[navin]

based on the above responses maybe you should have included a 10-15 and a 5-10 age group and deleted the 40+

[MalluDude]

Age 17:
Started on a Willys Jeep(1970 make) at the driving school. Hadta fake my birth certificate for them to teach me (don't tell anyone...)
Then practised on my ol' 1986 Amby.

[manson]

ahhhh, that brings back memories, a 12 year old with his elder brother and a friend at worli seaface at 4 p.m. in a shining dark blue 118ne, i yet remember smiling all evening and for a few days after that thinking that i had grown up now. didn't care about my friends believing my accomplishment, actually didn't really get time to think of that when i was busy imagining driving all day long from then.
Thats one of the many significant reasons for loving my brother.

manson.

[streetlife]

Age---- 16
Tutor-- Driving school(first refused to take me as i was minor)
car----- M800 97DX
place-- Delhi

this happened when i took the car on a joy ride for the first time(no past experience of driving) and slightly brushed up with a DTC bus As my family knew i was a car freak the next day i got admited in a driving school

[veyron1]

based on the above responses maybe you should have included a 10-15 and a 5-10 age group and deleted the 40+

and added a 3-5 age group too, perhaps..??

[filcord]

Started learning at 14, with our chauffeur at my side, Fiat 1100 Delite. At 15 started taking car alone for short distances in the small town where I live.
First day the back seat was loaded with my sisters and their giggly friends. I had to reverse at one point, and steered in the wrong direction (a ditch) to the hysteric screams from the back seat. I managed to stop and nonchalantly explained that I was only trying to test them!
Anyway, never got the girls to sit in with me till almost two years later.

[Ram]

Age - 9 (Would've been skeptic myself, if I didn't know better!)
Tutor - A government Jeep driver
Car - 1947 Willys CJ-2A
Location - Betul (Madhya Pradesh)

My uncle was collector of Betul district, MP around 1966 and lived in a palatial British-built collector's bungalow with a huge attached estate.

I learned to drive here, on an independence-era Willys CJ-2A with split windshield, taught by a driver -- "Chindoo", eager to please bade-sahaab's nephew from Bombay.

I was underage and my initiative didn't have anyone's blessing in the family.
But the kindly old driver sensed that learning to drive meant the whole universe to me.
My lessons took place in the far away grassy plains, on eye-glazing summer afternoons
when decent people slept.

The collector's estate had many Jeeps and this was a run-down almost two-decade-old Jeep.
Most of its sky-blue paint had weathered off, showing red-oxide in some places and dull rust-free steel in others. I was awed by the rifle rack mounted on the windshield frame.

The Jeep's battery was at the end of its life, but the Jeep had a starting crank under the passenger seat. The driver Chindoo would engage the front pulley on the crankshaft, through a hole in the bumper and manually crank-start the Jeep.

If the battery was in a good mood, the Jeep also had a foot operated self-starter push-switch.

Getting acquainted with the Jeep's Warner T-18 gearbox was particularly challenging.
To shift from 1st to 2nd you had to move the lever up out of 1st, gate it to the right thru neutral and up into 2nd. The process is easier described than done.
The clutch was a tad too heavy for my nine-year old strength.
Luckily the Jeep was left-hand-drive and I'm right-handed, so my better hand could muscle the gear lever.
I was frequently slow on the uptake.
The Jeep would lose momentum and I'd have to go back to 1st gear and try again.
Lacking synchromesh on 1st gear, I'd have to stop the vehicle and try again.
The base of my right thumb was permanently bruised, attempting things I was too small to do.

My learner's blunders often killed the engine.
Chindoo would spit his red Paan spittle in exasperation,
as the manual cranking process punished his shoulder.

Forty years have flown, but childhood memories hold fast.

[airfoil]

Age: 12
Tutor: Self
Car: Ambassador Mark II
Location: House compound

I learnt by watching my dad & uncles keenly while they drove. I also used to imagine the engine revs and "change gears" while driving in my make believe world. It didn't take much when my actual tryst began with my 'stealing' the car for a drive inside the large compund of the house.

[v.tec]

age -18
tutor - driving school
car - hyundai santro (old one)
location : south delhi
took a month of practice..then as cars/racing/driving has been in the family blood i gagged on..n nobody's been able to guess till today that its not even been an year since i learnt driving..they always guess 5-6 years

[Real_man]

age -11
First lesson - Half clutch
tutor - Police driver
car - Mahindra Jeep
location : Shillong (Meghalaya)

First thing to learn was half clutch. Rest i managed with trial n error. I still remember how those days i use to sneak out of the house once get i hold of the keys (Ambassador Mark 3). Shillong being a hilly terrane was very difficult to drive in a steep climbing especially when there is traffic.
Before i mastered half clutch i use to carry stones with me in the car. Whenever i have to stop in a slope, i place a stone behind the fornt wheel which stops the vehicle from going backwards.

I must say that everyone in shillong learns driving at a very early age.

[Jay]

Age: 12
Tutor : Dad
Car : M800
Place : Bangalore

To start off i used to sit on my dads lap ( just because otherwise it was difficult to see the road ) i had total control of the car ie, ABC's, gears and steering ( in short, i was driving the car by myself, sitting on my dads lap only to gain height ) well this was on the roads, otherwise at the same time i used to drive the car with dad sitting beside me, in a play ground behind my house.

couldnt vote as 12 years age group is not specified...

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by Real_man

First lesson - Half clutch

Interesting how the first step is different for most people. My first lesson was Steering Control, some here have had clutch control taught to them first....

I've been teaching Duboy throttle control since he's too young to do anything else - he is allowed to start the car and thereafter he must use his right foot to keep the Tacho steady at various random points that we both decide on. 1500, 2000, 2500, 1700, 2100 and so on and so forth.

We also play a guessing game while I'm driving where he has to close his eyes and tell me which gear I'm in based on the engine sound...he's not very good at this right now (to be fair this is not a very good test), but he's showing improvement.

[goldie_malhotra]

When: 19
Where: College hostel
Who: Pals
What: An old premier padmini, which was rotting away in my friends place until we dusted it off and brought it over to the hostel for some fun.

Driving around initially in the open wide streets of BHU campus was a piece of cake, until one day I wandered of into the streets of Benares, and that was one nightmare I dont know how I came out of.

[karthik247]

Age - 8yrs
Tutor - My driver
Car - Nissan Bluebird AT
Place - Bahrain

This was when i used to start the car and drive inside our compound of our villa. Used to drive straight from the garage to the gate and back. Also used to sit on the drives seat with the driver and drive to nearby places which is usually a coldstore. Ofcourse he used to keep track of the steering and the brakes. Accelerating was not a prob as my right foot was always planted

Then after the Nissan cane a Toyota Camry and a Merc. All AT ofcourse so didn't struggle with anyone of those except while driving the Merc which was like once in a blue moon.

First MT car i drove would have been the Ford, again in Bahrain. Then had to settle for MT cars after comming to India so leart it properly on my old Daewoo Nexia. After that came the Honda Accord and the Skoda.

Bottom line after driving all those MT and AT cars - MT cars rock!!!
About a month back i drove a Skoda Superb V6 AT, and i was really uncomfortable driving it. Cuz the last time i drove an AT car was like, 6yrs back


AND MODS,
Please include a category foe me, ram, airfoil etc...

[naveendhyani]

Age - 14
Tutor - Self
Car - Omni
Location - Delhi

at that time we had shifted to a new locality where there was a huge parking space but only 2 cars. though shameful but i sneaked the keys to drive. BAD ON MY PART.