First Drive – we all have stories about our first car. Mine was an early Porsche dressed up like a 1964 VW Beetle – a tall-body 356? Well, in my mind it was. But what was my FIRST car – the first car that I drove after getting my learner’s permit? A 1967 Ford Falcon owned by my Aunt Jeanne. And she was brave enough to let me behind the wheel. I took my driving test in it when I turned sixteen. Too bad I don’t have any photos of that…
July 10, 2024, my grandson turned fifteen, and in Florida you qualify for a learner’s permit drivers license. So on that date, after finishing the online requirements for his permit, he went to the driver’s license office and got his permit.
I had promised him that as soon as he obtained his permit, I would take him out for his first legal drive, and we would do it in Sparky, my 1987 Porsche 924S. He could tell his kids and grandkids that his first drive was in a Porsche. A five-speed Porsche.
So at about 6:30 pm on his birthday I picked him up and we went to a large empty parking lot nearby and he slid behind the wheel. We spent the next hour practicing three-pedal driving, learning how to clutch and shift. I must say that it went well. Being a trainer I took him through the steps. First, get the car rolling using only the clutch – no gas pedal. Then add the gas pedal slowly and evenly. Then combine the two motions to give it some gas and engage the clutch. He did well.
Not every new driver can say that they drove a Porsche as their first stab at legal permitted driving. Now he can. There will be more lessons and more time behind the wheel. And maybe a classic Porsche convert.
Check the two-minute video that I shot as visual proof (for his parents) of this momentous occasion!
