Armie Hammer stole his dad's car at eight years old

Actor Armie Hammer gave his dad a fright when he was eight years old after stealing his car to drive to a friend's house.

The Social Network star's father Michael used to race cars during his youth, and he helped his boy master a stick shift years before Armie was legally allowed to drive.

However, he soon regretted giving his son driving lessons so early on after the youngster decided to go for a ride by himself.

"I was eight and my dad taught me to drive stick shift when I was really young, because... he used to race cars and all that stuff, so a big part of us (their bonding time) was cars on the weekend, we'd go race or whatever (sic)," he explained on U.S. breakfast show Good Morning America. "So he taught me to drive stick shift when I was eight, and when you're eight, you also don't know the responsibility of what a car is. So he came home one day from work and was like (to his mom), 'Honey, where's my car...?'

"So then they realize I'm gone... so he gets in a car and drives around and goes basically to my friend's house, where I took my dad's car, and I was like, 'I can drive, let's just do this!' I was tall (as a kid)."

Armie's fascination with motors has since come full circle with his latest movie role, voicing the character Jackson Storm in the new Cars 3 film, and becoming a part of the animated franchise was particularly special for the actor.

"I loved the first Cars movie, it was a really special movie for me," the 30-year-old shared on U.S. show Today. "I saw it for the first time when I was working abroad... and it was the only movie I had in English, so I ended up watching it almost every night, 'cause I was 19 years old, living in a foreign country, working for the first time."

Unfortunately, Armie's love for the Cars films hasn't rubbed off on his two-year-old daughter, Harper.

"I tried showing her Cars 1, because we have the premiere (for Cars 3) next weekend...," Armie explained. "So we're like, 'Let's watch Cars 1, so she can get excited about this thing.' We put it on and she watches it for a minute, and she goes, 'I wanna watch Moana...' So yeah, (she) couldn't care less!"

Little Harper is Armie's eldest child with his wife Elizabeth. The couple also welcomed a son in January (17).