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Our Two Cents: The Coolest Cars in Our Neighborhoods
We all love people-watching—or know someone who does. If you’re a car person, you can relate, because you’re constantly watching cars (aka “carspotting”). They don’t have to be exotic, either: When you make a new friend, you’ll instantly “save” the make and model of their vehicle in your mental address book. Same for your next-door neighbors, your coworkers, your extended family, the guy who cuts your hair. If you’re having coffee or dinner, you usually wrangle a seat that faces the window so you can watch the cars go by, playing a game to see how fast you can identify each one and guess what kind of person is driving it. (Just me? Okay.) You’re definitely the one who yells, “OMG! A chrome-bumper C3!” or breaks off mid-sentence to inform your confused partner that you didn’t know there was one of those cars around here.
To celebrate our collective obsession, we’re sharing the coolest cars in our respective neighborhoods. Don’t make it weird and try to stalk any of them—just enjoy from a respectful distance, same as us, probably with a dose of envy and/or wonder. And if you know somebody who would make a bumper sticker that says, “I Brake for Cool Cars,” let us know.
Go Blue! Or … Green?
This old Ford truck looks like a ’76 F-150 Ranger XLT, with the extended cab and long bed. It’s a recent addition to my neighborhood in Ann Arbor, and the person who lives there is usually a BMW owner. There’s an E46 330Ci frequently on jack stands, and at one point the truck’s spot on the street was occupied by an E39 5 Series. — Eric Weiner
This Hard-Workin’ Beast from Ohio
Northeast Ohio car culture still reverberates with V-8 muscle from the ’60s, but it’s no contest: The coolest ride in my neighborhood is Ron Smoker’s 1946 International KB-7, named Nell. The Cummins-and-6-speed-manual-swapped truck makes hundreds of deliveries a year and brings a huge smile to my face whenever I see it on the road. — Eddy Eckart
Portland, Land of 4x4s
These are the regulars on my daily dog-walking route. The green Land Roverlander is ALWAYS in the driveway, which is a shame given the way it’s dressed up for not living in driveways. I appreciate the Land Cruiser/Beetle duo combo. The guy works on the blue VW often, but nothing ever seems to change. The dead Broncos and Suburban are… whatever. They’d be cooler if they were functional. Despite living outside, the black GMT400 Blazer is cherry and obviously loved. The blue Ford Camper Special is a classic work truck but hasn’t ever moved, so I think its workin’ days are done. It is one of five 1970s F-series Fords on the route. The Porsche pair is actually a trio, as there is generally a blue Boxster parked there, too. Solid three-car collection, if you ask me. The big blue K5 Blazer is engineless, sadly, and neither it nor the white F-150 in the background have moved in the years I’ve been walking past them.
So, what’s it all mean? My vote goes to the black Chevy Blazer. We had a silver ’92 when I was in high school that I took through the mud whenever I could, much to my dad’s chagrin. But I love everything about this neighborhood one. The color is great, the BFG KO2 tires are great, the care lavished upon it is more than appropriate. — Stefan Lombard
Houston, We Have a Mic Drop
Strangely, there are many older, mostly run-down but still cool cars all over my neighborhood. Just within a couple of blocks we have an International Scout, a Dodge Dart Swinger, two blue Mercedes 300Ds (not pictured), a Mk IV Supra drift car (also not pictured), a C5 Z06 and a military Humvee (in the same driveway!), and even a Dodge Rampage. We also have a guy who crams two racing boats into his pretty small shop space. The strangest, though, is the dude with the smallest, blandest-looking house on the street. In the backyard is the gigantic bronze statue he bought for $315,000 at an auction in Connecticut (I live in Houston, by the way. How did it get here?!), and under the tiny carport is the Alpina B8 he bought brand new.
I didn’t mean to throw down this hard, but I already had all the photos on my phone. The Z06/Humvee house also has a 911 of some kind under a tarp, but not sure what exactly is underneath. — Andrew Newton
From London, with Lamp Posts
There are too many electric cars to count in North London, partly because you can plug them in to lampposts to charge, but the Honda e and the Peugeot iOn are quite cool. Also, some weird his&hers/his&his/hers&hers/theirs&theirs twins going on with a duo of Boxsters and VW ID3s. Another house has 2 Alfa 147s, but they weren’t at home. If I had to pick one as the coolest, it would be the Roller. The guy always drives it like a chauffeur with passengers in the back—never up front. — Nik Berg
Keep Calm and Land-Cruise On
I’m gonna fudge the idea of “neighborhood” here a bit and say that because I could bike to this spot, it’s part of my neighborhood. This was last night, as my wife and I biked to one of our favorite spots for dinner and a drink. I’m an unapologetic sucker for the Toyota Land Cruiser, in all of its forms. This one, a Lexus LX 470, looks epic with that ARB front bumper, but almost nothing else. It was gorgeous outside and in, and I adore how simple this build is. This is the sort of machine I’d be proud to own for 40-plus years, and with decent care, I’ve got no doubt that it would make it 40-plus. — Nate Petroelje
Eddy wins – Nell is COOL!
