New friends showing up...out of nowhere!

I'm 75 and have spent almost my entire life here in this small GA town. Most of the car guys in town know each other and word gets around on who you can't trust.
Couple years ago we had an epidemic of hot rods and other special interest cars stolen.
Some few have been recovered, mostly after stripping and then abandoning the remainder. Many have never been seen again. The problem seems to have decreased lately.
My shop is an old commercial bldg. in an old, rundown section of town, bought it in '86. Had a few minor burglaries several years ago, so I had a good alarm system installed with telephone monitoring by an alarm service. The alert to them is via cell phone permanently installed as a dedicated part of the system. No one has gotten inside now in quite a few years, although the alarm has been set off by attempts that stopped unsuccessful, chased off by the audible alarm. Also, a few times the motion detector has been set off by mice or rats inside till I got rid of them.
I can be there from home in a short time, maybe 7-8 mins if I'm assleep in bed, less if I'm awake and up. Almost always the cops are already there.
Try to be friendly to the neighbors, mostly residential renters, loan them the air tank when they've got a flat, etc., pump up the bike tires and balls for the kids, and they keep an eye on things also.
Visits from strangers are inevitable, especially when you sell stuff also to help defray the cost of ownership. But somehow I always manage to insert in the conversation what a great alarm system I have.

 

Don, can't agree with you more. I don't like it when "Buddies" bring Buddies over to see my stuff, usually keep the Toy Box locked up. When i had it built, builder wanted to put windows in it, No Way, don't want people to know whats in there.

 

I never walk or drive up someones driveway to talk about their cars. I have been amazed at the people that do that to me though. I put A/C in last year so the door is hardly ever open and that helps. I have knocked on a door or two to ask if something might be for sale if the house is close to the road. That makes me about as guilty as the other guys I guess.

 

been inventoried and robbed and it really hurts---don't let many people in the shop anymore...

 

I have definitely gotten more cautious over the years. I had an OT truck to sell this spring and probably could have listed it on Craigslist and got $800-1000 for it, but sold it to a relative for scrap price just so I wouldnt have looky-lous in there casing the joint for their next meth fix.....

I havent had anyone stop by, but I have a lotta slow drivers drive by checking things out. Mostly older gents that I probably wouldnt mind bench racing with....to tell ya the truth, its a damn shame....

 

He called your cellphone,,,,large dog(well fed and cared for of course) and motion lights. That's just friggin' spooky. Although your towns population is small the outlying areas pop is huge..

 

Model A Guys are pretty cool ....

Friendly too ....


Jim

 

Hey Fred - you can fix that, y'know..

http://www.google.ca/help/maps/streetview/privacy.html

 

I moved away from small towns to get away from the nosy-neighbor-network. Now I am just some random, hobo-lookin' dude with a junky car.

 

I have not had that problem until I got a new referigerator for the house and put the old one in the garage full of beer.

Now I have a lot of friends stop over to see my car!

Seriously though, I worry about the people that my friends tell about my garage.

 

"Almost cut my hair . . ."

HRP just because you're paranoid doesn;t mean they aren't out to get ya.

 

Early on I would get a couple people on the weekends, all people in my hood though. Hell, I leave my garage open on accident at least once a week. I need to stop doing that. The only time it bothers me is when I am trying to work and they want to talk, I am waiting for the day when someone who knows what they are doing shows up with a 12pack and offers to help.....

 

Thanks!

 

I live on a main road and I get 5-10 people per week stopping by the shop. I have a gate and a couple of big dogs, so they don't usually just walk into the shop. I walk out to the road and talk over the fence. I know pretty quick which ones are real car guys and which ones are "pickers". They always ask me if my Shepherds bite......I always respond " I dunno, they are crazy". Wearing a sidearm never hurts either.

 

Just a word of caution, be careful. We were at Thanksgiving one year and my dad was telling everyone how long we were going to be gone on vacation and we showed up a week early to find my cousin and his friends living in our house with the key they stole from my grandma... Don't trust no one...

 

I learned at a very young age three simple rules:
Don't ink what you can't cover, never know anything that you cannot forget if someone asks and it does not pay to advertise.

The operative phrase in this situation is "it does not pay to advertise."

I try to never let anyone that is not in my inner circle know what is in my shop at any given point in time, no one ever knows my plans like when I am not going to be some place or when I am. If you are a stranger we can talk on the drive, it is best if you introduce yourself before you start asking questions and if I suggest that it is time for you to leave then it probably is.

I am not a bad ass but it has been suggested that I am a smart ass. Sometimes it is best to be a smrt ass at least smart enough to only tell what anyone else needs to know about you and yours.

 

I used to do that to the neighborhood kids that stopped by when I had my stock car. They went home dirty, but happy.

Bob

 

I either give my used up OT cars away or drive 'em onto the scale at the scrap yard. The last 2 I junked were running driving cars with legit inspection and registration.

Just better for my peace of mind not to deal with the idjits that a CL ad seems to spawn.

Bob