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MG Midget and Sprite General - How to get priority for the Midget?

Some of you may have been following the thread on the Technical page concerning my head gasket woes. I've not made much progress in the last 24 hours as my wife is working from home this week and seems unable to grasp the idea that mending the Midget is a higher priority than taking her Christmas shopping, housework, clearing the greenhouse, emptying the attic etc. What methods have people here used to get the Midget to the top of the list of priorities?

Am I a man or a mouse? Simple, squeek!

Chris
Chris H (1970 Midget 1275)

I follow the simple steps below.

1. suprise her with a beautifully cooked candlelight dinner for two and at some stage between telling her how lovely she looks tonight and pouring her another glass of wine slip in that you might have to spend a couple of quid on some car parts. No joy?

2. lecture her on the history and tradition of fine british classic cars and explain that you are the gaudian of this piece of the nations heritage and have a moral duty to keep a little part of it going. No joy ?

3. Beg and cry openly until you get your way.

Mark, just off to buy some more hankies, Adams
M Adams

Don't ask me. I'm currently cleaning out the basement to earn myself some guilt free garage time. (I do have spare parts stored down there, so I have spent some time finding forgotten treasures.)
Trevor Jessie

once you've been married long enough you'll both happily spend quality time apart :)

but only your wife will know when you have reached this point :)
N Atkins

JFDI
and if she asks, just enquire if she'd rather you were down the pub or chasing other women....

but TBQH it may be a bit late, shouldn't garage time have been written into the pre-nup?
David Smith

Yes I am sure we can all relate to all the above. I personally use the trade option for my time :)

However we love em really don't we? and I can say with hand on heart I would not want it any other way!!

Sometimes on a cold evening when things are not going right, you come in from the cold to a warm cup of tea and a wonderful smile, you can not put a value on that...
Bob Turbo Midget England

Bob,

I agree we miss them when they are no longer here. I was lucky, I was encouraged to make sure the midget was up and running as my wife loved to take it on her drive through the Meon Valley to work.
Funny old world; I have the time and I know I should be in the garage sorting out lack of charge to the battery but I am in the house on the internet!!

Ray
Ray Rowsell

Chris,
Let your daughter or son drive it as their only car. Then there are lots of 'safety' issues that need to be fixed or checked. You will be encouraged to get out to the garage to work on the car.
The only problem with this option is that you will only be allowed to drive the car when there is no petrol in it, you will be moaned at if you leave it with no petrol in it, you will be expected to fix every little thing that goes wrong immediately (and pay for the parts yourself) and the kids will keep on breaking it.
Good luck
Dave
Dave Brown

I agree with David... JFDI; some things are too important for negotiation. Similalry, I never question my wife about her shopping activities...

A
Anthony Cutler

I thought we all had an understanding at home like Ant...
Onno Könemann


Yes, odd thing this TIG (time in garage) phenomenon.

I go in and spend 1hr there & my wife thinks TIG is 1.5hrs. Oddly, if I extend this to 2 hours it becomes 'half the day' which in my books is 12 hours!

Do ladies (to be PC I mean some) exist in a different time continuum?

I have suggested a clocking in & clocking out arrangement. This suggestion resulted in absence of chocolate hobnobs with my cuppa.

I love my wife but I love my Midget. Fight!
Gavin Rowles

Mark Adam's option 3 works best for me.
Gary & Gaps

Now that our kids are all grown up and in homes of their own, my wife has turned one of the spare bedrooms into a sewing and craft room and she calls it her garage. So now when I announce that I'm going to spend time in the garage I usually find that she is in her garage already. No more frosty looks. Peace reigns!
Mike Howlett

Chris-
This is a test of your devotion as both a husband and as an enthusiast. Plan things out in advance so that the expenditure of time is minimized. Get her to team up on the greenhouse, and recruit the kids to help, and have fun doing it so it won't seem so much like work. Remind her that it's getting colder in the garage as the weeks pass and running a heater out there only runs up the bills, but the attic and other indoor housework can be done anytime. Take the wife shopping and keep making some progress on the chores, but stay up late at night to do the work on the Midget. If it means going short on sleep, that's the cost that most of us are happy to pay in order to keep our cars in shape. Remember- Family comes first, everything else comes second, because that's the only system of priorities that makes any real sense.

All of which reminds me that I still have twenty windows on my house that need to have the sashes removed, stripped, and repainted.
Stephen Strange

Make it EVERYONE else's fault. Blame the BBS, the state of the moon, the current economic climate, everything.

