quote:

Originally posted by PowerSurge:
How did I miss this thread? Lol.

Anyways, when I was in high school I briefly (less than a month) worked at a car wash detailing cars. The nastiest cars were the ones where cat owners would allow their cats to piss in the floorboards or in the trunk. Think hot, humid, sunny, summer in Georgia and smelling that wave hit you as soon as you open then door.

How people live like that, I don’t know.

I think I vomited a little there reading that. Who keeps cats in their cars?

quote:

Why don't you guys just turn them away?

Because their money is just as green as some of the shit in their cars. This may be The Land of Broke-Ass Rednecks, but if I don't want to be broke-ass myself, I can't turn anything away. There is a point at which you have to draw a line, however. For example, I won't lie on the floor of a farm truck that is caked with mud and cow or hog shit.

Here are some real winners.



This ("Just Rolled In") is a great channel, BTW. Watch some more of their videos and you'll see what I have had to deal with over the years.

And the Cadillac (2000 DeVille) I mentioned in my OP? It came back recently because it "doesn't have any power going up hills", only now it's worse, with shit piled clear to the roof … in the rear seat … under which is the battery … which was dead. The little terminal on the underhood fuse box and the strut mount bolts offered little or no connection for a jump box, so no go. We had him take his shit out, remove the battery and bring it in so I could charge it. Surprisingly it tested good. Then he put it back in and piled the same shit back on the seat. Now able to start it, I found the engine rocking and rolling, running on maybe five of the 8 cylinders (4.6L Northstar). and with a wrist pin knock. No more I can do for this one, stick a fork in it, it's done. It now sits, apparently abandoned.

As Steve Martin once said, always keep a trash bag in your car. It doesn't take up much room, and if it gets full just toss it out the window.

When it takes a shovel, leaf blower, and a fire hose to clean out your car, you might be a …… (fill in the blank).
.

Years ago I went to look at an E46 M3. I called the dealer and made appointment to come see the car etc. So, I show up, the car is on a lift, its dirty on the outside, half burnt cigar on the center console. Dirty interior, smoked covered film on interior glass. Mechanic said the dealers kid drives it. Salesman asked if I wanted to drive it. I expressed my disappointment of the hour drive I took to come see it, just to see it in such a crappy state and walked away.

I knew a man that had a lot of rental properties. When someone would come to
look at an apartment, he would mosey out to look in their car. If it was a dumpster
he wouldn't rent to them. Seemed like good advice!

You see about these cars, and homes full of trash horder style, then remember, some of these folks bring food to pot luck dinners.....

We had a gal that worked for us, dressed well, didn't smell, older, hard worker, polite, well spoken. Used to bring in food for pot luck lunches etc the employees wanted.

Until a few of them went to check on her at home when she was ill... The report was that the local dump was cleaner than that house...

No more Pot luck at the office, it was disgusting...

You could have a companion channel looking at the apartments these folks have. I almost vomited viewing this. These folks also use valet parking at the casinos. One guy rolled in with a dead alligator in the truck bed. Often their personal hygiene is a match.

quote:

posted December 27, 2023 11:54 AM Hide Post
You see about these cars, and homes full of trash horder style, then remember, some of these folks bring food to pot luck dinners.....

^^^^^^^^^^^^
I bet they do not wash their hands after using the toilet and scratch themselves in certain places. Pleasant thoughts

Sounds like a spinoff of those Hoarder TV shows.

Well, you have to admit, no one is going to steal their cars.

quote:

You could have a companion channel looking at the apartments these folks have.

I admit I'm a poor housekeeper - but nothing like this - but when mine is messy I'm embarrassed to have any company over. The owners of these cars apparently have no such sense of shame.

My most memorable vehicle/hoarder experience-I made a traffic stop on a small Datsun pickup with a camper shell for a simple speeding violation. I saw the pick up bed was loaded to the top with miscelaneous junk, garbage etc. which was not unusual, but noticeable.

At the window when asking for the driver's info, I saw an attractive female in the passenger seat staring straight ahead with unblinking eyes. I honestly thought I had come across a dead body and asked the driver who the passenger was.

He proudly told me that it was his very expensive sex doll. I had to go around to the passenger side and touch her face just to be sure. I used a lot of hand sanitizer back in the cop car. Unfortunatly this was before body-worn-cameras...

When I worked in the automotive service industry many years ago, I was the guy that did the electrical, computers, electronic/entertainment, and electronic fuel injection/drivability.
One day, they dragged in a Chevy branded four door sedan compact car that was manufactured by Toyota.
I happened to be near the service desk when the customer got out of the wrecker in the drive through service lane.
The customer/car owner was female, African American, and easily at least 500 pounds.
The service advisor got the repair order written up and asked me if I wanted to speak with the customer about the laundry list of electrical problems, including the recent no start condition.
Sometimes you can get useful information about the problems a customer is experiencing by speaking personally with them, rather than getting a customer translation from a service advisor.

The car owner told me at first the rear parking lights stopped working.
Several weeks/months later, the rear brake lights also stopped working.
Some time after that, the gas gauge stopped working.
The last item and most recent, the car would crank but not start.

A day or so later, we pushed the car into the shop and I started checking the car out.
The entire back seat and back seat foot wells were filled with fast food garbage about three + feet deep.
The front seat passenger side and associated foot well were also piled high with garbage.
I cleaned up the drivers seat and drivers foot well enough so I could get to the under dash fuse box without being slimed by the garbage and half eaten hamburgers/fries/pizza crusts/chicken bones.

Replacing the four blown fuses in the under dash fuse box, and then turning the ignition/parking lights/brake lights on resulted in the new fuses blowing instantly.
Doing some quick thinking, I had some circuit breakers with pigtails, that could be installed as a substitute for a fuse. I replaced the four blown fuses with four circuit breakers.
These are automotive circuit breakers, thermal design, and automatically reset after a period of cool down. Unlike a house circuit breaker that must be manually reset.

I turned the key on and after about 30 seconds, the tattered carpet next to the drivers door sill plate started smoking.
I took the drivers door plastic sill plate off, and pulled the carpet and sound deadener mat back.
All the vehicle wiring going to the rear of the vehicle was inside a plastic conduit running along the left side of the foot wells/sill plates.

The woman was so huge, getting in and out of the car was a challenge. She had flattened the wiring conduit & rear wiring harness getting in and out of the vehicle.
After splicing/repairing all the wiring in the conduit going to the rear of the vehicle, I went to the body shop and cut out a piece of scrap body sheet metal and made a wiring protector out of steel.
I can't imagine having legs so large that you needed to lift them with your hands/arms for getting the legs/feet into and out of a car.
Or that the legs/feet would be heavy enough to crush/destroy a wiring harness.

It's been around thirty years since that incident, and I still can't unsee that car.
I do recall scrubbing extra diligently in the shower after that work day.

Can you imagine what their homes look like inside?

quote:

Originally posted by 229DAK:
Can you imagine what their homes look like inside?

Yes. I've been in them. Many times.





Can you imagine what they smell like?

quote:

Originally posted by cee_Kamp:
[hoarder car story]

This message has been edited. Last edited by: egregore,

At least they’re not throwing their trash on the highway?