nice car in a bad hood

[tonycarguy]

Something I don't understand is why people who live in bad areas buy really nice cars, like $40k to $60k cars, then park them outside on the street. I know people who do this and their cars all end up with an assortment of scratches and dings on the bumpers because other drivers (with their beater cars) don't care and are bad parallel-parkers. In these bad areas where there is insufficient parking, it's like a demolition derby everyday after 6PM as everyone is trying to squeeze their cars into any spot. These nice cars have probably been hit 10+ times each.

Some people's priorities are messed up. Why buy a $50k car when you live in a bad neighborhood and have no garage??

 

[eljefino]

You see more jewelry in the hood too.

Fancy cars are just an extension of that.

There's rich, and there's "hood rich".

 

[Spazdog]

How long have they been there?

I agree with you for the most part, but I lived in the same apartment complex for years. When I first moved in, it was fairly decent, but as the years went by it got progressively worse.

Then one day they started to accept Section 8.

The "dope man" moved into my building. Fairly new Northstar Eldorado and we're paying his rent.

Wake up to a lot of shouting and a crash. Police everywhere. His door smashed in. "Dope man" face down in the breezeway in cuffs.

Time to move.

 

[JHZR2]

Yes, fancy cars and satellite dishes in the Philadelphia projects

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Yes, fancy cars and satellite dishes in the Philadelphia projects



One of the projects around here has a restored 60's Camaro. I love where my tax dollars are going.

 

[Mr Nice]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Yes, fancy cars and satellite dishes in the Philadelphia projects


Lets not forget all those fancy cell phones, clothes, jewelry, tattoos, 22 wheels on those '$40k to $60k cars' and some how they buy their groceries with EBT and their 5 kids get free lunches at school cause the poor parents have no money.

 

[PandaBear]

There are a lot of rich people in the hood too, just that their source of income and preference is not the same.

Source of illegal income (drug money or criminal activity means they need to be close to their vendor or customer)

Safety (for the criminals)



Also there are honest income people who gave up the idea that they can save up enough to live in a nicer house, so they spend their money in a nice car instead. I see a lot of that in Asia with prohibitively expensive real estate price.

 

[OtisBlkR1]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
You see more jewelry in the hood too.

Fancy cars are just an extension of that.

There's rich, and there's "hood rich".



you said it ! $4,000 rims, $6,000 stereo. $1,200 car... we have that even out here in the corn fields ! most are shacked up with some "heavy" girl, with 3, or four kids.. and major self esteam issues, x-box and playstation all day, or sleeping.. of course most sell drugs at night.. and run around on there girlfriends with all manner of hood rat chicks..

But hey im kinda off topic, you get the idea.. Yes! our system at work.. our tax dollars enable them to live this way..

 

[dparm]

I live in a nice part of downtown Chicago but even so I see a lot of awesome cars parked on the street with bumper scuffs, dents, curbed wheels, etc. The following cars are routinely parked near my building and look horrible:

Volvo S60 R -- has never been washed in its life
BMW M5 (E39) -- also never been washed
Mercedes E63 (W211) -- dents and scrapes on every panel
Audi S4 (B6, my car's doppelganger) -- wheels horribly curbed

 

[Trav]

Quote:
Then one day they started to accept Section 8.


Tell me about it, i live with renters rights every day.
Its difficult to keep the scum out, you have to break the law (carefully) to protect your own property and your other tenants.
I am sick of these rights for renters but the landlord has no rights at all.

 

[Cutehumor]

I'm the opposite! I live in a nice neighborhood but drive a $500 1996 beater that's never washed and has huge dents from a car accident. but it's paid for.

 

[Jimmy9190]

And the $1200 car with a $6000 stereo and $4000 rims barely even runs, leaks/drips/burns oil, sometimes leaks gas too and it belches blue smoke out the exhaust so bad you can't even be near it whe it is running. A/C doesn't work and neither do the power windows, so it's a real treat to drive in summer, especially for the innocent kids in the back seat, who probably don't have a car seat, and even if they did, the seat belts are either broken or missing altogether. The heat doesn't work because at some point in time the heater core has been bypassed due to a leak and the blower motor either works only on high speed or not at all. If you are lucky one of the 3 brake light/tail lights works and maybe one of the blinkers works on one side only but neither one in the instrument cluster will flash so you have no idea if they work at all.

