Being tall has its advantages, such as being able to see over six foot fences. When we walked down a street in my neighborhood that we usually avoid, I couldn’t help but notice the tops of some cars. So I went and took a closer look: it’s a mini junk yard in this back yard! And all of the Big Three are represented , and rather proportionately at that.
Then I remembered that the Firebird and one of the white Cadillacs were on jack stands in the driveway for years. I guess they finally graduated into the holding tank. So we kept on walking to see what was there now. A Taurus, and also on jack stands. Do any of their cars ever run? Or maybe the runner was out running an errand?
I couldn’t quite make out hat was all the way in the front of the pack, so I peeked over the front fence to get a looksie. Aha; a ’66 Falcon. Wonder when the Taurus will be relegated to the yard?
I don’t have any problems with storing old junkers but all that TRASH needs to go ~ rats love it .
-Nate
Mice will be more than happy to nest in the cars. Especially the wires.
A friend of mine lives on a former farm and works from home, so he doesn’t drive much. During the winter, he turned on his car for the first time in a while and ended up having a mouse run out from somewhere… and up his leg.
I have one neighbor like this, which is unusual in suburbia. He built (involuntarily, I think) a four car end-to-end garage and has others in a fenced off back yard. Fortunately, he has a double lot so he has the room. Only one or two have been visible. The stash contains a 76-ish Marquis, a 64 Studebaker, a Roadmaster wagon, an early aero Crown Vic, an MN-12 Thunderbird and an early 00s Chrysler minivan. I think there are others.
He is elderly and appears to be in the process of moving out (with a lot of help). I keep waiting for a glimpse of that Stude, but have not seen it yet.
I’m “that car hoarder guy”. That it takes so little to irritate neighbors, officials, and passerby makes me happy.
That’s what we call “Little Arkansas”, and needs to be cleaned up. Nothing like blighting one’s neighborhood.
If the junk would be better organized, it wouldn’t look as bad, but it’s too much junk still.
You could always mind your own business. Surely there are plenty of other things worthy of your attention.
Radical individualists like that are why there are homeowners’ associations who nag about a few weeds.
Good fences make good neighbors!
Hear, hear. If it’s behind a fence, and not attracting vermin, then it’s nobody’s business but the homeowner.
If it’s not behind a fence, then it becomes more of a public thing.
These “gonna fix her up someday” guys drive me crazy. Perhaps I’m particularly sensitive right now because I am trying to enter into negotiations with a guy who has a (used to be) beautiful old Alfa that has been sitting in an aircraft hanger for 10 years….with the head off the engine. Had he finished the repairs on the engine (trying not to shout here …) TEN *^^%+!?!! YEARS AGO (Sorry but I can’t help myself) the car would have been amazing. However he didn’t want to spend the money. So now, the car needs everything, and he doesn’t want to sell.
Is slapping somebody silly a legitimate negotiating technique, and more importantly -would it work? If not, anybody have any ideas that would work?
I have been sensitized to this problem ever since I watched a 69 Corvette under a cover outside a mobile home literally sink into the mud years ago.
A neighbor of my parents who recently passed away had a 1969 Spider Veloce on Cosmic wheels. He bought it when I was a little kid. It couldn’t have been more than seven years old, but already it was a basket case. He put it together, replaced the worst body panels with ones from a junkyard, and made metal repairs to rust in places where panels couldn’t be replaced. The paint was stripped in preparation for a color change, and he was having a ball bombing around in what was a strong running car. All of this took a remarkably brief period of time, from disassembled junk to running car ready for paint. Unfortunately, something went wrong in the engine at this point. Off came the head, and then the car sat. His truck rolled into it a couple times, ruining the nose. And it sat.
About a dozen years later, I was dealing with an Italian car restoration shop and mentioned it. One of the guys that worked there came and looked at the Alfa. He talked to the owner, who didn’t want to sell. The pro’s assessment was that it was too far gone anyway. Being unpainted and exposed to the elements and crashed into by a truck and covered in pine needles and having its top disintegrate and having the headless engine exposed to nature for a dozen years had ruined a beautiful car. I think it was still there when he died about two years ago. Last time I looked at it, which was probably around 2005, It had various detritus stacked on it and was mostly rust. I never really understood how he went from getting so much done on fixing it up only to give up when the engine had an issue.
