The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot '60-'66 Trucks New Driver + Old Truck + Wall = Big Oops!!

I'm teaching my teenage daughter how to drive a Stick Shift using my '62 C10. On Thanksgiving, we needed some groceries for dinner and I let her drive my old truck to Walmart.

Well, she needed to make a right hand turn, and go up a small incline to get into the parking lot. No problem for us old die hards, we're used to this. But, she isn't. Well, Parking lot is crowded, she swings a little wide left on her turn into oncoming traffic. I tell her to cut it back into her lane. Well, she overcorrects and while trying to steer, downshift, and make the rest of the needed adjustments, she forgot to turn back to straighten out.

I tried to stop the truck by killing the ignition, but she pushed in the clutch just as I turned the key, negating my action. She also failed to either brake or turn back into her lane and found the big wall on the right.

Could have been worse. No injuries, no other vehicles or pedestrians involved, just minor cosmetic damage to the truck. Right Fender, Grill surround, and front bumper.

She felt pretty bad and thought I would be furious. She knows how much this truck means to me. I just told her that I would drive the rest of the way.

We discussed what happened and why later. I let her know she would have to take responsibility for repairing the truck and she was ok with that.

So the next day, we started hitting the local junkyards and finally found a decent fender and grill surround from a private party on craigslist who was parting out another '62. Picked up a few other parts we needed for the truck while we were there and got away for $90.00.

She has learned a good life lesson and understands why I am not doing the final bodywork until she is done driving my truck and has her own vehicle.

An excellent lesson for kids and parents! Good for you.

I would wish I could be that calm. good for you.

I wasn't that calm on the inside. I just figured that getting angry at her wouldn't solve the issue or make it go away. Besides, I'm having a tough enough time convincing my daughter that she needs a drivers license in the first place. No need to compound the issue by giving her a bad experience.

My father was Very patient with me while I was learning to drive. I learned in a 1963 C10 (see below). I had my first wreck 30 days after I got my license.

My experiences with that truck is why I'm willing to have her learn in my '62. I know she's well protected in it. She's even nicknamed it "The Tank". Also, I know that it can be repaired fairly easily and usually without a lot of expense. It would not be so cheap if she had been driving my '06 Dodge with it's custom paint and expensive parts.

The '62 is still multi-colored and has it's share of small dents, and I know that it will probably get a few more before she's done with it. We'll just try to keep it from getting worse and make repairs as needed as she learns. She is already good at auto mechanics and will learn more body and paint as we go. She's been wrenching with me ever since she was able to remember which end of the wrench was which.

My father taught me auto mechanics on that old '63. We spent a lot of good "Family Time" in the garage and on the road. I'm repeating the process with my daughter on my '62.

Without trying to sound religious or break the rules I remember a passage in the good book that goes something like this.

Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.

Sounds like you passed that on.

Colossians I think

This reminds me of the time my youngest step-daughter hit a triple and I rewarded her with the chance to drive my 64 (back when it had the 3 speed, manual brakes, & manual steering).
She was very nervous but actually did fine (sorry, no accident in my story). I kept her in the subdivision and she navigated through all the cars fine.
My wife had a fit.
I guess it was because she was only 14 at the time.
BTW, she never hit another triple. Not sure if that was because she just never hit another triple or she didn't want the reward. :-)

If they learn how to drive using a stick, they will always know how to drive a stick - it's something you never forget.

Good job on keeping your cool

John

I think my wife would have had a fit too!

14 is a bit young in town. I grew up in the country and I know a lot of kids who were driving before they were 10. Some of the best drivers I ever knew once they were legal on the street.