Explain that it's so much cheaper to do it yourself, and have friends that have modern cars costing huge amount of money to fix (cheers guys!). Fix her car as well, or pretend to - "thought I heard a funny noise last time I was out dear, I'll just check it out to make sure you're safe"

or best yet, get one that understands, like mine, and doesn't mind that we live in a tiny house because it has a garage on it, and that trusts you enough to view said house all by yourself.... then doesn't really raise an eyebrow when I can't remember what the kitchen is like or if there's a sink but THE GARAGE HAS ELECTRICITY!!!!

option 3 if all else fails. Buy the next takeaway or something.

(p.s all comments should be taken tongue in cheek..)
Rob Armstrong

Great ideas. I just leart what JFDI means (a new one on me!). I presume not many wives are reading this from some of the comments!

Chris
Chris H (1970 Midget 1275)

If your wife is home from work for several days...perhaps she might enjoy a surprise visit from your mother for the same length of time that she is home for work

That should open up all kinds of time for you

Prop
Prop

Be firm with her! If she is working from home, she should be working - not Christmas shopping or thinking up housework tasks for you! Tell her that your conscience won't allow you to support skiving!

Then run away!


Ally

Get to know the rules..
http://home.online.no/~warnckew/jokes/women-rules.html
P Ottewell

I cant believe this is a serious issue in your lives.

Option 3???

You bunch of spineless mammals!!!
Your suppose to be men and act like men: he is the head of the family, he makes the money, he disides how its spend, he compliments her for her hard work in the house (or corrects her if its not done properly) and puts her on a pedestal.
You defenetly shouldnt be crawling thrue dust and dirt as a lower lifeform like some of you!

Do like David Smith and put it in a pre-nub or do like I and tell her about the traditional values on the first date.
When I think of it, I havent had many second dates latly... I wonder why?
LOL!!!!
Arie de Best

Or...... just live on your own... pay for sex... far chaper in the long run! MUCH more £££ to spend on cars..... Just a thought....
Rob Flint

Lol at Arie!!

You can dress a Dutchman up in political correctness, but underneath, they secretly want a woman to do what she's damn well told!
source - bitter experience...
Ally

"What methods have people here used to get the Midget to the top of the list of priorities?"

For me it was to take my wife on holiday to France and have the headgasket blow. She couldn't wait for me to work on the Midget and to get it going again so that we could get on with our holiday.
Simples!!!
Neil
Neil K

Dave Brown has the one. You eventually get past that stage (no fuel, always fixing) to where they love the cars, are happy to fix it themselves (mostly), and more importantly provide a next generation of MG interest, especially when their mates realise what cool cars they are.

Without that next genertion of interest, our cars will become worthless and worse still may even get headed for the crusher.
Paul Walbran

It's a shame that the insurance companies over here are so hard on youngsters who want to drive Midgets. I have cars in my garage that I would love my kids to drive but the insurance premiums are ridiculous.
Neil K

Oner day they'll wake up and realise that our old "sports cars" are now much slower than the avarage family shopping basket. Well, those that haven't been fiddled with anyway. That rules out all mine :-)
Paul Walbran

Chris,

Park the Midget on the drive, in front of your wifes car, so she can't drive round it.

Tell her how very unfortunately (and unusually) it has broken down.

Then explain that you have to fix it in order to move it. :)
Lawrence Slater

As of yesterday - I have TWO broken cars sitting outside my house. Let this be a lesson to wives everywhere - always have a working spare car knocking around!!
Ally

I don't think you'll ever be able to get around this phenomenon.

My girl claimed that if I had a convertible (although under restoration) she should have a convertible.. She wanted something newer but nothing to expensive since we're both students.. So I suggested an MGF and crossed my fingers but no she chose a Fiat Barchetta, fair enough I started looking around and I found a bargain in great condition but had some burnt valves but I bought it for her since she approved for me to spend time in the garage working on HER car... or did she? It took me all in all three full days to fix the car but distrubuted over three weeks due to work and such, but still she scolded me for spending to much time out there and less with her when I had time off.

Now she's been driving it all summer and we've been having a blast with it and even though I earned some points with the misses when it comes to my spridget time it just wont happen.

She's still great though..
Alexander Sorby Wigstrom

Although I think there might be a "loophole" in the newly released book "how to understand a woman"

Alexander Sorby Wigstrom

Hahaha... Great photo alexander

Prop
Prop

LOL Alex I saw that picture and it was entitled "the problem with men"!

