Ok so here is a question for all us old timers and you young wippersnappers also and all you that want to keep this forum up and going
....so hands up all the people that learned to drive in a beetle ?
Just thinking to myself the other day that there will soon be a whole generation that are not able to say that they "learned to drive in a beetle"

What are your thoughts ?

I had two lessons from a "professional" teacher in a 6volt Beetle (so yes, I am an old timer and yes I want to keep this forum running). I still remember that he told me that because 4th gear was an overdrive, you only used it when on the highway or going down hill!
Cheers.....Wayne

yeah had a couple of drives in my brother 65 bug then got my own 65 Wagon to learn on
didn't have to do no 120 hours that s for sure only 12 months on P Plates

The workshop manager at the dealership showed me how to drive his 1957 0val out to the back of the workshop so that I could wash it for him and this became 1 of my weekly jobs, my Dad had an FC Holden and I used to drive him home after we finished for the day. When I got my licence I brought a 1955 oval that consumed most of my $14.10 weekly wage and never looked back fortunately my Mum put a bit of a block on my rash spending.

My Dad had beetles - bought his first one the day I was born - the rego used to come up on my birthday. I bought my first beetle 2nd hand - a 59 model - when I was about 16 1/2, and learnt to drive it around the paddocks when I came home from work (I started my apprenticeship when I was 15) until I was old enough to get my licence. I soon learnt how to double shuffle back into the 1st gear that had no syncro without having to come to a stop.

i learnt in a bug and a lada niva. if you can drive ether of those you can pretty much drive anything

Ok cool ! fantastic stories guys ....keep them coming
My mum got her first beetle way back when in early 60's drove it all over the Bathurst and Orange area for years
I myself was given a rusted out 64 bug in my younger days and i drove that poor old dak dak around the paddock for hours, must have put thousands of km on it ...and still have it in my collection too.
Gave the wife driving lessons in my 73 superbug bug once
Question for you ......have you guys ever been in the passenger seat with a learner driver in control of a beetle and gone around a roundabout on two wheels...well I have ....and i never want to again !

i had my brother when he was trying to learn to drive an he took a 90 degree left hander at nearly 60km/h. no blinker. so close.

On the day I was born a Karmann Ghia was built. That same KG and I came together 23 years later in 1983. Still got that KG and most likely we will be buried together. it wasn't the first VW in the family though. I grew up with an early 1500 wagon , complete with 6 volt and leaking heater boxes, perfect mix for winter. The earliest family connection with VW was my Grandfather and family in an early Samba.

My first car was a Morris '8/40'. However it was when I bought my brand new Beetle in January,1960, that I really started to learn to drive. The Morris had no synchromesh on first gear, so that wasn't a problem. Going from serious understeer, to serious oversteer took a while (not long, really) to start to appreciate.

In 1961 I had to have the latest '40 horsepower' Beetle, and (with Jack Bono's help) when the power was increased to 70hp - that's when the "real learning to drive" began!

dad had a beetle, 58 or 59 i think.....traded it in a couple of years after i was born and bought the 65 type 3 panelvan
had the windows put in and bought the bits for the backseat......crashed it in 75 and bought it back from the insurance company for $50 (dont know why he did ......will have to ask him if i remember)
car sat in the shed for a year or 2 then we bought a 65 station wagon with a blown motor to repair the panelvan.
learnt to drive in it in 79 and drove it for 10 years on and off. it sat in the shed for 25 years till my family grew up and i could afford to do something about getting it back to its original panelvan self.
its still a work in progress but its registered and driving again............

I learnt to drive Barnes driving school in an XY or XW sedan, Got my first Beetle when I was 17.

I gave my son 74 Beetle which he still owns for his 16th Beetle, he learnt to drive in it, drove to Valla, drove to Warwick in Queens land and raced on the 1/8 mile, we even filled in his log book with 1/8 his 1/8 runs

VIP Driving school in Hobart used to have all VW Beetles. The owner (a personal friend) used to rally a Beetle.

My first car was an MG TC which I tried to trade in on a VW Beetle, left the MG overnight at the dealership to pick up the Beetle the next day. On arrival the dealer pointed to where the MG had been parked overnight and said he was not going to follow through with the deal. "Look at all that oil that has leaked out overnight?" was his remark.

Never got my first Beetle till I purchased a new on in 2015 for my wife and a year later our current 1976 model.

I was given a floorpan when I was 13 and my dad and I turned it into a beach buggy. By the time I got my license I'd been driving my buggy for years. I built a baja as my first car, then a lowered streeter with an 1835cc.
I started riding road bikes after that starting with a Kawasaki Z1 900, and got rid of my last bike a couple of years ago (Susuki Hatabusa).
We purchased a project Manx buggy a couple of weeks ago, so I've been brought back into the fold....lol....

