http://www.myfoxorlando.com/story/20757520...ive-stick-shift

ORLANDO, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35 ORLANDO) -
A Corvette owner said he was almost carjacked at gun point, but the would-be thieves ran away, because they couldn't figure out how to drive his car.

It was just after 11 o'clock at night, when Randolph Bean was waiting for his wife to get out of work. That's when two men took him by surprise while he was inside his bright, yellow Corvette. It was parked outside Orlando Regional Medical Center in Downtown Orlando.

He said the two came from behind. "So, barely caught them in the mirror."

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."

Randolph tried lifting finger prints off the car in fact you can still see powder on the side of the door. Randolph took us for a ride in his 2002 Corvette, "The basics of driving a standard transmission aren't difficult at all. This is a high performance car compared to other cars, so if they had gotten it, they might have hurt themselves in it."

Even though they left his cool Corvette, "They got away with my phone, they got my keys, they got my wallet." Randolph has a message for the hot rods who tried taking his fast ride, "Guys turn your life around. You guys have got a lot going for you. Thank you for not taking my life for something silly as a car."

Randolph says he has more information to give to police, but officers haven't yet returned his calls.



Read more: http://www.myfoxorlando.com/story/20757520...t#ixzz2JQHw8Lzg

I guess I would have never thought of a manual transmision as a security device. If car thieves were intelligent, they probably would be smart enough to find a better line of work.

I have the same device in my 1999 Manual Blazer S10, unheard of in the UK on any other cars!

Police haven't returned his calls? From an assault with a deadly weapon and attempted car jack? He took his own fingerprint samples? Story seems fishy.

This post has been edited by cccbock: Jan 30 2013, 10:00 PM