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I'm back in my old NYC neighborhood seeing family.... the passion for cars still burns bright.

3K views 50 replies 22 participants last post by  TheDarkEnergist 
#1 ·
Some thoughts:

  • It amazes me that people lower their cars here. The roads are terrible. I guess if it's all you know it's all you know. I did it when I was here, but I would not if I came back
  • I am in Jamaica Queens. Lots of black immigrants. We love Nissan. I have seen more modded G37s/Q50s in 3 days than I've seen in 7 years down south. And I owned one!!!
  • Been seeing some more expensive toys. A couple of M3s, Q8s and an AMG GT63S. People here like to show off and I fully support it.
  • I thought I was still an aggressive driver, but apparently I've gone soft. NYers are on another level I can't maintain.
  • All the roads feel like 2:3 scale
All in all a fun trip. I miss NYC more than I thought, but I can't move back.

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^CF spoiler on a bone stock G37. Nissan FM sedans are like the Toyota Camrys of NYC enthusiasts

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^Pretty sure those are not stock... maybe off an FX?

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^Bye bye fillings.
 

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#3 ·
Surely being a car enthusiast is harder in NYC than just about anywhere else in the US:
  • Terrible roads
  • Difficult or impossible to have your own garage to wrench in
  • Harsh winters
  • Expensive & difficult parking

I really respect anyone who is so passionate and committed that they can make the hobby work in that environment. Good on them. Stuff like that old Sentra really amazes me, that either represents a lot of time and effort to keep something in that condition while street parked in NYC, or they just bought it from somewhere else recently :)
 
#7 ·
Interesting, makes sense, thanks for sharing. 🍺

  • It amazes me that people lower their cars here. The roads are terrible. I guess if it's all you know it's all you know. I did it when I was here, but I would not if I came back
Lolol exactly. We've got a bit more space, but cities upstate have equally poor roads and I only drove slammed cars for many years. Basically an "I can, so I will" situation. Best part is, once I got an SUV a couple years ago which now takes the brunt of it, my dedicated-fun car is even lower. There's a bunch of roads I can't even turn down, but as you know one nice thing about the city environment is there's enough different ways to get anywhere that detours can be improvised.
 
#24 ·
Thanks for sharing. I lived in NYC for about 10 years and the car scene was surprisingly good (for the roads and the storage space) and always pretty eclectic. There is a huge JDM contingent that meets up in Harlem, lots of super/hyper cars, and vintage stuff too. Seeing wall to wall supercars driving through Times Square will never get old. I did a few drives in the R8 through the city during the pandemic when the roads were empty and it was great besides the massive potholes.
 
#29 ·
I moved to Brooklyn and then Queens from living in the Greater Toronto area of Canada for most of my life. I could never understand why people even bother modifying their cars here, given how bad the roads / parking is and the likely hood of getting your car damaged.

When I bought my first home in Queens, I absolutely wanted a private driveway. I also at that point had already owned 3 Nissan Maximas, G35, G37 and then a Q50 so I fit the auto demographic of South Queens lol. I managed to squeeze my Challenger Scat Pack in the yard as well as other vehicles.

I now live in Nassau County, Long Island with a nice 2 car garage, but still have the house in Queens. I hate driving through the boroughs.

My former Q50 at my Queens house:
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My ex's Audi and my former Mustang in my backyard:
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#30 ·
I also at that point had already owned 3 Nissan Maximas, G35, G37 and then a Q50 so I fit the auto demographic of South Queens lol.
I have never met you, but I feel like I know you lmao.

Every area has its own little flavor. Uptown does the Honda thing. Haven't been to Flatbush but I remember all the yardies loved old BMWs (E34 was king). Other parts of Brooklyn love Chargers. South Queens has always loved Nissan. All these little subcultures. Then you have everybody mixing it up. I miss the hell out of it
 
#2 ·
Fun stuff.

I was just in Bushwick and saw some gems too. No pics, but found a clean R32 Skyline, very modded EG Civic sedan with what looked like ITBs, and a minty E30 iX sedan.

Official car in this area was the 3rd gen Odyssey, you'd think Honda was still producing them by the amount I saw.
 
#4 ·
Fun stuff.

I was just in Bushwick and saw some gems too. No pics, but found a clean R32 Skyline, very modded EG Civic sedan with what looked like ITBs, and a minty E30 iX sedan.

Official car in this area was the 3rd gen Odyssey, you'd think Honda was still producing them by the amount I saw.
Yea Puerto Ricans/Dominicans are Honda obsessed. I have a video of a slammed CR-V I prob should have took a picture of instead. Back in my CB7 Accord days they had the best builds here.

Surely being a car enthusiast is harder in NYC than just about anywhere else in the US:
  • Terrible roads
  • Difficult or impossible to have your own garage to wrench in
  • Harsh winters
  • Expensive & difficult parking

I really respect anyone who is so passionate and committed that they can make the hobby work in that environment. Good on them.
When you grow up here and it's all you know, you don't even think about all that. It's just like, "I need a car to get around, and I wanna customize it". Mix in NYC's hyper competitive culture, tight + small neighborhoods and you get some cool stuff. As I type this I can see a minty modded E46 M3 up the block, and I hear what sounds like motorcycles accelerating. We make do :)
 
#9 ·
I get that same feeling every time I go back to visit my fam on Staten Island. Terrible roads, insane congestion - I don't know how enthusiasts do it. Although there is more off street parking and homes with garages.

