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not to make me do this. He smiled and told me I had to learn someday. So he ran through the gears and then told me to put it in first. I did so. Then he says, press the gas and let off the clutch. His mistake.

I proceeded at that point, (now remember, I had to floorboard my Ford to go), I floorboarded the gas pedal and let off the clutch. After a neck wrenching take off I left the spot we were sitting and made a complete donut across both lanes of the road. Luckily there was no traffic.

After the really quick donut I straightened her out and headed down the road at what seemed break neck speed. Again, luckily, I was headed in the right direction. When the initial heart pounding take off was past I figured I should take my foot off the gas a bit so I did. I looked over at my husband as I now cruised in first gear and for the first and only time in our married life saw him hanging onto the dash board with knuckles as white as the pin-striping on the sides of the car.

I was shook up myself but we had lived through it and all at once I busted out laughing. He calmly said, "Gently push the gas pedal and shift into second." I did so all they way up to forth gear and for someone who didn't know what she was doing I did a fairly good job.

He said, "I think we need to work on your take off a bit." All I could do was laugh that much harder. It was nerves because I had scared the you know what out of myself. It's funny now as I look back because since then we have owned a Firebird, a Trans-AM, a Mustang, and another Chevelle, a 69 this time. We now have a 69 El Camino waiting to be restored and I'm sure it will be a @#&$ kicker too when it's done.

Now thanks to him I can drive a manual tranny and actually prefer them to an automatic. Gives me something to do when driving. Also thanks to him I can handle a fast car. I've actually won a few drag races myself. The only thing is I don't think we'll be simply cruising in the El Camino when it's done. With gas over $3.00 a gal there isn't much cruising for no reason going on today.

Ahhhhhhh but those were the days!

Learn more about this author, Teresa Roberts.
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