Is it a Southern Thing About Old Cars in Yards?

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Alot of ppl keep old, old cars that have a sentimental feeling. Some keep them in their yards that bring down property values and just being a general eyesore.

They keep their yards fairly nice and picked but there's the old 66 Impala and 72 Hornet...falling apart and looking like doo-doo.

I have no problem ppl keeping dad's old truck or the car they courted their spouse in a garage or shed, but this?.. ..SMH
 
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There's a joke about "How do you tell the difference between a rich Kentuckian, and a poor Kentuckian?" "How many cars they have in their front yard." Yes I'm from Kentucky. Not sure about yards but in many counties in Colorado you can only have one non-running car per driveway. I think it's either a sentimental thing or "They'll get around to it,or "yard art."
 
Originally Posted By: Speak2Mountain
Alot of ppl keep old, old cars that have a sentimental feeling. Some keep them in their yards that bring down property values and just being a general eyesore.

They keep their yards fairly nice and picked but there's the old 66 Impala and 72 Hornet...falling apart and looking like doo-doo.

I have no problem ppl keeping dad's old truck or the car they courted their spouse in a garage or shed, but this?.. ..SMH


This isn't an especially Southern thing, it's more of a fairly universal rural thing. It isn't a sentimental thing either but is usually borne of a desire to have a couple of parts cars readily at hand. When you live in the country, you do a lot of driving, since the nearest source of groceries, farm supplies and implement parts is likely to be a good piece away.
You don't see this as much around here as you once did, in this age of minimum thousand acre heavily leveraged farms run by guys with sophisticated methods and costly equipment.
This is also a ghetto thing, where you'll see a decrepit house with three or four cars sitting in the drive and yard one or two of which might run and drive at any given time.
 
There was a neighbor I had that kept a car in the driveway for storage. They would keep blankets and clothes in there. One day it was gone. The next day another car took its place. Not sure why the switcheroo.
 
When I was still living in Arkansas, there was something about they had to be tagged or hidden behind a fence. Definitely couldn't be on the street unless it was tagged. Around here, it is not uncommon to drive by a farm and see 20 cars that had met their end over the years.
 
Here in Colorado if you go to the areas where people have some land you will see what looks like a car salvage yard on their property.
 
Not only a Southern thing.

Farmers always had old cars in their fields.
Driving to my Uncles cabin (NY), my Father would always say how the farmers were messing up the scenery.
Being a young kid, I liked seeing them.
 
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I have seen it in rural Missouri growing up. A few years ago I saw a high school classmate. I sold a snow thrower to him and his parts car was parked in his front yard.

In St Louis I would need to go to Pick-n-Pull.
grin.gif
 
ROFL

I would specifically question why they kept the Hornet.. my dad had an American Motors Hornet in puke green. I can say it was by far the worst car he ever bought. Engine would randomly cut out on the highway and the dealer could never figure out why..
 
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Nope, over here too. Had a neighbor that would buy old imports and line our street with them either for parts or to try and get em running again. Loved the childish retaliation when I would report them as abandoned vehicles to the C&C because he was using our front property as a junkyard.
 
If your home is mobile, but the cars in the yard aren’t.......you might be a redneck!
 
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Originally Posted By: gman2304
If your home is mobile, but the cars in the yard aren’t.........you might be a redneck!


Aren’t? Surely you meant ain’t?
 
Up here we turned most of them in when they were worth $250 plus each.

Maybe you have real strict title laws and junkyards won't take them on a paperwork technicality?

My state is pleasantly lax.
 
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