Folks Of Interest Best Cities for Car Guys?

With the 5th day of sub zero temperatures outside & yesterday’s record low temperature of -18 with -46 wind chill in Montana, I really have to wonder about my current choice but are there better cities for car guys somewhere?

So I’d like to know where do you think is the best Car Guy place to live and “Why”? Specifically what factors do you base your decision on.

So Let’s hear them!


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Fort Worth - Dallas Area. 21 degrees this morning but will be in the 70's this Friday, Saturday, Sunday for Goodguys. Ya gotta love Texas......

 

Aha, another "the Grass is always Greener" story. I'll be watching. At post 70 I've learned a bit on that subject. The other question is, Why are you where your at in the first place?

 

Any place except Montana...

 

New York (specifically Syracuse area) sucks because of the winters with all the lake effect snow & salt on the roads. So... anyplace but here!

 

With a 90% chance of rain on Saturday

 

Think about Phoenix Az, many nice suburbs, for a winter retreat, very nice winter weather, 75 deg today, sunny, 3/4 months of summer HOT, I'm from Wi. and we have become Snowbirds, Lots of car activity here, sports, restaurants, shopping, medical facilities, Plenty to do, we're very happy with Apache Junction area and amenities, if you are still working, have been told job opportunities are present. Good Luck !

 

Refer to this thread. HRP

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/tired-of-winter.1141609/page-4#post-12981069

 

St Paul MN and surrounding area is great in the summer. Back to the 50's car show and 3 or 4 other big car events at the fairgrounds. There is a car show somewhere close by every week end. Minnesota Street Rod Association largest car club in the states, have events all summer. But..... the winter sucks. Need to go somewhere warm in the winters.

 

Live in Toronto On Canada

Downside is ,not a wrecking yard within a 100 miles worth looking for anything traditional.
Most parts you do find are a 100 miles away , as very few people in the city have space to keep a car or 2
and hoard parts .
Thank god for winters , Get to spend 5-6 months building projects and doing maintenance and improvments on my drivers.
Save more money for insurance and gas for summer driving .
If I lived in a warm climate ,I would drive till forced to do maintenance or repairs and damn sure I would not spende 6 months in my garage building stuff

 

Can not beat Lake Havasu City Az, more customs, hot rods, street rods and many other types of vehicles. By the way it will be 80 today.

 

Screw the cities and look someplace in the country or backwoods area. That is where you are going to find virgin tin, more junkyards than your regulated overcrowded cities with their ordinances, etc.

You might find a few indoor car shows in the city that cost and arm and leg to go to but their seems to be plenty of free get togethers here in the country for like minded car folks.

I hate driving my customs thru city streets with all the texters that think they can drive too. Here in the country I don't have any problems taking any of my toys out.

I can work all night in my shop if I want to without being reported for noise nuisance and some cities it is as early as 5 o'clock. that is plan silly.

 

And 110 in the summer, but it's a dry heat. LOL

 

Austin. PNW seems to be an overlooked hotspot.

 

2nd recent thread of people wanting to move to a "car place". I'm calling BS on expecting any area has tons of rods & customs out on the road each day. So, is it wanting a place that has tons of shows where you pay to "park" there? I may never go to a show this year, as I use mine as a daily, and I finally "get" what having a rod used to be about.

We have tons of shows and cars here, but I rarely see a rod on the road unless they are heading to an event in summer? WTH?..

Drive or "pose", your choice. BTW, we got 14" more snow by sunrise yesterday, but the roads are bare & dry today...so I will most likely go for a ride...again..
.

 

Drive the wheels off them F&J
Like my wife say's , she will never be able to say to anyone when I am dead and gone ....
"Beautiful car's ,Too bad be never got to enjoy them"
I fixed them once , somebody else can have a crack at em when I am gone ,

 

Any where south of Dallas-Ft.Worth

 

No, no, no, this is a terrible place for Hot Rodder's, specially for guys with Roadsters. It rains all the time. Traffic is terrible. Roads are beat to Crap. Housing costs are through the Roof. Bicycle Riders have special rights over Vehicles and they are EVERY WHERE state wide. Good wrecking yards have all but evaporated. The homeless can set up a Tent City right in front of your house on the sidewalk, nothing you can do about it. Cops don't understand YOM plates. I could keep going on but I'm still not leaving here again.

 

The swap meets in the PNW are huge compared to the ones in Michigan along with more vintage tin. The summers have been pretty dry. Traffic is horrendous, haven’t tried to hit any week night car events.


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I forgot to say Summer is all of 5 weeks. Starts the 3rd week of July and ends the first week Sept.

 

Here's my take.
For me, it was Ventura, Ca. Spent 8 great years there.
Other than the high cost of living/housing (can't afford to go back) and the occasional earthquake.........it had it all.
Beach to the west, mountains and back roads to the east. Great places to eat and shop. Good medical facilities.
No vicious winters/extreme heat/biting bugs/humidity/nose bleed elevation. Lots of car events/concerts.
I ever hit the lottery....guess what!

 

Except for the high cost of living, extreme heat, drought, earthquakes, wildfires, mudslides, gridlocked traffic and smog, California seems like it would be nice!

 

The smog problem back in the fifties and sixties is long gone. It got fixed.
Everything else? It's all relative.
It's a very BIG state, so you can pick and choose your poison. I live in an area without ANY of those things on your list. Nada.

 

I spent 27 years in SoCal. One major earthquake 6.7, pretty scary for sure. I personally experienced no mudslides, wildfires, extreme heat (although you can find it if you go look for it), no gridlock while in Ventura but yes, LA and area big time, smog yes in the LA basin not so noticeable in Ventura.
Compared to terrible winters here that last a good 6 months, icy roads, very short summer for vintage car driving season, power outages, black flies in spring, mosquitos all summer and out of the blue downpours, terrible roads.

 

When I'm ready to move I'll pm you for your address then! I'm sure there are plenty of areas that are perfect.

 

I live in the Detroit suburbs and work in the city. I've about had it with the commute, just a few years to go to retire. Detroit is an old city with countless "plans" that have come and gone with varying degrees of success. Most of the problems in this area will still be here long after I'm gone. But its home. And I wouldn't want to be too far from my daughter, grandsons, friends. I wouldn't mind a little south, between Detroit and Toledo (way lower taxes), with enough land for a nice pole barn.

 

No place is "perfect" PNW is great from late spring until early fall but you have to be willing to drive 150 to 200 miles one way if you live in the Yakima Valley like I do. 160 miles to Seattle, about the same to Portland, and maybe 180 to Spokane and a bit over 300 to Boise.
If you live over on the other side of the river you do have the issue with those damned Seattle bicycle idiots riding drunkenly between wineries in the summer along with tourists who have sampled more wine than they shoud have to be driving. Throw in those "undocumented" farm workers who are just learning to drive on the same back road and usually with a Cerveza close at hand for refreshment in the process and you have the makings of a massacure not counting the Milky way trucks speeding between dairys collecting the milk.
What makes a great car city/town or county isn't just the cars you might see cruising on the roads every day it is the proximity to shops, services, parts suppies, along with events that you might want to go to. There is always some event going on within 100 miles every day of the summer and sometimes the choice depends on the drive to get there and the food or other things that are available in the proximity.

 

Love it here in South Florida. There are usually two or three cruise-ins or show to pick from every day.

 

@Pist-n-Broke : "methinks thou dost protest too much." I was just taking note of all the nice cars I see from the area.

 

PNW... Nice place to visit and then GO HOME, Please !......