Don’t know about your jurisdiction, Paul, but up here in Ontario there are strict laws against storing junker cars on your property. You can be fined by the local municipality and your vehicles towed away at your expense if you don’t clean up your property.
Having said that, I think it’s neat the contrast between the ’76-78 Ford Ltd and the mid-80s Caddy just behind it – look at the windows, the Ford has very narrow ones and the Caddy has huge windows that are out of proportion to the car’s overall size. Yet the Caddy’s backlight is just a slit, looks even smaller than the back window on the Ford.
I think that where Paul lives, the bylaw officer doesn’t come around unless someone files a complaint.
Same here in Italy. Unregistered cars are treated as special waste at high risk of pollution.
Nevertheless, I have quite a few old cars around my lot, which are still registered and therefore legal. The fact that life changes explains how some projects are left behind, yet with the good will of tackling them someday. Times goes by quick, and at my present age it’s a big thing just to keep my truck roadworthy while making a living on my farm.
I have a 1963 MG midget in dry storage, body already sprayed and ready to be fitted, but my friend I entrusted with painting all the panels, in teh meantime closed down his body shop and turned into a “vigneron” (making wine), and the MG’s fenders, bootlid, doors, fuel tank and bonnet are apparently lost. I don’t have anybody to blame but myself.
My nosy HOA people would completely come unglued. I don’t mind stuff, I mind disorganized messy stuff that attracts rodents and looks trashy. If I had a big pole barn to hide stuff in, it would be full of cars, typewriters, and old stereo equipment, but at least the neighbors wouldn’t have to look at it. And my kids would have the pleasure of pitching all of it when I die…
“f I had a big pole barn to hide stuff in, it would be full of cars, typewriters, and old stereo equipment…”
I resemble that remark!
The ’76 LTD needs some love. ;o)
I remember when these things came out in that color and thinking that baby blue was such a weird color for such a huge car. My ’73 LTD 2 door hardtop coupe was gold, which was a more fitting color for the period.
Welcome aboard Retro-stang Rick. I think this is the first time I have seen you post since our conversation a few weeks ago.
So you had a ’73 LTD? I had occasion to drive one of those a few times when they were almost new. Nice comfortable ride, but a little big for me. Of course one of my first cars was a ’64 Galaxie fastback. That was a pretty big one too. Long and no fun to park.
Actually, I took my driver’s test in that car at 16, and parallel parking was on the test. The guy got in and said, “you’re gonna park this thing?”, and although nervous, I confidently said yes. I got it into the space in one shot! I said, “I can get it closer if you’d like”, to which he replied, “no, that’s fine. I’m just amazed you could parallel park this thing at all.”
Nice to hear from you again!
These are the kinds of people that make me hurt. I see these old cars and my first instinct, not matter if they’re a lowly J-car or a prized Fox body, is to ask the guy “How much you want for the whole lot?” I’ve had so many visions pass through my head of buying the cars, getting them out of the ratholes they reside in, and doing a sort of “adoption screening” process to sell the cars to teenagers or young adults who would otherwise not be able to afford them. Y’know, get some interested gearheads hooked young before that interest fades. Sadly every single one of these people is either an insolent blue-collar idiot who holds them without reason, or an old man clinging to dreams past. I seriously go through all seven stages of grief when I see something like this.
EDIT: I just noticed the Dodge D-series sitting there. Now I want to buy the cars even more, and keep the truck myself.
And to clarify, I am no fan of HOA’s in general, but there are times they can come in handy. I had a neighbor when I lived in Lake St Louis MO…left 4 bricks in his driveway for 2 nights,,,leftovers from a walkway he put in…got a nastygram from the HOA for having “construction debris” on his property. The same guy parked his lawn tractor on his back patio overnight, under his deck, because it started raining while he was mowing. The nosy neighbor across the lake from him called the HOA because it shouldn’t have been outside overnight…at the same time, central A/C units were supposed to not be visible from the street, but EVERY house on the street had their A/C unit on the side, clearly visible from the street and nothing was said.
