I’m sure you’ve all seen the boomer Facebook memes of a manual shift knob and a caption that goes something like this: “Millennial anti-theft device.” Yes, they’re cringy and of course, many Millennials know how to drive stick. However, broken clocks are right twice a day, aren’t they? While we don’t know if the violent car thieves who recently tried to rob a man in Bethesda, Maryland were Millennials, we do know that the owner’s manual transmission did indeed prevent theft.
According to Fox 5 DC, Bethesda restaurant owner Myo Maung was leaving his business last Sunday night when three carjackers approached him at gunpoint. After pistol-whipping him and taking his keys, the carjackers attempted to drive away in Maung’s Porsche 718. However, since none of them knew how to use a manual transmission, they had to leave the Porsche and flee in their Nissan.
In the dashcam video obtained by Fox 5, you can see the three carjackers pull up and stop near the parked Porsche, just as Maung is walking up to it. They then get out and approach him at gunpoint but move offscreen. After they take his keys, they try to start the Porsche but it takes longer than it should, as they likely didn’t know how to start it with the clutch pedal. Once they get it started, they stall at least twice, without ever pulling away, before the video ends.
Maung claimed to have heard at least one gunshot go off during the attempted robbery but police found no shell casings and there isn’t a gunshot in the video. The carjackers got away and police investigators are asking anyone who has any information to speak up. The carjackers’ license plate is visible in the video but it might either be a stolen car or a bogus plate.
Thankfully Maung is recovering from his injuries and seems to be OK. And on top of that, his Porsche wasn’t actually stolen. As cringy as those stick-shift memes can be, it is true that fewer and fewer drivers know how to operate a manual transmission, as automakers phase them out, and Maung’s enthusiasm for three pedals just saved his Porsche from theft.
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