Flashback: Thief Makes Off with Rocker’s 911 Turbo
Thief must have thought it was sexy! Rod Stewart was robbed of his Porsche 35 years ago — but first he had to show carjacker how to start it.
Carjacking is one of the scarier crimes around. Mainly because unlike a normal car theft in the middle of the night, you throw in the potential for violence. After all, most folks aren’t just going to give up their precious ride to some guy who’s politely asking for it. Nope. Separating a man from his Porsche requires a little more persuasion, if you will.
Legendary British musician Rod Stewart found himself in such a predicament 35 years ago this week when the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer was just doing a little shopping with his daughter and secretary on Los Angeles’ Sunset Boulevard. As they approached Stewart’s parked 1977 Porsche 911 Turbo, an armed gunman approached them and demanded the keys to the rocker’s ride.
Stewart, like any reasonably intelligent person with a gun pointed at him, complied. But just when he thought it was over, the carjacker stepped out of the vehicle and got in Stewart’s face again. And this time, the thief was noticeably a bit more agitated.
‘The carjacker came back and said, “I can’t start the car.” So, with a gun in my back,
I had to get in and start it for him. It started on a button.’
“He came back and said, ‘I can’t start the car,'” Stewart later told Access Hollywood. “So at gunpoint, I had to walk out on a side street with a gun in my back and get in the car and start it for him. It started on a button.”
Thankfully, neither Stewart nor his companions were injured that day. And oddly enough, despite his unique hair style and fame, the thief didn’t seem to know who he was robbing.
It wouldn’t be Stewart’s last brush with crime and fast cars, either. A fired worker at his Florida estate made off with his Dodge Viper back in 2004. But like his oft-repeated hit song says, “the first cut is the deepest.” And we assume that the loss of his beloved Porsche hurt the most.
