Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Tipping Smart cars the latest prank trend
THE CANADIAN PRESS ^ | Aug 16, 2009 | Lisa Arrowsmith

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 ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100 ... 121-131 next last
To: Squawk 8888

We had a broad flight of marble stairs leading up to the main doors of my high school, and I remember when a bunch of boys carried the principal’s Beetle up the steps and placed it right in front of the doors. Beetles were considered minuscule in the early 60s, which was still the huge car era.

I missed the part where they got it down, but it wasn’t there when we came out so obviously somebody had managed it somehow.


61 posted on 08/16/2009 7:17:23 PM PDT by livius
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: kingattax

Canadians tip them, Dutch dunk them, French (sort of) barbecue them.


62 posted on 08/16/2009 7:21:30 PM PDT by JohnBovenmyer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Virginia Ridgerunner

I’m surprised such a small car did so much damage to the semi. I would have expected the semi to be pretty much untouched. Heck, I’ve seen a picture of a crash between a Hummer and a school bus that didn’t look that much less surviveable.

Mass always wins out in the long run, but for such a small car, I have to say, they seem to have done a pretty good job, all else considered.


63 posted on 08/16/2009 7:25:21 PM PDT by OldGuard1
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: Venturer
When I was i High School in 1959 we had a teacher who drove a Fiat 850

Sure that wasn't '69? According to Wikipedia the 850 was produced between 1964 and 1973.

A friend of mine had an 850 sedan in the late 60's.

64 posted on 08/16/2009 7:27:12 PM PDT by TChad
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: DJ MacWoW
I remember when it was all the rage to put a VW Beetle between stationary objects.

You mean like sideways in a Univ. of Toledo dorm parking lot space between a Chevy and a Buick. The perps who remain nameless, left the poor guy about two inches clearance on each end. Of course, I claim no firsthand knowledge of this, I was told this story by a witness...

It took the guy about 45 minutes of jockying back and forth to get it out of there, but he managed it without hitting the Chev or the Buick..

One guy’s Bug was carried into a dorm lobby.

Actually that was an MG. The owner came off the elevator and found it in the lobby. Don't know how that happened either. Got the story from the same source as above...

Took four guys to get it in there. No one would help him get it out. He drove it up the steps, across the atrium, out the front door, down the steps and into the parking lot..

65 posted on 08/16/2009 7:33:24 PM PDT by NoCmpromiz (John 14:6 is a non-pluralistic comment.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Virginia Ridgerunner; BunnySlippers; Selmore

The car in the picture is a VW CrossFox, not a Smart car. Accident occurred in Brazil. Yes, it was fatal to the car driver. More pictures and discussion of this accident here:

link

66 posted on 08/16/2009 7:37:37 PM PDT by rawhide
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: DJ MacWoW

My cousin and I — we were about 15 at the time — turned my aunt’s VW bug sideways in mom’s driveway. Since it was at the bottom of a downhill slope, it was really difficult for her to get it turned around so she could leave. We laughed for hours about that.


67 posted on 08/16/2009 7:37:58 PM PDT by Fast Moving Angel (GOP: Stop listening, start doing -- we need new leaders!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: NonValueAdded
♫ And they drive with pride ... ♫

In a Yugo...

68 posted on 08/16/2009 7:42:08 PM PDT by NoCmpromiz (John 14:6 is a non-pluralistic comment.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

To: kingattax

[giggling]


69 posted on 08/16/2009 7:46:00 PM PDT by murphE ("It is terrible to contemplate how few politicians are hanged." - GK Chesterton)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NoCmpromiz

I always knew you were a bad man. :-)


70 posted on 08/16/2009 8:03:11 PM PDT by DJ MacWoW (Make yourselves sheep and the wolves will eat you. Ben Franklin)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 65 | View Replies]

To: kingattax
Tip this:


71 posted on 08/16/2009 8:07:36 PM PDT by Noumenon (Work that AQT - turn ammunition into skill. No tyrant can maintain a 300 yard perimeter forever.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Fast Moving Angel

LOL! Did you like your Aunt? :-)


72 posted on 08/16/2009 8:11:58 PM PDT by DJ MacWoW (Make yourselves sheep and the wolves will eat you. Ben Franklin)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 67 | View Replies]

To: coloradan

That’s “Pious Driver.”


73 posted on 08/16/2009 8:13:35 PM PDT by Erasmus (Barack Hussein Obama: America's toast!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: DJ MacWoW
LOL A foot cop stopped him.

With his foot, I presume.

74 posted on 08/16/2009 8:18:33 PM PDT by Erasmus (Barack Hussein Obama: America's toast!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: Erasmus

Well he didn’t get a ticket for that. LOL


75 posted on 08/16/2009 8:24:07 PM PDT by DJ MacWoW (Make yourselves sheep and the wolves will eat you. Ben Franklin)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 74 | View Replies]

To: Erasmus

When I was in school, at the USNA, we moved complete A-4 aircraft up steps and onto the front of Bancroft Hall. It was easy with a bunch of guys under it. It took a crane to get it off..great fun.


76 posted on 08/16/2009 8:24:23 PM PDT by Oldexpat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 73 | View Replies]

To: DJ MacWoW

Heck yeah, she’s my favorite aunt and I THINK I’m her favorite niece ... LOL!! (She laughed about it later, too.)


77 posted on 08/16/2009 8:25:41 PM PDT by Fast Moving Angel (GOP: Stop listening, start doing -- we need new leaders!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 72 | View Replies]

To: driftdiver
"Imagine if you were in an accident in one of these."

Just got this in an email the other day:

Still think you want a Smart Car?

Below is a photo of a wreck in Jefferson Parish, LA (near New Orleans ) between two trucks and a Smart Car.

Not sure if it's a real snapshot, but it does give you something to think about.

78 posted on 08/16/2009 8:26:09 PM PDT by mass55th (Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway...John Wayne)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: kingattax
Easily replaced. In Japan, there are vending machines for them


79 posted on 08/16/2009 8:28:57 PM PDT by llevrok (As a matter of fact, yes I DO care if Jimmy cracks corn !)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mass55th

That thing looks like it acted as an airbag for the red truck’s benefit.


80 posted on 08/16/2009 8:30:18 PM PDT by Nik Naym (I remember when the United States was a free country. I feel old.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 78 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100 ... 121-131 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson