There but for the grace of restraint go I…CC Cohort charkle the 2nd posted some shots of someone afflicted with a bad case of Curbsideitis. Looks like he caught a tow truck delivering another addition. What’s more, this collection isn’t limited to the owner’s side of the street:
First, let’s take a look at his side of the street. In addition to the Jags and big BMWs, there’s a Ford ute out front, along with a Holden Kingswood ute under the carport.
A few more Jags and a Holden Commodore (the Subaru doesn’t count, since it might be the daily driver).
We’re going to assume that this other big Bimmer is also part of the collection, unless the neighbor across the street has also caught the bug.
Looks like something a bit more sinister than simple “curbsideitis”. Hot cars, money laundering, drug ring, terrorist cell, etc. Something’s up at that house.
Point taken, but you’d think that for all those activities, any of which could require a quick getaway, you would want something other than all those old XJs. Well, maybe that’s what the Subaru is for. 😉
Whatever part of Australia this is reminds me very much of Florida (though not as flat). Could be my grandpa’s neighborhood.
This is East Auckland New Zealand. The real motherlode for car culture is West Auckland, where mullets and V8s still roam like dinosaurs. For a Westie, this would be a pretty minor car collection…
New Zealand, I stand corrected…hope I didn’t engender too much resentment from the southern latitudes!
If you wanna stir up some fuss in a worldwide newsgroup, casually imply that New Zealand is just a couple of minor islands off the coast of Australia… 😀
That’s what I was afraid of…I do know the difference between kangaroos and kiwis, and that one country is not a suburb of the other, I promise!
You mean New Zealand is a country now? What will they do next?
Only the most foolhardy of drug kingpins would be purchasing that many Jaguars.
This is your brain on drugs (fade into picture of this yard)!
I doubt there is anything other going on there besides a little Cat scratch fever that has bled over into BMWs with the false thought that they would be more reliable.
If that’s not the case then it is likely a mechanic who is the only one in the area who will touch those brands.
This is parked in the driveway next to my mother’s house, unmoving for five years. She gets an eyefull of it every time she stands at her kitchen sink, as the window there overlooks this view. While on the one hand I like the car and wish the owner would fix it up, on the other this is just simply an eyesore. Where my mother lives, code enforcement can’t touch this car (I checked). If this happened where I live, I could have — and would have — had this towed after three months.
By that logic, he gets to dictate the color of your mother’s house.
I can’t believe anyone would tolerate living in a fascist neighbourhood. Loud noise at all hours is one thing, but an eyesore? Seriously?
Try having my dead cars towed dude youd need great medical insurance
I’m quite serious about this. Look, I get the desire to keep an old car. The dude has a garage full of crap; he could clean it out and put the car in there. Or he could pay to store it. Or he could buy a place out in the sticks where nobody cares.
This is in a city, this car is literally ten feet from my mom’s kitchen window. She has to look at it all the time and she doesn’t like it. Leaving this hunk in his driveway, doing absolutely nothing with it, reduces the pleasure of homeownership for my mother and has the potential to drive away homebuyers when she decides to sell — which isn’t that far away, as she’s about to retire.
I like to live by the adage, “Your right to throw a punch ends at the other person’s nose.”
PS. When I said that I could/would have this car towed if it were in my city is not because I want to be an ass — it’s because my city has ordinances against dead cars, and I have a right to ask that those ordinances be enforced, as a homeowner who wants to enjoy his property and not hinder the sale of his house.
I’d much rather look at this than what is out my kitchen window! (my neighbor’s bedroom window, I’ve learned NOT to do dishes after dark!)
Then maybe your mother needs to move what people do in their own yard is their business entirely
Eyesore? Doesn’t look that bad. Could she ask him to put hubcaps on it, keep all four tires aired up, and wash it periodically? That’s all she can reasonably ask. If I were the neighbor, and someone complained, or code enforcement cited me; I’d buy the cheapest insurance I could, tag it, and PARK IT ON THE FREAKING STREET! And if it doesn’t run, just push it back and forth once in a while to say (with a straight face), “It moves”.
