TheSamba.com :: View topic

Fri Oct 22, 2021 5:43 am

Hey all,

I had a bit of a funny situation at my house yesterday. For those of you who don't know, I recently realized my childhood dream of owning a Notchback.

Since getting it home, I've had several issues keeping me from being able to drive it regularly, like I want. However, it has been in the garage when possible.

A bit more than a week ago, the "collar" keeping the shift shaft position broke. While the engine was running, I couldn't shift, so the car stayed on the street.

The ordinance is 2 weeks, but somebody in the neighborhood jumped the gun a bit, with a call to the police about the car not moving. Technically, it moved the night before trash pickup, then back again after, so the mailbox wouldn't be obstructed, but...

Anyway, I mad a quick video about it, to join in what I hope will wind up being a bunch of reasonably entertaining videos about the love affair I'm having with this car.

If you enjoy it, please leave a comment, or something.

https://youtu.be/OxfZF42NIIg

Fri Oct 22, 2021 6:26 am

Your lic plates are from Oregon. You appear to be in Arkansas. What state is this notch living in? Is this a Tram mobile?

Fri Oct 22, 2021 8:10 am

Well, to a non enthusiast, I suppose it could be perceived as an abandoned junker

Fri Oct 22, 2021 8:39 am

Xevin wrote: Your lic plates are from Oregon. You appear to be in Arkansas. What state is this notch living in? Is this a Tram mobile?
Good idea------let's blame it on Tram. :lol:

Fri Oct 22, 2021 11:29 am

Cool car, for sure. Is it currently registered? Where I live, you can't park a non-registered vehicle on the street or you get a citation. It has to be parked behind a fence (can't even have it in your driveway).

Fri Oct 22, 2021 1:09 pm

Cool car to me as a Type 3 guy but it looks like you live in a nice neighborhood so I'm sure a neighbor thinks it's some POS eyesore or is abandoned, especially since a fender is missing.

That's cool you have 2 weeks though and the cop was good about it. A long time ago, I had a Squareback towed away in under a week because it looked bad and hadn't moved in a couple days when someone called. The police officer wouldn't let me move it to the driveway, even though it ran and drove.

On the fresh air boxes leaking, check the drain hoses you see under the dash first. They are probably plugged. This is pretty common and may be the only fix you need. They can rot out too though...

Fri Oct 22, 2021 1:50 pm

Jacks wrote: Well, to a non enthusiast, I suppose it could be perceived as an abandoned junker

Yes, as a couple of you have pointed out, I'm sure some people would see it as an eye sore.

Good eyes too on that plate. I did drive it home to NWA from Oregon. Soon I hope to have a decent little video up on the YouTubes with that adventure documented. Two good friends sharing my childhood dream.

I'll have it licensed locally soon. We get a month or something like that. I think I may be just over that.

Fri Oct 22, 2021 2:18 pm

“Maybe it had something to do with the missing fender?”

Maybe ….

Fri Oct 22, 2021 3:30 pm

My town (and maybe the entire state) would hand you a citation for being parked on the wrong side of the street! Ask me how I know. :roll:

Notchbacks and Fastbacks are cool cars. This one looks pretty solid.

Fri Oct 22, 2021 6:24 pm

Should be.

Sat Oct 23, 2021 3:56 pm

In some neighborhoods you wouldn't be able to park anything older than 3 years old in your driveway without incurring the wrath of the neighborhood association. You got off lucky!

Ever tell you how much I LOVE living in farming country? Oh ya! No underemployed nosey old ladies peeking out the windows here!

Sun Oct 24, 2021 5:57 am

Years ago I lived in a city where they would fine you for being parked on the wrong side of the street too. Most of the time I still do that, just out of habit.

I've also lived in those places where old people with nothing else to do, get to feel a bit of power by being "on the board". I've also lived out in the country.

Our neighborhood is connected to another, where they do have an association, and we do not. I've seen most of the people who make it all the way on over to the cheap seats of my street, and most of them seem cool. Hell, most of them have stopped and been genuinely interested and excited for me. A number of them had VW stories to share.

