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Understanding wives.

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vping

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This can go many ways. Is she understanding, can she be understood....

My wife does not get why I like to do this so much and claims I am addicted to it. (I have 4, just got rid of 2 and am looking at another) I have not touched a car part in weeks as I have been two busy. I think about it alot but don't do that much lately as it is winter and I need to save some green.

We have several pets which are more to her liking than mine. I do like the animals but slobber and hair are not my thing. Drench me in oil and gas and I'm sitting pretty. Is she addicted to animals cause she has more than one - hmmm?

Does the Mrs. in your life understand this MG hobby thing? What deos she do while you are tinkering?
If she is not into MG's, do you have hobbies together? (is this recommended)
 
My bride of 34 years has been very tolerant of my hobby. One of our cars, the MGB, is hers. I restored it after doing the TR3, and said it would be hers to do with whatever she wanted. However, I've driven it much more than she has! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

Truth is, puttering around on the cars is my therapy, just as doing Sudoku puzzles and enjoying a bit of solitude are hers. If I didn't have the cars to work on, I'd be in her way constantly!

Also, the occasional trip to car shows together, along with a picnic here and there help as well.

Mickey
 
My wife gave up trying to understand my changing cars so often and playing with "classics" long ago.
Its good to know however, from posts like yours that we're not alone in the world. Too many of my friends don't help the situation (eyes glaze over when I try to discuss cars) and boards like this help fuel the fire and justify my disease.

I've got a good buddy who helps with his remarks-- eg when my wife asks, what wrong with the car(s) you have now?

He remarks something like there are hundreds of different cars left to be tasted or... adding that part or fixing that... will add the the enjoyment of life and life is too short.
 
Jerri? Understand my addiction?

When I met her, I was a single soldier with multiple cars - she had a VW Bug....I took her on junkyard excursions on Saturdays!

When we got married, we visited car museums on our honeymoon!

When we settled into our 1st apartment, she explained that I could have all the cars I wanted so long as they didn't cost her anything - & she's stayed true to that statement since 1969 when she said it.

She even helps out in the GarageMahal - painting woodwork, occassionally sweeping or cleaning, holding something if I need her...

Does she know a lot about cars? No...don't ever ask her for a tool; but she can spot an MG from a mile away & has even bought atr least 1 MG for me (plus she gave me a truck for Christmas once because she had been listening to me lament over wanting a big truck)

....&, if necessary, she'll take your parts order!

Think I'll keep her around.....hehehehe


PS: Oh, our daughter? Her husband says she knows more about cars than any guy he knows - & that her tool box is better than his; she just gave him a new Lexus for Christmas...& his friends ask her for car advice......hehehe
 
Jenny understands (maybe even better than I do) how much I enjoy my little car and motorcycle hobby. When I sold my bike a couple years ago, she questioned if I could live without one -- and she had a nice I-told-you-so moment when I bought another. She has her TV and movies, I have my garage.

I've done a few things proactively to keep things happy. Her car will always be garaged, and just about all of my car spending comes from my music playing. Keeps it out of the family finances. I'd probably have an argument on hand if I ever tried to get out of the car hobby -- not that she's interested, but she'd doubt if I could really stay away.

She's a good sport and comes along on a few drives and club events, and I'll sit and watch TV with her sometimes. Everybody wins.
 
My wife of 27 years is quite fond of our MG, she even named it. She doesn't quite understand my obsession with making everything as nearly perfect as possible but she doesn't say much and she will help bleed brakes or hold a wrench. We have one hobby that we like to do together and that is Civil War reenactments. She even enjoys car shows and the Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot. I believe shes a keeper.
 
My wife takes the 100-6 out as often (or more often) as I do. And at every possible opportunity to go for a ride in it she is as anxious as I am. We even moved the seat racks forward to get her to where she could get the clutch all the way in. Now we're just starting to restore our Bugeye, and I think she talks about it as often as I do!
 
My wife doesn't understand.

Nor does she wish to.

Its something that I do which she tolerates. I had a LBC when we met, and for the first 4 years or so of our married life. I had two other cars too so she'd cannot say this behaviour unexpectedly came out of the blue or that she wasn't warned.

She was hoping it was something I'd grow out of....

but I didn't.
 