You guys need to see Jim’s point 🙂 WE’RE obviously okay with seeing someone’s old blue Plymouth but cars like that make it rougher on the ‘other guys’ who may need to park a project car in their yard for a few weeks or even a month or so out of necessity. Lots of folks, especially women don’t appreciate such fine art. A typical neighborhood already looks a little worse for wear with just one junk car in the driveway… if another one pops up..even for a short while, people WILL start calling — ask me how I know.
As much as I think it’s cool to look out the window & see a yardful of non-running crap, it would be close-minded of me to assume the widow behind me would feel the same way. Leaving crap out in plain view is disrespectful when neighbors are so close by.
About a year ago, my neighbor’s deadbeat scumbag son-in-law’s disgusting broken down day-glo red donk ’80 Caprice sat in his driveway for a few months while the poor father-in-law tried to sort out what was wrong with the car. This car was truly an eyesore and it burned my retinas every time I walked out the door. It almost made me feel like I was living in the ghetto but thankfully he had the $8000 POS towed away. A single decrepit vehicle CAN devalue the property it’s sitting on along with neighboring properties.
As much as I dislike the idea of closed communities (being undemocratic and all), this is exactly the sort of thing that they prevent. Despite the image it may convey, people having junk cars parked on their property may not all be losers. Some of us *like* old cars with
rustpatina, and are fairly successful individuals who can afford good properties, but not enclosed grounds. You can’t always tell the characteristics of a person by the types of cars he owns. So, if neighbours raised hell for me, I’d try to move. On the other hand, in a community of like-mindedjunkpatina lovers, people who cannot accept it should be very welcome to not buy a house there.Very good points there. I’m thankful the guy who lives closest to me likes old cars & has a few himself — I’ve asked him a few times when my driveway was in a nasty phase if it bothered him or his wife at all…he was very clear about saying it never bothered either one of them.
Off the subject a little: one advantage in having multiple vehicles that run is that the thieves never know when we’re not home! Sometimes my wife doesn’t even know if I’m home…
My guess would be unlicensed used car lot or at home Jag/BMW repair business.
Unfortunately or otherwise those Jags and especially big Bimmers have virtually no value here 7 series BMWs accumulate in driveways all over the country appalling unreliability and $10 gallon gas make them worthless
I’ve always been fortunate in having understanding neighbors. When we lived in the ‘burbs my neighbors were fine with me doing an engine swap in my driveway. Now that I’m out in the country, the neighbors find it entertaining when I drag home a parts car and take a sawzall to it. I catch heck from my wife for my vehicular lawn ornaments though. Unless I’m actively dismantling it, I’m not allowed to keep my parts cars at home.
My guess is the owner of that house is a bachelor.
This is why I chose to live as far away from any city limit as possible when I was house-hunting. I set an hour maximum travel time to work first…then picked the most lax emission/ordiinance laden county, & then drove around for weeks before finding my present castle. I wish I could have done better but I’m so thankful to have what I have.
The house itself was almost an afterthought. Running water & a non-leaking roof were pretty much my requirements.
I like the way you shop
LOL, thanks dude!
This reminds me of my parents’ place when I was still living there. We had four cars on our little city lot. All cars were in good condition, driven, registered, inspected, and insured. The one neighbor repeatedly called our place a junk yard. One night in particular, my Dad, a light sleeper and somewhat an insomniac, saw a police car in our alley. The officer got out of his car, and checked our cars. He saw all cars were legal and in good condition. He left without incident.
Fast forward to 2 years ago. For a while after selling my parents’ and aunt’s properties, before getting storage units, two police cars converged on my house while my 76 Monaco (antique plates and insured, and in good condition) was parked in front. A few days before, my neighbor asked me what I was going to do with the Dodge. After chatting with him for a few minutes, he stated that he thought I’d do the right thing. So I knew where the police call came from. The police left after running the plates, etc.
Both municipalities have codes where junk cars are not allowed. I can understand and appreciate that. But there’s not a code against idiot neighbors.
Anyhow, my opinion is, anybody should be able to keep as many cars as they wish as long as they’re registered and insured.
I’d have to add “running” to that list. Registered, insured, and running (or, if not running, action in progress to return it to running).
I’m glad I don’t have such neighbours.
“my opinion is, anybody should be able to keep as many cars as they wish as long as they’re registered and insured”
I suspect you’d be of a different opinion were parking availability an issue in your area. There’s a distinct difference between being merely following the law and being a good neighbor.
