Convince my wife!

[Humble]

Hi, everyone...and thanks to our troops, this time of year especially. I know most guys have had this problem. Is there anyone who can tell me...I can usually get all my investment back (I know I should call it an expense LOL) from a FFR kit, just stock, NOT counting labor...and maybe even make $100. LOL....this would go a LONG way in swaying my wife to....ahem.....wear the pants, er...buy a kit!!........ANY help would be GREATLY appreciated! P.S. have my own garage, tools etc. and ability for all but paint.

[Don]

Factor into the cost formula, the fun, enjoyment, pleasure, pride, etc., of driving your own Cobra. It is worth the price !

[kountzecobra]

Just tell her "I AM GETTING A COBRA!" It's easy!

[ST]

It's much easier to apologize afterward, than to ask permission.
Just go ahead and buy it, what's she gonna do?

[wilf leek]

Whatever you do, never let her see your build cost spreadsheet. My wife found mine, and I spent some time explaining just why I had gone over our pre-agreed budget by $10,000.
Don't you just hate computer-literate females?

And if you need to justify why you should go ahead and buy the kit, try copying me - I convinced my wife that it was my mid-life crisis, the only options to get over it were the Cobra or a (young and skinny) mistress. Guess which she let me have? Good job too, since I would never have enough energy to keep a young-and-skinny mistress happy.

[Bill Wells]

sure, just buy her a bauble or two and sweet talk her.

and NEVER add up the total spent on the car and NEVER let her know what it really costs ...my wife now matches my expenses on toy cars 1:1, so 4 tires at $100 each costs me $800. what i spend on my cars she wants to spend on her !!! hmmmmm....modern-wife-math is what i call it !! and never tell her $50 when it cost $100 as then she will double anything you tell her once she finds out..and they have that mysterious ability to do so.

hey, you will lose more buying a new caddy cheby or whatever car today in one yr if traded in 12 mos later than you will lose on one of these in 3-5 yrs, barring any major engine or trans rebuilds. it is a hobby, not an investment...then again, compared to enron you are dollars ahead if money was into the cobra instead of their stock....

good luck...b

[Junket]

Humble what work for me.
1: Keeps you out of bar.
2: Keeps you broke so no $$$ spent on Mistress.
3: Good sound investment.
4: Great fun factor
Things to do after 1-5 work
1: Take Wife to dinner
2: Send wife flowers
3: Send parts to another location.
4:AND MOST INPORTANT HIDE BUILD SHEET IN SAFE DEPOSIT BOX UNDER ALIAS
Ken

[Back in Black]

Who wears the pants there, anywho?

Seriously, I am completely remodeling the house, and she has all new furniture...

Get something/give something...works for me

[Turk]

What has worked for me is,
First time she asked me anything about the car, I threatened to beat her within an inch of her life if she EVER asked me that kind of a question EVER!!

She has been very happy seing her new boyfriend since. But I don't get any silly questions asked about the cost of the car either.

Now if I can just talk HIM into helping me clean the car after I get through driving , I've got it made!

TURK

[Jack21]

Get her a ride in one. Sometimes that works wonders, sometimes it backfires.

Ask her to help you build it.

Teach her how to drive it when you're through, and let her take it out for cruises. Then you'll be a two Cobra family, Ha. Ha.

[Fred Douglass]

Tell her:
1) it's actually an EFFICIENT vehicle--if you short shift it with a big engine, you may roll into the 16+ mpg
2) it's HEALTHY---there will be no residual animal lard on your heart-valves after a couple "winds-prints"
3) it's SANITARY---it eliminates all post-nasal drip and routes it directly to the occipital region--where it's misfiled
4) it's PRACTICAL----you can actually leave for work several hours late and get there early!
5) it's the most FUN you can have in public with yer clothes on

THEN (when all else fails---) buy her a Bimmer convertible (my wife's will be used, of course---I'm a retarred teechah!)

G'Luck!!!!

[ac andy]

If she doesnt like the cobra, show her the door! Worked a treat for me.

[Hal Copple]

I don't think you can convince them, the only real hope is to bribe them. Buy them expensive stuff, the kind of things they really only dreamed of wearing/owning.

Then, when you have spent a ton of money on her, start moping round, look all forelorn and miserable, and whine a lot, until she gives in.

Took me a year an a ton of money, and she never rides in it, but when i am about to spend more money on some upgrade, i just go by her favorite jewelry store, and lay it out.

Really the only way, i think.

