with Q-Tips. Anything and everything that could be Armor-All’ed was, and it was always pristine! Sadly it wasn’t the most reliable, and was totaled (not my fault) a few weeks before my 16th birthday.

It was replaced with a 1993 Chevrolet Cavalier (a manual of course), which got me through high school, college, and the first year out of college. After changing the alternator for the 5th time (on my lunch break in an Auto Zone parking lot), I finally traded the thing for a used Accord.

They don’t make them like they used to (fortunately)!