Hot Rods Is your neighborhood hamb friendly

Not really - hot rodding is a relatively new thing in my part of the world. We were introduced to the phenomenon with the '60s psychedelic fad-T thing, which means that many have the idea that a hot rod is all about a humorous juxtaposing of old and new, but the wonder of the Internet is allowing more and more people to discover the history. And that means that little surprises keep cropping up.

There is a burgundy 'glass Deuce hiboy, traditional in look and tidily done except for the not-quite-right www radials, which I've seen in my neighbourhood a few times. There used to be a c.1970 T-bucket parked in the corner of a car wash across the street. I went out for a Chinese takeaway a few weeks ago and found a '64 Impala four-door on 13" Tru-Spokes and hydraulics at the corner. There are a few long-term restoration projects at the back of the place which services my DD VW Golf Mk1, including a "jailbar" Ford truck with a Customs & Excise sticker on the window prohibiting anyone from touching it, and a few abandoned cars like a very dead DeLorean with all its stainless skin missing. They had a '30s Vauxhall in for brakes when I was there last.

But the tuner/hot-hatch thing is much bigger. And we're right next door to chest wig and expensive pointy car territory.

I like my neighbourhood but garage space is at a premium here. The Golf lives in a single garage with a 6'6" ceiling and no electricity, and I barely use it more than once or twice a week. My other garage is 13 miles away and houses the Morris and much of what I've collected for the '31.

 

Ha ha! Chest wigs, love it.

 

H.A.M.B. Friendly ? I think so. My neighbors are so nice. I'm blessed in the fact that I live out in the country. So there's no traffic or a home owner's asso. etc. I built a 50s style service station in my back yard. I was worried that the neighbors may not like it. But I found it just the opposite. I will come home, and find old car parts or signs etc. at my Garage, with note's saying, I thought you my like to have this. As for other HAMB friendly rods and customs. No, just a 66 nova and a 65 chevelle . This is an older photo of my back yard. Sorry if you seen this photo on a different thread. Ron...

 

My neighborhood, your cars have to be tagged, titled, insured, inspected, and up to date if you can see it from the road. Unless you have antique tags, you don't need to get it inspected. And a car cover or tarp doesn't count. It has to be in a garage or behind a privacy fence.
My yard and house are kept nice and I came home to three violations one day. I was considering being a dick and scatter the cars in the front yard and build privacy fences around each car.
Despite the government over reach, there are a few car guys in the neighborhood. Mostly muscle cars, mud bog trucks, or classic BMWs but I don't complain, I like them all.

 

We lived in town when we 1 st moved to East T.N. 20 years ago. Neighbors weren't really happy about my cars so we moved out of town and on to a mountain top and no body bitches now even when I paint. Got our cabin and my shop is down the hill a little from it. Bruce.

 

You can see the Great Smoky Mountian Park from our back porch and the ski slope in Gattlinburg in the winter and the fire works from Dolly wood in the summer.Bruce.

 

And my little shop.Just enough to keep me busy.LOL.Bruce.YEA this was a winter shot.lol.

 

Not really. My neighbors are scumbags that bitch and complain about absolutely everything, literally from the day we moved in the house. From allegations of me running an auto restoration business (I'm not, but my home shop is apparently too equipped to not do this for profit) to the town zoning board, allegations of unpermitted improvements to the property to the building department, calls the police for noise complaints when we were jamming at 8 pm on a Saturday night (inside my house)... it has been a long string of ball-busting since we moved in in November. Mind you I have over 5 acres of land and my nearest neighbors are almost 200 ft away. Finally what seems to have quelled the situation was putting my property under video surveillance and sending all the neighbors cease-and-desist letters. Scumbags.

 

^ That sucks, didn't even wait to see if you were a good guy or not. Has an old car, must be a degenerate, lets make his life miserable. People like that are never happy unless everyone around them are angry.

 

Love the view Bruce.

 

Agreed. And the part that gets me is that the "degenerate" that they think we are, the neighbors who complain are all in their mid-40s or older and all have modest, older homes on a single acre of property. Not that there is a damn thing wrong with that. My fiance and I are ~31, have 5+ acres of property, with a much more significant home both in size and finish than my immediate neighbors. I'm not saying that to brag in the least, but it does explain where a bit of the vitriol may stem from.

Taylor Swift said it, "Haters gonna hate, hate hate... I'm just gonna shake it off."

 

To follow up my first post,Our place was built by my wifes father in 52 and its the same story for the house,family next door.Four generations next door and three in ours. We have shared a real wide driveway since the beginning.The new dick next door is one of these clowns like the ones that move into a new development near a race track and then try to shut it down.I knew when I saw him use a golf cart to get his mail, we were in trouble.Its less than 100ft from his house
Tradition means alot to everyone else around here. Everyone looks out for each other and the stories about cars and race boats runs deep.One of the boats was Al Brinkmans E Service Runabout.Schreoder built Hydros that set national records and class titles. 40s Jag, 52 Chevy,55 TBird,26 T,47 Olds,63 T Bird,Metro,Willys gasser,Brass era something,and a bunch of muscle cars. .Our area is not a big junk pile but not all have a huge building to store things. Yes I get worked up but we all have an agreement to just do our thing as we always have and not give this dope any ammunition. HE IS THE ODD GUY OUT>
Actually this gives me a boost of ambition to get out back and keep going. Maybe when the Olds is going again I will take Joe Jackass for a ride.

 

I knew this one girl in college, her family lived in a nice up-scale development, both parents professionals, home looked impeccable inside & out. Her dad gets into a beef with a neighbor and a feud breaks out. So what's a man to do? He paints the side of his house that faces the neighbor in all psychedelic paints.

