Corvette’s Manual Transmission Outsmarts Two Car Thieves in California

A writer on Corvette Forum played an April Fool’s prank on his readers last week when he jokingly said that Chevy was doing away with manual transmissions starting in 2017.

Two would-be thieves in California probably wish that hoax was true.

Apparently the bumbling criminals tried to steal a Corvette convertible on Wednesday, but the guy behind the wheel didn’t know how to drive a stick and ended up backing the sports car into a set of mailboxes.

And not just any set of mailboxes, but the ones in front of the home belonging to California’s State School Superintendent Tom Torlakson.

In fact, in this news coverage from the NBC Bay Area affiliate, you can hear Torlakson’s wife, Mae, telling about the crime, which was captured by her home surveillance camera.

After bungling the car theft, the suspects hopped out of the Corvette and tried to run away but were quickly apprehended by police who happened to be in the area.

Torlakson said police told her they think the suspects may have ridden the BART public transit system to the neighborhood and believe they could be linked to other recent home burglaries nearby.

Mrs. Torlakson said living close to the BART station is not always a blessing.

“What’s good and what’s bad is we’re very close to the BART station and what police told me is (the suspects) get off BART, they burglarize and they get on BART,” she said.

Source:
nbcbayarea.com

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