"...But they drove with pride..."
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 ...
Even Odumbo isn’t stupid enough to take 18 wheelers off the road. There won’t be much contest between a smart car (gnat) and an 18 wheeler (sledge hammer).
Sounds like you have a wonderful Aunt!
Bunch of college buds and I wedged a VW bug between two trees once. Never did hear what happened to it. Might still be rusting there.
That was a truly evil thing to do. Regretted it ever since.
A used car salesman with the last name Lust?
He and Bill Clinton are commonly confused for each other.
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.
Now THAT is hard to top! But... Why didn't someone just get a bunch more guys to move it back? It's not like the manpower wasn't available...
Myself, I came out of a bar I was working at, one night, to find my Honda CRX turned sideways in it's parking spot, with other cars in the spots on either side. I went back in, rounded up some bouncers, and had the situation corrected quickly. A couple of the guys had suspicious grins, though.
"Friends."
;-)
Update from my previous reply to you. Snopes.com has found out the car is actually a Ford Escape in your photo. The driver survived the crash. Info here: http://www.snopes.com/photos/accident/smallcar.asp
Thanks for the link. I checked out Chevy’s models, and the smallest they make is an Aveo which appears to have four lugs.
Good sleuthing, and damn! that was an SUV!! Hard to believe huh?
Yup, she’s great — the world’s oldest juvenile delinquent (or teenager, your choice) ... she taught me everything I know (for which my mother never forgave her ... hehe).
Just dig a hole and you and the "smart" car can go in together.
I graduated in 1960 so I guess it wasnt an 850. I know it was a really small car and 4 or 5 of us could lift the thing and push it around.
Can meet hammer. Can loses, old story.
There’s an X-2 at the Blue Zoo that used to move around mysteriously, until it was poured full of concrete to make such wanderings impractical.
Was it perhaps a Renault Dauphine?
My God - I’d hate to be the people who have to pull the remains from that carnage.
Chevy Aveo.
"...But they drove with pride..."
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