The ongoing training of a supportive car spouse

"crazedclay: SBC murderer" (crazedclay) 07/06/2014 at 12:32 • Filed to: None

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A little background. seven years ago, the kid didn't know which end of the car the fuel went in. Or where the hood latch was. Fast forward to now, and he is much improved. Kid has more skinned knuckles than I do. No small feat for a Bachelor of Fine Arts grad whose primary attribute is looking like he is going to be perpetually ID'd. Can change his own oil. Change his own tires. Diagnose minor problems, and take things apart and replace the broken shit.

He now used words like "Wow, this car really has a high Vroom content. I like it." or "This guy tried to race me so I put my macchiato down and dropped a gear, it was funny the look on his face" and "What kind of engine is this?" "An inline 6" "No wonder it's so smooooooth"

Fuck yeah.

All it took was a spark of curiosity to get him on the path to enlightened car ownership. It also took replacing his dead reliable (and actually quite nice) 1994 Buick regal GS with a 400k e36, an r32 skyline, a 1980 Malibu sedan, a fidgety mid 90's C-class, a 1985 Chrysler Daytona Turbo, all of which he was told "Here are the tools, you fix it and consult me if you need help. I will do the heavy lifting but you do the stuff you can do and then some."

It also took a lot of sunday drives at the outset with me asking the question "What brand of car is that?" "Mustang?" "No, that's a 323i, who makes cars with three numbers on the back?" "..... BM...W?" "How can you tell?" "Because the logo looks like a propeller." The trick being to involve a significant other through immersion and meaningful dialogue about what makes cars Cars and makes them more than appliances.

Like all SO involvement in our world, it is a project ongoing, but a fruitful one. You should all wish for someone who will willingly and blatantly tear down a car on a showroom floor to see how it's built under the engine cover.

Yes. Wartortle. Eventually that will change to Blastoise.

And yes, I overstated the depreciation curve on a Civic. Mostly because I'm not interested in seeing him strapped to new car debt, much rather have him pick up a very inexpensive new car like the Mirage/Micra or a used 20k unit for less.