Saturday, November 19, 2011

Permit to Drive!

This week's Sepia Saturday prompt, "The Greatest Chevrolet in Chevrolet History," is a colorful illustration of a couple setting off for a pleasant drive in their automobile.   I rummaged through my old family photos to see what I might find that would inspire my submission for the week.   I found my mother's old high school scrapbook from the 1930s and there it was:

Permit to Drive!
It was a picture of my mother preparing to get behind the wheel of the car after getting her first permit to drive!   I am not familiar enough with cars to determine if it was a Chevrolet model or not, but it was definitely not "shiny and new" like the one in this week's prompt.   In fact, on a nearby spot in the scrapbook was another picture of her brother with the same car.


It appears to me that it may have been necessary for him to do some repair work or adjustments on the car.  Perhaps it was to get it started for her on that very same day.



I vividly remember the day I first got my license to drive.  I passed the driving test at the driver's bureau with ease: parallel parking, three point turns, manual turn signals with my arm, etc.   Later that afternoon, after much begging, I finally got permission to take my brother's car out for a short drive by myself.   His car was a beige Chevrolet Corvair.  (Yes, the very same model that activist Ralph Nader demonized).   I drove in a big circle around a neighborhood park then headed up the hill intending to ride by a friend's house.   We didn't have cell phones at that time, of course, so I had called her from home before I left to let her know my plans hoping she would watch for me to ride by from her house.  I was finally sixteen!  I was so proud and felt so grown up!



Suddenly, I was spinning in circles on the road.   I had no idea what had happened.  My hands were frozen in place on the steering wheel until well after the car came to a stop heading in the opposite direction and on the opposite side of the road.   I had been hit broadside by another car.   It was not long before a policeman arrived to evaluate the scene.  He spoke to the other driver first and then came over to take my information.   When he looked at the merely-hours-old driver's license I produced he paused.   I must have been a pitiful sight.  Without writing anything down he told me to go home right away and come in and file my report on another day.

If only my brother had been so kind.....


Check this week's Sepia Saturday site to see other's posts inspired by "The Greatest Chevrolet in Chevrolet History."

18 comments:

Sherri said...

A couple of great stories. I got my license without really know how to drive...needed it to work and barely passed the driving test by driving very slowly. I, and everyone else on the road, was fortunate that I had no mishaps as I learned to drive on my own later.

North County Film Club said...

That's so weird that our posts were so similar. Both about crashing our chevrolets, both of us beginning drivers. It kind of proves that teens shouldn't be behind wheels!
Nancy Javier
Ladies of the grove

Anonymous said...

Oh dear, poor you, poor brother and poor Corsair... I bet that put a dent in your confidence for a while. Jo

21 Wits said...

Such great photos to go along with family treasures for sure. My dad had one of those Corvairs in bright red and it was fun to drive!..although I never got to actually drive it...too young, but I got to ride in it...the engine was in the back...and help wash it too!

Postcardy said...

I did OK the first time I drove after getting my license, but I had an accident when I ran into the back of another car a few months later.

Sheila @ A Postcard a Day said...

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! I'm so glad the policeman was kind even if your brother found it difficult.

Marilyn & Jeff said...

Oh dear, what a thing to happen to you, and your brother's car! Great post.

Bob Scotney said...

Now we have a situation in the UK where the insurance required for teenagers is more expensive than the car they drive.
Crashing a Chevrolet does have a certain ring about it.

Alan Burnett said...

Oh yes, the very essence of what Sepia Saturday is all about : some great old images giving rise to some wonderful memories.

Little Nell said...

It seems Alan’s prompt has stirred some painful memories here on SS. You were lucky that the policeman was feeling kindly that day. Lovely picture of your Mum too.

Unknown said...

All great photos but the one of the Corvair takes the cake for us! My husband had one for scooting around and got one restored for our son's first car...what memories this brought!

Tattered and Lost said...

What happened to you was what I feared would happen to me. People could not understand why I wasn't anxious to drive. A few years after I got my license I too was in an accident and have been in a total of 4. My car now has airbags all around me.

Bruno Laliberté said...

You've got some nerves ending the story right there!!! What did your brother say? Did you file that report, by yourself? When did you drive another car and was it your own? etc...
:D~
HUGZ

tony said...

ha The Joys Of Driving! I remember getting fined by the Police only days after passing my test.Your in good company!
And whatever did happen to manual turn signals?

mary said...

Okay, okay! Yes, I did file the report later, but the police never charged me with a violation (and it was my fault). My brother was angry that I totaled his Corvair, but he got over it pretty quickly when he was able to buy an MGB with a removable hard top with the insurance money!

Unknown said...

That's what brothers are for...

Bruno Laliberté said...

See what you were depriving us of?
I love this new ending...
Glad for your bro...
I guess he was too,
eventually...
The one good thing I find here is that you weren't harmed, nor anybody else.
A lesson for everyone here.
:)~
Thanx 4 the update!!
:)~
HUGZ

Joanna Jenkins said...

Oh jeez, that must have been so scary for you. How long did it take to get back behind the wheel again?

Great pics of your Mom-- what a wonderful snapshot in time.

Cheers, jj