I agree. In my town the law is no vehicle can be left on the street without being moved for 24 hours. I think it’s a good compromise, you can fill your driveway if you want, but as soon as your collection spills off of your property and into the public area, they have to be actually using them.
I’m a bit biased though, I garage all my cars, I’d never leave one in the elements just so I can have a garage full of junk.
Just to clarify. My car was running, insured, licensed, driven regularly, and parked in front of my house. In fact, it was the only car parked on the block on which I live on. No one on my block parks cars on the street. All cars are parked in the back of our individual properties. The neighbor just didn’t like the car parked in front. We’re actually friends, however.
That month or so was the first time my car was parked on the street in 14 years, due to a temporary lack of storage. I won’t normally park any cars on the street, due to my first car being hit 2 weeks after I bought it. (See my other post today.)
Anyhow, I do agree that hogging parking in a crowded street is very unneighborly and rude, but in my situation, this was not the case. Thanks for bringing that up for clarification.
nice friend you have
“Next week on Hoarders . . . “
Hmm. I think we’ve found somebody’s bizzaro evil twin. Drill through the earth from this guy’s yard and I bet you’ll pop up at Junqueboi’s place. 🙂
I have no idea what you are talking about.
Paul will probably blow chunks when he sees this.
The Cavalcade of GM Deadly Sins! 🙂
Seriously, I’m impressed; most of all by what it must take to keep them all road-worthy (I’m not insinuating anything by that).
It’s too bad the beige Citation, yellow Chevette, ’85 FWD Cadillac, 3rd gen Fs, G-van, & ’74 Malibu were unable to attend this photoshoot.
The ’84 Camaro in the rear has charcoal interior, 2.8 V6 with carburetor, automatic transmission, & base instrument cluster — if you go to Hell Paul, this will be your daily driver!
I reluctantly sold the ’84 several years back to a woman I work with — she gave it to her son who cranked it up one morning & held it to the floor to blow the poor little 2.8 up. Mom/dad ran outside & caught it in time but he “somehow” blew it up shortly thereafter — they sold the car to some guy for the same amount I sold it them for…
the ’95 Camaro is gone also but the rest remain.
Argh, I meant 2nd generation F’s.
“The ’84 Camaro in the rear has charcoal interior, 2.8 V6 with carburetor, automatic transmission, & base instrument cluster — if you go to Hell Paul, this will be your daily driver! ”
I would like to nominate this one for CC comment of the year. This could just as easily apply to me. Gotta run, everyone – this Catholic is making a beeline for a confessional!
That’s almost scary enough for me to join you at the confessional 🙂
You know, I would love to see a story about your many cars, with lots of pics of course!
No, but JPC will. 🙂 How quickly they forget. http://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/curbside-curmudgeon-the-cars-we-love-to-hate/
I second Richard’s request!
JP, somehow I missed that one the first time around. I accept your offer of a beer and raise you some Indiana-made Bulleit whiskey. And JB and his F-body posse are always welcome, I’m an open-minded crank!
Whoa! Buy ten and get one free?
Nice looking driveway. Now that you showed us you really do have to write about them.
I would love to…but it takes me forever to get a thought down…and I never know when to stop — I’d have to start at the beginning back in 1988…..
I would like to share my collection with you guys…but am not sure what means would be the most appropriate. This place is my favorite waste of time & I want to tread lightly. 🙂
I have spell-check, a camera on my old cell phone, around 100 vehicles between NC & AL, and 20-something years accumulation of parts & paperwork…. I wouldn’t even know where to start.
Why couldn’t I have just collected STAMPS instead?!?!!
It would make a great COAL series , but in the present tense. The Curbside Classics In My Life: CCOIML. Or whatever.
Seriously, the write-ups don’t have to be long or very complicated. I think it would be very popular. Is the camera in your phone of decent quality?
I really encourage you to do it. It will be a fascinating record of your current fleet; both for now, and decades from now.
If you want to discuss it further, send me an e-mail at the Contact form.
Except for the absence of one brand I’m going to mention this reminds me of a “piston slap” I was going to ask: You can only own a big European sedan you have to pick one of the following: An executive class pre-1995 Mercedes, a XJ Jaguar of any year, or a larger than 5 series BMW. Which year and model do you choose to go bankrupt most slowly? 😛
That’s easy, Dan. Jag by a mile. Find a picturesque spot to park it on a little concrete pad with good drainage, remove the engine, and connect it to shore power for heat and A/C. Stock the trunk with good stuff and appropriate glassware. Et voila: My very own private Connolly leather and walnut den!
