This is probably O/T, but at the same time the reason I'm posting this is directly connected to the reason I love older cars. I just got a call from a friend and she tells me that one of the houses I used to rent is in the process of being torn down. I only rented this place, but it was cool. Built in 1940 and plenty of character. Aside from minor maintenance stuff that the landlord let go, it was in great shape. No shifting, no pier and beam problems, nothing. Next door is a big 6 bedroom home built in 1929. there is a large row of houses along Greenville Ave. that are all getting demolished so that they can build the next "trendy" **** store/ restaurant complex. Which will fail and sit empty for years, just like all the other attempts to modernize this town. Aside from a small small section of neighborhood these are probably the oldest houses in Richardson. I live across the highway now in my "new" 1958 model house, but i'm sure someday they'll come trash it too for "progress". Ugh it makes me sick....
Let's make it on topic. Tell us about the old car getting intimate with the pickup. What are they, where are they now, etc. Charming old house, too, btw.
haha, Truck is my brother's '57 F-100, 272 y-block & T-5. it's now lowered all around with mono-leaf springs. The coupe was mine for a short time and now belongs to MarkX
many cities around southern mn are wishing they didn't listen to the visionaries in the 70's tore down andrearanged so many old buildings the places have lost their soul some are putting up old time facades to give the building some character sort of like the car business now, trying to bring back some nostalgia look to the "all stamped the same look cars "for the past 20 yrs, hoping it is not too late
Cl***ic American story. It's called progress, but I'm not so sure. They tore down 100+year old farm houses by us, to build NEW houses that LOOK like 100 year old farmhouses. Go figure. I wish this town was the same as it was when I was growing up. Then I wouldn't have to move. But, alas, it isn't. Again, progress. I just wish I would have been into hotrods as much as I was musclecars when the farm I worked on got auctioned off. They were pulling whole cars, 40's, 50's, etc out of fields and they were going for like $20. But I was in high school and "muscle" was in... Progress? Jay
When I was 17 my mom said " This is your Austin son, not mine". I was 25 when I realized what she meant. 37 and its definitely not my Austin anymore. Still dont wanna be ANYWHERE ELSE!!! I do miss the Soul of my town.
i don't know who said it or when i first heard it, but these are words i live by."all progress is not always forward and standing still is not always stagnant"
Well.....dunno if it'll make ya feel better, but, my wife & I are restoring a 115 year old house that was abandoned for some years...about two-thirds done now, after three years. At least, the additions are 115 years old...the main house may be older. Can't find any records yet to say for sure. Dunno if it was cheaper than building a brand-new one, but definitely longer, more difficult, & more entertaining. 20+ dumpsters, & waaaay in excess of 45 tons of debris... At least we're sorta renewing this particular block of the neighborbood.
I hear ya. Seems like most of North Texas couldn't give a flip about preserving any of its history. Nothing is beyond demolition now, especially with the eminent domain. Even if you don't want to sell, they will just take it.
Same in California. Demolish, obliterate, replace, repeat. Each generation is so busy scrambling over the preceding generation they lose perspective on what is worth keeping to preserve the feel and character of a community you actually want to spend time in. New development is designed to deliver dutiful consumers to the sellers of whatever while generating more and more revenue from ever increasing rents! Nothing but soul-less hives I tell you! Nurse, bring the sedative! He's beginning to howl again! That strait-jacket can't take much more!
I hate it, I hate it. Seeing these old places get destroyed in the name of progress. Just last night I went by the local post office, across the street from it were old houses..2 of which were from the late 1800's. GONE, I had no idea they were going to knock em' down. They had character and style...most likely a larger house will go in its place. I'm so sick of seeing these new neighborhoods going up were all the houses look the same, with the same color vinyl siding, and annoying plastic forts in the backyards for the kids. They go up and people complain about adjacent farms and the smells from the animals or the old junk on the property that has been there for years. Too much old stuff has been knocked down and farms have been lost at a great pace in the last 15 years. Like I said, I HATE IT, I HATE IT...but what can I really do...take pictures and/or remember what it used to be like. Check out preservation online...some of the stuff they knock down will make you sick. Some of the stuff on the site is preserved, but the majority is knocked down in the way of progress.
same here in the North East, they call it re-developement, tear down a block at a time and let it sit a couple years and tear another, some have sat for 15 years vacant so the city suffers and they raise the taxes to compensate for the loss in revenue from tearing down the buildings???????? So they build malls on the outskirts of town to do business and the cities business district suffers again. When they do build something it is a modern building that just doesn't sit with the buildings from the 30's 40's 50's and they call it re-developement. I'm getting carried away here you guys tripped my trigger. I agree with all of you.......
Not the same town I grew up in either. 30 years ago, my county, was all farms and down to earth people. 1 fast food joint in the county and only a couple of small stip malls. Well here we are 30 years later, and the population has almost tripled. A few years ago we were the 4th fastest growing county in the US. All the f%^ks move down here from the city and complain that services are too far away. MOVE BACK!!!! We did fine before you came and we'll do fine if you leave. A 15 min commute to work now takes 45. Now people that were actually born in the county, not transplants, cannot afford to live here any more. Over 80% of the county commutes to work ouside the county. I don't think of it as progress to me it's human pollution. I got so frustrated with all the BS that I bought an old farmhouse in the neighboring county. We're in the process of restoring it now. There is a night and day difference in the 2 counties with this one being zoned over 83% farmland. Most of the people in my old county aren't buying old farms to preserve them, they're buying up farms at an alarming rate to develop them. Even the county fair was moved and has now turned into more of a carnival than a fair. The tractor pull was shut down, which only happens once a year, because the people complained about the noise. Never mind that the people complaining were section 8 housing all on welfare. I was really disappointed when the county did not tell them to f&*k off. Now instead of loud engines once a year, you have booming stereos and the expexted crime and drugs, 365 days a year.
