2012 GS Sticks it to Thief: Idiot Criminal Can’t Drive Manual

Car thieves, here’s a tip—if you’re going to steal a high-performance vehicle like a Corvette, don’t. But if you’re going to try anyway, make sure you can drive a stick. With the manual take-rate for the new Stingray hovering around 40 percent, there’s a good chance your target won’t be an automatic.

The manual vs. automatic debate—though it’s rarely been civilized enough to call it that—has raged on Corvette Forum for years. Plenty of enthusiasts don’t think a car without a third pedal is a real sports car. Automatic fans think manual fanatics are stuck in the past. And stuck up. Contributing writer Mike Musto, who can easily out drive most haters on the forum, likes that the C7 Z06 will now feature an automatic option. 

Whether or not you think the appeal of driving a sports car is lost without a manual gearbox, one thing is clear: that third pedal will make your car harder to steal. It’s happened in the North, and in the South, in the East and in the West.

Which brings us to a wanna be car thief in the Sunshine State—a place where virtually nothing can be considered out of the ordinary—to whom a stick shift proved an insurmountable obstacle.  

The Marion County, Florida resident was busted by Sheriffs after only going about 100 feet when trying to steal a 2012 Corvette Grand Sport because he didn’t know how to drive a manual, according to GM Authority report. Maybe he figured he’d learn on the run? Regardless, it turned out to be a pretty dumb move.

And as if that wasn’t enough, the guy then jumped out of the Vette, grabbed a steel pipe and tried to hit the Sheriff with so he could escape, but he was captured after being pepper sprayed by police.

Yup, he’s got a bright future ahead of him.

via: GM Authority