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Post by billhammond on May 2, 2022 13:32:05 GMT -5
Road & TrackA Ford GT owner in Palm Beach, Fla., crashed his recently purchased supercar into a tree Friday evening because he was "unfamiliar with how to drive a stick shift," police say. The driver, 50-year-old Robert J. Guarini, told police he lost control after downshifting while leaving his Boca Raton housing development at around 6 p.m. This led to a head-on collision with a palm tree. Guarini then told a nearby security worker that he did not have his phone and needed a ride back to his house, where he spoke to police via landline after leaving the vehicle unattended, an accident report said. Facebook user John Peddle's photos from the crash site show that the damage is limited to the front third of the car. The hit was substantial enough to trigger multiple airbags and disable the vehicle. It's unclear how fast Guarini was going when the crash occurred, but the GT slid far enough after hitting the tree that it blocked a nearby sidewalk. The car was not registered or insured when the crash occurred. The listed VIN indicates that the car was purchased at a Barrett-Jackson auction in Palm Beach for $704,000 in early April, about the going price for a 2006 Heritage Edition GT. That would make replacement a very expensive endeavor. Guarini was issued a citation for driving with a suspended license and a warning for operating an unregistered vehicle. |
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Post by Village Idiot on May 2, 2022 13:40:10 GMT -5
A younger person, maybe. But what 50 year old doesn't know how to drive a stick? Really?
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Post by majorminor on May 2, 2022 13:41:59 GMT -5
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Post by Cornflake on May 2, 2022 13:43:59 GMT -5
You have to wonder how someone like that ever made enough money to buy that car.
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Post by TKennedy on May 2, 2022 13:49:40 GMT -5
Do you suppose there is a remote possibility of mood altering substances being involved somewhere along the chain of events?
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Post by concertinagirl on May 2, 2022 14:00:39 GMT -5
But what 50 year old doesn't know how to drive a stick? |
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Post by billhammond on May 2, 2022 14:03:14 GMT -5
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Post by Village Idiot on May 2, 2022 14:14:33 GMT -5
But what 50 year old doesn't know how to drive a stick? Ooops! But you have common sense, Janice. You wouldn't start driving it down the street in the first place! |
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Post by majorminor on May 2, 2022 14:25:08 GMT -5
Just sayin....  |
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Post by david on May 2, 2022 14:54:30 GMT -5
Florida men. A study needs to be done. Perhaps only women should occupy the State.
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Post by Cosmic Wonder on May 2, 2022 16:07:10 GMT -5
I’m just shaking my head. A Ford GT is a race car. And he doesn’t know how to shift. Unbelievable.
Mike
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Post by jdd2 on May 2, 2022 16:10:07 GMT -5
"Adam Gottbetter, VP Finance & Development"
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Post by billhammond on May 2, 2022 16:16:06 GMT -5
I’m just shaking my head. A Ford GT is a race car. And he doesn’t know how to shift. Unbelievable. Mike Well, this was a road-going car designed in the image of the GT-40 race car, but still, yeah ... |
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Post by TKennedy on May 2, 2022 17:46:50 GMT -5
One thing that attracted me to my future wife was that she could drive a stick. It was not uncommon that it would be best if my date drove at the end of an evening. Turned out we both probably should not have been driving.  We did not have a car with an automatic until the 90’s. We did go through a few clutches as Pat liked to use it as a foot rest. |
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Post by millring on May 2, 2022 17:46:51 GMT -5
Who hasn't done the same thing?
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Post by billhammond on May 2, 2022 18:57:52 GMT -5
One thing that attracted me to my future wife was that she could drive a stick. It was not uncommon that it would be best if my date drove at the end of an evening. Turned out we both probably should not have been driving.  We did not have a car with an automatic until the 90’s. We did go through a few clutches as Pat liked to use it as a foot rest. The first car I owned was a '62 Beetle, four-speed manual, of course, very forgiving. Got me through high school. Then on to four years in the Navy. Post-discharge and in college in Green Bay, I drove a '64 Chevelle that was a P.O.S. but managed to get me between GB and Eau Claire for a year or so, and it was an automatic. Then I bought a gorgeous black '65 Malibu SS, 300 HP, four-speed. After that, I owned a long series of other stick-shifts: two German-built Ford Fiestas, and then as a married guy with a shift-driving spouse, a VW Fox, a Mitsubishi Cordia, and a series of Honda Accords and Civics. It wasn't until post-divorce that I bought my second-ever auto-trans car, a new 2006 Nissan Altima 3.5. I loved its performance and although Nissan did offer a manual trans, I test-drove one, and it was herky-jerky and just no fun whatsoever to drive in stop-and-go traffic. That car led to my current Nissan-built car, an Infiniti G37X, with a seven-speed auto trans that has a really fun manual-shift mode, and to my way of thinking is the best of both worlds. |
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Post by Village Idiot on May 2, 2022 20:03:08 GMT -5
I learned how to drive in a 63 Beetle. Forgiving, yes. Thankfully because parked on a hill on a steep gravel road (there are three or four steep roads in Iowa) and moving forward uphill with no gravel spinning was not an easy chore. Especially when transitioning to a three in a tree in a Ford pickup.
Speaking of old vehicles, when we were first married I worked at a farm store that sold and changed tires, and we did split rim wheels. The vehicles were 20 years old or more so those rims were still legal. At least the place had a cage to for them.
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Post by John B on May 2, 2022 20:27:48 GMT -5
First car was the 1963 Falcon, 3 on the tree. When I bought it I drove home in first because I couldn't figure out where any of the other gears were. If I could, I parked on hills for the first two or three weeks I owned it because the starter was shot.
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Post by drlj on May 3, 2022 7:10:15 GMT -5
At 16, I nearly killed my father and me, not to mention destroying his pickup truck, learning to drive a stick. It remains one of the most scarring moments of my life but I learned, and for many years, drove nothing but sticks. I still like driving them.
I owned a 67 Beetle for a while and sold it to get a 4 speed Mustang. After that, every car I owned over the next several years was a stick. I don’t recall what car actually broke the pattern of stick shift driving.
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Post by Cosmic Wonder on May 3, 2022 8:09:54 GMT -5
First car was a 59 Rambler station wagon. Cost 50 dollars. Ran and had all the cachet you might imagine from a 50 dollar rambler. It didn’t last long. Next was another 59, but this time a TR-3. Paid 600;bucks for it. That was a fun car, wish I still had it.
Mike
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