[My reply must have exceeded the list's length limit, so I've broken it to
down to two parts.]
> What was freaking the hobbyists, was that, by ordinance, in
> some communities, you couldn't keep a car like this in your
> garage. Enforcement varies of course, but you had to feel sorry
> for the guy who was working on his car in the carport.
This is a subject near and dear to me, so I will take the liberty to rant
(an no ordinance has been enacted yet to stop me from ranting).
I have quite a nice TR6, the Saffron Yellow may not be everyone's taste, but
the car is comfortably in the $8-10k value range. My neighbors bitch the
minute the car goes up on jackstands in my backyard for repairs. The car
has current plates, inspection and registration... and sits about 150feet
from the property line, behind a chainlink 5ft fence, and under a fitted car
cover (when it gets left outside). Still, the neighbors and the township
feel the need to harass me about my "immobilized motor vehicle."
This is nuts. These same neighbors have a hideous old boat parked on the
side driveway of their house and it is more of an eyesore than a saffron
TR6. Unfortunately, there is no ordinance banning the storage of boats or
other un-proportionately large mobile structures on your property - like
30ft campers (more like mobile homes!).
I do not work on the car, or in the shop, at unreasonable hours... often I
am done by 8PM and if I am in the shop I am usually found tinkering with
smaller assemblies that do not require 1500Watts of light outside or noise
from air tools.
But sadly, my quality of life is infringed upon by these inane lunatics and
their absurd ordinances. Here in Bristol, we have to apply for a permit
from the township to put a car alarm in our vehicle (alarm user permit).
Most new cars come with decent alarm systems, do they really expect people
to register for permits to buy a new car that includes an alarm?
Now switching to another subject, but one that is more intrusive into my
lifestyle than any immobilized (quiet and stationary!) vehicle ever was, is
unruly neighborhood children and the plethora of illegal road hazards
parents buy their children. The same neighbors that complain about my TR6
on jacks, buy their kids (4yrs, 7yrs, 11yrs) electric scooters, huge remote
controlled toys, very large plastic bike / skateboard ramps and my personal
favorite --- the mobile road block --- or rather those basketball hoops that
always get placed streetside instead of in the driveway.
First, those bicycle / skateboard ramps are extremely dangerous, the kids
leave them in the street at night and the parents can not be bothered to
teach their children to move them or to pick them up themselves. I have had
a remote controlled truck driven into the path of my Jetta, it was damaged,
and the parents responded as if I were the one responsible for that broken
boy.
[con't in following message]
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