Boy, there was one car I wish I had used the #5 technique. But, as finances were an issue, I asked first. Whoooops!

Timeline was 1993. Subject car was a 1968 (?) Lincoln Continental, black. What a beautiful automobile. An acquaintance of mine had a death in her family and got the car in the liquidation of the estate, she had neither a use it nor a desire to keep it. Previous owner was apparently quite obsessed with the car and, being the owner of a service station, the car was quite regularly serviced and maintained. Low miler, not a dent in it, new tires, showroom interior. $800.00. Eight hundred bucks. I couldn't go wrong.

Brought it home for Mrs Doorman and the little Doorgirls to inspect... Six thumbs down out of six. I was crestfallen, these people could not see the car for what it was. The deal killer: "It looks like the Batmobile." What a terrible chapter in the automobile acquisition history of Doormen everywhere.

It is better to ask forgiveness than permission.

That's what's so nice about guns. I can slip new acquisitions into the gun safe and she's none-the-wiser.

I have an autoloading 12 ga. and a single shot 30-30 that I've never fired. But, I got 'em if I need 'em.

Spousey does the bulk of the shopping here. The arrival of a Mercedes C200 among the other supplies one day did cause a bit of a surprise, as well as a significant hiccup in the domestic cash flow calculations....

Yes, but did you praise her good judgement in vehicles?

Guess who has driven the greater mileage in it....

As a young boy, I learned a valuable lesson from my dad. He traded our camper trailer for a beat up 1961 VW microbus. Mom was not happy.

What I do is plant the seed, sometimes months in advance. I'll let Mrs. North know that I'm thinking about doing/getting/buying whatever. She'll stare open mouthed at me for a few seconds Then I won't say anything about it for the selected amount of time. I'll busy myself by doing the necessary research, knowing that she's also thinking about it but too afraid to talk about it. Then I'll start showing her the flyers or driving her through the parking lots. Then, one day, I'll finally drop the bomb. She knows it's coming, but she also knows I'm not foolish. Ultimately, she makes the final decision, and the decision is always based on the money. If we can afford it, she lets me have it.

What I do to thank her is private.

I turned they keys to my reliable old 1994 Mercury grand Marquis over to my wife two days ago.

I fixed the bugs and what not, put a good sound system, custom plates with her name on them, new wipers and battery, and a full tank of gas. What she does to it and where she goes from here ,other than regular maintenance issues, is not my problem any more and having enough fuel to get where she is going and back is her responsibility now too!

She thinks she has her independence now but really I just kicked her out of the nest and sacrificed my favorite car so I don't have to drive her around any more.

The things a guy will do so as to not have to go shopping with the wife on his days off.

"The things a guy will do so as to not have to go shopping with the wife on his days off."

Depending on what she's shopping for, there are some benefits. I would gladly give up my hockey game to watch Mrs. North prance around. And she likes to show off. It's a win-win.

Surprise is the best. Not many years ago after each night out I would shut the car off a block from home coast into the drive, sneak in the door, wet in the side of the stool and try to sneak upstairs to the bedroom and meet a very upset woman..My friend said not the way..He said squeal around the corner gun the motor, slam the door, wet in the center of the stool and stomp upstairs and yeal who wants to party. At 3 in the morning not a peep. I tried it and didn't look at her for two weeks. Then the swelling went down a little light came to my eyes...Maybe, a little respect might be in order...

Buy her that 2012 Jayco Seneca she's been drooling over I could bring home anything I wanted unless it had legs.

My hubby loves anything with a motor that is driveable. He buys them, works on them and drives them. This is his passion. Last count he had 3 cars, 1 tractor, 2 riding lawnmowers, 1 boat, 2 jet skis, 1 inflatable boat, 1 invader boat and a four-wheeler (I'm probably forgetting something). I have never felt that he needed to "ask permission." I have 1 Suburban and I'm happy. I like beautiful things for our home, which is my passion. Our other passion is each other ;). I love the excitement in his eyes when he gets a new toy, lol. I want him to be happy. He works very hard and deserves to be happy. My only requirement is that his passion for his vehicles doesn't ruin my passion for a beautiful home. My advice is that if you can't keep it out of sight, don't bring home a fixer-upper. If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!!!

My wife came up with a new complaints this week about driving my old Mercury. It goes from 0 - 65 MPH way too fast so the speedo must not be working right!

It also does jerky squealing noises once in while too. (Traction controlled burnout basically)

I told her thats normal for cars that actually have real engines in them!

The obvious answer to the Jalopnik question is really simple. You buy the car she wants for her, and the one you want for you. The perfect compromise without compromising.

As I'm a serious car/truck tragic, my significant other is verrrrry suspicious of my ebay meandering. That said, I have a pigeon pair of Volvo 740's(one sedan, one wagon) which are my daily driver/weekend warrior wagon. She has her "Brrmmm Brrmmm" Peugeot 205 which she loves to bits. Then there's the 2 LTP's (long term projects)that she knows nothing of..

Having more than one car means that I can hide expenditure on the LTP's on the two that I have on the road and hers .

I can bring the other ones home once they're finished and registered.. Of course I'll be wearing earplugs and a cricket box for a week when I do... The real squealing will come from Her indoors # 2 daughter who can't understand why I need more than one car, I don't need to own more than 1 car, but I like to own what I want to own.

As for her car it was a question of do you want something fun or something boring. She chose something fun . Mind you she did look at the Mercedes pretty hard but I reminded her it may not be a good look for a House Cleaner to turn up on the job in an S class...

How do I get my pecadillos past her indoors? In plain sight of course! I've got half a landcruiser in the garage and I've not had one question about it.

As for Doormans Lincoln, I'd of bought it anyway, if they didn't like it they don't gotta ride in it.. A man can't have enough toys...