I probably have not sacrificed too much as my car, though not finished, is what I wanted to do. On the other had, Kristy has sacrificed quite a bit... we have put off many house repair and upgrades that really need to be done so that I would have the money and the time to work on my car.

I'm not trying to bust anyone’s chops here, but I have to admit that I don't understand the comment made above. Kristy and I are a team. We discuss all of these things and we, meaning mostly her, decided that we should concentrate on the car first.

For my part, I don't "sneak" cars, parts, or motorcycles into the house (garage) without her knowing. If I have to go over budget for the month because of a lager ticket item, we discuss weather or not we can do it that month. I have willingly given up progress on the car when she needed clothes (she lost a bunch of weight) and I make sure she always knows that I deeply appreciate her sacrifices. I also make sure she knows that, in the end, she comes before the car. This makes it a lot easier for her to put the car before her.

Again, please don't get me wrong; this isn't aimed at anyone. It's just that I don't understand men who just throw money at their wives to placate them, and then complain about it. Marriage is for life, and a good marriage requires a lot of maintenance! You wouldn't dream of waiting 10K or 20K miles before changing the oil in your beater much less your project car. Yet I see men all of the time whose wives are craving attention, or whose marriages are falling apart and they would rather hang out in the garage with a beer in one hand and a b*tch and moan about it.

Let's face it guys, you have at least 1/2 of everything you own tied up in your marriages, that's a lot more money than you have in your car! Why would you run it for years without maintenance?

Go out a buy a couple of books; pretty much anything by John Gottman. No, it's none of that Venus & Mars crap. This dude has done real research. You'll be amazed at the things you are doing wrong, even if your marriage is good. Stop driving your marriage with the tach bouncing off of redline while the oil is low. Stop expecting it to perform even though the last time you did a tune-up was the day you said "I do."

Start bringing home a rose for no good reason, and don't get pissed when she asks what you bought that you are trying to make up for! Surprise her with clean dishes, or a vacuumed floor. Hold her hand while going to the grocery with her. Make her laugh like you used to do when sleep, work, kids, etc. wasn't so important. Treat her like the goddess you used to treat her when getting her out of her jeans was more important than your car! :lol:

Anyway, I'll get off my :soapbox: now... sorry if I offended anyone, I just hate to see any marriage go down the drain. You got married for a reason, stay married for the same one!

Shiny Side Up!
Bill
'72 442 "inamorata"

All very true and well said. It's great to see wives/gfs take part in our hobby and enjoy things together. Though, that doesn't always happen. In my case, my wife couldn't care less about cars and the rest of her family is the same way. She would never come to a car show and has an extremely difficult time seeing the point in spending OUR money on a pile of metal, rubber and glass. Some people just don't get it I guess. No biggie, we do a lot of other things together. :)

I think that you just got more money to spend on your car if she reads this post.

.............Makes me sad when I have to talk about this.........Decided to do a mini-tub on the car and F**KED one of the quater panels up so now I have to repaint it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i had put off my car while building my shop/business/home, let the wife have the house just as she wanted, then i got to splurge onmy car in the end.
well worth working together on something rather then fighting about it.

My car is the one that's doing all the suffering. She sits in the cold garage and only gets to see me every other thursday (that's car night). She's all alone out there, just sitting until I can find it in my busy week to see her. OOhh the humanity!! :willy:

What a very interesting topic! why you may ask well sit down and have a Beer this may take a few minutes lol. Since Nov. my life has changed 10 fold mostly for the best,My fianace' and myself bought a new Home 2,400 SQ ft with a dream garage 30x40 and get this a new Car the same day i signed more papers than one man should have too in a life time let alone a day, and to top it off it was my 35 th birthday and my goal always was to have a home by the time i was 35 "nothin like taking it to the day lo" so all that was great and traded my 84 cutlass that i had been restoring for the last 3 years finished it enjoyed showing and racing but always wanted a nice older hot rod and found my 48 pro street so sacraficed a complete car for one alittle over half finished but makes me smile every time i look at it, and its so much more of a car i am into, ok now this is where it gets interesting after getting new hot rod and neglecting some items for the house for a new compressor and air tools etc. I got engaded! and figured if not i would be sleeping in my big garage rather than my warm bed so there went enough money on a ring to just about finish my motor, turn key , thannnnn 2 and a half weaks later honey im pregnant!! the words that bring most men to there knees so in lite of all the crazy LIFE issues and purchases i am getting some work done on my pro street and enjoying life and my soon to be baby buy the way this is my 3 rd child so making those air ride purcehes even harder, but things are good and yes Sacrifies do exist and in life nothing like making them all in less than a year lol , good luck too all others and buy the way my fiiance' is wonderful and very understanding of my hobbie excs. being my kids names are Daughter Chevy and son Novah lol