Posted on 05/02/2022 3:41:57 PM PDT by algore
A Ford GT owner in Boca Raton, Florida crashed his recently purchased supercar into a tree Friday evening because he was "unfamiliar with how to drive stick shift," police say.
The driver, 50-year-old Robert J. Guarini, told cops he lost control after downshifting while leaving his housing development at around 6 p.m, a police report says. This led to a head-on collision with a palm tree. Guarini then told a nearby security worker that he did not have his phone and needed a ride back to his house, where he spoke to authorities via landline after leaving the vehicle unattended, the report says.
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Though the police report says Guarini told officers the crash was caused by inexperience with a manual transmission, the Ford GT owner told Road & Track over the phone that there was more to the event. Guarini claims old tires, muddy pavement, and a fresh detailing were all factors causing the 550-horsepower supercar to swing out and hit a tree. The driver also told R&T the crash occurred as he shifted up into second gear from first, not while downshifting, as the official report says.
“I don’t want people to think I was racing at 90 mph," Guarini says. "I was going 35 mph.”
From the police report, it's unclear if speed played a role in the crash.
Facebook user John Peddle's photos from the crash site show that the damage is limited to the front third of the car. The hit was substantial enough to trigger multiple airbags, disable the vehicle, and cause the GT to slide far enough after hitting the tree that it blocked a nearby sidewalk.
Though police say the car was not registered or insured when the crash occurred, Guarini claims the car was covered under an umbrella policy and that he just didn't have the documentation available when the crash happened.
The police report's listed VIN indicates the car was purchased at a Barrett-Jackson auction in Palm Beach in early April for $704,000, about the going price for a 2006 Heritage Edition GT. That would make replacement a very expensive endeavor.
Guarini was issued a citation for driving with a suspended license and a warning for operating an unregistered vehicle. The 50-year-old claims his license suspension was due to an unrelated department of motor vehicles "clerical error."
50 years old and doesn't know how to drive a stick shift?
He should have practiced on something less expensive.
They say manual shift is the new antitheft security......I guess that’s right.
Unfamiliar with brake.
I could’ve sold him my 1997 Tercel…..
LOL! Reminds me of a scene I witnessed at my Harley dealership one time. A gentleman had bought himself a nice new Sportster and had three near misses with the curbs and other traffic leaving the parking lot. The salesman said it's not his business whether or not the customer can ride / drive.
My son deployed with his squadron to a base in Saudi TDY last year. There was equipment left in place, including trucks with manual transmissions. All those F-15 pilots and he was the only one who could drive a manual.
How many would know how to drive a car with three on the tree?
How many heavy equipment thieves would know how to start and run a old cat dozer with the pony engine start? Hand clutch, lever clutch steer with the foot pedal brakes?
Has been for a while.
Thankful that all in our immediate family are familiar. 😁
It’s not my fault man. I think I tried that as a young driver, age 17, also. Not the inexperience with a shift excuse though. Just the not my fault excuse. It didn’t work for me either. 🙂
“This led to a head-on collision with a palm tree.”
How fast was the palm tree going?
How the F* do you crash a car downshifting at 35MPH - In Florida? Wet or icy roads, possible. Florida?
And why the F* did you buy a $250K supercar with a stick if you can’t drive one?
:)
I got a similar story from a used motorcycle dealer who wanted to be sure I could ride before handing me the key to a used R1; he said he’d had a couple of wanna-be test pilots bounce the bike over curbs trying to exit the dealer’s lot.
As to the driver in the OP, he obviously has far more money than sense. Most of those expensive supercars are expensive because of what’s under the hood rather than what’s painted on the outside, and the GT40 rehash from the mid-2000s is one of those. The guy should have bought himself a Bentley Continental or similar and left the real cars to people who know what they’re doing.
I’ve always lusted after the Viper GTS. If I ever manage to put the funds together for one, I’m putting one of those “Student Driver: Please Be Patient” stickers on the back to mess with people (for the non-car-savvy, the Viper is the *last* car an inexperienced driver should ever try to drive, no ABS, no traction control, no other driver aid, and manual transmission only).
If he is telling the truth about not being familiar with stick shift then I would bet that he doesn’t know how to read an analog clock, either.
I have been hearing the term lately "Millenial anti-theft system."
The man committed a crime driving a car like that with piss poor knowledge/experience of a standard transmission.
Everything is being dumbed down, including the vehicles we drive. I ride an Indian. I can’t imagine riding a bike with an automatic tranny. Boring.
Now that I don’t have to spend most of my time in city traffic, I would enjoy a car with a stick again.
It’s fixable.
$704,000 is a steep price for a palm tree ornament.
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