tortuga,
I used to live in a neighborhood that sounds like yours.
What I used to do is fire up the Cobra with the garage closed and
immediately open the door. This deadened the initial 'boom' at startup.
I would talk to your neighbor in a friendly, passionate [about your car] and compassionate manner. I have a feeling it will disarm him a bit. A lot of people are just looking for things to piss them off and a loud shiny car is just the thing to do it.