You didn’t mean for us to depend on such cars as transportation, did you?
W116 300SD, probably.
Or, I could get a 450SEL 6.9 from the same era, and go everywhere very quickly, including bankrupt! 😀
There’s a decrepit E34 sitting in the visitor parking next to my house for about three weeks. First week, it sat with a blown out tire. Then for another week it sat precariously on a scissor jack without the aforementioned tire. For the last week, the tire is finally back, but the car was moved in the process, now sitting partially on the common lawn and with its missing license plate now blatantly obvious.
Not only is this an eyesore, it’s violating HOA bylaws and township ordinance. I’m about ready to report it to the cops. Car guy or not, I have zero tolerance for people leaving their unregistered crap on public/community property.
Do you guys with trouble neighbors bring it up to them personally before you call code enforcement?
I once had a derelict TR7 sitting in my lawn for a few weeks and the person from across the street came over and politely asked me to put it somewhere else. I thanked him, apologized, and tossed it in my garage.
I much preferred that approach over someone calling the authorities on me.
I make a distinction between a vehicle parked on private property and one parked on public property.
I’d be hacked off if my neighbor had some ugly beater in his yard or driveway. In fact I’ve had to put up with that plenty of times over the years. But even if it’s unregistered or clearly inoperable, I would be unlikely to call the cops, much less approach my neighbor about it. Ugly and illegal, maybe, but also not my property and not my business.
If it’s on the street or a common area, totally different story. The current nuisance in my neighborhood isn’t even plated. No idea who owns it. I do know that whoever does own it has an empty driveway they could be parking it in. Instead, they leave it parked on community property propped up on a flimsy jack, posing a public safety hazard. I have no qualms about calling the cops and enforcing the law in this case.
Why not leave a note on it first? If nothing happens after a few days, let him have it.
It might be different in your area, but around here you’d have to call up “code enforcement” for a junk/abandoned vehicle- not the actual police. And, unless it’s blocking the the whole street the owner would get 24-48 hours to move it anyway.
Reminds me of when we had a little ranch house in Beaverton. Our neighbors, who we called The Bumpuses behind their backs, had the remains of an MG Midget mouldering under a dirty tarp in their driveway the whole time we lived there. First thing I’d see coming out the front door every day. It never moved, never even changed.
We moved to Portland 16 years ago. I just looked at Google Maps satellite view – it’s still there.
To park on the street in NZ the car must be registered it doesnt have to run but it must actually have rego Id hate the rego bill for that lot seriously more than their value
Could we see one day some used BMW in a trailer park or in a hidden barn in a future more or less near? 😉
One last story about idiot neighbors. About 20 years ago, a cousin used to live in an apartment complex (the projects, not a ritzy place). The residents were primarily older retired persons, who, although no parking spaces were reserved, the unwritten code was that no one was to park in front of a resident’s apartment. On the very few occasions I visited the place, I personally never parked in front of anyone’s apartment.
On occasion, however, visitors violated this unwritten policy, especially on holidays, etc. This usually upset the apple cart, and many people took to placing chairs, sawhorses, and other debris to save their spaces. Old people are quite vindictive. One night after visiting my cousin, I went to my car and found used (or made to look used) condoms surrounding my car. I still don’t know what that was trying to infer.
The capper was, however, one day my car (75 Eldo) broke down at the stop sign a half block from my cousin’s apartment. After trying to start the car repeatedly, my cousin and I pushed it into a vacant space, observing the unwritten code. After doing some simple diagnosis, I found that fuel was not reaching the carb. It was too late to do anything that day, so I left the car overnight.
The next morning I returned with a carb kit, (always pays to have stuff like that in advance.) I replaced the needle valve and seat and the car started. In the hour or so that I worked on the car, several older residents came to voice their disapproval of my repairing the car in their community. One old guy literally shouted at me to give the car to a junkman.
My cousin married, bought a house, and left the miserable residents to have themselves.
