Carjacking fails when neither thief can drive a stick

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006...0618_46_13.txt

Carjacking fails when neither thief can drive a stick

By: North County Times wire services

SAN DIEGO - Would-be carjackers were foiled in their attempt to take a
Honda early Saturday in Birdland because neither man could drive a
stick shift, San Diego police said.

The carjacking attempt in the 3400 block of Kearny Villa Lane was
reported at 12:10 a.m., San Diego police Sgt. Rich Nemetz said.

The victim was sitting in his 2005 Civic in an apartment parking lot
when two men approached the driver's side, police said.

The victim was ordered out of the car at gunpoint and his wallet and
cell phone taken, police said.

The suspects told the man to walk away and they got into the car but
could not operate a manual transmission and ran away, police said.

In article >, SD Dave wrote:
> Carjacking fails when neither thief can drive a stick

Long live the clutch!

Brent P wrote:

> In article >, SD Dave wrote:

>>Carjacking fails when neither thief can drive a stick

> Long live the clutch!

Down with torque converters!

"SD Dave" > wrote in message
...
> http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006...0618_46_13.txt
>
> Carjacking fails when neither thief can drive a stick
>
> By: North County Times wire services
>
> SAN DIEGO - Would-be carjackers were foiled in their attempt to take a
> Honda early Saturday in Birdland because neither man could drive a
> stick shift, San Diego police said.
>


This post at first had all the earmarks of an urban legend. After all, it's
not that hard to drive a stick. So you might stall it a few times, you
should still be able to get it to move. But then again, carjackers are not
too bright. So it is PLAUSIBLE that they really were THAT stupid. -Dave

Mike T. wrote:
> "SD Dave" > wrote in message
> ...
>> http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006...0618_46_13.txt
>>
>> Carjacking fails when neither thief can drive a stick
>>
>> By: North County Times wire services
>>
>> SAN DIEGO - Would-be carjackers were foiled in their attempt to take a
>> Honda early Saturday in Birdland because neither man could drive a
>> stick shift, San Diego police said.
>>
>
>
> This post at first had all the earmarks of an urban legend.

How so? You said this, but didn't name any of the "earmarks," but just
volunteered your opinion that it's not hard to drive a stick.

I can't drive one, and I've tried.

And the article has a link that checks out. Not proof positive, but
again, what are these urban myth "earmarks"? There are some, but this
article doesn't demonstrate any of them that I know of.



John

--


Von Herzen, moge es wieder zu Herzen gehen. --Beethoven

In article t>, The Man Behind The Curtain wrote:

>> This post at first had all the earmarks of an urban legend.
>
> How so? You said this, but didn't name any of the "earmarks," but just
> volunteered your opinion that it's not hard to drive a stick.
>
> I can't drive one, and I've tried.
>
> And the article has a link that checks out. Not proof positive, but
> again, what are these urban myth "earmarks"? There are some, but this
> article doesn't demonstrate any of them that I know of.


It's actually a very rutine story at that. There have been countless
accounts of criminals to be foiled by a manual transmission.

I have personally encountered numerous people at emissions testing and
tire places that cannot operate my column 3 speed maverick and they
actually have at least some ability to drive a car with a manual trans.

On Mon, 13 Feb 2006 10:06:53 -0500, "Mike T." >
wrote:

>
>"SD Dave" > wrote in message
.. .
>> http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006...0618_46_13.txt
>>
>> Carjacking fails when neither thief can drive a stick
>>
>> By: North County Times wire services
>>
>> SAN DIEGO - Would-be carjackers were foiled in their attempt to take a
>> Honda early Saturday in Birdland because neither man could drive a
>> stick shift, San Diego police said.
>
>This post at first had all the earmarks of an urban legend. After all, it's
>not that hard to drive a stick. So you might stall it a few times, you
>should still be able to get it to move. But then again, carjackers are not
>too bright. So it is PLAUSIBLE that they really were THAT stupid. -Dave

Given that the location is legit (those apartments are in that block),
that the NC Times doesn't have a bad track record of making **** up,
and it seemed too mundane to have been made up, I'll assume it's just
another case of stupid criminals.

Dave

"Mike T." wrote:

> "SD Dave" > wrote in message
> ...
> > http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006...0618_46_13.txt
> >
> > Carjacking fails when neither thief can drive a stick
> >
> > By: North County Times wire services
> >
> > SAN DIEGO - Would-be carjackers were foiled in their attempt to take a
> > Honda early Saturday in Birdland because neither man could drive a
> > stick shift, San Diego police said.
>
> This post at first had all the earmarks of an urban legend. After all, it's
> not that hard to drive a stick. So you might stall it a few times, you
> should still be able to get it to move. But then again, carjackers are not
> too bright. So it is PLAUSIBLE that they really were THAT stupid. -Dave

Well..... my stepmother failed her driving test by stalling an auto box car and
not being able to restart it. I think she forgot you had to move the lever back
to P.

The again she was *really* THICK.

Graham

Brent P wrote:

> In article t>, The Man Behind The Curtain wrote:
>
> >> This post at first had all the earmarks of an urban legend.
> >
> > How so? You said this, but didn't name any of the "earmarks," but just
> > volunteered your opinion that it's not hard to drive a stick.
> >
> > I can't drive one, and I've tried.
> >
> > And the article has a link that checks out. Not proof positive, but
> > again, what are these urban myth "earmarks"? There are some, but this
> > article doesn't demonstrate any of them that I know of.
>
> It's actually a very rutine story at that. There have been countless
> accounts of criminals to be foiled by a manual transmission.
>
> I have personally encountered numerous people at emissions testing and
> tire places that cannot operate my column 3 speed maverick and they
> actually have at least some ability to drive a car with a manual trans.

I thought column changes has disappeared on modern vehicles until I had to drive a Japanese light van
- and more recently a Fiat diesel van too IIRC. It certainly saves floor space.

Graham

Pooh Bear wrote:
>
> Brent P wrote:
>
>
>>In article t>, The Man Behind The Curtain wrote:
>>
>>
>>>>This post at first had all the earmarks of an urban legend.
>>>
>>>How so? You said this, but didn't name any of the "earmarks," but just
>>>volunteered your opinion that it's not hard to drive a stick.
>>>
>>>I can't drive one, and I've tried.
>>>
>>>And the article has a link that checks out. Not proof positive, but
>>>again, what are these urban myth "earmarks"? There are some, but this
>>>article doesn't demonstrate any of them that I know of.
>>
>>It's actually a very rutine story at that. There have been countless
>>accounts of criminals to be foiled by a manual transmission.
>>
>>I have personally encountered numerous people at emissions testing and
>>tire places that cannot operate my column 3 speed maverick and they
>>actually have at least some ability to drive a car with a manual trans.
>
>
> I thought column changes has disappeared on modern vehicles until I had to drive a Japanese light van
> - and more recently a Fiat diesel van too IIRC. It certainly saves floor space.
>
> Graham
>
>

My '05 Impala has a column shift. I really don't mind, except the
shifter is longer than it needs to be (I suspect they lifted it from the
light truck parts bin) I think the more "upscale" versions have a floor
shift, for some odd reason.

Now if you mean a column shift 3-speed, I haven't seen one of those on a
new vehicle since the mid-80s.

nate

--
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