In El Paso they have come up with a master "Downtown Redevelpment Plan". This plan consists of demolishing the downtown area, gentrifing it (did I spell that right??), and letting the developers (who control city council just like everywhere else) turn a nice profit. It will never work of course because people who buy $300,000 condos will not want the nice view of Anapra, where most of the houses are made of pallets and cardboard. Nor will they enjoy the aroma of burning copper wire at dusk as they sip their lattes. What is now a thriving lower income economic area will be bulldozed to create an empty wasteland of failed buisnesses (or worse, it if actually were to succeed and I have to look at another Hard Rock cafe). Ever been to Niagra Falls NY? Most common question asked there is "Where's the town?" Seems like some genuis in the 70s convinced the city council that if they demolished the whole town and built a big convention center they'd all get rich from convention goers. They didn't and now they have a giant ugly 70s building in need of repair. The worst part is that the lawyers / terror ****ers of the world have made it so that none of the contractors will let me in to salvage whatever cool old light fixtures, signs, cans etc. that I might find. World isn't getting better folks but at least there are still a bunch of us around that appreciate what hasn't been turned into an Applebee's parking lot yet.
It takes the same kind of p***ion to restore an old house as it does to rework an old car. Your time and finances can only stretch so far. Montana is now going condo crazy. 15 years ago you couldn't find ONE! There are whole developments of plastic sided houses on teensy lots. "Starter homes" is the term used. One of the problems is that the young couple today has neither the skill or desire to refurbish. I see so many half ***ed Home Depot upgrades. Grand old homes are being demolished for their bare land value. I re-did an old wreck of a house about 7 years ago. It took almost two years, but we now live in a home with history and character.I love it, but I'm not sure I have it in me to do another. I sure dont like what's going on, but I really dont think there's an answer. It's simply up to each of us to do the best we can to preserve quality.
that house is awesome Chaz! great job. I'm trying hard to keep my '58 home in good shape and original. It's not that old and doesn't stand out like the 20's and 30's homes do, but in the future it will.
My favorite is people that move from a big city tp the country and complain. I work in a town of about 400 and cover the southwest area of the county. 1 hour away, ****cago. People move out there and then complain of the dairy farm smell, nothing to do, no fast food, grocery stores, BMW dealerships and Starbucks within 20 minutes. Why do they move to the country? Beats the **** out of me. I live there because there is no fast food, Starbucks.....
It happens over here in the UK too, theres a lot of towns where they're pulling down rows and rows of perfectly solid if a little delapidated terraced houses from the victorian period (mid-late 1800's) and replacing them with souless modern ****boxes that'll be falling down within 30 years. I've totally renovated my house in the UK from a wreck that had stood empty for 12 years, it was built in 1903 as the Manse for the methodist church next door.
I'm also in the middle of renovating a little farmhouse in France as a holiday home, its a stone built three story house, originally the top floor was where the hay was stored, the middle where the farmer lived and the ground floor housed the animals in winter (free heating for the family above but it must have been pretty smelly!) All the roof beams are hand sawn oak. Its probably about the same age as your country!
lippyp, lots of houses on the east coast of the US are older than the country is. buddy of mine lives in a house that was built in the mid 1700's and had a large addition added in the mid 1800's.
Charlotte, NC is the absolute pitts when it comes to this subject. I am pretty sure I have never been to a more soul-less city in my life and now I call it home. All new building, and no reminders of earlier days. I bought an "older" home outside of the city, it was built in 1992. Pretty much everything is being torn down for new construction home development. I can't tell you how much I miss the City of Buffalo. Now that is a city with soul and history. Although it is a unemployed souls that live there, I do miss it.
hahaha... i just moved out of a house that was built in the 1970's into a house built in the 1800's... it came with a 47' x 49' garage... come'on.. who couldnt resist?
Look at Las Vegas. They have systematicly remove every original cool old hotel/casino to make room for the bigger more revenue casinos...It ****s.......Luck
I love old houses/properties almost as much as I love old cars. Heres mine, It sat empty for 10 years before we brought it back to life. It has a full 1700 sq ft ba*****t, I have it for sale right now. Located outside of Stockton, Ca on 3.5 acres. Built around 1934
Lippyp, both of your homes are gorgeous. Not too much stone in northeast Ohio. I love old houses and are a huge advocate of keeping them up and in good shape. Fortunately around my area there is a renewed interest in preservation. They even moved an old house last week to save it from demo! The funny (well not really funny) part about it was when they had it all jacked up to move some bum came in under it and pulled out all of the copper wire and pipe! Approximately $50,000 replacement cost! Welcome to 2007!
The house we live in now was built in 1929 and the house were looking at was built in 1923. Old house rock. I hate going into someones new house. It has no soul. Ick.
Our house was built in 1945. Plaster walls, arched doorways, solid two-panel doors with gl*** door knobs, walkout ba*****t, two-car detached garage with a loft and a little thing we like to call character.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o> <o></o> Old cars, old houses, old owners.<o></o> <o> </o>
I feel the same way about San Diego, my family moved there in 1870 and never left. Before my grandfather died, we went around "town" and he showed me the homes of various family members over the years. We went out to the old family ranch, which was known as Viejas. I grew up in one of the homes that homes that my great great grandfather purchased after he moved to SD somewhere around 1880. My parents bought it back in the 70's when the area was ******** ghetto, now it is know as Goldenhills. Personally I love old houses as much as cars, and when the 2 are combined it is just perfect.
The Jalopy Journal
