What working on cars has taught me
You know how when you read a feature article in PVW or Hotrod and you always see that last paragraph say "So and so would like to thank his wife Blah blah blah for all the love and support in this build..."? Now I finally understand what that means. And I know before I really got into builds I sort of read it as "Oh, thats nice, the guy is thanking his old lady for putting up with him always talking about cars or whatever." Totally not the case.
I was feeding the dog this morning and after stepping out of the kitchen I walked through the den and saw about 15 pieces of used sandpaper, a half finished intake manifold, three sets of opened headlights, a box of coilovers and various other car parts, tools, dremels, towels, body filler, extension cords and what have you all laying in disarray on the floor.
If you go into the second bedroom you will find the entire interior out of a MK4 GTI, sheet metal, a honda bumper, toolcase, full carpet for a MK3, pillar panels and door cards littered about the floor.
Yesterday we were discussing who we would drive to our wedding and if tying a bunch of tin cans to the bumper would put the paint job in danger.
Today is the anniversary of the day I proposed to Kate. We have reservations at a posh restaurant this evening and when reminded that today is the day, the first thing that came to my mind was that I wasn't going to get any sanding time in tonight.
We almost postponed our wedding so we could go to Wörthersee this year...
The point I'm trying to get to is that back in the day, my pinnacle of car modding was a set of nice wheels and possibly spending an entire day detailing the car. Things were so much simpler then. Now detailing a car is the last step before you go to a show but certainly not on the list of priorities when you had two unfinished projects who both had a laundry list of things to be finished before even thinking of breaking out the clay bar. Five dollar mods somehow gave way to 5000 dollar mods. Painting the stubby antennae gave way to painting the entire car. Buying a CAI turned into buying a turbo system.
I'm not saying it's any more or less enjoyable at the point I'm at now but I wonder if given the choice to be green and naive or seasoned and educated, what would I choose. To lament to myself at car shows at how I wanted so badly to be in PVW with a "heavyweight car" to getting married by Elliott himself at the biggest show of the year. When 5 years ago, having hopes and dreams of buying the parts to make a perfect car that would be admired by the world has turned into building the perfect car for yourself and you could give two shits if anyone agreed with you or not. Truly understanding the car forum threads that had been going on for two straight years to finish a project. Knowing that a set of wheels and a clean paintjob does not mean you're finished.
I really do understand what those last paragraphs mean now. How it wasn't just a polite gesture of thanking the better half just to thank her but a truly honest plea and understanding that if she was any other woman, she would have left me long long ago due to my obsession. And even better, she's the one egging me on to go turbo or to change the color of the car or to pick the color of the reupholstry job or to calm me down when something went wrong because she's probably more obsessed than I am.
So anyways, thanks Kate. I understand now.
I was feeding the dog this morning and after stepping out of the kitchen I walked through the den and saw about 15 pieces of used sandpaper, a half finished intake manifold, three sets of opened headlights, a box of coilovers and various other car parts, tools, dremels, towels, body filler, extension cords and what have you all laying in disarray on the floor.
If you go into the second bedroom you will find the entire interior out of a MK4 GTI, sheet metal, a honda bumper, toolcase, full carpet for a MK3, pillar panels and door cards littered about the floor.
Yesterday we were discussing who we would drive to our wedding and if tying a bunch of tin cans to the bumper would put the paint job in danger.
Today is the anniversary of the day I proposed to Kate. We have reservations at a posh restaurant this evening and when reminded that today is the day, the first thing that came to my mind was that I wasn't going to get any sanding time in tonight.
We almost postponed our wedding so we could go to Wörthersee this year...
The point I'm trying to get to is that back in the day, my pinnacle of car modding was a set of nice wheels and possibly spending an entire day detailing the car. Things were so much simpler then. Now detailing a car is the last step before you go to a show but certainly not on the list of priorities when you had two unfinished projects who both had a laundry list of things to be finished before even thinking of breaking out the clay bar. Five dollar mods somehow gave way to 5000 dollar mods. Painting the stubby antennae gave way to painting the entire car. Buying a CAI turned into buying a turbo system.
I'm not saying it's any more or less enjoyable at the point I'm at now but I wonder if given the choice to be green and naive or seasoned and educated, what would I choose. To lament to myself at car shows at how I wanted so badly to be in PVW with a "heavyweight car" to getting married by Elliott himself at the biggest show of the year. When 5 years ago, having hopes and dreams of buying the parts to make a perfect car that would be admired by the world has turned into building the perfect car for yourself and you could give two shits if anyone agreed with you or not. Truly understanding the car forum threads that had been going on for two straight years to finish a project. Knowing that a set of wheels and a clean paintjob does not mean you're finished.
I really do understand what those last paragraphs mean now. How it wasn't just a polite gesture of thanking the better half just to thank her but a truly honest plea and understanding that if she was any other woman, she would have left me long long ago due to my obsession. And even better, she's the one egging me on to go turbo or to change the color of the car or to pick the color of the reupholstry job or to calm me down when something went wrong because she's probably more obsessed than I am.
So anyways, thanks Kate. I understand now.
This entry was posted by JKREW, on
Monday, March 31, 2008.
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