Anybody else have a field car when growing up?
 

I grew up out in the sticks, more or less. We had a grass airstrip and when I was 9, my dad gave me his 61 beetle and cut a mile of trails out of the brush down the sides and at the end. That's how I learned to drive.

I cried like a baby the first time I caught air and nosed in some sand at the bottom of a dropoff. Not because I was hurt, I felt horrible for hurting the car.

My dad laughed his big laugh, hugged me, and said "come on, let's fix it."

Your dad made you a mile long rally track AND gave you a car at 9 years old?!... Yup, your childhood was officially better than mine.

I was older. I got a 63 Corvair when I turned 14. I drove it in our horse pasture for 2 years. Taught me how to use a stick and how to work on cars a little bit. I drove it for a couple months after I got my license before I broke it for good.

I had a couple other friends with similar "hobbies." Maybe it was all the family farms back in the day but it seemed like the normal thing. We were not rich by any stretch. My folks were private pilots so I had a bonus with the half-mile grass air/drag strip.

There was a beautifully maintained grass strip at my high school. Weather permitting, my mom used to fly us to school when we missed the bus.

Was it "Unsafe At Any Speed?"

I didn't think so. I had two of them in my life and loved driving both of them, I wonder, if Chevy had not caved, what that car would have led to.

Yeah, I dunno. I feel the same way as you but we're not every driver. Skid pad training should be part of every driver's education program. Few people are really comfortable with getting out of shape.

I am envious of your childhood.

I had no idea how special it was until years later. Just seemed normal.

Anyhow, I was just wondering if anyone else had similar formative driving experiences.

When I was 14 my dad once let me drive our minivan down a dirt road at a boyscout camp. I remember that the accelerator was a lot more sensitive than I expected.
But for the most part I learned to drive on a ford 16 passenger van. Then I drove an old Chevy conversion van (which I distinctly remember being able to drift around certain curves). Then I drove a car once (ford focus?) and discovered the joys of having maneuverability and handling.

I didn't live on an airstrip (lucky you), but I did learn to drive a stick (to drive at all, in fact) at the wheel of the old VW Sirocco we used to tow gliders to and from the runway. Aged 14 or so. Ha, what a summer that was.

My pops taught me how to drive at 12 years old in a manual toyota pickup. Just as I started getting the hang of it, he told me to turn up this really steep hill. Needless to say I stalled it and rolled back into the street.

My dad just goes, "Move, move, Move, MOVE MOVE MOVE GO GO GO, IF YOU DON'T GET US OUT OF HERE WE"LL DIE!!!"... Fucking traumatic thing to hear at 12 on your first driving attempt, I ended up just flooring it and dumping the clutch...

...So yea, fuck you Ultramaroon for your rally track/drag strip. Hah!

Wait, you had a grass airstrip!?! Now I'm totally jealous.

I learned to drive on farm equipment, (Ford tractors pulling wagons/hay bailers primarily) which included a couple of field trucks.

I also got to drive my Dad's dirt track '57 Chevy racecar when I was 10 or 11 every once in a while, when he was helping the track owner out.

I wouldn't say I had a "field car" exactly but my mom had an 87 or 88 Mazda Mx6 that I learned how to drive in the cow fields behind my grandmothers house in Georgia. Me being from New York that was a really new experience. I was about 12 or 13 when I started driving.