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Author Topic: Would-be car thieves gave up because they couldn't drive a stick shift  (Read 5978 times)

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Offline Chris_

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Would-be car thieves gave up because they couldn't drive a stick shift
« on: January 29, 2013, 02:36:22 PM »
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Would-be car thieves gave up because they couldn't drive a stick shift

According to the police report, one of the men had a gun. "He started yanking on the door and made me open the door. He kind of flung it open and dragged me out and demanded that I get on the ground... face down, so I couldn't look at him of course."

Randolph, 51, said one of the thieves pointed a gun at him while asking how to use the car. "They apparently couldn't start it. I had to tell him four different times to push in the clutch, because it's a standard transmission."

Reports state, the suspects finally gave up and ran away, leaving Randolph on the ground. Police tried searching for the men, but they took off, "My first thought was I guess we don't have driver's ed. in school anymore because no one knows how to drive a stick. And my second thing was, don't shoot me because you can't start the car. I'm trying to help you out here. You know. Thankfully they didn't."
Fox News

Thank God for dumb criminals.
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Offline JohnnyReb

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Re: Would-be car thieves gave up because they couldn't drive a stick shift
« Reply #1 on: January 29, 2013, 04:25:27 PM »
My dad would laugh and tell about his first encounter with an automatic transmission. He was working at a local Ford car dealership when the shop foreman sent him out to bring in an Oldsmobile. He came back in the shop telling the shop foreman the clutch pedal was missing. :-)
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Offline Chris_

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Re: Would-be car thieves gave up because they couldn't drive a stick shift
« Reply #2 on: January 29, 2013, 04:27:27 PM »
:rofl: That's pretty good.
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Offline CactusCarlos

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Re: Would-be car thieves gave up because they couldn't drive a stick shift
« Reply #3 on: January 29, 2013, 04:55:51 PM »
Quote from: JohnnyReb on January 29, 2013, 04:25:27 PM
My dad would laugh and tell about his first encounter with an automatic transmission. He was working at a local Ford car dealership when the shop foreman sent him out to bring in an Oldsmobile. He came back in the shop telling the shop foreman the clutch pedal was missing. :-)

 :rotf:
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  -- Norman Thomas, six-time Socialist Party presidential candidate and one of the founders of the ACLU

Offline longview

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Re: Would-be car thieves gave up because they couldn't drive a stick shift
« Reply #4 on: January 29, 2013, 05:02:15 PM »
Too funny.  I got a better deal on my last car because it had sat on the lot for several months due to having a manual transmission.  Have also taken it twice to shops where the "gopher" had to get a mechanic because some young people don't get to learn to drive standards it seems.

Love the story about the missing clutch.  
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Offline BattleHymn

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Re: Would-be car thieves gave up because they couldn't drive a stick shift
« Reply #5 on: January 29, 2013, 05:04:03 PM »
Wow, just, wow. 
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Offline JohnnyReb

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Re: Would-be car thieves gave up because they couldn't drive a stick shift
« Reply #6 on: January 29, 2013, 05:06:31 PM »
I should have mentioned that dad's encounter was around 1938 or 39.....sorry.
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“The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But, under the name of ‘liberalism’, they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened.” - Norman Thomas, U.S. Socialist Party presidential candidate 1940, 1944 and 1948

"America is like a healthy body and its resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality, and its spiritual life. If we can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within."  Stalin

Offline Chris_

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Re: Would-be car thieves gave up because they couldn't drive a stick shift
« Reply #7 on: January 29, 2013, 05:17:13 PM »
Quote from: longview on January 29, 2013, 05:02:15 PM
Too funny.  I got a better deal on my last car because it had sat on the lot for several months due to having a manual transmission.
Same here.

It wasn't much of a deal, but it was cheaper than similar cars at the same dealer.
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Offline njpines

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Re: Would-be car thieves gave up because they couldn't drive a stick shift
« Reply #8 on: January 29, 2013, 05:37:13 PM »
Quote from: Chris_ on January 29, 2013, 05:17:13 PM
Same here.

It wasn't much of a deal, but it was cheaper than similar cars at the same dealer.
Same for me plus it had more horsepower
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Offline Celtic Rose

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Re: Would-be car thieves gave up because they couldn't drive a stick shift
« Reply #9 on: January 29, 2013, 06:54:32 PM »
Ha!  My manual transmission is a safety feature  :rofl:
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Offline A7X_foREVer

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Re: Would-be car thieves gave up because they couldn't drive a stick shift
« Reply #10 on: January 29, 2013, 07:27:46 PM »
Pop insisted I learn to drive a stick shift before any automatic
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Offline dixierose

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Re: Would-be car thieves gave up because they couldn't drive a stick shift
« Reply #11 on: January 30, 2013, 10:21:22 AM »
Quote from: A7X_foREVer on January 29, 2013, 07:27:46 PM
Pop insisted I learn to drive a stick shift before any automatic

Mine too. I'm surprised at the number of people I know that cannot drive a stick shift...
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Offline Chris_

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Re: Would-be car thieves gave up because they couldn't drive a stick shift
« Reply #12 on: January 30, 2013, 10:27:41 AM »
My parents never owned a car with a manual transmission.  My father mostly owned trucks for work and did a lot of driving.  I think my mother preferred automatics simply for convenience and comfort.  I had to teach myself.
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Offline BlueStateSaint

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Re: Would-be car thieves gave up because they couldn't drive a stick shift
« Reply #13 on: January 30, 2013, 10:38:15 AM »
Quote from: Chris_ on January 30, 2013, 10:27:41 AM
My parents never owned a car with a manual transmission.  My father mostly owned trucks for work and did a lot of driving.  I think my mother preferred automatics simply for convenience and comfort.  I had to teach myself.

