We bought our place iin October. 2 Car Attached and 3 car Detached garages...ALL MINE!!! When we were looking at the house the neighbor across the street was pulling an engine from a blown Rail. On the way out another neighbor was parking his round track car on its trailer. Turns out of the 8 houses on the street 6 are races of either cars or go-carts. MY KIND of neighbors!!
I just got some new neighbors. Even though the house next door that they bought has no garage, I was crossing my fingers for a fellow gearhead family. No dice. Not car people, but they seem nice, and haven't complained yet about compressor noise or my nose-less, engine-less, '54 Chev sitting next to my house. If I was shopping for a house, and saw a yard full of vintage tin next door, I'd be whipping out the ol' check book in a hurry!
Nearest neighbors are 1/4 mile away, so I got no complaints, though my uncle who lives right next hates all the old stuff on the lawn and in the shop. And I also dont have a problem pulling out a 12 gauge and shooting something
so my neighbors are selling their house which is a cause for tension because they bought the house across the street hoping to move in, but weren't able to and like most folks don't like the idea of carry 2 mortgages, power bills and 2 taxes... etc... is super taxing and stressfull. as a result, there has been a realtor there every day, and randomly ton's of people stopping by. i have been really sensitive to the fact that not everyone else likes hotrods, and the uncommon noise they can produce so many days i have been working with the shop with the door shut.... so.... it's a clear day, the sun is finally out and it seems like a good time to roll stuff out and reorganize space, which is always tight. i have to wait on the weather, because there is a lot of bare metal and even the slightes drizzle will rust up like shizzle. after doing a quick head check and making sure the realtor wasn't around, i rolled the meat out of the butcher shop... i bet it wasn't 5 minutes and sure enough right after i had body number 4 out in the drive way she rolls up with clients... what could i do but say hi "no it's not always this organized i told them" and this dude about 70+ looks over the knoll... (see the driveway above the cars and for sale sign in the background) feabily hollers over..) "nice work"... i was like? er, ahhhhhh thanks... as i apologized again for the mess. i have known the realtor thinking back now, since i was in kindergarten. i guess i have known her for over 30 years and was friends with her son as a really young kid. even more so, that i wanted to help her sell the place and felt horrible for the mess. about 5 minutes later they ask if i could help them... she asked if i had a hammer, which was funny because literally i probabally had over 15 hanging on the wall... so i walked over and started talking to the potential buyers... as it turned out i know there daughter really well, their son in law is a friend. he taught comparative religion at a local university for over 35 years he is a catholic bishop, he and his wife are co-authoring a book on liturgy, we get to talking about pauline texts, church fathers, greek orthodoxy, the importance of liturgy, pneumatology... he's talking how he can't wait to have diner together, and meanwhile im fixing the fireplace... it was surreal..... and all the while the realtor who i have felt bad that i have been making a mess of around is standing there perplexed with her mouth wide open... unabashed she looked in complete shock at how fast we were talking about the house, the hood, and all that is good. he starts in on mysticism, and im firing back with "well how do you feel about the emergent scened"-+... he starts talking about graduate work and i share with him about my area of doctoral work on pneumatological expression, symbolism and mystic thought... it was too funny we could have talked all day. <<RWD 3 weeks ago my neighbor the seller walks over who i have know for over 25 years says, hey, i know this is awkward but anything you can do to help me sell this house i would appreciate, if you could keep the noise down, and the cars to a minimum i would really appreciate it. >>FFWD tonight just now, my neighbor walks over and says you know i don't know how to thank you enough. we have been stressing all summer about this, and the realtor told us you sold the house for us today... go figure... i think that pretty much gives me license to start my own junkyard, from the looks of it, if i stack'em tight i think i can get at least 4 more pieces of trash in the drive way and
neighbors, uh, let's see, 3 have moved out in the 6 months i've been at this house, one of the few that are left is a drag racer, so it's working out okay! i worry more about the landlord(i rent), but not too much, right now the biggest piece of shit in the driveway is his old 70 chev truck that i'm stripping for him to turn it into a trailer. he's just glad to have someone trustworthy and not some lowlifes on gov't assistance.
I live on a culdasac(?). So when I leave to go to a show or head to the Doughnut Derelics,about 5AM,it's like fireing up a chainsaw in a school gym. I don't give a F*** about my neighbors,except HAMBer,JnDs53,who lives across the street. The rest can BLOW ME!
