I think it happens to all of us. There are going to be some machines that speak to us louder than others.
While the Japanese machines with all the bright colors and cool controls are neat and I like them they don't speak to me as loudly as the old treadle and hand crank machines or even the earlier electric machines. I tend to be more interested in the design variations of the earlier machines leading up to what we would consider to be a modern machine. I like things like turtle back motors and the Hamilton Beach motors, the old Revco conversion kits, tensions on top of the machine, foot shaped controllers, etc.
Rodney