Just put the car into 1st gear and keep cranking the key and it'll lurch forwards even if the engine won't start.

It's not exactly healthy for the starter motor but can be useful in emergencies for getting the car over to the shoulder or out from the middle of a junction.

I'm not sure how it'll work with automatic gearboxes (a small minority of cars here in the UK) but no reason why it shouldn't work on any car with a manual gearbox and key ignition.

It won't work on any manual made since maybe 1990. The starter won't engage unless the clutch is in.

Note that it is possible (with some luck) to start a car with a clutch that won't disengage this way and you might be able to limp to a garage.

You would have to have a starter with quite a lot of torque for this to work.

I have actually tried this before, in a 1972 J-4000 with a 258. The starter on that truck would make most other starters look like wind-up toys, but the truck would lurch, but not roll.

>> propel it with the starter motor

> Name a car that supports this. Genuinely curious.

Over six decades of driving, I cannot tell you how many times I have successfully moved a misbehaving car a short distance by doing this -- a car that had a healthy battery attached to an unhealthy engine or out of fuel.