[Chaplin]

Has your wife seen a Cobra? That may be all it takes. I didn't even bring it up to my wife, because I never thought she'd go for it. I just figured it was an exercise in futility. Then, one day, my neighbor down the street drives past in his brand new shiny FFR and my wife says "Wow, what's that? Can we get one of those??" Without hesitation I said "Absolutely" and haven't looked backsince. I always knew she was the woman for me
It pains me to hear her refer to a Cobra as "cute", but if that means she likes it and wants one, then yes that Cobra is a da*n cute car!

[casaleenie]

I whined for six months... Leave little clues around the house.
Leave pictures on the computer.(screen saver) Open magazines to the appropriate pages... Go to DVSF and have her look at the cars..
After a few months she'll be so tired of your crap that she'll insist that you buy a car.... Ask her what her favorite color is.... Buy a Cobra ballcap. Be a sport and buy her one... The skies the limit.

I have a new Cobra sitting in the garage as we speak... God I love that woman......

[jayscobras]

WIFE????? WHAT WIFE??????

JAY

[Jamo]

Butler was easy--sold the 92 Vette for it and she knows enough about cars from her Dad and brother it would be easier and cheaper to maintain.

Getting the Kirkham is obviously a big leap. Combination of things. Took her on the Run to Beale to meet the Gasholes wives. She had already met the Gasholes (Turk, Pat, U2, Bony) so she knew it was a good group of folks. The 9-11 car and the way we all jumped in impressed her. The Kirkham story, and the way the family (tasked by a strong-willed woman--Mary) does things warmed her heart. But it was ultimately Turk and Pat giving me hell about my "little block" that shamed her into supporting me on the Kirkham and the monster motor--no way that male chauvinistic pig and the little nasty pervert could continue to kick sand in HER man's eyes after VICE. I played a good "victim".

Cheerleader now proudly carries a KMP 9-11 pamphlet around in her purse and memorized some "stuff" about the motor (not that she understands what they are) to explain to other wives what "we" are getting. She especially loves to tell Hog wives about the cruises and how comfortable it is to ride in a car versus the back of a Hog.

Oh--I forgot--buying that damn huge painting in Maui she fell in love with one drunk night and paying through the nose to have it shipped home didn't hurt...

[got snake?]

Originally posted by jayscobras
WIFE????? WHAT WIFE??????

JAY

Hey here's an idea! Buy one then get a wife..."Its a package deal."

GS

[decooney]

If all else fails, just buy it in smaller pieces over time - saying you are picking up a part here and there at swap meets for a good deal. About 3/4 the way through, then tell her you need to get all these little parts off of the garage floor and put to good use. Before ya know it, it might take you twice as long, but you'll have your Cobra. If there is will, there is a way. Another trick is to introduce her to the wives of other guys that own Cobras. That one clicks sometimes for various, strange, or even competetive reasons between women. Ha Ha. Weird stuff... Good Luck.

[Fred Douglass]

That "huge great painting in Maui" was.....was....how can I say this?...yup, you went ahead and guessed---an ORIGINAL GAUGUIN!!!!!---so, here's The Plan...............let's see, that cruddy pre-cubist poster is going to get you: 1) a complete new office space, 2) a Kirkham in each of the primary colors, 3) that High Sierras retreat/ski-lodge, 4) the big yacht(s) and 4) a quickie divorce (if you're lucky that's all she'll want to do) "How do they 'make' oxen, Daddy?". Considering that the painting was purchased in a moment of ethanol-based euphoria---maybe she won't miss it. There's even potential for divine vengeance---wait 'til your better half's outta town---and sell it to Nancy Pelosi's staff for her new office in Wash-me-down AC/DC!!!! BTW, I may be seeing you "out there" in January*---(DEFCON 4: "daughters of Fresno--lock up your mothers!!!") BTW2 My uncle, Charlie Douglass (b. 1895), moved out to FRESNO! in the 30's started some (?) business there! It probably augered in. My step-uncle, William Weld, used to fly "his" P-51D (wh/ he "surveyed" out of the USAF in 1954) out and about c. your home turf. He did NOT auger in, but he DID fly wing with Arkas Duntoff (?)** he of air-racing AND car-racing fame while he was out in Reno (which is where your better half'll be heading soon's she she's the bright spot on the wall where the Gauguin was....

PS: I have more articles, re Butler, Carrol Shelby's archaeological "find". etc. I noticed (on your old cah) you had those "old" nifty gold BBS-type rims...

*for several reasons, actually
**it wasn't the Corvette guy, though, but it was a similar Slavic/Russian sounding name---big guy in racing in the 50's--he flew a Sea Fury, which Bill Weld said he used to pick up a dust-wake, off the desert floor.

Chow