Reading Jav’s thread about selling the Jav got me thinking. How does your wife feel about your car(s)? Not the hobby/lifestyle/addiction/affliction in general, but about your car? For the most part, a few of my cars stand out as my wife having a very definitive opinion of it.
GLH – she was terrified of it. Could have been the wrist-snapping torque steer? Didn't want to ride in it but would, never drove it, wouldn't.
CJ7 (the last one I had) – she loved the looks of it, loved how it’d go anywhere, hated the spine-compressing ride.
Miata – loved it. Loved every minute of it.
Mini – loved it, loved the RHD, color, everything.
Current project (LS1 944) – the jury is out. Depends if it ends up with a full interior or a cage.
How about you folks?
mndsm
PowerDork
9/6/13 1:59 p.m.
Won't let me have another DSM. Encouraged me to buy the ms3. Bought the MINI for herself. Prism was an agreed purchase. She's generally pretty agreeable to whatever purchase I have as long as money is ok.
G20...stupid Jap 4 banger, doesnt understand why I like it. Its old and outdated (99), and probably a death trap because I do the brakes and its just old and whatnot.
Somehow, if I were driving a 70's cutlass, with bench seats and lap belts, somehow that would be safer than a crumple zone, airbagged, ABS equipped sedan...she-logic, go figger
and dont get me started on the arguments that come up when I bring up 80s cars
Mine "lets" me do whatever i want as long as the bills are paid. This doesn't mean she likes the car or prefers to ride in it.
She sometimes puts on a brave face, but i can tell that she HATES riding in the MX6, and she refuses to drive it. It scares her senseless.
This confuses me, because she drives the piss out of our MSM, despite it being every bit as fast as the MX6 was the last time she rode in it.
The wife has no say in my cars, they are MY cars. I prefer it when she doesn't like them, then I don't have to worry about her wanting to driving them.
My wife is very understanding, but if she had it her way, I'd sell all the projects and buy something nice. She may have a point.
Cotton
SuperDork
9/6/13 2:09 p.m.
Swank Force One wrote:
Mine "lets" me do whatever i want as long as the bills are paid. This doesn't mean she likes the car or prefers to ride in it.
Same here. Some of them she loves while others she really doesn't want to ride in. I don't think she has ever flat out refused to ride in one at least once, but that doesn't mean she liked it.
She did tell me not to ever bring home an El Camino or Ranchero, but she's even softening up on that since TG USA made a taxi out of one and she got a kick out of it.
She likes the 2002 and the Ranchero okay, though neither run right now, so no need to ride in them. She actually quite liked the E30, but didn't like the canted shifter from the engine swap I never fixed; that was about her only complaint.
She has a particular request to do a convertible sometime relatively soon, but is mostly happy to see me play with cars if it's making me happy, as long as there's one solid, reliable (newish) car.
My wife strongly dislikes the 2 because it's lame. In her defense, it is lame. She loves the 911 and drives it to work 3-4 days a week because it's awesome. She actually drives the Porsche enough that we've been calling it her car. She's scared to drive Fergus. I'm not sure if it's the 3 on the tree or just the general menacing nature of the beast. My wife is very image conscious when it comes to cars.
The missus likes driving the RX7, though she thinks it's "Too loud."
She's right.
My cars keep my significant other nonexistant
cdowd
Reader
9/6/13 2:33 p.m.
My wife is very understanding of my car buying. She has one rule, I can buy anything I want but can only have one car(to her credit my driveway would like like pilotbradens left to my own devices). I am too cheap to buy anything too expensive. She does not like that my BMW X5 is a stick but I like it.
Mrs. Jav has had an interesting history of crap to deal with...
- 92 SHO - Liked it, then she rear-ended someone and hated it.
- 87 TBird Turbo Coupe - She had an auto one, I had a stick one with a E36 M3-ton of mods. She liked it.
- 96 Nissan KC 4x4 - Liked having a truck, liked driving it.
- 01 P71 - Loved it until it popped 2 spark plugs in a row.
- 83 RX-7 - Liked racing it, wouldn't drive it otherwise.
- 73 Hornet - Never rode in it, didn't understand it.
- 91 Miata - Loved it! Never wanted to put the top down.
- 06 Mazda5 - Likes it, drives it, doesn't like road-tripping in it.
- 86 944 - Hated buying it, drove it a lot, loved racing it, hated that I sold it. I'm still confused on this one.
- 73 Javelin - Hates it. Constantly teases me about it, but genuinely dislikes it as well. She opened the doors once.
- "Flip" cars (93 F150, Mark VIII, 91 Duster V6, etc) - Loves them! She only has to look at them for a few weeks at most, and I always make money.
Matt B
SuperDork
9/6/13 2:36 p.m.
Michelle "gets it". We take turns daily driving the Integra on Konis/H&Rs and she likes the MR2. However, she constantly gives me E36 M3 for "cheating on Honda".
oldtin
UltraDork
9/6/13 2:37 p.m.
She hates all that are in non-working order and any project that could temporarily boot her 928 out of the garage.
mtn
UltimaDork
9/6/13 2:41 p.m.
Girlfriend drives an ex-rental Corolla and is fine with that. She loves riding in the Miata (although less now that the "novelty" of it has worn off) and loved riding in the E30. She thought the $300 Volvo was stupid, but it isn't her money so it doesn't matter.
