Unauthorized use of a motor vehicle

[m21sniper]

I "borrowed" dad's 1987 Maserati Bi Turbo Spyder once, when i was fresh out of the Army.


(spitting image of dad's car)

I learned much about boost induced oversteer that day...

[onlycafe]

a great story of unauthorized use.

[onlycafe]

double unauthorized use, or is it squared?

[Evans, Marv]

when I was 13, my best friend & I used to take his dad's car at night. We'd sneak out around 12:00 or 1:00 and joy ride around town. We'd push the car out of the garage, my buddy would get in and back it down the driveway incline (pretty steep), then we'd push it down the street & start it up. When we returned, we'd turn out the lights and coast up the driveway into the garage with the engine off. One time we clipped the upright on the driveway cover, but nobody ever woke up. One night, he & another guy went out driving. Around 2:00 the police stopped them, took them to jail and called his parents to come get him & the car. The reason the police stopped them was they couldn't see anything but a little bump sticking up above the driver side seat. Maybe they should have taken pillows to set on.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

These sorts of things which have long been "rites of passage" for American youth would probably lead you to be pulled over at gunpoint from a dozen cops in "tactical" gear with a couple of helicopters circling overhead. You'd be given a permanent record, accused of endangering the public to the level of domestic terrorism and probably scarred for life. You'd then be sued by some gold-digging lawyer on behalf of the public you supposedly endangered for half of your projected income over the rest of your life.














I wish I were kidding, I'm only half joking. And yes, I "borrowed" the car a few times too.

[johnco]

I was probably about 4 or 5 when I found mom had left the keys in the old Pontiac Chieftain. turning the key I found she also left it in gear. also found out that you can drive thru the utlity room wall no problem. funny thing is, I did sort of the same thing 40 something years later with the 911

[Joeaksa]

Mom had a 1961 Chevy station wagon that had been around the world. It had an old 283 and three speed auto.

Would wait until she was asleep then push it out the drive and roll down the street then start it, and joyride from time to time. Never got caught doing this thank God!

Was playing "boy racer" one night and rev'ed it up dropping it into drive to peel out when one of the axles decided it had had enough punishment and broke. We got it back into the driveway and Mom got talked into that it had just died the next day. We put a new one in and away it went.

Years later she had a 1967 Malibu that was showing its age. We told her that we would do a tune up on it but needed it all weekend. A friend of mine had totaled his Corvette and I bought the like new 327. In it went into Moms car and it was home for her on Sunday ready to drive. Did not say a thing to her about the engine. Returned the next weekend for the Sunday dinner and asked her about the car. She commented that this was the best tuneup she had ever had on the car. Took her out and showed her the new engine and she just cried, but dinner was excellent that night.

We got tired of pulling her out of the side of the driveway in the snow a few years after that and bought her a Volvo 242 which she loved. She had that car until she passed. I kinda figured that the last two things with Volvo and new engine helped make up for my breaking the axle on the station wagon...

Joe A

[Schumi]

As a sophomore in high school I had a friend (not much a friend really, he was kind of a d^ck) who came from lots of money- first car was a Vette. C4. He went on vacation and myself and another friend knew where the spare key to his house was.

We borrowed the car.... and the house... for a few days of partying and what have you. Drove it all around town, everyone saw us. Everyone knew it was Jake's car.

When he got back and found out... well... we were no longer friends.

[vash]

15 years old.. i lived on a corner..i didnt get far. i backed down the driveway, and with my crappy driving skills..i hit the stopsign. the stop sign wasnt even close. i was that crappy. i pulled it back into the driveway, and started praying. the man upstairs wasnt listening. BUSTED!

[sammyg2]

This doesn't involve unauthorized use, just unauthorized MISS-use.

The parents used to have a 4 door gran torino with a 400 cu in. 2 bbl engine but it was still a heavy slug.
I was 17 and one day, I showed my 16 year old brother how to power brake it and get one leg spinning. He thought that was cool but wanted to see if I could get em both going.

So I power-braked in reverse and then dumped it into low without lifting, two black marks.
He said do it again, I said no and explained how hard that was on the car.

About two weeks later the phone rings and my dad gets pissed.
He made me go with him to pick up my little brother.
Seems the transmission had just broken for no reason while my brother was driving really slow.
My dad (who is no fool) followed the line of tranny fluid on the road around the corner, where there was a big puddle, a few gear parts, and two long black marks. seems like lil brother didn't push the car far enough from the scene of the crime.

Of course he threw me under the bus and told dear old dad that i had showed him how to do it.
Neither of us did very much that summer. Except for chores of course.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Bamberg96

I started driving a stick at 12 years old in 1976. I detailed a 1975 911S Targa and the owner gave me the keys and left. He lived in the hills of Tustin California - great start. My father had several cars I used to drive in the back hills. Fond memories of driving around a right hand drive 1934 Type 57 Bugatti with cable brakes. Perfected stick shift on a Mercedes 280SL. Also had a 1967 Ferrari 330GTC that I put many miles on long before I had a license. All these cars were not that expensive at the time - just neat toys. Got pulled over at 15 on my Dad's R90S with my 13 year old brother on the back, I had to push it home. Did not seem like a big deal at the time, I was just having fun to the red line. I was driving all the time.

Man, you were living the life. Long Beach used to have its share of exotics, but all I got to do was watch them go by. (Now, an "exoctic" in the LB is an Escalade with 22's.)

Originally Posted by Schumi

As a sophomore in high school I had a friend (not much a friend really, he was kind of a d^ck) who came from lots of money- first car was a Vette. C4. He went on vacation and myself and another friend knew where the spare key to his house was.

We borrowed the car.... and the house... for a few days of partying and what have you. Drove it all around town, everyone saw us. Everyone knew it was Jake's car.

When he got back and found out... well... we were no longer friends.

Sounds almost like the basis for the movie "Risky Business."

[Superman]

Originally Posted by johnco

I was probably about 4 or 5 when I found mom had left the keys in the old Pontiac Chieftain. turning the key I found she also left it in gear. also found out that you can drive thru the utlity room wall no problem. funny thing is, I did sort of the same thing 40 something years later with the 911

C'mon, John. Out with it. This happened when you were 4 or 5, and you're (amazingly, beating all odds) an old fart now, so let's hear some of the other stories. I'm never going to forget the story about dipping your brother in the water on a wrecking ball. Two trips through walls in cars....that's lame. Bring it on.

[johnco]

well, I did "borrow" my father's work truck a "few" times late at night when I was 15-16. one of the rare times I didn't have a car or 12. had a little jumper wire to run the coil and screwdriver to jump the solenoid since I didn't have a key. always made it back before daylight though. hard to believe I never got caught because my father may have slept 3-4 hours a night and was usually up. I didn't live with them so he wouldn't have heard me moving around inside the house. there was that time with the seismograph marsh buggies in the cane field also. rode them around a while before jumping off and letting them keep going. not sure where they ended up. now, I was just an observer... sort of.