Why? Authorities don't know …Why? Because it’s easy to do. The same thing was done to Volkswagens 50 years ago. Some were even picked up and moved.
I think the other problem with “smart” cars is the name.
If those cars are smart then the logical conclusion is the others are dumb.
The owners of “dumb” cars are likely to react in a negative way.
It is as if a nerd calls himself smart.
It is why no one is allowed to call someone else “retarded”
Way back when...when I was living in a dorm, we picked a fellow's VW Beetle up and carried into the dorm's lobby. The perps were never identified but the guy that owned the Beetle got a warning about freshman not being allowed to have cars on campus. No damage of course, we weren't vandals.
>>The same thing was done to Volkswagens 50 years ago. Some were even picked up and moved.
—Supposedly Sid Caesar was upset one day when a VW was parked in his preferred space near a restaurant; he double parked,
got out and picked up the VW and moved it onto the sidewalk then moved his car into his preferred spot
—In John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany, Owen gets members from the basketball team to grab a VW owned by the school psychologist, which is parked in HIS preferred parking spot, and carry it into a building where it is placed on stage during “Morning Meeting” (formerly “Chapel”). Further disaster comes when various faculty try to get the locked car back out of the building.
(From sparknotes for the novel : “One frigid New Hampshire morning, Owen discovers that his parking spot has been taken up by Dr. Dolder’s Volkswagen Beetle: whenever Dr. Dolder drinks too much after a party at Mr. White’s, he inevitably leaves the Beetle there. Angry and frustrated, Owen recruits the basketball team to move the Beetle into the school auditorium, where it will be found on the stage for morning meeting. He then parks in front of a different dormitory, pleased with his scheme. But the headmaster finds out about the prank before the meeting begins, and recruits a group of faculty members to help him carry the car back out the door. Unfortunately, the teachers are not as strong as the basketball team, and they roll it from side to side, smashing its windows and mirrors. When Mr. White tries to steer it down the stairs, it careens out of control, overturning and pinning Mr. White inside.”)
There was a German teacher at my high school in the 1960's who had one and some guys on the football team lifted it up and put the front end over a guard rail.........LOL!
When I was in high school (1980s), one of my good friends had a 1966 MG Midget.
We picked up and moved his car twice during our senior year. The first time was to the sidewalk leading to the school and the second was to the middle of the basketball court in the gym.
Suffice to say, he was not happy with our shenanigans! :)
Well, not sure about 50 years ago, but I can speak to 33 years ago. We picked up this guy's bug and place it across a concrete irrigation ditch. Front wheels on one side, rears on the other. We were young pre-teens and teens (I was 12), and it took 6 of us. Two in the front and four in the back.