A man was trying to teach a friend how to drive stick in his 2005 Ford Mustang GT convertible. Apparently, the clutch trumped the brakes.
When you teach someone how to do something, your student isn’t the only one who learns a lesson. You may find out how to improve your own technique or teach it better going forward. Either way, you learn when you teach. The man who owns this mangled Ford pony listed on Craigslist used it to teach a friend a lesson and he learned one helluva lesson himself after all the insurance paperwork was filled out.
It all started when he was hanging out with a lady friend named Brianna he hadn’t seen in several years. He noticed she had a brand new Mustang in her driveway. She soon revealed she didn’t know how to drive a manual gearbox. Her hapless and helpful friend offered to change that for her in his 2005 Mustang GT convertible (which for some reason he’s listed as having a 4.8-liter V8 and “Master Flow”).
According to him, “Once she was familiarized she started the engine and I talked her through to getting to first gear. After a couple more starts to first gear we were finally running and the car was going in a straight line. Little did I know the danger ahead. The school parking lot I was in was hugging a main road. Well, that shouldn’t be a problem or concern we are in a parking lot.”
Boy, was he wrong.
Brianna kept going forward, gradually approaching the end of the parking lot. She had two options, but only one of them was the correct way to go. To the right was more empty parking lot. To the left was a potential collision.
You probably guessed by now that Brianna went left. At the same time, an SUV went into the Ford Mustang GT at 40 mph. Fortunately, everybody survived the impact. The Mustang owner’s wallet was hit harder than any of the drivers or passengers involved. He only had liability insurance. His literal crash course in teaching the importance of proper steering and braking along with clutch management ended up costing him a claimed $8,000, as well as a higher insurance rate. The lesson he (hopefully) learned from all of this? Priceless.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