We now have a saying in my house "who do you think you are - Arie de Best??????"
rachmacb

Rach, im flattered my name is used in your family to set an example and learn.
Im telling you, if only you Scots would be more thight on money you could be come Dutch. :)


Ally, cant believe you know about the dutch "political correctnes".
Where I come from thats a swear-word.
We call it as it is, flattering or offending. ;)


Hm, when I read some of the reactions here I see a lot of potential mgB/triumph owners: men who are afraid to stand up against Bra-wearing evil.
LOL!!!
Arie de Best

Chris,

How about you just refuse your wifes demands for sex, until she agrees your Midget repair time?

Tell her straight. She has her needs, and you have yours. :)
Lawrence Slater

Arie - Let's just say, I have previous experience with the marque!
Ally

Ally, sorry to hear you had a bad model of a usualy great marque.
Hope you returned it in the garanty-period and got your money back. ;)


Lawrence, youve brought back my faith in man&-his-spridget!
Girls(not Rach and Ally), you can learn from this man! :)
Arie de Best

No regrets Arie! I wouldn't have subsequently invested in a later model if the first one hadn't been a good choice!
Still get on great with DM Mk1 - we regularly argue about who would win in a race- his Mustang, or my F!
Ally

Now that's an interesting comment Ally. Do you have an F1?

Many years ago, sometime in the late 90's, maybe 1999/00.

There was a poster here, apparently a female of the species, who ribbed everybody about the ownership of spridgets. Called them funny little cars. She said she was loaded, money wise, and spent her time in Harvey Nicks/Harrods or at Ascot, or the like. And she drove an F1.

Was it you?

I tried searching the archives, but I cant find it.

Does anybody remember her?

Arie, maybe you could come over here and run courses on woman management. We could set up a business. lol.
Lawrence Slater

Lawrence, that's an exclamation mark not a # 1
'should have gone to Specsavers'
;-)
David Smith

Easy, take a job with working ours outside hers. Like me, I work in a power plant in the continuous shift. I work fewer hours and have days on which I start at 15:00. Guess what I do in the morning?







After I've brought the kids to school and vacuumed the house ofcourse...
Alex G Matla

Ah David, I was hoping it was a typo.

But you're right about the need for spec savers. lol. Wish I was still 20:20. I hate wearing reading glasses. I'll get lasered one day when they can fix Presbyopia with it.

Don't suppose you remember the F1 Mclaren poster do you?
Lawrence Slater

Alex - I hope that you're not forgetting your painting too :P!!!!!
rachmacb

SSSSSHHT Rach, or Arie will beat me up for not hiring a professional LOL
Alex G Matla

LOL but, if you were to hire a professional, then you would have to stay in the house - and not drink tea and eat cake with Onno at the MGWorkshop :)!!!!!
rachmacb

Sorry to disappoint you Lawrence, but I don't drive an F1 car, nor do I shop in Harvey Nicks. I have an MGF and a Midget, both of which (apart from a bit of an MGF related meltdown this weekend!)I love to bits, so the chance of me referring to them as "funny little cars" is slight.

She sounds like an entertaining poster though - such a shame she disappeared (straight up her own bottom by the sound of things!)

I still reckon my F could have beaten the Mustang!

Ally

No I didn't really expect it was you Ally.

It went on for quite a while I remember, and then just stopped I think. I seem to remember she had a those who liked her and those that were really annoyed at the waste of time. Wish I could remember what the thread was called. I searched on F1 Mclaren, but there are loads of entries about that, and nothing to do with her.

Maybe the archive is filtered to only include proper midget related stuff. Otherwise I would imagine if all the threads ever started were kept, the storage would get a bit too large.

Still back to the subject. Chris are you getting midget time yet? I'll take a look at the hgf saga and find out.

Lawrence Slater

Ally, you have a DM Mk II?
You animall!! ;)
Arie de Best

Just doing my bit for international relations Arie!
Ally

Wel, us dutch men see it as our duty to prevent inbreding on that little isle west of us in the Northsea.

No thanks for helping you people out, its not a bad job but somebody has to do it. :)



Ally, drop the mgf engine in the midget and DM Mk 1's Mustang is lost forever, he wont be very amused. LOL!!
Arie de Best

I think the Midgets engine is probably better than the F's - which has 177,000 miles on it!! Mind you - it passed another MOT today (third time lucky!!) so I can't really complain. It's starting to feel a bit tired though, so the Midget needs to be up and running soon, before the F dies!!
Ally

It will be :)
rachmacb

It better had! I'm planning on using it for the Arctic Circle Run in Feb!!
Ally


Leave her 1972 B Gt out in the rain whilst
the sprite is in pieces in the garage.
All sortes of vailed threats if i dont get
it finished!!!
P C Knightley

This thread was discussed between 04/11/2011 and 09/11/2011

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