By my brother in NJ, two doctors lived next to each other, maybe one was a lawyer, I forget. Real nice houses in an expensive area and they got into a beef. One of them has a deck built, 100% to code, but the most gawd-awful deck you ever don't want to see. Try to look at that every morning out your kitchen window.

 

Joe I used to live in Hunterdon county right off rt 33.{I think that's it} I had my shop in Califon back in the 70s.I am I in the same area as you?I guess its really grown up since then.Bruce.

 

Thanks Wraymen. Even the Joehof., Witnessess cant get their bikes up to the top of our drive way. LOL. Bruce.

 

Joe your young enough if you if they are ball busters just move and get your self a nice quite spot like we did.Bruce.

 

Are you going to have a shovel in the trunk when you take him for a ride???LOL Bruce.

 

Uhh, what does that dog have? Did he get that from the neighbor's house?!

 

Or the bedroom?

 

Guess I'm the Muscle Car guy around here now no HAMB friendly Rides in my fleet at this time. There are a few cool rides around here I have been seeing an older fella driving a very clean stock looking burgundy 41 Ford around the last few weeks. Used to be a guy with a nice 56 Chevy a couple blocks away haven't seen him in awhile. Supposed to be a Model A and a RARE (according to the neighbor anyway) big block Mustang in a garage not far from me. Neighbors tolerate my wrenching and noisy cars I try and keep things civil and not make a lot of noise in the wee hours. At one time I had a neighbor come yelling at me at 9 o'clock at night about my music being too loud. She tells me she has to be at work at 9am and I'm keeping her awake! I politely told her I have to be at work at 4am and I'll be finished for the night in about 2 hours. She lived three houses down and the only reason she knew my radio was on is she walked her dog past my house. I asked the neighbors right next door on either side if I was bothersome and they said hell no. Thank goodness she moved out soon after! Joe

 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or else how could you explain Pontiac selling over 119,000 Aztecs in its brief 5 year run. Sorry,OT but damn that thing is ugly.

 

Fixed that for you. Yeah, those gruesome Ponchos were a sight... I've only seen a couple of them on the road.

 

Not long after I bought my house, I sat down one morning and counted 17 people within a mile that were involved in racing somehow, whether owner, driver or just pit crew for a somebody else. I called it Reidville's Racing mile. Sadly now there is only one that I can think of still racing an old dirt car, and its not me. All the rest either went broke and quit, moved or died off.
A funny story though, from a few years back, when I was still dirt racing.My sister went to visit her future inlaws for the first time, and their property joins mine at the back. They were all talking and she said, " Oooh, was that thunder? " They said , " No, that's your BROTHER."

 

Funny story. I really try to be very neighborly to my neighbors if you know what I mean. I live on a pretty quiet street in a historic section of town. We never make too much racket too late or too early. No Austin test hits in the driveway if you know what I mean.

But last month trying to get ready for the HAMB Drags I was running out of time to take it somewhere to test so I decided to do some burnouts in the driveway. I warned the neighbors on both sides and they were pretty excited, even brought out lawn chairs to watch. But then I went to the little old lady behind us (the one we would actually be closest to during the burnouts). I said hey I just wanted to apologize in advance, but I am about to make a whole lot of noise! She just smiled and said, "Oh don't worry about it, I kind of like it when you guys make noise, makes me feel like I am not alone." I said, "Well then, get ready, because you are about to have a big family reunion!" She just laughed.

 

Other than a couple of bikers and a handful of old car nuts, no my neighborhood is not HAMB friendly. It's an older neighborhood that is experiencing gentrification. So many newcomers are trying to dictate how the rest of us live. My attitude is "I was here first and don't recall sending you an invitation!". Someone tried to have my vehicles removed by codes enforcement a few years ago. I worked tirelessly until the codes official was pleased. He even made a comment about it being a waste of his time with so many real issues. All is good now in that department.

 

Yeah, you could say I'm in a pretty HAMB friendly area, I live in the country so not really neighbourhood. I have a couple of buddies close by with more than a few cars. Within 10 minutes of me there are a bunch of people with HAMB friendly cars, lots of muscle cars too, they get the polite wave or head nod. I even had a guy show up at the shop (there is no sign) who just moved from Toronto and has a '28 Model A sedan as well, saw mine and stopped in. It's pretty cool because you are never that far from someone in case you have a breakdown, or run out of gas.

 

Besides my two Deuces,the '54 Ford Ranch Wagon & my '65 pickup project the next oldest thing I have seen in my neighbor hood is my 2007 Ram truck,so no I don't live in a Hamb Friendly neighbor hood,I'm that old goat down the street that has all the old cars. HRP

 

Bruce,does your dog smoke a pipe? HRP

 

here in kingman arizona the problem is not my neighbors but the city 'neighborhood services' zoning cops that don't like my old stuff. they have hassled me over the years because i park more than two cars on my half acre lot downtown alongside the bnsf railroad. newest car visible in my yard is a 65 futura. others are a 62 benz, 58 ford, 41 cad, 40 lasalle, 52 buick. my house is a 1915 on the national old trails road close to route 66. the city motto is 'the heart of route 66'. now my challange is to sell everything and move to mexico. i will keep one old car.

 

I live in Manhattan Beach, CA. Sometimes I can't park my OT car in front of the house or in our driveway, so, I park on the street in front of our next door neighbor, which has started a flurry of nasty grams on my car window, telling me to move my car. The neighbor, a women who I don't deal with on any level, is extremely territorial, and does not understand there is no crime going on. The police have told her to stop the nasty grams. It's really spookie because I don't know what she will do next.