I'll give you 50 bucks for it and make a killing on it. Bam.
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."
It's not really that hard, just takes a bit of juggling. Steering with your knees is a bit of a lost art.
In my mg you could upshift and downshift all day and never use the brakes. But you really have to know what you are doing. motorcycle and truck not so much.
Steering with the knees...on a 2 lane twisty country road with no shoulders and large trees growing a foot or two from the pavement...seems like a good way to need the services of a body shop, if not an ambulance too.
This Millennial grew up watching her dad drive a stick every summer (the car was garaged the rest of the year), and happily got a Ford Probe going as if I’d been doing it for a long time the first time I actually drove a stick.
Driving dad’s car, though... Even with the seat totally forward, my toe barely touched the clutch, and I was in combat boots (they gave me an extra few inches). Third was also a bit sticky.
I’d never been so embarrassed in my life.
In high school I had a friend who could smoke, text (on a FLIP PHONE), and drive a manual at the same time. He had a VW Golf.
We stuck a whistle in the tailpipe as a prank. It was there for a couple of weeks before he realized it.
I never took a ride from him.
I’ve done that many a time, in the 70s and well into the 80s. VW vans had that bus-style steering wheel that just begged to be driven with the elbows.
I know how to drive a 3 on the tree, and a 4 on the tree. Plus 3, 4, 5 and 6 on the floor, plus motorcycles. Got the clutch thing figgered out. I even drove a car with a non-synchro 1st gear (Series 1 E-Type).
We used knees for such operation.
🤦🏻♂️
You have nothing to be smug about. Although, I have seldom known anyone admit to being a poor driver, so you have that.
He shouldn’t have allowed to drive a Ford GT. A Yugo maybe.
Yea, on hilly and curvy secondary roads you’re probably going to be pretty busy with the steering wheel and the shifter.
I owned a couple of Mack ten wheeler dump trucks.
An older man that drove one of them could drink coffee, smoke a cigarette, and talk on his cell phone while driving. Truck had a 13 speed trans.
He was one heck of a driver.
Knee steering worked well for regular steering wheels that were more vertical, but with the old buses you could hunch forward a little, put your elbows on the wheel, and have both hands free for feats of dexterity. The near side of the wheel sat too high for comfortable knee steering.
I'll give you 50 bucks for it and make a killing on it. Bam.
Anybody got a guess what the collision insurance costs on a $700,000 car that’s been out of production for 15 years?
No, No, please respect the Yugo.
They are mostly examples Fine Italian Automotive Technology perfected by russian engineers.
He just should have Focus’d on the right ford
I’ve never owned an automatic.
My first car was a new 1980 Chevette with a stick. Every car I’ve owned since then has been a stick. Presently driving a 2002 WRX wagon (5 spd), a 2003 C-Class coupe (6 spd) and a 2007 S4 convertible (6 spd).
I just don’t much like the cars they are making these days.
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