Posted on 08/16/2009 6:39:22 PM PDT by kingattax
EDMONTON–Owners of pint-sized Smart cars aren't laughing about reports that vandals may be targeting the tiny vehicles in a 21st-century take on tipping cows over.
The Internet and blogosphere are abuzz with media reports that pranksters may have pushed several of the tiny vehicles into canals in Amsterdam.
And now a man in his 40s is charged with mischief for allegedly tipping a Smart car onto its side along Edmonton's Whyte Avenue, a trendy bar-and-boutique strip that sometimes attracts rowdy drinkers.
Windows, exterior mirrors and panelling on the car were damaged, and despite the outrage of owner Kevin Spaans, amused bystanders posed with the flipped car and snapped photos with their cellphone cameras.
Police are seeking other suspects, but one official said it appears to have been an isolated occurrence.
Ken Lust, sales manager at David Morris Fine Cars, which sells the popular car, says goofing around with it isn't a harmless prank but rather a brazen act of property damage.
Lust has himself been a victim. Three years ago, he went outside one morning on a property he owns northeast of Edmonton to find that somebody had tipped his Smart car over during the night.
"The first reaction is shock and disbelief. The second reaction is anger because your car has been vandalized. It's the same feeling, I guess, if you walked out and saw your paint all scratched up or your windows smashed in," he said.
No one was ever arrested. Lust believes it was the work of several fellows who probably had too much to drink that night.
The sales manager spent several hundred dollars repairing smashed windows and a bent gas cap.
(Excerpt) Read more at thestar.com ...
My dad, when he was in high school, was with a group of guys who put his band director’s VW Bug in the band room one day!
I agree.
Of course, I can appreciate non-damaging jokes. I used to drive an MG Midget (CURSE IT! It was so fun to drive, but...) and I came out after a party and a bunch of people had moved it to a location I could not get it out of.
They DID all get a good laugh and then moved the car out...:)
But, as you said, this isn’t right, even if I do think it is a metrosexual, sitzpinkler kind of car.
I think that’s funny. Not sure about Smart car tipping though as it causes damage. However, each generation takes things just one step further over the line.
I only first heard of “cow tippping” at a Christmas party in 2000 from a newly hired employee.
I couldn’t stop laughing for days. Especially after I asked, “What happens then?” He replied,
“Have you ever heard a cow scream!!? I mean, it’s none of this moo-moo stuff!”
Did the same with a ‘62 VW Gia!
See the YouTube video of the Smart versus a Mercedes 450. It surprisingly well in the initial impact, but it was the secondary impact of the Smart hitting another object after the airbags had been deployed in the first impact, that would get the passengers killed !
The only redeming thing is that your family will not have to buy a coffin for your funeral, they can just bury the car with you in it. No muss, no fuss. LOL
I watched a group of High School kids pick up a Smart and turned it sideways in the parking space. The owner of Smart was not too happy, as he had to wait for one of the adjacent vehicle owners to return so that he could get his car out of the spot.
Agreed.
I’m not a vandal and I’m not the kind of person who does it, but I *have* wondered if those Smart cars are tippable.
I was next to one on an interstate a few weeks ago and was wondering how stable such a thing could be at 65 MPH.
Gotta love it! The chilrun are urinating on the uppity libholes!
I knew a kid who won a used Bug. He drove it on the sidewalk in town and got it impounded. Idiot. LOL A foot cop stopped him.
I used to have one, also. Every part that fell off of that car was of the finest British craftsmanship.
My Smart car comes with a tip calculator!
Was there a person in that car?
I had to use a Geo Metro on the highway once. Driving it was like having sex with a sewing machine. That 40 mpg dropped to about 26 when you drove at highway speed, also
CORRECT to Post #25: Wife just informed me that it was a
‘58 VW Gia.
I witnessed an accident involving one- they’re a lot more resilient than they look. I was behind a Smart car that went through a red light and was broasided by a pickup truck. Minor dent in the driver’s door, no injuries.
Yeah. I don’t remember anybody damaging a car doing it. It was supposed to be funny not harmful.
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