This is why I have AAA…heaven forbid I should have to do even a simple 15-minute battery swap and incur the wrath of my neighbors. (However, I have recently had my car decide to finish off its old battery at work, whereupon I rolled up my sleeves and changed it in the parking lot.) I live in a fairly upscale complex and may be one of about three people who even know what a car battery is. But this is typical in LA–professional people don’t mow their own lawns and don’t do any car maintenance themselves, both of which concepts would be anathema to my dad.
As for “eyesore” project cars, I think it’s fair to expect that if a car is not running, it should be under ongoing work to get there or in a garage. Otherwise I can completely understand it being fair game for the codes authorities. I hate to see a decent old car being dragged off for scrap too, but we live in a society where cars are plentiful and reasonably inexpensive, and that works against there being a lot of incentive to make sure you get that repair done by Monday or have no way of getting to work. One weekend goes by without wrenching on your pride and joy, and then two, and then you’ve retired and died and your heirs are calling someone to haul it away. If you’re not absolutely driven to restore or maintain something and lack the time, money or both, better not to take it on in the first place. (Goes for all kinds of things, by the way.)
I had friends who lived next to some people who enforced that parking code rather vigorously – except it was on the public road in front of the houses! Park in front of their house and you might come out to find your tyres slashed…
I also remember reading about a 1950’s Cadillac that sat in an inner-city street for years slowly returning to the earth while wearing a current registration label (thus legally allowed to park on the street full of terrace houses and no off-street parking). From memory people had even tried unsuccessfully to buy the car.
Here atop the Ozark Plateau of southern Missouri populated with a horde of sub-humans who revel in their ignorance and who display manhood by the decibel level of their semi-muffled engine exhaust you have to consider yourself fortunate if the near brain-dead doofus next door does not have an active meth lab outputting a pound of the noxious substance daily.
Yes, I would depart the area if possible.
If my Lottery number sends a hundred grand my way Pacific northwest here I come.
Wish me luck!!!
Oh… the Young Coot below atop Dad’s Chevy.
Good Luck.
Hah! I go away on holiday for a week and look what happens: pictures of my house on CC! Just kidding, I do work in Auckland, but I don’t live there, and that’s not my house. Also, I only have one (Japanese) car. Regular CCers will no doubt remember Bryce, and occasionally me, mentioning that pretty much every make/model of car ever made exists somewhere in New Zealand. In the rest of the world, many owners of fine old cars such as these hide them away in dark garages; but here in NZ, we like to display our vehicular collections in open-air museums 😉
When I was over in NZ a couple of years back I was amazed at all the weird and wonderful JDM variants of cars I didn’t even know existed. I was over there for a wedding but spent about 40% of my trip at wreckers after parts for my Astina (Lantis) looking for stuff I can’t even find on the Yahoo Japan auctions anymore. And I keep punishing myself by looking at TradeMe almost every day…
Yes, that’s NZ in a nutshell! Coincidentally, my Aunt has a ’94 Lantis/Astina 5-door. As a car fan I love NZ, because just when you think you’ve seen every last weird JDM car, something I’ve never seen or heard of before will drive past or turn up on trademe. There haven’t been that many US cars sold new here over the last 2-3 decades, but the sheer variety of Japanese/Euro cars makes up for the lack of American cars! And then again, we do have some unique variants of American cars too: want a RHD ’96/’97 Ford Taurus but with Mercury Sable front end? Yup, Ford built them like that for us/Australia/Japan (and all the Japanese ones have ended up back here as used imports). Or maybe you’d like a RHD 2009/10 Cadillac CTS? Come to New Zealand, Cadillac built several hundred in RHD that all ended up being sold new here when they cancelled their Asian launch plans. 🙂
gosh, now yall have me scared that my neighbors are gonna call enforcement on me! I have a 2 car garage that has 1 bay filled with tools, and the other for parking my baby (79 sedan deville). Well the unregistered Caddy has been sitting outside for a month while i have my latest $650 aquisistion, a 94 Town Car, in the garage to get it seaworthy. So outside i have a regestered 1979 Buick estate wagon, a registered 2001 dodge pickem up that has seen better days, an unregistered Caddy, and an unregistered 1993 grand marquis complete with racing stripes and MERCON V spray painted on the bumper and missing a door. and my neighbors have been known to call the cops on me for having bonfires! ok so we were burning a few couches…. big woop!