Happy Daze,

No did not keep the TC but have had a couple of MGB's and a very nice MGA Coupe since.

Love my old (1976) Beetle and at the opposite end of the scale my 1976 Jaguar XJ6. Well known fact that all English cars leak oil, however if a Jaguar is not leaking oil, it usually means it has run out of the damn stuff. Ours does not leak oil, yet?

Cheers

My 4 siblings all learnt to drive in mums 64 standard that the olds bought new. I still have it on club rego.

Just noticed this thread. I'm an older guy (67) and want to keep this forum going. I'm not a technophobe and Facebook AVD's has its place but there's nothing like writing and posting stories on the big screen. I have big fingers and using an iPhone just doesn't cut it with me.

Yes I learned to drive on my Dad's since new '68 beetle in 1969. He had a '64 when I was 12 and I used to sit in it and pretend to drive it. He was a bus driver in Sydney and used to drive the VW like a bus, forgetting how small the bug was when pulling out into what little amount of traffic we had in those days. I learned to double shuffle and heel and toe braking and I thought I was just "it" on those 560 x 15 crossplies (but proved later like most wet-behind-the-ears kids that I had a lot to learn).

Back in my day it was a badge of honour to get your licence at 17. We got our permit to drive at 16 years and 9 months, allowing 3 months to practice before getting your licence. Imagine the who-ha today if you only had to do that with no log book or practice in the wet or after dark! My first few drives with my Dad were around the roads of the old North Ryde Psychiatric Centre where my mother worked which was probably appropriate given most of the other drivers on the road appeared to have been from there too. So on my 17th birthday I was booked in to do my driver's test.

The tests were usually about 20 minutes or so, with the usual stuff including the proverbial reverse park, hill start and three point turn. No driving school connections with the RTA inspector where these "secret" tests were to be carried out either. No backing cameras, proximity beepers or self parking, or automatics that didn't roll back on the hill start. I drove for about 10 minutes double shuffling down from third to second at every corner and generally (in my opinion) doing a pretty good job. The inspector told me to pull into the next garage which I did. I thought I was in trouble and had done something wrong. He got out of the car and went inside, proceeded to get a Coke and sat and talked to the proprietor for the next 15 minutes with not a word to myself who proceeded to sit anxiously in the car. I don't know how I occupied my time because I did not have a phone or wifi access there at all.

At the end of it all, he told me to go back to the RTA, went inside, handed me my P's and off I went. So I don't have to remember my expiry date. It's my birthday! In those days one mistake on your P's and you lost your licence. No chances!

I just celebrated 4 weeks ago, 50 years of driving. My driving record says that I am a pretty safe driver, but as you all know most of us were really stupid which I now know and try to educate my own grand children of that. No speed cameras then and I knew that my old bug could out drive most Mini's with 2 big coppers in it in the back streets of Ryde. Man those cross-plys were great in a full power slide through a 90 degree corner. At least the '68 had that famous Z-bar to keep the wheels tucked out. I proved it. VW wasn't lying about it in their sales brochure. Ha!

For people without a Holden or Ford or who had some "wog" car were often derided. If you had a Fiat or a Simca, a VW or even an Austin 1800 you would get a bit of a snigger from the EH owners. So my love for the VW came not from some recent trend of being cool, but a sign of defiance against the majority view of the day. It was so underpowered and quirky, that's why I loved them so much. A bit like me perhaps!

Im restoring that VW now after many years of neglect in the hands of other members of my family after my dad passed away and it sat rotting away for 15 years. It has a lot of significance for my own family. It reminds me of the good days with my father and of my youth. Every time I see it, it reminds me that I took my new girlfriend on our first date in it as teenagers. Both old girls are still with me. One for the last 48 years and the other only recently. Both are in need of some love and perhaps a coat of paint and some repairs but are both still with me. One talks back to me and the other sits there and just refuses to work properly. But I wouldn't swap them for anything better looking or more powerful. Cars and people are rarely perfect or shiny, but that's what makes life interesting. Old dubs in particular.

Well said. I too would like to see the forum keep going.
Cheers........Wayne

My 3 boys all learned to drive in my beetle.

It was the only manual car I had.

Great story. My eldest daughter learn't to drive in my beetle, and when she went to do her test, the rear main oil seal was leaking so the clutch was slipping. At least she couldn't really stall it, and the tester was very understanding. She has an Amarok now, her husband has an R line Passat, and his daughter has a Bora.

My other daughter couldn't get over the embarrassment of being picked up from school in the bug, so she rebelled and went with Mazdas for many years, before eventually getting an Audi A5, and finally, an Arteon.

Yes. I learnt to drive a car in a VW Beach buggy. I made all the mistakes on the sand. Then my Dad let me loose on the road, when he thought I was ready.
I'm now 59 years young and I'm restoring my 1960 model Rag Top Beetle.