Hot Rods Does your better half / girlfriend encourage your obsession?

Count me as one of the lucky ones. She loves old cars and goes to all the shows and museums with me. I'm truly blessed.

 

My wife doesn't particularly she just lets me take my girlfriend but I have to be back by 9:00 PM

 

Autolite--cool avatar! Yup, mine was driving an o/t Mustang when I met her and thought my '64 Matchless was cool and that set the tone for these last 20, uhh... 8...Years? Damn, has it been that long....anyway, after seeing the Trog coverage last night she thought that looked like something we should do. That made me happy

 

Mu Wife "convinced me" to buy the messed up POS 29 Phaeton...

And she said "Buy It" when the 30 Sedan showed up shortly after....even though I had 4 cars allready.
(Yes I promised to sell two of my other cars...one of these days?)

And she helps out now and then.

 

It's kind of funny, she calls my car My girlfriend and teases me about going out to the garage to spend time with her. The only time she looked a little worried is when I told her I had to get back out there to get the stripper off the hood. We still laugh about that .

 

nope

 

NO! And most of the girl friends I have had do not like the coupe much, or they do not like me.

 

She has her own obsessions to play with so she knows all about the "sickness". She likes going to swapmeets and hunting for parts just as much as I do. The 50 is her toy, I will help her if she needs it but she turns the wrenches on it. The Dart is her year round daily. She can even shift the fluid drive that's in our chopped 50 Chrysler.


(yes there are jack stands under it, they are hidden in the shadow)





Rebuilding the steering box for her 50...




pulling the stock drums so she can swap to disks and 2" drop spindles...



pulling lights for the 12v conversion...



Her daily 66 dart

 

No!

 

My girlfriend/wife of the past 47 years has always supported and participated in my vehicle activities. The '34 roadster in my avatar belongs to her. Prior to that she had a '30 hiboy roadster. She's crossed the country in a hot rod several times with me and loves cars shows and car people. She even gave me the money to build my shop/garage.

 

The old battle-axe doesn't seem to mind me playing out in the garage until I spend money without asking. Then things are not well...for me.

 

Some lucky guys posting. My ex thought one of my cars was Christine. I didn't do anything to change her mind, other than warn her to stay out of the garage. While having a raging psycho fit, she threatened to take a sledgehammer to it once. Put a different lock on the garage door the next day. My g/f wants me to finish the Merc " before we get too old to drive it".
Some good stories on this thread.

 

My wife has been harassing me to take out a loan to buy my old 52 back from Gassers Garage. She still has never forgiven me for letting it go.

 

My wife of 26 years has always supported my car hobby. Her ex was an executive type who thought cars were a waste of money and time. First time she came to my place, I opened the shed (shop) door to get something out and she spotted the old utes in there. She still reckons it's one of the reasons she fell in love with me. Also, I make sure I go to quilt shows and help her with her hobby. Apparently I've got a better eye for colour blending. It must come from years of spray painting cars.
Her motto is "the secret to a happy marriage is a shed ".

 

My wife of 22 years is indifferent about cars. To her, they are just appliances for transportation. It would be like if she wanted me to get excited about an antique mop. However, she does get excited that I'm excited about them. It makes her happy that I'm happy. How luck am I?!!!

I try not to spend too much of the family's resources on selfish things that only I enjoy. So, all the cars I get are inexpensive - which means mostly junkers.

The last one I found was a 19' long Cadillac with the world's biggest engine in it. (Ok, technically it's only America's largest mass produced car engine, but still, "Woo Hoooo!!!") It only cost $250 to get it home. She was happy for me but couldn't hide that she was upset because there were already 5 other cars in the driveway. I can't blame her.

Funny how things creep up on you over time. The cars are just there and have slowly become "normal." Then one day you look up and say, "Hey, I've become that guy that has 5 junk cars (and 2 trailers), dragging home #6." And my beautiful wife has had to put up with it for years.

She's been very patient and hasn't nagged (much) but I know she's embarrassed by them. So, I'm going to do a mad thrash over the next month to either strip, or fix and sell the OT ones.

So, to answer the question, "Does your better half encourage your obsession?", I'd have to say, "yes", even at her own expense.

