Old Ford Escort and 18 year old learner driver and a very cold engine.

[Full-choke]

I'm a 29 year old straight male but love watching other young males with cars that are hard to start and also tires spinning.
I live in a Cornish mining hamlet in a cottage right at the bottom of a very steep (1 in 4) hill, next to the river. It gets damp and very cold.
My neighbour is very elderly and gave up driving last year. His grandson came to live with him last year. He's away at college but comes home every weekend. He was 17 then but he's 18 now. His granddad asked me if I would give him a driving lesson each weekend. He's got an old Ford Escort 1300 mk3 from 1985. It's black and getting very tatty with a really high mileage.
We started the lessons last October and soon found out the car doesn't damp mornings or when it's been raining over night. It's very reluctant to start and you have to get the amount of choke you use exactly right. The other problem is you have to hold the choke knob out by hand or it slips straight back in.
Dan is a good looking guy. Tall and slim. If we do the lesson on a Saturday he's usually wearing smart trousers because we go and pick his girlfriend up from the station. If we do the lesson on a Sunday he's wearing tight jeans. Usually black and his girlfriend sits in the back of the car.
The engine's really sluggish when it's first started and doesn't want to drive up a long 1 in 4 hill. Changing gear is a problem because if the choke slips back in the engine will stall and really doesn't like restarting on the steep hill. Sometimes Dan asks me to hold the choke out for him. To do this my wrist has to rest on his left knee.
Halfway up the hill, at the steepest part, there's a junction with a quite busy road. The car really doesn't like having to stop and it struggles to pull away up the hill again. If the road's wet the tires will spin and the engine will probably stall. If he gives it too much choke the engine will flood and chug with thick smoke coming out the exhaust but it won't pull away on the hill. Especially when there's three people in the car. If he doesn't give it enough choke it will be a real bastard to start and keeps stalling. This holds up all the traffic on the main road.

NEXT...WHAT IT'S LIKE IN WINTER.

Have you had any similar experiences.

[gabe]

Sounds amazing! Looking forward to hearing more from your adventures with Dan.

Sounds like your next lesson should be how to give way to other drivers on those narrow Cornish countryside roads. If he ends up spinning the wheels on the muddy verge, all the better!