I was in Brooklyn a few weeks ago for a wedding - Park Slope area - and what really got me were the number of scooters and eBikes. I mean I get it - they really make perfect sense for getting around the neighborhoods, but they were all over and while eating dinner outside at the corner of 8th and Prospect Ave, I witnessed many close calls between those scooter/ebikes and cars.

Also saw a Lambo Gallardo, a new 911 Turbo, and a Rolls Cullinan - just can't figure out where residents keeps those kinds of cars.
 
#10 ·
Honestly, I dunno about "burns bright." I think it's obviously dwindling and potentially dying. First of all, the Yuppies who originate from Minnesota and have 2 kids and live in a brownstone who are replacing people like us aren't running around in dropped Passats. The cars you're seeing are from the outer boroughs (although decreasingly) and Jersey/Long Island.

Second, anyone who does still live in these places who are into cars (think like around New Hyde Park, etc.) are being inundated with automated speed/red-light camera enforcement and general over-policing of traffic.

It's just very different than it was say 20 years ago...
 
#20 ·
How are you defining over-policing? I'd say things were underpoliced... it's not possible for human police to keep up with all the traffic, and at times the discretion they use leaves much to be desired.

I'm on the border of Queens/LI so pretty much as outer borough as it gets, and aside from there just being more traffic (all the houses that were single family in my childhood are now multifamily), it pretty much feels the same. Haven't seen any cops outside of accident clean ups. Maybe it's just your specific neighborhood but towards LI it all seems the same.
 
#12 ·
It’s very interesting how where you come from influences your car culture and views on it. Growing up, I lived in a small New England town near the CT coast, and all the roads were winding backroads. So i naturally fell in love with small, quick cars that didn’t need to be fast. My S2000 is the perfect embodiment of this, it would be fantastic on the right roads I grew up with.

Then I moved to the Chicago suburbs, and everything is flat, wide, and all the turns are 90*. Growing up I could never understand why anyone would want an SUV or pickup; now I live here and see why they are perfect for middle America. And my S2000 barely gets driven.
 
#14 ·
For sure. We all know how popular small cars are in Europe. I kind of just took it for granted until I was the dedicated driver of my Dad's G30 5-series Euro delivery. Manageable, but the extra hassle clearly outweighed the ride and roominess, e.g., letting passengers out, backing in, and then climbing into the back seat to get out of the car because the garage pillar is in the way. You'd have to have one because you want one there.
 
#31 ·
I love car spotting in NYC but never understood how they dealt with the roads. Driving a lowered car there just seemed like it'd be torture. Last time I was there I was driving around a BMW X1 and even that felt like it was getting a workout driving around Brooklyn.
 
#38 ·
Alright so lets get down to brass tacks. Statute of limitations is over. Who used to go to the street races ~20 years ago? Hunts Point, Flatlands etc.? I used to go to Flatlands and I had a front row seat to someone throwing a beer bottle through the back window of a cop car. The next week they had speed bumps and rumble strips everywhere. Was fun while it lasted............
 
#51 ·
So, this wasn't NYC, but just north. "Car Club" did and likely still does meet in Nanuet. I used to go every week. Myself and one other guy named Matt were the only two MR2 owners, everyone else in Hondas, Nissans, Evos, STIs, SRT-4s, Corvettes, etc.

After some discussion a Sentra SE-R and Prelude decide to race. I hop in the chase car (2001 Accord V6 IIRC) with otherMatt, which was owned and being driven by a guy named Pineapple.

We go down Route 304 to just north of Montvale NJ and turn around for these cars to line up. Matt gets out of the Accord (sitting behind the Prelude) and as soon as his hands go up, we get lit up from the other side of the divided highway by a State Trooper. The Prelude and Sentra take off, as does the other guy's chase car. Matt runs back to the accord and tries to open the door but its locked. He jumps head first into the passenger seat and we take off.

I immediately say "Go past this exit and to the next one, the cop has to drive another 1/2 mile to turn around" and someone else convinces him to take the FIRST exit, which is a 25mph sharp right turn.

With Matt pretty much still hanging halfway out of the passenger window, Pineapple misses the turn and understeers clean into a stop sign that shatters the windshield. We blow out both passenger tires and end up crashing nose first into a ditch. He backs out of the ditch somehow and limps the car to a nearby cul-de-sac with 2 flat tires, a completely shattered windshield and now a cracked radiator and smashed up front end leaking coolant. We all get out of the car to assess the situation and sure enough we see 4 sets of lights approaching.

We all run. Fast. In the dark. Some of us fell face first off the 6' retaining wall that was hiding in someone's backyard, others didn't. We all split up and get the hell out of there. As we're running through one person's very flat backyard we see spotlights and jump flat on our stomachs to avoid being seen. Real boot camp type **** as now we're prone crawling through muddy grass to avoid being arrested.

Now completely soaked in sweat, mud, and about 4.5 miles from my car my friend and I find a bus stop to wait at until we call a friend to come pick us up. It didn't matter that we weren't waiting for a bus because once the bus driver saw us he said "nuh uh" to both of us.

I have no idea what happened to Pineapple.
 
#43 ·
always enjoy simple little sedans with your basic lower springs and wheels.

I'm pretty sure that CUV Infiniti has Tesla wheels on.
Aren't those Tesla Model X wheels?
You guys are right, and this is exactly the kind of whackadoodle stuff you see uptown.

I remember back in like '06 some dude did the first 5 lug swap on a CB7 Accord, and he had the 17s off the brand new Civic Si. You don't ask certain questions! (He was a Honda technician so I think it was all above board)
 
#40 ·
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