How does your significant other feel about it?

Fiance organizes autocrosses with me on occasion, but largely feels smothered by how overwhelming my automotive hobby/obsession can be. Trying to strike a balance on spending time together on other things as well. (mostly weekends taken up by events type thing). Also working on each of us just doing our own thing. She really does enjoy coming out to events, just not all the time.

She accuses me of not getting excited or up early on the weekend for anything but car stuff. (been working on that)

The Miata, she likes it. There are days that she hates that it doesn't have aircon. She is nervous about driving it because I have done so much work to it (doesn't want to mess it up). She frequently just wants to go out for a drive with me with the top down. Good times.

The Mustang... I have not had it out much since we have been together. (not her, its us living in an apartment where I am not willing to park it and trying to get into a non-apartment lifestyle, so its in storage at moms 3 hours away to save money). She practically beat me upside the head when I said I was thinking about selling it due to not being able to enjoy it for a few years. (Disclaimer, the mustang was the first car that was "Mine" and I went through hell to pay it off at a young age.) She thinks if I sell it I will regret it deeply and that the car is almost a part of my identity. Truth is, it was my first love, but I have no idea what the future holds for it. She has stated that she will never drive it because its "your baby" and is terrified of having an accident in it.

Acquiring new projects... right now we are in a money panic. My job doesn't pay what it should and she is unemployed and searching. So mention of getting anything or big expenditures carry some understandable strain right now. End of the day, its my money. She is just concerned that I will do something in excitement that I will later regret.

She used "our" dually ('83 Chevy) to pull her horse to a show this summer.

After having to jump start it, finding out the hard way that the hood release cable was broken, then later having the starter heat up and refuse to work for 30 minutes (all while I was out of cell phone reception), I called odds on how long until she has a much nicer truck of her own. It's on the horizon ;).

My wife of 5 years knew of my car habit when we met and still agreed to marry me. We made an agreement, she can buy all the shoes she likes and she can't complain when I bring home another car. So far this has worked. The only car of mine she has actually driven is the F350 dually 6spd and she only rides in the '67 Volvo if she has to. I'm not sure what she'll think of the Bronco when I get it back on the road but I'll doubt she'll drive it either but I plan to haul the beachcats with it so she'll have to ride in it.

When we met she was driving an '03 Beetle Turbo S 6spd and liked that it was unique so she understands my passion for different cars. Like Apexcarver we are also running a little tight right now so all purchases are being discussed and I plan to thin the herd soon. One project at a time.

she doesn't care too much one way or the other.

• she drove my '68 corvair ragtop once, said it was OK.
• she liked driving the '86 944 except for the gigantic bolsters on the sport seats making it difficult to enter/exit.
• she loved driving rusty the great-stuff-enhanced '92 miata, after it was painted.
• she hated the v8 944 because i didn't ask permission, and never drove it.
• she hated the v8 vair because it was loud, and never rode in it.
• i can pretty much do whatever i want as long as the budget allows it and i obey the golden rule of ONLY ONE PROJECT AT A TIME!

I like having her around so I have agreed to keep my collection to 5 motorized vehicles. Right now that works with a dd, a motorcycle, a truck to haul with, my track rat e30, and my Camaro. But if I don't get the Camaro moving under its own power soon my guess is her tolerance for it will fade.

She tolerates the interest as well as the chronic car discussions, particularly "what car" type discussions, although there are limits.

As for the actual cars:

71 MGBGT: Loves the way it looks, hates the way it smells, wants to drive it to work. She doesn't drive manual, so I said I would teach her in the GT, knowing that she would likely find it less enjoyable than she thinks she will (no ps, no pb, etc.) and this will dissuade further interest in actually driving it.

84 300D: Hates the fact that it leaks oil, loves the heater in the winter, likes how it rides, likes that we will always have, no matter what, one car that is running, wishes it looked like new (so do I, but can you really justify that much bodywork on a car roughly worth the cost of the fluids its holding?)

96 GMC C1500: So-so. Most often fails to see the value in a truck, even when we use it, as a truck, all the time. Also doesn't really get what it is that makes the truck cool, but then again maybe I am the only one getting that anyway.

She drives a Subaru Outback LL Bean wagon. Its really pretty nice, and champions pretty heavy snow.

Before she was my wife she spent a couple seasons going to the Summit Point when I was racing motorcycles on a fully-ghetto basis. I didn't even have a canopy. 2 garbage heap beach chairs and a cooler. She was only there to pick me up from the hospital if the need arose.

She had a get-out-of-track-free card after that, but a few years ago, after seeing the schedule for the double SCCA comp school, offered that I ~needed~ help. She's been there for me at about every race since. The miserable rainy ones, the regular ones, and the one where I won everything there was to be won.

As for cars. When we got together she had a Toyota Corolla FX16-GTS w/ some white 14" actual race type wheels. And manual. She won't drive an auto except in our truck.

Now she has an A4 2.8Q manual.

• She loves the Miata

• She loves the Sprite

• She loved the M3 'til I put the race safety gear in.