She is scared to learn how to drive stick though, because the Miata scares her. I don't get it either.
My wife says she likes cars, but she says that I'm so obsessed with them that it makes the hobby unenjoyable for her at times. She is very tolerant though, I'll give her that. Between the two of us, there are 5 vehicles at my house. 4 are mine, and 3 of those 4 are presently inoperable. She knows that there will most likely be that many cars at the house for the rest of our lives, if not more. Some will come and go, and she gets that.
One rule she understands is that my Trans Am is not negotiable. It's part of the family. She has told people who have asked if it was for sale that "He's had it longer than me, and it's not ever going anywhere!"
She likes the CSX mainly because she knows what it is and most people don't. She sat through a lecture at a car show with me in 2007 (which happened to be the big SDAC meet that year) and learned all about them and thought they were cool. We both agreed back then that if one came up for short money, it would be cool to buy one. When the opportunity to buy one came, we did. the rest is history.
Her favorite two vehicles in the universe are a new Challenger R/T in orange or a turd brown G-Body El Camino. I'm a fan of both. She also wants us to get a 4x4 of some sort down the road, like a Wrangler or full-size vintage SUV. She also wants an old car of some sort. Something from before 1970.
The only thing she has put her foot down on is what I drive everyday. She never liked either WRX that I had. She said my bugeye wagon was a "chick car" and she thought it was lame. She loathed the 2009 I had. She wanted me to get a "regular car" for my daily driver if I got something else, so when the WRX was beginning it's downward spiral to POS-dom, I traded it in on a more pedestrian Mazda 3. It's funny, because I pushed her to get one, and I liked it enough after driving it for a bit to get one of my own.
As predicted, I'm getting bored of it, an I drive her nuts every day talking about what to get next. I will wake up one day and want a Golf TDI, and the next day say that I want a 2011+ Dodge Charger R/T, and in my reasoning, I present these ideas to her for discussion. She just tells me to go out to the garage and work on the other stuff.
My ex-wife hated my automobile hobby because it was "too expensive." I got yelled at for spending $200 on a blow-off valve. Never mind the fact that she felt entitled to put $3,000 on my credit card and only had a purse and a pair of shoes to show for it.
That's why she's my "ex." Unfortunately the "ex" part didn't happen until after she made me sell two vehicles that I still miss.
My buying the Mustang is, I think, what finally pushed her over the edge. Good riddance. Also, I'm never letting a GF/wife/whatever push me around like that ever again. It's not worth it to me. I'd rather be happy.
She digs the Spider. Every once in a while she will jokingly refer to it as her car. She affectionately refers to it as The Banana or The Peel. She's starting to understand that it is largely a training exercise for higher end projects down the road ('72 GTV for me, likely a 510 wagon for her).
She burns holes into my soul every time I mention the Sport Coupe...
In reply to Sky_Render:
Good advice. And for the record, SWMBO has never pushed me to sell the Javelin. She doesn't even know that I'm seriously considering it yet.
I got engaged to my fiance this past weekend (9/1/13). Over three-and-a-half years ago when we met, I had told her I drive (by choice) crappy cars. On our second date she got to see (and ride in) my car. The '82 Corolla wagon that I was driving, daily, at the time.
She didn't flinch.
That's one of many reasons we're now engaged ;).
mtn
UltimaDork
9/6/13 2:52 p.m.
Just thought of something kinda funny: My mom has always, always been extremely tolerant if not cheerful about our hobby and dad/us buying and selling cars. She would just like her Subaru back that my brother wrecked, I see one in her future. She has never told us no or anything, but she has recently put her foot down on one thing: NO MORE SAABS. We only had one, but she said no more of those. Something about stranding her [21 year old, 280 pound] baby boy 60 miles from the nearest mechanic right before Thanksgiving did SAAB in for her.
She loved my lowrider and drove it more than I did. I hated it.
Metropolitan- she loves and drives constantly. I just keep it around for her.
Z71- she loves and drives daily. I love it more, she can shove off it and let me have it. I even tried to sell it and she cried. Its a strange attachment to a non collector near stock truck.
F100 drag truck- my obsession, my passion.... She is not wild about the way I look at her or smile maniacly when I drive her. We have taken a couple trips in it several hundred miles and she likes the way it rides... She does not like the women it attracts or how I show off In it. She doesn't like to drive it because the throttle is hard-lined to the carb and it has 1.5 inches between idle at 950 to WOT. She has spun it twice....
Mazda - she took that car over! Made me so mad. It was a blast on the ice racing tires around town. She let me sell it though.
Truggy Project- she has been supportive of me but has limited me to a 700 dollar budget. Which is making me learn some ridiculous patience.
My wife pretty much hates every car I get. I ca only recall one she actually like actually - my '81 Rx-7. Most cars she never even rides in never mind drives.
But then again I think getting nails done and wearing perfume is silly which she likes. Those items probably cost more annually than my car stuff.
It's something she tolerates and endorses. She said yes to buying and shipping an old Volvo across the country. She lets me drive her and baby to cruises etc. She even likes GRM forums.
But it's definitely "my thing." She gets annoyed when I mention trading in my daily driver, which I have had a year now.
She intends to drive her Fit for like another decade, which i cannot understand at all.