Do YOU know what an intake manifold does? Notes from driver's ed class in 1969 show how complex driving used to be
A woman who took her driver’s education course back in 1969 ended up filling 30 pages with notes on how to properly maneuver a car, change parts and follow the rules of traffic.
Paula Thieves recently shared her experience with her son Jake, who scanned all of those pages and posted them on Reddit.
She was 15 when she took her driver’s class and back then, as her thoroughly detailed notes show, the experience was incredibly demanding.
Detailed: Paula Thieves, who took her driver¿s education course back in 1969, ended up filling 30 pages with notes on how to properly maneuver a car, change parts and follow the rules of traffic
Demanding: Thieves was 15 when she took her driver¿s class and back then, as her thoroughly detailed notes show, the experience was incredibly demanding
Mandatory: Thieves' Virginia high school had made driver's education a mandatory full-semester course at the time
Thieves’ Virginia high school had made driver's education a mandatory full-semester course at the time, she recently told AOL’s autoblog.
The amount of time Thieves and her peers spent learning the ins and outs of driving an automobile meant that they were thoroughly schooled in not only how to drive, but also in how a car operates.
One assignment saw Thieves changing the tire of her family’s Fiat as her father carefully watched over her.
Her notes include other interesting details, including her teacher’s unique one-liners, such as ‘jackrabbit driving may save time but you may lose your life.’
Thieves’ detailed notes also include plenty of hand-drawn diagrams and the timeless ‘Three Cs’: ‘Concentration, Control and Courtesy.’
In-depth lesson: The amount of time Thieves and her peers spent learning the ins and outs of driving an automobile meant that they were thoroughly schooled in not only how to drive, but also in how a car operates
Tire change: One assignment saw Thieves changing the tire of her family¿s Fiat as her father carefully watched over her
Little observations: Her notes include other interesting details, including her teacher¿s unique one-liners, such as 'jackrabbit driving may save time but you may lose your life'
The fundamentals she learned in high school have served her well, Thieves told autoblog, noting that she had no problems parallel parking when she lived in San Francisco, known for its hilly streets, and that she has not had one ticket in her 43 years of driving.
But despite the challenges of learning how to operate a vehicle and obey the rules of traffic in the late 60s, Thieves said that young drivers today have a tougher task ahead of them than her generation.
‘When we were kids, we didn't have the distraction of texting and cell phones.’ she said.
Still learning the essentials of driving in 1969 was no walk in the park.
‘Cars used to be a completely mechanical affair, so there wasn't just a basic focus on troubleshooting and maintenance, but a thorough understanding of every single element that makes it go, stop and turn,’ Damon Lavrinc, Wired Magazine’s Transportation editor, told autoblog.
Different times: Learning the essentials of driving in 1969 was more demanding than it is in 2013, though Thieves said young drivers today have a tougher task ahead of them