I sold my last one several years ago on eBay for $4000.
The car it came on sold for about that much in 1960.
Posted on 09/16/2015 1:50:45 PM PDT by Cowman
Blame it on modern cars, which have gotten so forgiving that skills like threshold braking and skid recovery have become lost arts. That’s all well and good until the laws of physics intervene; ABS won’t always stop a car before an oak tree will, and tires won’t always generate enough grip for the electro-nannies to keep a car off a guard rail. While very few drivers have enough training to avoid all potential accidents, there’s a definite correlation between the amount of time spent practicing behind the wheel (under trained supervision) and the number of avoidable crashes on one’s driving record.
Time was that driver’s education was a part of high school curriculum, to the extent that many school districts even had a car (or fleet of cars) to be used in training new drivers. By the time I made it to driver’s ed, it was taught by a disinterested phys-ed teacher and consisted of little more than an overview of basic rules of the road and vehicle operation. The on-road training came courtesy of my father and the local driving school, which was enough to meet the requirements for licensing, but not much more. Today, the situation is even bleaker: many schools offer no training at all, leaving it up to parents, relatives, or driving schools.
Assuming we can agree that there’s a problem in training new drivers, how do we fix it? Do we impose a strict training and licensing regimen like Germany, which produces skilled drivers but a cost unattainable to many in the United States? Do we require participation in one (or more) of the street survival schools now offered to young drivers across the United States? Do we mandate that high schools again teach driver’s education, and if so, how do we fund this? Do we continue to bury our heads in the sand, trusting that automakers will improve automotive safety and hoping that autonomous cars will solve all our problems? What’s your solution?
my uncle had a 59 Chevy Bel Air ( almost forever) exactly as you described the 60.
They had 6 kids. 8 people and a dog in that car -
It isn’t just the youth. No one seems to be able to drive today without using their cell phone. I’m wearing out my horn honking at stop lights while the driver in front of me gets on the phone and forgets to watch the light.
Maybe I should invent an APP that tells them the light is green and plays the message “Hang Up The Phone Idiot!”
More youngsters than one may think know most of that save the carburetor thingy these days. Nanny state in DC prefers electronic fuel injection; even the lowly Dodge Omni post-1987 was sold with single-point FI. As far as stickshifts go, most cars with them have been synchromesh for ages, so no need to watch the revs to change gears.
How about filing down points with a matchbook cover or adjusting the valve lash on solid lifters?
Somehow driving was more fun then
In Texas, got hit 6 -SIX times not moving. At stop signs, in parking spots, at the on ramp. Six times.
______________________________________
See, there’s your problem right there. Just sitting there . In people’s way.
As an experienced Texas driver - I know better than to just “not move”.
Even in Houston.
(lol)
Oops. Shouldn’t try to type in bed at 11 PM
I grew up rural and most of us learned to drive by the time we were 12 to 14 years old and many younger. We were experienced drivers by the time we got to Driver training around 1980.
No dads around teaching anything.
I’d like to have current and trainee drivers understand that if they tailgate and/or cut off other drivers at high speeds and in bad weather, one fine day somebody is gonna kick their freakin’ ASS!
How about cell phone interlock?
When the car is in drive, cell phone is put into airplane mode.
Simulators
Bondurant? Mine was 6 cyl galaxie with 3 on the tree.
I sold my last one several years ago on eBay for $4000.
The car it came on sold for about that much in 1960.
So what do they do in Finland?
I learned on one of these. Split shifting from 2nd high to 4th low was sublime once you mastered it
I’m not quite as down on the kids as the idiot adults I pass texting or USING their phones as they drive. Kids have always been stupid - now the adults are regressing. How many do you see as you pass that are literally looking down for seconds at a time reading/texting/watching something? I see a LOT.
You’re showing your age. Only antique cars have carburetors. Everything is fuel injected now.
Almost 15 years ago, me and two other dads put together a two-Saturday-mornings class on basic auto maintenance and roadside safety for our kids and their classmates at the private school our son attended. Not drivers ed, but some fundamentals like “here’s how you check your fluids, and here’s what happens when you don’t.” It was very worthwhile, we got lots of accolades from other parents. Typical from one mom was “thanks so much for doing this, because my husband sure couldn’t do it.”
“my uncle had a 59 Chevy Bel Air ( almost forever) exactly as you described the 60.
They had 6 kids. 8 people and a dog in that car -”
Good thing it didn’t get in an accident, that X-frame design was awful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwupWFy_NP4
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