Toronto Carjackers Abandoned A Stolen Car Because They Didn't Know How To Drive Stick

Narcity ^ | December 5, 2019 | Karen Doradea

[C19fan]

This might be a new one. A recent armed Toronto carjacking went wrong because the two young attempted thieves didn't know how to drive stick. The car in question was not an automatic drive, so they were left with no choice but to abandon ship.

Toronto Police's news release says the incident occurred last month at York University. The armed assailants were actually both minors.

They failed to steal the car itself because, well, they didn't know how. A 15-year-old and 17-year old boy are each facing multiple charges.

[Impala64ssa]

Nice! I know someone from England who bought a 1968 Mini Cooper in the UK, when he had it shipped here he converted it to left hand drive. It was relatively easy to do on them, that was one of their selling points.

[gcparent]

I learned on a 68 camaro and 70 barracuda. Probably ruined my bf clutch.

Just read as if 2016 18% of Americans know how to drive stick. Only 5% of Americans card now sold with stick.

[wally_bert]

I only have 3 forward gears.

There are three gear levers as well.

[V_TWIN]

Only thing I recall AMC ever making that was worth a crap was the Javelin.

[Impala64ssa]

The old Ford Econ O Line vans with stick shifts were also prone to the linkage jamming from the bushings wearing out over time.

[Impala64ssa]

The most unusal car I had was a 1966 Impala 4 door htp, that had a 6 cyl with the 3 on the tree. It was an oddball but a very good driver. It was no Z28 but ran pretty good for a 6. I would've kept it but lovely wife does notnlike driving stick shifts 😕🙄

[Drawsing]

I was born in 1957 and still never learned to drive a manual transmission. My family always bought old used cars, but they all were automatic....even the old 57 Chevy we had. One of my sons is now a commercial rated pilot and he can’t drive a stick either.

[Kickass Conservative]

My Brother taught me to drive a Stick in his 63 Chevy Pickup when I had my Learner’s Permit.

A gutless Straight six with three on the tree.

We lived in the Hills and I had to pull away from a Dead Stop at a Red Light on a steep incline using the Hand Brake so I wouldn’t roll backwards into the CHP that pulled up behind us. It was a rub your Tummy and pat your Head moment.

I was sweating Bullets and my Brother was as cool as a Cucumber telling me what to do.

[Quality_Not_Quantity]

Cool - I actually like the RH drive - though it’s not a car you want to drive if you’re distracted (too easy to find yourself lined up on the wrong side of the lane...)

[Dr. Sivana]

There are not a lot of us old geezers left who ever had a vehicle with three on the tree. I had it on my 72 Chevy pickup. Good times.

I'm 56 (not quite an old geezer) and learned to drive on a '68 Dodge Dart with three-on-tree. Great car. The slant-six was not only reliable, but torquey!

[Seruzawa]

I learned to drive on a 1950 Chevy coupe with 3 on the tree and mechanical brakes. You couldn’t lock the wheels over 30 mph. Lol. No turn signals either. What are seatbelts?

[null and void]

So’s my Outback!

[metmom]

And those of us who are older still drive them.

WHOO HOO!!!!

FWIW, I taught ALL my kids how to drive one as we’ve always had one and they needed to know in case it came up.

My son still does in his truck.

[null and void]

And a wooden frame?

[Seruzawa]

The Ford 302 and the Chevy 283 weren’t too shabby either. I think the Ford 300 straight six could never die as well.

[Blue Collar Christian]

Awesome! I have double theft protection; my ‘92 F150 has a stick trans and all the fenders are pre-dented. I could probably store gold bullion on the floorboards.

[BlueLancer]

I learned how to drive a manual transmission car because, when I was taking drivers' ed in high school, there were about 50 of us and only 10 or so cars to use. I quickly discovered that, if I selected the stick-shift Valiant, I could drive it all of the time ... everybody else wanted one of the cars with an automatic transmission.

I eventually graduated to driving a manual transmission car in England while on liberty from the USS CORONADO. I had a heck of a time getting used to using my left hand to shift ...

A funny story goes along with that: we rented the car in Portsmouth and were driving to London, a little stick-shift Morris. For the first 25 or so miles, I wasn't overly impressed with the car: it had no pick-up and seemed to require a very heavy foot on the gas pedal to accelerate even a little bit. We were out on the main highway between Portsmouth and London when a car pulled up alongside and motioned me to put my window down. I did so and the guy hollered, "Hey, mate ... your rear-end is smokin'". And sure enough, there were clouds of smoke coming from the back end of the car.

So I waved him thanks and pulled over to the side of the road. A police car pulled over behind me shortly thereafter and the policeman came up to me, as I was walking around the car, trying to figure out what was going on and how we were going to call the rental company.

After looking the situation over for a little bit, the cop walked me up to the driver's side door (on the right, of course) and pointed out to me that the hand-brake .. which, on this car, was situated between the door and the driver's seat .. was fully applied.

Needless to say, without the parking brake being on, that car had a lot more pick-up ...

[ebshumidors]

My motto is to have a car that if someone breaks in, they will leave money.

[Texas resident]

Around here, a kid tried to carjack a fellow coming out of a gym. The kid put a pistol in the guy’s face and climbed into the car. The car owner ran for cover, then called law enforcement. When the deputy arrived, the kid was still in the car trying to figure out the shift pattern.

[Texas resident]

My dad and I restored a 1931 Ford Model A. 200 ci four cylinder with a three speed. I learned to drive that when I was 14. First car was a ‘70 VW bug. Still have a old style beetle ragtop. I don’t worry about it being stolen.