Hot Rods Are you a outcast in your neighborhood?

4th of July party: Oh, you are the car guy.
Yeah, its a museum.

Oh, you are the car guy.
Yeah, its a museum. Second time they figured it out.

Early morning road trips I warm the motor (open headers) about 10 houses north, where the lady with the speed bump petition lives.

 

I am the only car guy and the quietest guy on the block. These aholes have parties or did have parties that went to 2 am with djs. I try to be respectful. No loud music, keep noise to a minimum.

 

I've lived next door to my in-laws for the past 37 years! Always been good, lost my F-I-L 23 years ago and I miss him more than my own father, M-I-L is getting very frail now and I am the one who takes her to dr. appointments and grocery shopping, etc I have a bro-in-law and a nephew living near-by and we all take care of each other. Other neighbors do their thing, I do mine. I don't raise hell on the road so if one of the neighbors sees me on the road I get a big wave. I don't bother anyone and no one bothers me, just the way I like it!

 

I guess i'm lucky our neighbourhood is full of mechanics car nuts and one lonely biker , no shortage of beer fridges or dry throats .

 

Oddly appropriate timing. Got my HOA warning yesterday.

Apparently the witch across the street that no one likes wasn't appreciative of me starting the dragster this past saturday at 12:30 in the afternoon. Apparently 2 minutes of being on was 2 minutes too long

Guy next door got a warning notice last year for changing his oil in the driveway. Other next door neighbor said "beware of the bitch" the first time we talked to him after moving in.

Can't wait to move out to the country.

In the mean time, I already took a picture of one of their cars out in the street and their kid's basketball goal they leave in the cul-de-sac gutter. Going to mail them to the HOA board tomorrow citing the code in our agreement.

Never cared until she cared.

 

For sure I'm the outcast in the neighborhood, I usually bring home a new project every two years, my newest neighbor is renting the house next door, he liked my OT topic 48 that was in the driveway but one day he saw my coupe when I had the garage door open and said, "I hope your not gonna start that car at night" I asked him why and he said "because I have a new baby on the way" my reply was "I sure hope your baby doesn't cry at night", anyways, later that night I had a fire in the backyard and a few rums, since I couldn't start the HEMI I figured a chainsaw would be a warm welcome, too bad I had no gas. Guess it was his lucky day. I hate the suburbs.

 

My neighbor"hoods" slowly been turning from a nice quiet place for old people to live out their last years to section 8 housing and tweekers and shitbags to move into now. I for the most part try and stay low key and get along well with the rasta lookin dude across the street and the creepy old man from Phantasm next door. But I have one old bat a couple houses down that is out to get me as she's sic'd the code enforcement goose steppers on me twice already. I think its due to one of my toys in the driveway being a rusty lifted 78 Ford mud truck thats registered and driven or that I'm a big dude with ink on both arms and hair down to my ass and a viking beard. Oh and like others have said,keep your junk in the back yard with a privacy fence. I scrap metal on the side and thats where I keep it it plus I strip and sell OT car parts too. and yeaah..I keep my baby back there too (60 F100) as she can't fit in the garage plus theres a OT 74 drag race Gremlin in it anyway lol

 

As is the case with most things in life, give respect to others and you are more likely to get respect in return.

The "do a burn out, f$#k the neighbors" type of comments are depressing, indicative of a large swathe of voters (shudder) and are posted by the type of idiots that give hot rodders a bad name...

 

Finally someone making sense.


Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

I moved to the country before I got married. It's like going back in time 40 years. The Bay Area used to be all orchards and ranches. Now it all asphalt, cement and really screwed up people. So my advice is like people who settle down next to the horse barn, junk yard or airport. You moved there. Don't try and change it. I like the suggestion of being the odd job guy. One other thing I did BEFORE I bought was to go door to door ( in my case street to street - acreage ) and meet the potential new neighbors. It's surprising how many people don't know their neighbors. You also may want to opt to tell neighbors - I promise not to work before 10 weekends and 9 pm. Shows you care. They might just say don't worry about it - i'll call you if it's annoying. Good Neighbors can also watch your place for you when you're not there. Good Neighbors are priceless.

 

I am surrounded on all 4 sides by 75+ year old people that lived there for 50 years. They don't hear much, and most like to see what old cars I drag home. Then they come over and reminisce while I'm arms deep into the engine bay.

I fear the day they pass/move on and the new neighbors.

 

I use to live in Central Florida and always had several cars in the backyard, and worked in the garage any time, but never had problems with the neighbors, but now I live in central Kansas on 5 acres, with my nearest neighbor over a mile away. I park cars in the yard and pretty much do whatever I want. Nobody to bother, but I do know the county has satellite images, so they can charge you property tax on that canoe thats in your yard. So I guess you have to be carefull wherever you are. Out here its ok to have a bunch of rusted farm machinery out in a field, but if you have too many old cars they will get on your ass. Just my 2 cents

 

Not an outcast...our neighbors actually love us. We smother them in free vegetables from the garden and my offer of free help with their vehicles. Recently the lady across the street got excited when we hauled my F100 over from my brother garage. Cant wait to get the garage built and do some burnouts in the driveway....then they will really love us!

 

yes and no.

 

I grew up in the country. Went to work in the city, hated it, got married to a country girl who was working in the city. Went back to the country after a few years, bought 10 acres of pasture from my grandfather and built a house and shop.

