When Your Best Friend Is Your Car Show Partner | The Garage | Redline Ritual Co.

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When Your Best Friend Is Your Car Show Partner....

There’s something special about loving cars.

But there’s something even better about loving them with your best friend.

When your husband or wife is your car show partner, the show doesn’t start when you pull through the gate. It starts hours before that—usually way too early in the morning.

It’s loading chairs, coolers, detailing supplies, and everything else you swear you won’t need but take anyway.

It’s washing a car that was already clean.

Then wiping it down again when you get there.

And somehow finding one tiny spot the other person missed.

It’s saying, “We need to leave by 7,” while both of you know perfectly well you’ll still be standing in the driveway at 7:15.

That’s part of it.

More Than a Shared Hobby

Cars can be an expensive, time-consuming, occasionally frustrating obsession.

It helps when the person you share your life with understands why you love it.

They understand why a package containing a car part can completely change your mood.

They understand why you turn around to look at your car after you park it.

They understand why “I’m just going to change one thing” is one of the biggest lies ever told by a car enthusiast.

And maybe the best part?

You don't even have to love the same cars.

You just have to love seeing the other person excited about theirs.

Because when you really love someone, their excitement becomes a little bit of your excitement too.

His Car. Her Car. Same Passion.

One of my favorite things about car shows is seeing couples pull in together.

Maybe his car is loud, low and completely different from hers.

Maybe she loves imports and he loves old-school muscle.

Maybe one is obsessed with keeping everything original while the other can't leave anything stock.

It doesn't matter.

They park beside each other, pull out the chairs, start wiping down the cars and settle in for the day.

And somewhere along the way, you realize the cars aren't really the whole story.

They're just what brought you there.

The Memories Between the Shows

Some of the best memories don't happen at the actual car show.

They're made on the way there.

The gas station stops.

The back roads.

The conversations over the radios.

The occasional wrong turn that nobody wants to admit was their fault.

The food stops on the way home when you're both exhausted, sunburned and already talking about the next show.

There are shows where you bring home a trophy.

And plenty where you don't.

But when you're doing it with your best friend, you always bring something home.

Another story.

Another inside joke.

Another picture.

Another memory.

Someone Who Gets It

Life gets busy.

Work gets stressful.

Bills show up.

Responsibilities pile up.

And somewhere between all of that, it's easy for couples to forget to simply have fun together.

Maybe that's one of the reasons car culture means so much to so many couples.

For one Saturday, you get to pack the cars, turn up the music and go do something you both love.

No fancy date required.

Just two people, two cars, a tank of gas and somewhere to go.

Years from now, we probably won't remember every trophy.

We won't remember every car that parked beside us.

We might not even remember who won Best in Show.

But we'll remember the drives.

The early mornings.

The roadside stops.

The friends we made.

The cars we built.

And the person who was there beside us through all of it.

Because having a car you love is pretty great.

But having your best friend pull up beside you in theirs?

That's hard to beat.

— Janie
Founder, Redline Ritual Co.