Ain't America Great??? Stand Shoulder To Shoulder And Lets Keep It This Way.... When The Bickering Ends They Will Go Postal... Our Naybor Grows Punkins On 15 Acres And Then He Planted 10 Trees Only Along The Side Of Our New 60 Foot Long Shop/ Garage Where Our Extra Large Windows Are ... Blocking The Free Light On The Shop Side.. Why ????? Our Multi Acre Place Ain't Quite Big Enuf I Guess.. Check The Mar -apr Hop-up Cover Page For A Pic http://www.hopupmag.com/index.php?/weblog/106/ BEFORE THE TREES-LEFT SIDE OF BLDNG Paperdog
My neighbors have their own problems, so they usually just leave me alone. Guy across the street mows his lawn when he's faded...usually screaming and cussing at the mower or the grass. People next door have some mutt that's chewed most of it's fur off and barks all night. Previous neighbors on the other side were partiers...ocassionally drunks would come by to check out why I was in the garage at midnight...sometimes a group of drunk chicks would drop by which was always cool. I'm sure the night I brought my car home at 1 am with open exhaust, they weren't too happy...all except for the guy with the '53 Merc, of course. Preacher, great story! Bryan
laughing at the imagery of chewing off your own fur... you should write more... 51 chevy that word picture is a bombshell
I wish my words could do this thing justice...it's a good-sized dog, some kind of shepard mix. What's left of it's fur is a blotchy, tan color...kind of a dog patina, if you will. It has so little hair left that it almost looks like it didn't have any in the first place and someone took old dirty carpet samples and stapled 'em on. The funniest part is that it can't chew the fur off it's face and neck, so it looks way out of proportion...like a greyhound with old Yeller's head. Definitely a worlds ugliest dog candidate and by the look on its face, it knows it. Bryan
lol, bryan that is too funny... im cramping up laughing at that. seriously, you should write more... that is awesome language.
I've lived on the same street all my life, no problems. If some new yuppie bastard thinks about saying anything I only have to wait until he gets transfured. I've got a stone wall under construction on the North side of my property, I'm 6 feet tall and can't see over the top of the one finished area. Ever notice that stone work and body work have things in common?
Guy next door has about a half dozen classic Jags from the 50s-70s and is working on them regularly. Don't see him much though as he works nights, but he came over and complimented me on the Comet back when I was redoing the trunk. Other neighbors pretty much ignore me and I ignore them. Though the ones on the otherside form Jag guy turned out to be damn nice people. The woman was carrying groceries in from her car and saw me struggling to push the non-running comet up the driveway into the garage, she shouted for her 15 year old son and he came and helped me get it in the garage. Nice people, now if only they'd get rid of the oversensitive car alarm.
We have lived here for just over 23 years and over the years the neighbors have called the county on us a few times over different things and each time I just complied and let it go. Then a few years ago the County came down on me again for having 3 RVs and 4 unlicenced cars on the property. I went to the Building Dept and raised hell big time and informed them that the only way they could know this is if they were trespassing on my property to see them. They tried real hard to hold the upper hand and I lost it completely and they tried to arrest me for it and I told them I wanted to see their supervisor and when I told him that the only way they could know what was on my property was to be their illegally, he started to tread water. After about 10 minutes of me yelling at him he told me he would take care of it and I have never heard another word from them. Gumpa
Neighbors?? what neighbors? all i have are houses around me! I wonder if it has any thing to do with throwing beer case boxes out by the trash can and shooting off massive fireworks on the 4th of july???
The neighbor on one side used to race motorcycles when his kids were younger, so he sees me as repayment for the trouble he caused. I stop making noise by 8 or 9, and don't start early on the weekends. In return he comes over to look at the new toys whenever he sees something kool. I have him almost talked into building a Model A of his own. The neighbor on the other side though is another story. They bought the house and sub-diveded the lot to build a big house in the backyard. I started the racecar... open headers the other night when they were showing it. I figure either they won't buy, or they'll know right away what they are getting into. Besides the barking dog at midnight down the street is more anoying than anything I do... well, except maybe the open header thing but alcohol smells sooo good. http://www.passtimeracing.com/eric/model_a/carpics\racecar.avi
I live in a culdesac, there are four other houses in the circle besides mine, plus one on each corner that the back yards face into the circle. Guy on my right is a "bargain hunter/junk collector. He comes over every time I drag something new home- "you wanna sell that?" "I'll give you xxx dollars RIGHT NOW for that" etc etc. Plus he has more shit laying around than me, more dogs than me, less grass, more trash. He's my guage. As long as my place looks better than his I'm good. Lady on my left has a big family who come and go all the time for visits, dinners etc. Her grandson and my 5 year old are best buds, and my dog has damn near abandoned me in favor of one of her daughters. They all come over to check out the cars anytime a new one shows up or a buddy drops by. the other corner house is owned by a mechanic, his grand daughter plays with my kid too, so we're cool most of the time. His wife and the lady next to them/across from me are the trouble makers. The lady across from me is a section 8 waste of life BITCH!!! she calls code enforcement at the drop of a hat, watches any "commotion" out her window, tries to bum rides everywhere off all the rest of us, starts shit with the folks to her right, and on and on. I'll stop before I go overboard here. Mostly we're good, I try not to make too much noise too late, I try to keep the parts in the yard to a minimum. Gotta get that couch hauled off..........