My employer now has finicky rules about empty-container handling thanks to some being shipped out by mistake. That’s how modern life goes; a hard case or two results in more control freakery than anyone expected or desired.
Years ago I wouldn’t have cared if something like this, on a smaller scale, was in my neighborhood but since then I have had personal experiences with a hoarder…..and NOT a car hoarder. My next door neighbor had her house foreclosed on her and it’s been vacant for more than 5 years. Not only does it attract rodents, but the empty/unlocked house and “outbuildings” probably attract “street people” of various types. When she moved, I saw that she was a huge hoarder of….something, as at least 2 or 3 truckloads were hauled off to the local dump.
At one point I could have been considered a hoarder or collector of cars and motorcycles. I had 3 or 4 cars AND a motorcycle, but at least all were in running condition and none more than 10 years old. I think my neighbors were of the opinion that I was financing my “collection” in some kind of illegal activity, as no single person NEEDED so many different cars.
As stated above, the rats will move in on anything that sits for more than a month.
A buddy of mine had farm land on several different tracks. It would never fail that the rats would eat through the wires on the various tractors. To resolve the issue, he adopted three mousers (cats that hunt rats & mice). Problem solved!!!!
Pack rats like Trane air conditioners; as we were told, the factory knows about it but refuses to adapt, as this evidently isn’t serious enough across all regions to warrant a redesign. So our repairman closed the gap using sheet metal & tin snips.
Say what you want, but it is better than North Philadelphia, West Philadelphia, South Chicago, Camden, South Boston. Paul had to really try to get a look at that backyard and the cars. In those places, the junk and ugliness, both material and human, are left bare, for all to see, and the cars are all disintegrated into heaps of flaking rust; and Paul wouldn’t even GO there.
I have 3 80’s Toyota Landcruisers dotted about on my farm in France. I bought them for approx £500 each about 10 years ago. They are kept for spares – it makes sense as a cost effective way of keeping a rare-ish roadworth vehicle going without massive bills for parts. Am I a hoarder – oh yeah! I might survive for decades with my parts store!
We owned a 1992 F250 when I was growing up. The transmission went out at 364k miles. The rest of the truck was mechanically falling apart, but I keep it for the same reason.
When I need a little part for my 1995 F-150, it’s sure handy to not have to run to town for something.
My dad, and his dad, never got rid of any car, pickup, truck, tractor, or combine they ever owned, 60 years worth of dead ones are parked out in the pasture behind the barn. Gotta be 50 vehicles at least. ranging from an 84 Cutlass to remnants of a model T.
Well,at least most of the cars are behind the fence. In my neighborhood the city would crack down on that kind of storage yard but there is the odd old car parked in the driveway. There really aren’t many kids interested in beaters, most parents around here buy their kids newer cars. That leaves me as one of the few blue collar car nuts on the block.
My brother used to rent from a guy who filled the back yard of that house with old Mercedes-Benzes. He couldn’t use the back door because a clapped-out W110 blocked it.
I waded into these “junk car on the neighbor’s lot” waters once in a post I wrote here, and got my ass handed to me by a couple commenters who felt like they should be able to do whatever they want on their property. My argument was basically that your junk cars make it harder for me to sell my house, because who wants to move in next to that? Suffice it to say, there’s no shortage of diverging views here.
Where I live now, the guy across the street from me moved in two years ago towing a crashed Infiniti SUV, which he parked in the grass next to his garage, highly visible from the street. He has been slowly fixing it, part by part. I would vastly prefer he not do that. But two things: (1) he and his family are otherwise great neighbors, and (2) he is slowly fixing it. So I’m leaving it alone.