I used to see these kinds of cars all the time when I was a car stereo installer. We called them "hoopties", nothing on the car worked, engine barely ran, when it did run it usually had a bad exhaust leak and/or ran so rich the exhaust would make you sick to be within 10 feet of the car, usually the car had a lot of electrical and safety problems going on...but there they were, spending $300.00 on a new CD player, amplifier or adding more speakers to a stereo system that could be heard for 6 blocks. And the car was always spotlessly clean, has a $500 steering wheel and sitting on the biggest rims that would fit.

A lot of the time they would pay for the new stereo or whatever in cash. All in $1, $5 and $10 bills. I give you one guess as to the source of the money. Yet a lot of "those cars" all had one thing in common: most of them had an open Bible laid up on the dash. We all knew that usually meant the car belonged to a gang member. Most of their cars had a very "aromatic" interior when they showed up at the shop too.

And this is just about the cars. I won't get into the other aspects of that kind of lifestyle that ordinary working people have to support. I will say the sad thing is the kids grow up in it and that is what they are very likely to become too. They know nothing else and often have no one to teach them any better.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
most of them had an open Bible laid up on the dash. We all knew that usually meant the car belonged to a gang member.


which page is it opened on? just one gang or many different gang use this as the sign?

 

[PF52]

Originally Posted By: dparm
I live in a nice part of downtown Chicago but even so I see a lot of awesome cars parked on the street with bumper scuffs, dents, curbed wheels, etc.


You've read my mind exactly - I was going to mention that even in Chicago's (or any city's for that matter) trendiest or most-desireable neighborhoods where street parking is the norm, even the nicest cars are covered in scuffs, scratches and dents. Park for awhile and you'll see why - people try to squeeze into the tiniest of spots and use the cars in front and back as bumping posts.

 

[Nick R]

We live in a fairly affluent area of town, leasing the house from our landlord for a song. There are a few BMW and Mercedes households (sometimes with a few of each), but by and large it's family sedans, small CUVs, a few large SUVs... (It's basically our current driveway, with the occasional Pickup) But you go into the bad area of town and you start seeing the Caddys, more beemers, GTOs, Lincolns, etc. I don't understand it at all.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Originally Posted By: PandaBear
Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
most of them had an open Bible laid up on the dash. We all knew that usually meant the car belonged to a gang member.


which page is it opened on? just one gang or many different gang use this as the sign?


I never paid any attention to which book or verse it might have been. I just know that in the area of Florida around where I was working at the time it was an understood sign of gang membership. I have no idea if it was just one gang or if they all did it. But the guys in the stereo shop all knew if the car had an open Bible on the dash or rear deck it was understood to be a gang member's car. Quite often they would also have programs from various funerals on the dash too.

 

[daves87rs]

See that here in the D as well...

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: css9450
Originally Posted By: dparm
I live in a nice part of downtown Chicago but even so I see a lot of awesome cars parked on the street with bumper scuffs, dents, curbed wheels, etc.


You've read my mind exactly - I was going to mention that even in Chicago's (or any city's for that matter) trendiest or most-desireable neighborhoods where street parking is the norm, even the nicest cars are covered in scuffs, scratches and dents. Park for awhile and you'll see why - people try to squeeze into the tiniest of spots and use the cars in front and back as bumping posts.



That's why every place I've lived down here had a secured parking garage with a reserved space. Right now our garage has valets so I just call downstairs and the car is waiting.

Also nice that the garage is climate controlled -- always 60 degrees.

 

[daves87rs]

Originally Posted By: dparm
That's why every place I've lived down here had a secured parking garage with a reserved space. Right now our garage has valets so I just call downstairs and the car is waiting.

Also nice that the garage is climate controlled -- always 60 degrees.

Nice!!!

 

[dwcopple]

Street pharmaceuticals provide a wonderful lifestyle...ghetto fabulous!!!