Dilapidated car hoarder

[911 Rod]

A friend of mine's SIL's father just can't get rid of things. He bought all of these cars new and once they are worn out this is where they come. Not for sale. Too bad because I'd love to get the Merc.

[911 Rod]

Hoarder

[mgatepi]

What a shame!

[stevej37]

Originally Posted by 911 Rod

Hoarder

Hah! You just beat me to it.

At least he has a cover on the snowmobile!

[herr_oberst]

So what is your friend's SIL's father driving now?

Let's have fun and guess what failed on each of those cars that caused them to be parked.

Here's mine -
Bangle-butt 745; i-drive
Bentley; mineral oil leak
Merc; wiring harness

[HobieMarty]

Well, at least they are parked with concrete pads under the tires.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[GG Allin]

I'll take the Bentley for $4500.

[masraum]

I've seen what I assume is the same sort of thing over the years. I don't get it, not at all. If the car has a problem, get it fixed and sell it or even take a huge loss and sell it, but get rid of it. If you love the car and want to keep it, then don't let it rot.

I have to imagine that besides whatever mechanical issues these had when parked, and develop over time, they've also had various critters "move in" not to mention the leaves and dirt that is going to cause issues. The crazy thing is that the cars look fairly clean on the outside. Are they getting washed occasionally or is that just the result of a recent rain? Weird.

[asphaltgambler]

My experience when I see this or other items being hoarded - where specifically something(s) of moderate to high value is left to languish in the field, certainly degrading by the day because exposed to the elements. It is irrational, the owner for whatever reason has experienced emotional and / or physical loss, tragedy in their life where they cannot let go and move on. So they attach themselves to objects of which they must hoard to keep them 'safe'.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by asphaltgambler

My experience when I see this or other items being hoarded - where specifically something(s) of moderate to high value is left to languish in the field, certainly degrading by the day because exposed to the elements. It is irrational, the owner for whatever reason has experienced emotional and / or physical loss, tragedy in their life where they cannot let go and move on. So they attach themselves to objects of which they must hoard to keep them 'safe'.

Interesting. I can see that, but I'd have never guessed it.

[911 Rod]

Originally Posted by asphaltgambler

My experience when I see this or other items being hoarded - where specifically something(s) of moderate to high value is left to languish in the field, certainly degrading by the day because exposed to the elements. It is irrational, the owner for whatever reason has experienced emotional and / or physical loss, tragedy in their life where they cannot let go and move on. So they attach themselves to objects of which they must hoard to keep them 'safe'.

That's deep man.

[fintstone]

I am the same. Once I buy a car, I generally keep it. The same with a home, furniture, a gun or even books. We still own our first home...as well as several more. It was usually so hard to buy and took so much work to get it "right" that the attachment is often too much to let it go. Often, I wish I still have some of the cars I sold over the years. I had to sell them to get better ones (or when moving overseas).

My mother died recently. We had been very poor and really had nothing of value (I have almost nothing of my father's or mother's), but late in life, she had accumulated much of the belonging of her mother and a couple aunts and uncles including their furniture. They were pretty nice (although a little rickety...need some regluing), and essentially family heirlooms. Unfortunately, I cannot bring myself to dispose of any of it...from furniture to china and silverware. It is probably a 3500 sq ft house full. Our houses are already fully furnished and most of our stuff is nicer/more suitable to us (just not antique). Some is pretty nice and would have been welcome when I was younger, but not so much now. None of my brothers seem to have my affliction and have already passed on these things. We really need to get the house emptied and sold as no one has lived in it for about two years and it is probably worth $450K or more. I have started moving much of it to my large unfinished basement...but that seems rather stupid as I will need to dispose of it (or my heirs) eventually.

I have the money to buy whatever I want...I really wish that I had been given just one thing...as I am stuck.

[ted]

It's an unfortunate part of the car hobby.
Buying them is easy, selling them takes more effort.