Both your stories are perfect examples illustrating the reasons for the rise of the modern HOA. Nobody is forced to move into an HOA neighborhood and they can certainly be extremely frustrating at times, but there is NOTHING more frustrating than trying to sell your house for what it is/should be worth and having a neighbor’s actions destroy that value. I agree that in an ideal world you should be able to do what you want on your own property but would argue that the neighbors also have the right to enjoyment of their property without detriment which includes having to see yours. The one exception to that relates to precedence, i.e. if you moved in AFTER the offending behavior began, you by default should lose any right to complain about it. i.e. people who move in under an existing airport flight path or near a racetrack etc or if someone new moves in next to your neighbor with the wrecked Infiniti. Put the wreck in the garage, and park the runner outside, some people have no common decency.
It depends on where you’re at. Out here in Wyoming, on a farm it would be easy to park a few dozen cars without them being noticed. You’d blend right in. In the city, though, that’s another story.
Keep the older Falcon and the Dodge pickup, everything else can go. But that’s just me, luckily my neighbors have tolerated my keeping a non-running VW in my driveway for 6 years.
I always have found it amazing what hard times will do to a person.
We had a neighbor for a while, elderly fellow who lived through the Depression. When he moved they found the entire basement of his very nice 10 year old house crammed with boards, bricks, anything he had picked up.
My mother was very hungry during 6 years of Nazi occupation, and she will not waste food, period. Any leftover gets eaten or saved and eaten later. Every chicken carcass becomes soup.
Google Earth is also great for spotting these mini junkyards. Some towns have one on every block! Why all the judgemental attitudes? Today’s junk is tomorrow’s classic. Someone has to preserve it.
Truth be told, it isn’t “preservation” by any means – those cars are rotting away, and can’t be saved or are not worth saving by anyone.
I never could understand the mindset of why some people do this – and won’t sell the cars that are worth saving at any price.
I really don’t mind old car’s in somebody’s back yard, as long as it has a solid fence so they can’t be seen. That said, I did have a neighbor leave an old ’74 LTD full of greasy parts with the windows down, his fence and the car were next to my window, cats were living in it as well. In the summer time, after a couple of years of rain water pooling up in it, the mosquito’s were breeding in it and on hot days the stench of mold, cat piss and old grease would drift in through my window and really stank. He passed away in ’08 and his widow had it towed. He was a great guy to talk to, I never complained and I was sad when he passed. Heart attack at age 44. But finally after years I could open my window in the summer without gagging.
My deceased uncle was a pack rat. He lived out in the boondocks with no neighbors and his yard was far worse than this. He was a hard drinking weathered looking guy who stood 6’4″. One day a code enforcement officers pulled in to inspect his property. My uncle asked him if anyone saw him pull into his driveway. The guy said he didn’t think so. Uncle told him that if he didn’t get out, and stay out, noone would see him leave either. He never came back.
I know a retired Navy Commander (Engineering) who thought Oldsmobiles were the best cars ever made in the 50’s and 60’s. So much so that he had three in a two car garage and fifty in his backyard surrounded by a seven foot fence. This was in a neighborhood just east of San Diego proper such as La Mesa and Lemon Grove He would sell if he thought you to be worthy of it. Unlike other stories his cars were closed up and most drove in. He also restored them as he could but obviously the eyes were bigger than the stomach.
Anyway someone complained to the city about all the cars which resulted in a long battle with the city attorney’s office. He eventually lost the battle and had to move all the cars which he did. He didn’t sell any. He also sold off his home and moved to a place in the Salinas Valley with more space.
Oh lord, I Have a new friend who has four broken vehicles, making him I suppose a junior-league car hoarder. I’ve been trying to get him online (he is not) and then I’d like to get his first-person explanation for why he has so many old cars. He possibly got one truck running (a 1995 S-10 I think?) for a daily driver but still has a cool old late 1970’s Datsun something, a God-forsaken Omni, and a second pickup truck. Maybe I could get him to talk at me and I could transcribe it. I have spoken with him about it but he hasn’t shown me his reasoning yet. Maybe there is none, and the collection came about due to indifference or emotional attachment (the Omni was his Grandma’s).