'smits will turn a wrench on occasion, she used to accompany me to the shop when we were cobbin' together the F-A car and would be "Tool Girl"... "5/8's box-end, and rig up the torque wrench for 60 ft/lb with a 3/4" socket, please?" No problem. She owned/maintained an MGB at the time.

She knows I'll not change. I had the Elan and a GTV when we met. All my friends were racers, wrenches or pro photographers... some in combination. She enjoys driving them, will change plugs or oil if necessary. It's a life-style. She even authored articles for a newspaper column: "AutoMotives: Automobile Maintenance from a Woman's Perspective." Brakes and their care, why flushing the system annually is a good thing; battery inspection & care, how to correctly use jumper cables... Lots more.We're compatable and complimentary.
 
men are from mars, women are from venus.
understanding the female of the species will only get you so far.
they say that women think emotionally, men practically.(exceptions apply )
when a lady has bad day, they (as far as i am aware) do not want to hear practical solutions.
i am sure that deb puts up with my hobbies, from a ,boys never grow up, there toys just get more expensive point of view.
suits me.
a202851820x2081729.jpg
 
Hey Dr.

Wrenchwench? Looks like she's ready to hit someone with that wrench in a smiling kind of way. Hope it didn't hurt too much.

/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif
 
Mine actually encourages me to go to the garage, practically insisted I get the latest one and loves it when the boys and I are working on the cars. She's practically begging for a cream colored MGA.

Grates on me though when she calls it the "Austin", "It's a Healey." She just laughs...
 
My wife made me quit flying because she said it was expensive, and thought it was dangerous.
I asked if restoring an old car would be a better hobby? "Ohh yes, we could go on drives around the lake and have picnics" /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

This is X times more expensive, dangerous and she's only been in one of them once!! Ha! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
She doesn't understand it, she tolerates it and knows I have to have something productive and exciting to do.

I have an ASA headset for sale.... /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cry.gif
 
My question is how many of the ladies out there have husbands that tolerate their hobbies? I have always loved learning anything new. My husband and son have worked together on several Toyota Supras and love muscle cars. I go to car shows with them and family trips to the junk yard. I decided that if they could do this so could I, but what would I pick if I could choose my favorite car of all time? Of course... it would be a LBC. Its mine! I love spending time in the garage with it. When I'm waitin gon parts, I work on the interior and "pretty stuff" I know there have to be other women out there who love these cars? Can we hear from them?
 
My wife of 7 years just accepts it's a 'male thing' to play with anything mechanical. She knows she cannot get rid of my 'boy's toys' without causing an imbalance to the order of things. As long as I get those domestic chores done I'm free to look after my toys.
Craig
 
Mines pretty understanding....considering she has her own MGA. Actually she and the kids are probably just as bad as i am, if not worse, with cars.
This is an old pic....Those wheels are long gone in favor of wires!
z61mga.jpg
 
Well – I guess I would have to start by saying that I make my wife laugh. It’s the reason why someone as angelic as she is married such an ugly cuss like me, and why she puts up with my hobbies. Most of those are centered on the family. When we got married, I told her that when we have kids we were going to get a classic car as a teaching tool, family fun, etc. It was fifteen years before our first child came along; I reminded her then and she was fine with it. She knows that I work hard for the family and around the house on the things she wants done, so she supports my boys and my obsession. It will only get worse as the boys get older so she is getting used to it. She hasn’t jumped in with both feet, however she does cheer from the sidelines in support. She enjoys our enjoyment and she can name quite a few classics now when she sees them.

Family.jpg
 
Well I have been into cars for along time. Had em when I met her an still got em. But as a youngster growing up the old folks told me the secret to a long compatible marriage was; You just gotta take a whole lot of what you don't want to get a little bit of what you do!-She still be around now, so I guess the old folks really knew what to do!---Keoke- /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif
 
Keoke said:
You just gotta take a whole lot of what you don't want to get a little bit of what you do---Keoke- /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif
Click to expand...

I bet both sides of the partnership see it that way.
winking0070.gif
 
Keoke said:
....the secret to a long compatible marriage was; You just gotta take a whole lot of what you don't want to get a little bit of what you do!
Click to expand...

I'd say we put up with some of what we don't like to get more of what we do... despite my LBCs.... /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif

I'd say the cost/benefit ratio isn't too bad... for either of us.
 
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