[Avatard]

For the record, my first car was a fully manual '70 Chevelle Malibu [zero-option stripper, orig with 307, and a 'glide]. The 'glide was DOA, so the build was on.

I assembled it (on a kid's budget, mostly used parts) to have:

Manual steering [with a 14" Grant wheel, no less!], Hurst Competition Plus shifted M-20 Muncie w/low 1st gear [yes, I cut a hole in the floor, and hung pedals], and fully manual brakes [gasp! DRUMS all corners!]. The mechanical secondary Holley quad 650 [on a single plane Edelbrock intake] had a huge fucking return spring on it too, as did the 3800Lb. clutch. Stock open 10 bolt [held up for a while in the back, was later replaced with a 12 bolt], a solid cam [sic], and some Blackjack headers, and the little 307 smallblock woke up nicely. The stock 2-bolt cast bottom end held up to everything, even though the powerband [with the solid stick and single plane] was high as balls, and the motor routinely saw 7000 RPMs as a result.

The thing was a fucking animal to drive.

I got to the point that I could actually drive that car, and eat a cheeseburger, fries, and a Coke...but I wouldn't recommend it.

Once you learn to drive on that shit, though, anything else is cake. Thus I can say that I agree driver training could be a lot better - clearly not everyone should learn like I did, but evidently training helps. I would say I feel more prepared than most behind the wheel based on emergency driving situations I've experienced since, I feel, by my "training" in a challenging car.

How challenging was this thing [my first car] to drive?

Not ONCE in the 5 years or so that I had that fucking beast, did I ever have it successfully valet parked, and I used to drive to NYC often (LOL!). I got to walk around in a lot of NYC parking garages with the attendant as my guide. I used to try and park on the street as much as possible, as a result. Not like anyone could drive it to steal it...lol.

It didn't even have a security system (if they existed back then, I couldn't have afforded it).