Posted on 09/26/2005 6:50:32 PM PDT by LibWhacker
SHAWNEE, Kan. - A would-be carjacker got away with nothing more than the keys Monday after he apparently was thwarted by the vehicle's manual transmission.
The thief was armed with a shotgun when he ordered a 26-year-old man out of his Chevrolet Camaro in a suburban Kansas City parking lot. The driver complied, but when the robber got into the car he was unable to manage the stick shift.
The robber fled the scene in a four-door car that someone else was driving.
Police are investigating whether the attempted theft is linked to four similar robberies in Johnson County during the past week.
Wait a second, brandishing a loaded firearm in public is illegal in Kansas!
Some people just can't perform in the clutch.
LOL, I can't drive the stupid things either.
Saved by Hurst.
When I got my first Chevy, and first automatic, I spent about two years trying to not pound my left foot through the floorboards when I thought it was time to shift.
Heh! I had a mean dad. Although we had a perfectly good automatic, he made me take my drivers test using the "other" car--which was a stick.
I drove my cousin's Jetta last week. It was the first time I drove a stick in years. At first, I couldn't get the car to go in reverse and I felt like a wimp and an idiot. Turns out you have to push down on the stick to put it in the reverse gear.
That car's owner must have been laughing his tail off (once it was over, anyway).
Jackman: I can't drive this thing!
Travolta: Learn!
LOL! I love this story. I personally can't stand driving an automatic (owned one for a year; never again!) and get two benefits most don't think of: 1) I never have to deal with a mechanic (auto transmissions being about the only car part I wouldn't try to fix myself) and 2) my girlfriend doesn't ask to borrow my car! :-p
Learned to drive on a motorbike, then an old VW bus.
When I was getting ready to take my first license road test in VT, my sister's boyfriend asked me (without knowing me) if I'd ever driven a bike. I guess I used the gears to decelerate like a bike.
i taught the wife to drive stick in my Z/28, just practice letting the clutch out slowly WITHOUT giving it any gas until it's all the way out and you are moving... so long as it's tuned up, it shouldn't stall. once you get used to getting it moving, you'll be able to use the gas as you let the clutch out. shifting the gears is the easy part... 8^)
One reason I like stick shift vehicles.
My old Ford van has a shifter so sloppy that if you are not familair with it, you will get it "stuck" in a gear in a matter of minutes.
Getting it emissions tested is always fun. Only one person has ever got it through the test without having a problem. And that was because he listened to my advice and stayed out of 4th gear and was very gentle with the shifter. : )
lol... Last time I got my oil changed in my truck, the kid who changed it said, "you like standard transmissions, huh, gramps" (well, 'gramps' was implied)? I think he remembered changing the oil in my other car a few weeks earlier. Definitely made me feel like an old fogey, lol!
Manual transmissions is all we own. I can't drive an automatic without spiking the brakes.
I hate automatics
Now watch the sales of autos with Standard Transmissions go up!
I have grown to appreciate the cruise control. 50. Up hill, down hill, headwind, tailwind. 50.
I spent about two years trying to not pound my left foot through the floorboards when I thought it was time to shift.
And it sucks when you catch the corner of the brake pedal when doing so
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