I learned to drive in a land boat ('77 Dodge Aspen "Special Edition" Station Wagon) but I'm pretty sure that qualifies as an automatic car so that's how I answered. I was twelve -- my parents started teaching me as soon as I could reach the pedals. We lived in a rural area and it was very possible that, if something happened to one parent while the other one wasn't at home, I'd need to drive them out.
Incidentally, I was not twelve in 1977.
Said car was supposed to have been my first car when I officially began driving at sixteen, but it was totaled when I was fifteen...it had been parked on a street, with the parking brake engaged, when a Mazda half-ton hit it. This happened on a clear morning in a 35 mph zone. The car ended up halfway down the next block, half its original length. The other driver claimed he was doing 35 and never saw the burgundy car.
Riiiiiiiight. The insurance company paid off the claim and dropped him. And I was deprived of what would have been a kick-tail car for teardropping....