[ted]

Originally Posted by asphaltgambler

My experience when I see this or other items being hoarded - where specifically something(s) of moderate to high value is left to languish in the field, certainly degrading by the day because exposed to the elements. It is irrational, the owner for whatever reason has experienced emotional and / or physical loss, tragedy in their life where they cannot let go and move on. So they attach themselves to objects of which they must hoard to keep them 'safe'.

Agree sadly that's why some choose to leave their broken washing machine in the front yard.

Lady near by has had a 55 Chevy in her driveway since 1972.
It was her son's car when he passed away in high school.

[oldE]

Hmmm. I have a tuning peg from my great uncle's violin and a desk his daughter said should come to me. I suppose I am on the "hoarders spectrum". Maybe just on the lower end of the scale.

Sad to see nice stuff just going to rot.

Best
Les

[asphaltgambler]

^^ Interesting, a personal point of view as to why.^^

Off topic to the OP, but relevant to the discussion. Our next door neighbor was recently widowed when we moved in Spring 2016. At the time we knew something was wrong because the outside of the house was in dilapidated shape, the grass not cut, stuff laying around everywhere that you could tell had been there for a while. We never saw anyone outside, but a single car would move once in a while. A few times over the next 2 years I would go over there, knock on the door but no one would answer. I knew someone was home, their SUV was parked out front. The next Thanksgiving I took some food over before we sat down to eat dinner, but the front gate was now locked and I could not drive up to the house which is on @ 2 acres.

@2years later in the Spring we had high winds come through and it blew down @75' of her stockade style fence back onto her property which now gave gave us the real view of the back of her house, which was worse than we thought. After that storm we were standing at that part of the fence cleaning up the crap on our side and she comes walking up with her dog and introduced herself. She was same age as my wife, but looked easily 15/20 years older.

After some discussion she revealed her husband passed away 2-1/2 yeas earlier, very quickly from cancer. She basically just cashed in her chips, became a recluse, would not answer any phone calls, which resulted in her being fired from a really good job, deep depression, etc, etc.

We looked after her, my wife had her cell # and would keep tabs on her, help if she needed, that we offered constantly but she would never accept. She also had no family. Well, she ran out of money about the time we moved in, and unbeknownst to us, lived w/o A/C, heat, stove, hot water or microwave. The only modern amenities still operating was........ running water.

She revealed this to us as she was preparing to sell her house which was mins from going to foreclosure late winter this year. She finally accepted our help to assist her move on the last day, the 11th hour where she had to vacate. When walked inside, it was beyond anything I had ever seen in person. Trash, food, dishes everywhere, bugs, stench and a literal path through all that from the side door to the upstairs. The stove had all the knobs and 2 heating elements missing, ........just crazy.

Ultimately she claimed bankruptcy through that, worked with an attorney and managed to walk away with a little cash in her pocket from the sale, and began a new life in an apartment close by.

[LWJ]

Asphalt Gambler said it well in the first post. The "stuff" is a security blanket. Not rational. I am cleaning out the estate of my buddy that had a touch of this. Every bill / invoice / correspondence for over a decade. And on. And on.

Fintstone? I hear you. What about talking with a pro?

I clearly have too much junk. No question about it. There is something freeing when you pare down and minimalize.

[Tim Hancock]

I am definitely a hoarder. I keep all sorts of scraps and parts in my shop and rarely sell a vehicle or toy. I don't even know how many motorcycles, dirt bikes, atvs, minibikes etc I have right now... I think I have 4 collector cars, 4 driver cars and oh bunch of other internal combustion powered stuff. My wife hates it. That said, I get great satisfaction when I am building or fixing something and I find just the perfect little do-dad or scrap of material to complete the job out in my shop. If I had an identical sized second shop, I would likely fill that in short order too with more "treasures". lol

At some point I will have to start thinking about thinning out the shop but at 55 I still find myself somewhat actively playing and working with the stuff (or junk as my wife calls it).

[mgatepi]

There's a fine line between Collecting and Hoarding.....and my wife tells me I crossed that line about 20 years ago!

[911 Rod]

Is it really hoarding when he has his son keep his cars and never visits?
At least his son pumps up the tires.