Two aspiring but hapless carjackers let two victims slip through their clutches because the would-be crooks couldn’t shift for themselves.

Speaking strictly in transmission terms, that is.

Apparently neither of the suspects could drive a manual transmission.

The man and gun-toting woman had to abandon the two vehicles they tried to swipe Monday night when they couldn’t make either machine move, said Milwaukee police Capt. Joseph M. Purpero.

“Apparently neither of the suspects could drive a manual transmission,” Purpero explained.

Instead of stalking the driver of a car with full power and all the toys, the pair chose to demand the keys to a 1990 Toyota Tercel from a woman outside a tavern in the 2400 block of N. Fratney St., Purpero said.

The 22-year-old victim complied, and the crooks piled into the Tercel, but piled right out again when they discovered the economy car was PRNDLess.

” . . . Leaving the keys inside,” Purpero noted.

Not sure she was out of danger, the 22-year-old made a beeline for the tavern, but the male carjacker tried to block her path.

Enter victim No. 2, a 40-year-old man apparently on his way to the tavern who attempted to intervene on the woman’s behalf, Purpero said. The undaunted crooks turned their gun on him and demanded his ignition keys.

He, too, complied quickly, leaving the robbers in possession of a pickup truck - with a stick shift.

Within minutes both jumped out of the truck and fled westbound on foot in the 700 block of E. Wright St. - presumably in search of a driving school.

The suspects were still at large Wednesday, but police had good descriptions of them. The woman is said to be 5 foot 6 to 5 foot 8 inches tall, weighing 160 to 180 pounds, wearing a dark oversize shirt, black pants and red dyed hair in a headband. The man is described as 6 foot 3, 210 pounds, with short black hair and dark clothes.

Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on April 18, 2001