Seems it depends on the town, and the neighbors. If the neighbors want to bitch about the car guy having a bunch of nice cars, and they have the clout the car guy usually gets burned. It sucks but...thats why we move to the desert.
You can't get away with things like you used to, my grandfather always was fixing junk yard finds. Pulled cars out of the yards, fixed them up and the family drove them. Included finds like a Road Runner and a BMW 2002. If we did that in the same town today we'd likely get besieged by complaints and demands that the car go. Andover has more than its share of cars lurking in yards and driveways. But no one has really complained so we're ok here so far.