A Russian teenager has refitted his car to drive it backward, and got a shoutout from Tesla�s CEO Elon Musk. But this didn�t stop the police from stripping him of the car registration.

The 18-year-old was stopped earlier this week driving the battered Lada backward. The teenager showed in a video posted on social media that he had refitted the car, removing what was underneath the hood to where the trunk normally is, and reversed the driver�s seat.

The video, posted on Twitter by the Russian television station NTV, got a shoutout Monday from Musk�s verified account who said, in Russian, that it was �awesome.�

Local police, however, were not impressed and fined the teenager for driving backward, illegal refitting the car and driving without insurance.

And how do you like this, @elonmusk? pic.twitter.com/DhSzqzNGSC

� ??? (@ntvru) February 11, 2019

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— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 13, 2019

(AP)