• She loves, loves, loves the 525iT.

• She's ridden to the moon and back in the Tacoma.

...And she loves the Radical when it's not broken and I beat the rich guys.

So I'm a lucky boy.

Mine is semi-indifferent but very supportive. She knows all the Scion guys, some of the SCCA people, and has been to both awards banquets. She watched my first ever autocross, but has not been to a rallycross yet. (She did come pick up new tires for me. Twice.)

She's happy to hear my stories and adventures, but we have separate hobbies. And that's cool. At the end of the day we can bounce our adventures off each other, and then go do our mutual stuff as well. Works for me.

I will limit the list to current cars. I believe she is very apathetic, has the patience of a saint or likes me a great deal.

Likes most the RX-7's. Believes the Chump/Lemons RX-7 is too expensive (I don't completely disagree). Wants her 79 driving and my LS6 project to move to the front burner. The other ones she doesn't care either way.

Likes the RX-3 but is ready for it to be sold. (Me too)

Likes the 54 F100

Likes the V8 Volvo and wants it on the road again.

Loves her Forester XT. I semi dislike since it is a little to maintenance intensive for something I don't play with often.

My wife certainly gets it, even if she does not really love it...

She has been autocrossing several times, a couple of TSDs, the challenge once and is attending a banger rally in a couple of weeks. Researching is all my job but she always writes up the project plans. About once a month she even gets her hands dirty to help with mods and maintenance.

Since we live in a city one car is a luxury and two is out of the question. When my health starting failing we made the decision together to sell my hillclimb car and move on to something more reasonable. A couple of months ago we replaced it with an E30 and are planning a couples wrenching session for tomorrow.

Oh, and she even pays for it all, I have not worked in years...

Lucky? Hell yes I am!

Wife unit is scared to death of the MS3 but is encouraging me to buy an FD so I can play with magic spinning triangles. The fact that it's "pretty" helps its cause but I think shes secretly as fascinated with rotary engined cars as I am.

She was totally against me doing anything to her X-Terra until someone backed into the front end of her car and took off. Now it's getting custom made front and rear "uninsured motorist protection" and a full Icon suspension.

We've come to the understanding that I can have one project at a time as long as we both have a car that can fit the baby seat. The idea of the both of us going up to Dirtfish for a few days has been tossed around a couple of times

Though Gregs RX-3 has pegged my interest.

Almost forgot, she got me into two free Indy500 weekends through her work (free everything- hotel, food, admission, police escort bus). But they sold beer, she was happy.

I've got my own play money account for the car stuff, so mine generally doesn't care.

I tried to get her at least partially interested in a couple of cars. She wouldn't drive my restored Fiat 124 because she was afraid something would happen to it. When I bought the Mini, she drove it a few times but didn't love it. We're looking at Falcons but she doesn't seem overly excited like I'd hoped.

She loves my '65 F100, and thinks the E30 is the coolest thing ever. Hated my Audi GT; she said it was 'ugly'. And for reasons I can't fathom, I've been banned from buying a Fox Mustang.

She likes them.

M Coupe (now gone) - loved it
Miata (now gone) - remains her favorite of any of the cars we owned. She always thought it was fun and was a Goldilocks "just right" fit.
924s race-car - no strong opinion, because it is a race car and she does not ride in it.
Astro Van - no strong emotional attachment because it is a utilitarian thing. She does like having a van around when we need one.
S2000 - Don't think she likes it as much as the M Coupe or Miata. She says she prefers the driving feel (particularly the shifter) of her RX-8. I think she would have preferred if I got an NC Miata, but still likes the S2000 and knows how good a find the particular example I got is.
RX-8 - is her car. She loves it to death.

Bikes:
Triumph Street Triple - She loves it. Thinks it is gorgeous and sexy. If she sees me out riding it around town, she stops to look and check it out, before looking up to confirm that it's me riding it.
Ninjette - kinda lukewarm. It is just not dead sexay like the Striple. It's a learning bike and now her's. She is kind of torn between wanting something just a hair shorter, and liking that her feet are more underneath her than on a cruiser style.

Depends on which one.

She enjoys driving the e30, and will not let me sell it.

She's just glad I'm out in the garage playing with my 240SX rather than out drinking.

She's never even driven it in the 5 years I've owned it. She did try auto-x once in my IS300 and loved it. I don't think she's confident enough to drive 240 yet, especially on track.

SilverFleet wrote: 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.

I do that exact same thing. And yeah once it was a TDI wagon. And an 09+ challenger r/t. And a Mazda 5. And a new transit connect. And a Mazda 3. And a CX5. I havent talked about a new car in several weeks I must be enjoying my Accent lately or something.

