I know when we tend to write about awful HOAs and their often very anti-gearhead rules and restrictions, a common refrain in the comments is that people who want to work on cars shouldn’t live in places with HOAs. Fair enough. But this time, it’s not a neighborhood association with the anti-automotive rules, it’s an…
Janis Zettel of Clearfield City, Utah was given a non-running ‘73 Volkswagen Super Beetle as a gift by her son. While neither her nor her son was that interested in getting the Beetle running, Zettel liked the car, which she named Lucy and painted to look like a ladybug. Deciding the car made her happier as lawn art,…
A homeowners’ association in Auburn, California has rescinded its imbecilic policy that allegedly forced owners to keep their overhead doors open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, The Sacramento Bee reports. Thank goodness—perhaps there is hope for this world yet.
In this week’s display of homeowners’ association idiocy, the Auburn Greens complex in Auburn, California is allegedly requiring all of its residents to keep their garage doors open during the week, all because one resident had people sleeping in their garage, Sacramento-based news channel KCRA 3 reports. Of all…
I know not everyone agrees with this, but as far as I can tell, life can be interesting, and the purpose of a Homeowners’ Association is to prevent any evidence of that fact from being demonstrated. At least that’s what I’m taking away from the situation with Tony Buzbee, his authentic WWII Sherman tank, and the HOA…
We can’t say we’re big fans of homeowners’ associations around here, as they tend to be garbage busybodies who insert their nose into your project car. One even recently decided to hassle one of the most infamous builds in 24 Hours of Lemons history—the running, street-legal Upside-Down Camaro.
Do you remember Charles Williams? To us, he seemed like the ideal neighbor: he had his own garage, complete with lifts, and was always happy and willing to help out a friend work on their cars. Unfortunately, Charles’ own neighbors were the worst neighbors this side of a manure incinerator, and spent countless hours…
The Chevrolet Corvair has to be one of my favorite American cars. It was bold and innovative, remaining America’s only real mass-produced rear-engined, air-cooled car. Oh, and also America’s only mass-produced horizontally-opposed engine. Michael McKeel must agree, because he has hundreds of them, which his neighbors…
If there’s anything that deserves to be cross-stitched into the great Throw Pillow of Justice, it’s probably the phrase Drive What Thou Wilt. Unless it’s dangerous or somehow really impairing someone else’s freedom, everyone should be free to drive whatever they damn well please. This is a lesson that the Canadian…
Mitch Powell served two tours in Iraq before leaving the military last year due to an injury. The veteran returned to Virginia Beach in 2006 and decided to buy a giant M35 military cargo truck just like what he once rode in as a soldier, which the city is now forbidding him from parking in his yard.
Oh, these stories. They’re all the same. There are neighborhoods all across the country that have one amazing person in them, with one amazing thing—a fantastic garage, an airplane, whatever—and there’s always neighbors who want to see the One Interesting Thing gone. Here the story is again, this time with vintage…
You may recall the story of one Long Island man’s struggle to keep his small plane in his driveway. In that story, I was very pro-guy-with-plane, and I still am. Sadly, though, the town of Oceanside, Long Island, ended up being quite anti-guy-with-plane, and recently his plane was dismantled and removed.
Everyone, I hope your rage-glands have been properly primed and lubed, because you’re going to need them. Remember the awesome gearhead with the incredible garage that his terrible neighbors were trying to get torn down? Remember how a judge told those neighbors to get bent? Well, they’re not quitting, and taking…
Back in August, we told you about a guy with a racing hobby and his white, 25-foot trailer he uses to support that hobby. That trailer was also driving his neighbors batshit, because this guy lives next to people who, somehow, can’t deal with seeing a pretty innocuous white trailer. As a subtle way of letting everyone…
Last month we reported that awful people were suing their neighbor because he works on cars in his amazing garage. But it looks like the garage owner, Charles Williams, is making progress: a judge put his foot down on claims against the guy.
There’s a wheelchair-using gearhead that built an amazing garage, with lifts and everything, so he and his friends can work on cars. Three of his neighbors are suing him to make him stop and tear down the garage, and they’ve even suggested that Jesus will kill him with his breath. It’s maddening, but I’ll try and…
This particular bit of news is very local, but the issue it addresses is universal, and perhaps especially relevant to those of us with lives that may involve the ownership of cars and related machines. It’s about a guy in Schaumburg, Illinois, and his 25-foot trailer. Also, how much his neighbors hate his trailer.
Home Owners Associations (NAMBLA) are tyrannical little organizations exerting pointless rules on home owners. One man fought his HOA over one such rule — to park his pickup in his own driveway. He won. It only cost him $187,000.