I completely agree!! Seeing old workhorses like this International and the fact it’s still in operation like it was decades ago is very cool!
My neighbor has the coolest car here in a cool car neighborhood.
1948 Willys jeepster panel van. Lowered and with a 350 Chevy.
He has a surf board on the roof here in the middle of Ohio.
He has Surfing the Portage Lakes on it.
https://www.onallcylinders.com/2025/01/12/surf-the-north-coast-of-the-u-s-a-in-this-1948-jeep-panel-wagon/
I think I’ve seen that at some point, somewhere out and about around Cuyahoga Falls, iirc. Cool truck.
Right area and that was likely it. There are few of these let along done up like this.
Like they say there is no Surf In Cleveland. LOL.
No surf, but a river that is “Lit”. I can say this. I lived in Ashtabula for one year.
https://www.onallcylinders.com/2024/06/27/detailing-plan-how-to-correct-your-cars-paint-keep-it-looking-factory-fresh-in-5-steps/
Here is my 1985 Fiero that proves to be very popular in the neighborhood. Recently I have added a 2002 Corvette and a new to me 1986 911 Porsche.
But what really attracts is the garage man cave. I have had many people bring people just to check out the garage.
We also have some other cool cars too. Even some that drop by like the Senna.
The coolest car in my neighborhood is mine, the one I built from scratch.
Excluding myself since I might be biased – There’s a fairly broad smattering of Corvettes in the area from C2 to C8, neighbor at the end of the road has a C8 and a Maserati sedan, next door neighbor A has a Diesel Rabbit, next door neighbor B has an early 70s C10 and a stepside Chevy from the 90s. Neighbor up the road has a range of Chevy trucks from the late 60s through the late 80s. Other neighbor up the road has a late 60s Cadillac convertible and a Willys military pickup. Depends on what you consider interesting
My neighbor has a Holden Maloo converted by Left Hand Utes in a bright lime green. Car is incredible.
I live in a blue-collar neighborhood infested with hotrodders. Guy across the street has a VW GTI problem, several C10’s including mine, an awesome 1970 bumpside Ford at the bottom of the hill, a gorgeous ’29 Model A, A couple of really nice Catfish Camaros, etc. That’s just in my small piece of the neighborhood, to the west and south are a lot more, and that’s not counting the Harleys.
What is a “Catfish Camaro”?
1998-2002 generation Camaro. Some say that by looking at it from the front, the way the headlights were redesigned, that it looks like a catfish.
In Stefan’s pictures there is what appears to be a Mercury Marine jetski. I made castings for Mercury during that period in the late 90’s and for these machines. They only made 200 of those machines–and destroyed them all, or so I thought. Merc decided getting into the PWC game was not for them. I was quite sad as it was tough to get the work and now we didn’t get to make any money on it. How did this guy get one? Those used a lay-down 2 stroke 90 hp outboard motor. We were working with Merc to develop their own like we did with Polaris back in those days. Polaris bailed out of PWC’s (I lost a lot of income) and Merc decided to do it too about a month later. Powersports industry can be pretty wild…
There is nothing interesting in my neighborhood. As a gearhead it makes me sad. My ’87 Caprice wagon is it, and that is debatable on coolness. Seeing anyone even open the hood on their car would be a surprise, so I get all kinds of looks doing routine maintenance, etc.
There is a house in my neighborhood with a Nissan GT-R (R35), Dodge Viper and a BMW M3. They like their performance cars. We have a handful of other stuff that is neat like a Corvette Stingray, Kia Stinger GT, Pontiac GTO, etc. So there is some variety.
There really aren’t many in the hood that I lust for. Some nice but ‘eh , whatever’. _The King of Kool, with a capital K, was when I was about 14 or 15. My parents lived adjacent to a small community airport. There was Stearman Kaydet , done up in the classic Boeing B-17 yellow/blue trainer style, I’d see it parked in the hanger often. One day while walking through it was at the end of the strip warmed up and ready to go. The owner pulled up next to it ( which I’d never seen done before or after ) in a late 70s Aston V-8 Vantage, threw his bag in the passenger seat and after the brief obligatory walk around took off. – Yea…that guy.
correction- PT -17 ! , Navy N2S.
Maybe I’m being conceited, but I can’t think of anything local that’s much cooler than my kid’s Miata Exocet. 1,700 lbs, LS-4 V8, T56 6-spd, and street legal…looks like an overgrown go-cart. With no faring, feels like you’re going 100 MPH when only doing 50. It looked so bizarre when following him on the freeway, I almost started laughing.
One of my neighbors in Richmond TX has a mid 60s F100 (light blue and white)
A yellow 64 (I think ) Comet Convertible and red 64 Comet with hotted up engine and 4 spd.
Eye Candy for sure.
A few years ago the Lexus LX 470 was the best ‘Landcruiser’ deal going, but they’ve been discovered and are pricey for all but the rustiest 250,000+ mile examples. I want one!