 

My wife sent me an eBay link to an auction for a Dodge Brothers Roadster body. Said "buy it"....this is the next project

 

My wife is very understanding of my need for multiple interests to stay busy. (Cars primarily)
She collects un-traditional Saabs; all the same like peas in a pod.
When we're not working on cars ( or extracting them from under very large tree limbs), we both enjoy killing woodchucks and having a few cocktails on the back veranda. Methods vary; trapping, 12 guage, and our favorite ( pictured) , catching the little bastards red handed in the garden and skewering them on a 5 tine hay fork. Life is good!

 

My wife, Debby and I have been married for 44 yrs. and dated in high school (48 total). I was a car guy all ready. We've shared the hobby from day one. I had a '54 Ford 8 a.t. and I showed her how to make it launch off the line. She borrowed the car and took her mom shopping. Couple punks did the old rev..rev at a stop&go. She didn't say anything but when the light changed she blew off the guys and her mom just laughed.
We have a million stories about every aspect of the hobby. She doesn't come to every show or cruise night like she used to but never says no for me to go.
I did't have heat in my new shop last year (still don't) ; she said she was not going to put up with me in the house this winter and get the damned shop finished (i.e. insulation). I'm working on it.
Our son went to his first rod run in our '34 ford when he was a couple months old (born in March) and our daughter when she was 7 days old (or is that young). Cam is 34 now and builds hot rods for a living and his wife Rachel is a dyed in the wool hot rod lady. Nikki and her husband are car people too. Cal is is an aircraft maintenance engineer and is a total gear head. We are blessed. By the way, their preference is hot rods as opposed to the newer stuff.
Deb instituted a new rule a few years ago; new car in/ old car out first. With 10 hobby and parts cars, I guess she has a point.
The things she doesn't like are: flat towing with a rope/chain, a not working gas gauge, power windows in older stuff and brakes that spongy/soft/hardly there.
There's lots of stuff we like to do together, so it's not a case of going in two different directions or complaining about each others different hobbies.
The only thing she threatens is to make me live in the shop if I get out of hand.

DoUg

 

Not really. We have been married for 26 years BUT she is finally softening up. I was short money for my new transmission and she said, "just take the money out of savings". And I had her out in the garage for 5 minutes trying to help me yesterday. That has never happened. I think she has finally decided that I will be doing this for the rest of my life.

 

My wife Pat is 100% on board with everything when it comes to the lifestyle.
She enjoys the road trips, looking at other cars and attending cruise nights. If I need help with anything she's right there and will pitch in to clean the car and is especially good at doing the windows. She never questions the money spent and takes the attitude that if I'm happy it's all good.
I think this all says a lot more about her and our marriage than just her attitude towards the hobby as she is the most giving, loyal, unselfish wife and partner a man could ask for.
Yep, she's a keeper.

 

Hey Stogy , that car looks familiar :

 

Tolerates.... But if I had to stop spending on rusted greasy old junk she'd have to stop spending on bags and shoes.

I call that a stalemate.

 

couldn't have asked for a better wife. she loves the old cars but her bi-weekly visits to the nail shop means no "hands on" for her, but she's great when it's time to bleed brakes. the only thing is when i'm concentrating on a task under the car, she'll come out in the garage and want to have a conversation: "what are you doing?" "is it fun?" "are you going to be done soon? i'm getting hungry!" "gee, you sure get a bad attitude when you work on cars!"

 

The only complaint that my favorite wife has voiced after 32 years of marriage was when she said " The deuce coupe seems to have shrunk over the years"!

 

Wow, look at that car - the 60's weren't kind to you, were they ?

J/K , of course Ever finish it ?

 

Very lucky, my Girlfriend is a car fanatic. She has a 57 Pontiac drop top and DRIVES it. She enjoys the shows and cruises and meeting other like minded people. Last year she convinced me to buy my Merc. Now she's thinking about buying another car.

 

Nope. My wife thinks its a bunch of foolishness . She will however pitch in and provide an extra pair of hands when needed.

 

My wife has always been involved. She helps with assembly of the 40's we do and has an eye for sheet metal fit,etc. She is involved with the color selection and interior design and color as well. Always there to assist me when I need her help. She goes to all the events with me and sometimes drives another car there too. Drove her 55 Chevy as her main car for many years in the 80's and ran it regularly at Sears Point as well. She also ran quite a few other cars we had over the years including our 57 Fuely.

 

Mine has been very supportive and I think she really enjoys the hobby. I just wish I had started sooner.

 

Just a shot in the dark {haha] but a big yes Val is totally supportive, as said before not just a hobby but a life style.