Both of my parents knew how to drive manuals.  My mother had a 1976 AMC Hornet that had a 3-speed manual with the shifter on the steering column.  My father taught me how to drive a manual in a 1971 Datsun 1600 pickup.  I had some 'growing pains,' but I worked them out.  I sort of do miss the manual shift, but the RAV I drive now doesn't have one.
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Offline dixierose

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Re: Would-be car thieves gave up because they couldn't drive a stick shift
« Reply #14 on: January 30, 2013, 12:06:09 PM »
I prefer manual shift....except in the middle of a traffic jam :-)
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Offline rich_t

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Re: Would-be car thieves gave up because they couldn't drive a stick shift
« Reply #15 on: January 30, 2013, 07:22:05 PM »
For those of you that drive a stick....

How many of you float the shift and don't bother with the clutch?
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Offline dixierose

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Re: Would-be car thieves gave up because they couldn't drive a stick shift
« Reply #16 on: January 30, 2013, 07:48:23 PM »
Quote from: rich_t on January 30, 2013, 07:22:05 PM
For those of you that drive a stick....

How many of you float the shift and don't bother with the clutch?

I use the clutch...
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Offline rich_t

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Re: Would-be car thieves gave up because they couldn't drive a stick shift
« Reply #17 on: January 30, 2013, 07:50:40 PM »
Quote from: dixierose on January 30, 2013, 07:48:23 PM
I use the clutch...

When I was teaching my son to drive a stick, he was amazed when I showed him how to float the shift.

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Offline BattleHymn

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Re: Would-be car thieves gave up because they couldn't drive a stick shift
« Reply #18 on: January 30, 2013, 08:53:29 PM »
Quote from: rich_t on January 30, 2013, 07:22:05 PM
For those of you that drive a stick....

How many of you float the shift and don't bother with the clutch?

I like to keep brushed up on it, in the even a clutch cable breaks, or some other catastrophic event occurs; but, for the most part, I try to keep my synchros in good shape.  :-)
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Offline Dblhaul

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Re: Would-be car thieves gave up because they couldn't drive a stick shift
« Reply #19 on: January 30, 2013, 10:09:32 PM »
when I drove a 13speed roadranger trans I only used the clutch to stop and start. RPMs!
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Offline JohnnyReb

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Re: Would-be car thieves gave up because they couldn't drive a stick shift
« Reply #20 on: January 31, 2013, 07:43:11 AM »
Quote from: Dblhaul on January 30, 2013, 10:09:32 PM
when I drove a 13speed roadranger trans I only used the clutch to stop and start. RPMs!

Same here with the old duplex, triplex, quadraplex MACK's....B, H, F models,....all of them.
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“The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But, under the name of ‘liberalism’, they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened.” - Norman Thomas, U.S. Socialist Party presidential candidate 1940, 1944 and 1948

"America is like a healthy body and its resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality, and its spiritual life. If we can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within."  Stalin

Offline CG6468

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Re: Would-be car thieves gave up because they couldn't drive a stick shift
« Reply #21 on: January 31, 2013, 08:21:36 AM »
Quote from: rich_t on January 30, 2013, 07:22:05 PM
For those of you that drive a stick....

How many of you float the shift and don't bother with the clutch?

Don't have a stick now, but I did that all the time. So did our kids. My wife never got the real hang of it but could do it in a pinch.

Are stick shifts taught in any drivers' ed classes now?
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Offline longview

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Re: Would-be car thieves gave up because they couldn't drive a stick shift
« Reply #22 on: January 31, 2013, 08:49:52 AM »
Quote from: CG6468 on January 31, 2013, 08:21:36 AM
Don't have a stick now, but I did that all the time. So did our kids. My wife never got the real hang of it but could do it in a pinch.

Are stick shifts taught in any drivers' ed classes now?

One of mine took Driver's Ed in South Dakota.  They got the basics and were encouraged to practice outside of class, which was no problem.

I've heard that manuals have to be special ordered from many manufacturers now.
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Offline Johnny Yuma

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Re: Would-be car thieves gave up because they couldn't drive a stick shift
« Reply #23 on: January 31, 2013, 10:13:04 AM »
Quote from: Dblhaul on January 30, 2013, 10:09:32 PM
when I drove a 13speed roadranger trans I only used the clutch to stop and start. RPMs!

The only way to drive !!

I started with sticks on the farm with tractors and an ol' 66 Ford truck ....

In my 8 month break from Schwans , I impersonated a car salesman at the local Ford dlr ....

We had a few youngins wanting to be cool and drive a stick .... I took a few out on lessons , even ...
they all ended up with automatics and I ended up with a sore neck....   :rotf:

I really loved the Lincoln Sport Coupe with the 5.0L and 5 spd stick ....
sleeper car !!
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Offline CG6468

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Re: Would-be car thieves gave up because they couldn't drive a stick shift
« Reply #24 on: January 31, 2013, 10:44:56 AM »
I think everyone should be required to know how to operate a vehicle with a stick shift.
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