i was drivin my bosses merc the other week... this older lady sees me in the street with it. she starts to say hello and i was expecting the old "what is it" questions... turns out she knew all about it and her husbands got a bunch of cool stuff kickin round... ive been here for a year and never talked to anyone till then... he's got the coolest oldsmobile ever... the other neighbours called the cops on me for havin a few quiet beers with a mate... sorta quiet......
I am the only car guy in my neighbourhood so I try to keep it quiet. I like my music loud and the folks around me are pretty cool about things.I live in a newer subdivision where you cold not fit a Model A in the garrages. People always wonder what is inside that big shop out back. My old hippie neighbor likes to smoke pot at night so for a while every one thought I was growing dope in the shop. One night at dinner time I heard all ths yelling out front. I walk out to find 6 cop cars and a bunch of big guns. Tuns out the three young guys next store who play street hockey with all of the kids are really not firemen. They are deeling Coke in Vancouver. So any way for the next month or so because all of the cop cars were in front of my house people all thought I realy was growing dope. Now they are finding out I just have a bunch of half finnished projects and a pile of old parts. Oh and the new renters next door drive a Hummer and have a Bullmastive and two Pitbulls. I wonder what they do. Now I can do no wrong. Oh yea thats me you hear at night doing burnouts in your neighbourhood when you are trying to sleep.
I think for the most part they are just waiting for the day when the men in the white suits come for me. The old guy who raced stock cars "back in the day" died last year and his widow is really nice about the old stuff. The bitch that used to turn me in to the county all the time goes to Florida over the winter now that her husband is retired, and the guy who built the new house across from my shop is great. He only wants to use the shop drive ocassionally to park his friends cars when he has a party plus his two little boys love to see the '32 pull out of the drive with the loud exhaust. All in all things are really great for the time being. Lots of ammuntion stockpiled if the scene changes. Frank
The neighbors on each side of me are curious and interested as welll as our postman and all the neighborhood kids, The lady across from me belongs on Jerry Springer and has no business telling anyone anything.
I'm still trying to get my yard into compliance, and dealing with the county, since the new neighbors reported me for my cars. I've only lived in the same place for over 18 years and never had a problem before. When you get turned in, then you learn what the codes really are. Everything that most people do for storage, like building a lean-to on the side of your garage you find out can't be done without a permit.
The guy across the raod is cool, he had an old Norton he'd done up like a racer, the thing was awesome, I saw him loading it on a trailer one day and went to have a look. Turned out he'd burnt a whole in the top of both pistons. I saw him riding it a few days later. Then on my left I have bad neigbors who side steped a few council regulations (Husband has buddies in the right places) and built the biggest ugliest house ever, it's all dark grey/shiny white bricks, with stainless steel everything else. The thing is 12m tall in a street full of weather board houses. They keep to them selves and where the Chevy is parked is right next to the air duct for their air-con, so tuning pisses them off a bit. On my right is an nice old couple who are too deaf to be bothered by anything, we get along great.
i currently have 17 cars in the yard, often fire up the drag car, and roll out at 6am or earlier, and quite frequently am grinding, hammering, etc. until 3 am. never really considered what the neighbors think...
Apparently, your neighbors aren't 10 feet away from your house/garage on both sides- or in suburbia. They must be closer. I always kept to myself, had all visible cars licenced/insured. Nobody could say shit about me. As for "THEM", I kept my mouth shut on inop cars, 2 boats, a pop-up trailer, minibikes, off-road bikes, go carts, etc... My cars were parked and covered in my driveway, in my back yard, in front of my full garage- when one of them bastard kids peppered one of my cars with BB shots. The next door neighbor denied it was his kid (besides the fact that the car hadn't moved in 2 months, and the BB holes went THROUGH the cover...IN MY BACK YARD)...and he had "taken away their BB guns last week"... "uh huh". First and only screaming match I got into with him. Now I hear they are moving...good riddence! Mercman
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