Mechaphilia is common enough that one of the small US TV stations (I can't recall which one) did a documentary on it about a decade ago. There are online communities devoted to it, many of them on the so-called "deep web" (e.g. TOR).
The documentarians explained that it was exceptionally difficult to get anyone from the group to discuss the perversion on camera. It obviously hasn't reached the "mechaphilia pride" stage yet.
What I found most fascinating is that the men (mechaphiles are almost exclusively men) had remarkably specific preferences for their "partners", and had formed deep emotional attachments. One fellow apparently "loved" a specific helicopter used to film one of the 1970's TV action shows, and would "visit her" frequently until the chopper crashed. He broke down in tears when he described the crash. Sick as he was, he seemed to genuinely "love" the machine.
One can't help but feel sorry for these people.