I guess there's always going to be one or two of 'em

Sun Oct 24, 2021 7:35 am

I had a car on blocks in my driveway for a year when a neighbor got pissy. Covered with s car cover.

I had a set of foreign consulate plates so the police told her they can’t touch it.

Sun Oct 24, 2021 8:27 am

Abscate wrote:

I had a set of foreign consulate plates so the police told her they can’t touch it.

Oh I like that idea !!! :twisted:

Never had a problem w/ having too many cars in the yard here, but I don't need to park on the street either.....

Mon Oct 25, 2021 5:26 am

Abscate wrote: I had a car on blocks in my driveway for a year when a neighbor got pissy. Covered with s car cover.

I had a set of foreign consulate plates so the police told her they can’t touch it.

Now that's funny. I can just imagine certain people's heads exploding if that happened in their neighborhood.

Mon Oct 25, 2021 9:08 am

When my ex and I lived in a gated community way up in the hills with her parents (back in 2010 or so) I drove a flat black 1971 Ford maverick with a glasspack. All of our neighbors owned cars less than 5 years old. The neighbors reported it as abandoned weekly, and we would get notices in our mailboxes regarding it.

One day the the HOA reps came to knock on our door to serve us paperwork saying that "since it wasn't running" it wasn't allowed to be stored there, and that they would be issuing daily fines until it is relocated and stored out of sight. It was my daily driver, did not leak any fluids, was currently registered and insured, and had the required parking tag issued by the HOA- so I literally told them to get bent. There were no specific statutes against a vehicles age, sound level, or appearance, so they were furious that the thing was in the clear. The reps were furious that I literally told them to wait a second- and I walked over to it and sat inside. I pull out the key and it starts immediately. I went on to explain that I drive it nearly sixty miles round trip daily to work and back. From there I told them to mind their own business and to stop harassing me. Never got another knock or notice. 8)

Miss that car, not the ex :lol:

Mon Oct 25, 2021 1:18 pm

Ok, I've got a story too. This one isn't about cars, but is about HOA.

One day I was up on a ladder in the process of building a patio cover at my condo, when a woman I never saw stopped by, initially asking general interest questions.

Next thing I knew, the mood shifted when she asked "do you get perrmission for that work?"

"Of course" I replied.

Then it really stepped up a notch, when she said "That's funny, I don't remember approving it."

"That is funny" as I continued hammering.

So she asked to see the paperwork. I walked in to the house, grabbed it, handed it to her, and climbed back up my ladder, and continued working.

She looked over it, said something about how long ago it was approved, to which I replied "yeah, but I didn't notice any expiration date", and she agreed, then left.

A week or so later I got a letter in the mail complaining about the "length of the footers" and some other thing that confused terms, which I forget. I had fun writing the response, explaining how the rafters (footers) are installed, then all marked and cut to the proper length afterward, and how the footers were in the ground, the appropriate size, and unable to be seen without digging.

Basically, "get a f***ing life" and leave me to live mine.

Mon Oct 25, 2021 1:25 pm

Some organized neighborhoods are a real pain. Some years back in Miami, I was working on my car in my mothers garage with the garage door raised maybe 30". She received a citation from the neighborhood association. I finished the work with the door closed. It had to be one of the neighbors, who else is going to all the trouble to find out what is going on in someones mostly closed garage.

Several years later I had a bus. It was parked in my house behind the fence while I was repairing the rust on the front window. I received a letter from my home owner insurance that I had to remove the VW bus or they would cancel my home insurance due to it being a fire hazard.

Mon Oct 25, 2021 2:26 pm

Yeah, the problem usually isn't the board itself, but a nosy/noisy neighbor who has nothing better to do.

I had one complain that the gardener started 15 minutes early "making excessive noise." They were not talking, no radio, and were pulling weeds BY HAND. How can that possibly be "too noisy"?

I am on our HOA board and I have little patience for that crap. But not all are so reasonable.

Mon Oct 25, 2021 8:03 pm

Some folks say that they can hear plants screaming 😱