My place is 300 feet off of a county road, I have let it grow up along my driveway and along the neighbours line and along the road side of my property and mow the rest with Gramp's '52 Ferguson.

I repair modern vehicles in my shop and haul in junkers to scrap out plus old stuff to build and drive or to sell for a profit. Nobody can see what is in my yard from the road.

I feel sorry for those of you who live in subdivisions and the like.

My youngest daughter says every time she comes down our drive she thinks of the old David Allan Coe song, " If that ain't country, I'll kiss your ass".

"The neighbours say we lived like hicks but they brought their cars for Pa to fix."

 

Its weird , my neighbours are pretty good about my trucks but if I leave a trailer out front unhitched in 20 minutes I've got a $250.00 ticket

 

To all the guys that say "screw the neighbors", I do not want you as a neighbor. They'll see we both have cars and assume we are friends, then I'll have to pay for your foolishness.

 

It's your neighborhood and their neighborhood. Life is short... don't do anything in front of your neighbors that you wouldn't do in front of your grandparents.

If you do silly shit, don't cry and moan about the neighbors calling the cops... stupid is as stupid does.

 

I wasn't an outcast before, but after a 20 min. cam breakin on my 464 BBC powered Falcon gasser today, I may have to check back with my neighbors!

 

Pretty much the same here.... When one neighbor is working on his car the others gathere around. I've had six neighbors in my yard with beer and suggestions on how to do stuff. And vice versa... A lot of old timers like to come check on my progress during their evening walk.... I can tell it makes them pretty happy, a lot of them are old guys who love cars but can hardly bend over to change a tire anymore. Guy across the street has an engine puller, I have a welder, engine stand so we share a lot... Sometimes even drink a lot. Used to have a meth-headed lady next door.... I told my wife not to worry, she'd self destruct in a few months.... Sure enough.

 

We have the neighborhood watchdog at the top of the hill. Apparently the first in the development 20 yrs ago and thinks that gives him the right to police the street, plus he's retired. You know the type.

I've got 4 kids and all here for summer break and they all have their own car. All nice cars and just a temporary situation until college is back in session. He comes over and starts spouting off about all the cars and the covenants. I tried to be nice, but he was being a dick.

So finally I had enough and I said "hey this is a temporary situation and we are doing the best we can, but if you want to start a shit storm I've read the covenants and your expensive fence is illegal and it's going to cost a butt load to tear it out. It didn't bother me until now, but push has come to shove."

He walked away.....

 

Be cool! Neighbors thought I was an auto mechanic...nope, dentist. I fucking HATE golf!!!

 

on my street there is a 39 ford coupe the guy has had since the 70's . it have a 327 sbc and it looks great except the guy at the local tire stor told him he need to go modern and talked him into 17" torq thrust wheel. my next door neighbor has a 68 mopar 440. he does burnouts a lot and makes the rest of the neighbors kinda mad. there is a mg, a 70's thunder chicken, a 60's mustang, and a older bike.

the best advice I can give you is this : help them out when you can like weld something for them, or help them if they need anything so you build up a good rep. you can get buy with alittle noise but too much and you become a problem.

be somewhat respectful. remember they could someday be on your jury!

 

I actually talked to 3 members of the Outcast Motor Cycle Club today.. All 3 bikes were black and all 3 members dressed the same. They purchased a trailer from me.

 

Dirt road off a dirt road here at my place. Surrounded on all sides by National Forest, and my nearest neighbor is 3/4 mile away. He tolerates my rods much better than he did 30 years ago - b/c now I plow his snow, work on his truck, his generator, etc. Do unto others, guys...

 

Tell them you are from Chi town. No more worries.

 

I had a nostalgia top fuel dragster this week at my house for a little fab 'n welding, plus the nostalgia funny car body out in the driveway that I am working on this week and it seems like my neighbors approved, LOL.

Lots of visits and drivebys, no cops called.......

Al in TN

 

I totally forgot this story until now... When I was in the 4th grade I was explaining to a classmate where I lived in the neighborhood. He said. "Are you the house with all the cars? My dad says you guys are drug dealers"

 

With the crash of the price of houses in recent years I am surprised that HOAs still exist. Isn't an HOAs mission to maintain and or increase home prices/values when it gets right down to it?

I am lucky to live in a neighborhood without an HOA. I get along with the neighbors. Well at least nobody has complained. Having the '40, 2 modified 4x4s, a GMC Typhoon and a full sized truck, I am always doing something with tools at random intervals of time and days. I do however make a point not to use anything noisy past about 9:30 pm as a courtesy to the neighbors (even though their dogs don't seem to have a the same courtesy). I also don't leave anything non-op in the driveway for any period of time. No complaints yet, even after fabbing and welding a huge bumper for one of the 4x4s in the driveway.

 

It's nice being able to step out the front door at 10am on any given day of the week in a bathrobe and a coffee in my hand and rattle off 100 rounds down range with my AR-15. It never even crosses my mind that someone will have an issue with it. They never have.

Or when that damn owl wants to start hooting outside my bedroom window in the middle of the night...? yep, grab the S&W J frame and pop a couple in the air to shoo him away.

Country livin is sure nice!

My closest neighbor is about 1/4 mile away. I have the welder, he has the plasma cutter. We get along great!