Lets see 94 Chevy G20. (gone) She wouldnt have anything to do with it. I dont blame her really (this one was gone not long after we met)
99 Grand Marquis. (gone) She liked this one. She DD'd it for several months while her 03 focus was down.
03 Focus. (gone) She liked it but it ate up rear tires and she was convinced the dealer was berkeleying her not finding the problem and selling her new tires over and over.
09 Accent. She hates the uncomfortable seats (they really are not great) but likes the car.
98 MPV. Refuses to drive it even though its the only other car in the house she could drive because she refuses to try to learn stick again. She is convinced it will leave her stranded somewhere.
86 F150. She likes this one quite a bit. It does need work and I generally keep her out of the loop on all the details, but it runs drives stops and goes, and as far as she's concerned its a cool old truck with little rust, she wants to fix it up and get it painted and all that. 12 Focus. Her car. Of course she likes it.

we do want a project/weekend car someday and she's agreed to that. either a miata, or more of a classic car.

But lately she wont stop talking about buying a used boat (we live 20 mins from a big lake, a boat would be awesome) but good god I am terrified of how expensive its going to end up being. like exponentially more than she thinks.

She hates them all and doesn't get it at all. The only one she ever really liked was the 33k original mile mint condition 77' Monte Carlo. But I used it as a prop when I proposed, so I guess it had a little emotional attachment for her.

After getting the bike she said I'm not allowed to buy anything with an engine, gears or propeller's for five years. We'll see...

No significant other, no problems.

Going back a few years I used $1000 that I was given by my mother to pick up a $500 Subaru Outback. I used that as my rally-X car. My wife was okay with that.

Opportunity came up to flip the 'back for $1000 and I paid $750 for a '02 Subaru WRX. I had to put about $750 in to it to get it on the road, but basically I went from a car with 400k kms on it to one that had 100k kms on it, without being out more than $200.

I started DD'ing the 02 WRX and we decided to sell my DD at the time which was a 98 Ford Explorer.

My wife DESPISES the WRX. It has a full SS performance exhaust and rides rough (roads up here are full of frost heaves). It also has a bad clutch shudder when cold. She complains even when I have to buy wear items like tires and brakes for it. I am getting fed up with all the bitching.

So let's see:

90 Golf Cabriolet - her baby - loves it of course

2012 Ford Explorer - her winter ride and our family vehicle - loves that too

02 WRX - mine and she hates - I don't care

Mrs. 'Maro has no issues with my toys.

I would never marry an idiot.

The current girlfriend likes speed, but prefers trucks... so apparently that is permission to build a prerunner I guess!

She honestly doesn't care at this time, and puts up with crawling through the driver side door of the beater civic (Audi is down for the count at the moment, she much more prefers driving in that though). She certainly liked cruising around western Canada over the long weekend in the '02 triple black SS SLP camaro convertible, so that's a thing. She doesn't mind the STi rally car, or the Swift road racer, or the beater tow truck.

I think I may have found a winner...

Mine really doesn't care as long as the financial situation is ok. However, since no one else in the family besides me can drive a stick-shift, and 2 of the 5 vehicles in the fleet are so equipped, she's given me the ultimatum that any other cars I buy must be automatic equipped. I'm ok with that, as I think she'd have a blast at autox if she tried it.

I consider that as permission to shop for a MkVII Golf R DSG when it comes out in ~18 months.

Mine is cool with the '94 SE-R and the '07 Fit, but they are pretty inoffensive vehicles. She doesn't mind the 4Runner too much, and she learned to drive stick on it, but she says it make's her motion sick to be in suck a tall, wobbly kind of vehicle. She's never ridden in my C1500 because it's really my brother's truck now and she didn't mind the XT225, but also didn't ever express any interest in it.

I sold my 350Z before we met and haven't had anything sporty since. She makes fun of me for pointing out every Miata we pass and saying, "Hey, there's a nice Miata." She has asked that I not buy anything else until we are out of school an gainfully employed, but that's really just our financial reality at the moment.

Mrs. E is absolutely in love with the three-pedal Mazda 5 and I think she talks sweeter to the car than she does to me (not that I blame her). She was just remarking today how much fun the car is to drive compared to the Oddity that we just got rid of.

We had a stripper-model '96 Legacy 5-speed a number of years ago that I bought for myself before she took it over. About once every other month she muses about how bittersweet it was to trade it in for the Oddity.

She's not shown much interest in riding in or driving DRT-4 either in competition or just on the street. I think a stripped-out turbo Neon rallycross beater is just a little too raw for her.

The RX-7 can be fun for her to ride in, but she's afraid to drive it because she thinks that if she damaged something I'd be upset. I think I put her off a bit the first time she rode in it when I went a little sideways (on purpose) and she smashed her head into the window (on accident) and get a little nauseous from the pain.

I've been working on getting her to pack up the kids and come to a rallycross some time, but it's a bit of a haul for her and it'd be kind of a pain for her to corral three kids aged 6, 5, and 4. She's actually talked about trying to come up and at least take a ride some time, but we haven't been able to work it out. Overall, she's very supportive of my addiction, which is good. I try not to abuse that support and I keep the financial impact to the family as close to zero as I can and schedule most of my wrenching time after the kids go to bed or to coincide with taking the kids out to the garage with me.