Women & Families

Women Customize Cars, Too!

"It's all about lookin' good, soundin' good and turnin' heads," says Susie Siefert, 39, assistant head judge of the Modified Class for the Mustang Club of America. Siefert, who owns a modified 1992 Ford Mustang LX convertible, has been creating custom cars since she got her driver license.

"Most women have a propensity toward wanting to customize everything...clothes, shoes, hair, whatever makes them feel special," she notes. "I've always gone against the grain...I'm so into the car thing!"

Case in point: Siefert wears a red, white and blue Mustang pony tattoo on her right calf.

Female tuner enthusiasts ages 18-35 have grown from 13 percent in 1996 to 25 percent in the last year, notes Jim Spoonhower, vice president of market research for the trade association SEMA, which represents performance parts and accessories.

However, customizing cars isn't just for enthusiasts. With women purchasing 50 percent of new cars and influencing 80 percent of buying decisions, even soccer moms are tricking out their rides.

For the nonenthusiast, customizing cars can be as simple as accessorizing for more effective use of space or to increase creature comforts.

For example, Kim Cary, a suburban mother of two from Potomac, Maryland, uses large soft-tote containers to keep her cargo from sliding all over the place. "They are awesome because they hold up to 10 bags of groceries." she said.

When Shelley Stile of Montclair, New Jersey, wanted to jazz up her wheels, she bought fake leopard print floor mats. "It's not much but it makes me feel better," she said.

Customizing made easy
Customizing your car can be as 101 as shining it up with a slick coat of clear wax; popping on a hip set of wheels and tires; tricking out the trunk with a buffed-up sound system or flat-screen TV; changing seat covers; tricking out switches, handles or vents with chrome, wood or polished aluminum; or accessorizing the exterior with stick-on decals.

There is no great mystery behind pimping your ride. In fact, many aftermarket accessories simply snap or slide on. "If you know how to work a ratchet you can even change your exhaust sound to be throatier," said Siefert, who restored her 1992 Ford Mustang from the ground up.

Her vehicle has been chromed, hand-buffed and powder-coated a wild strawberry color (including the engine). Even the underpinnings have been painted and clear-coated so they can be shown off with mirrors.

Siefert modified the interior with solid gray/black cloth seats trimmed in wild strawberry with embroidered ponies on the headrest, and added an aftermarket red Mercedes cloth top.

When asked to describe the drivetrain, she was quick to explain, "I named her 5.0 Susie — that's for the 500-horsepower/supercharged 5.0-liter 302 V8 with 24 pounds of inject."

Siefert, who has won 1st places for her modified wheels in the Mustang Club of America's MF Trailered Class since 2002, gets aftermarket accessories from UPR Products, Summit Racing, CJ Pony Parts and Jeg's. SEMA's Web site, Enjoy the Drive has links to many different manufacturers.

Are female tuners different?
"Girls do pretty much what the guys do — custom wheels, performance seating, exhausts, turbochargers and cold-air induction," SEMA's Spoonhower noted. "They aren't doing the modifications themselves, but then again, neither do the guys!"

And yes, these ladies race their modified vehicles in "time attacks" or competitive drags and compete in sound-offs with personalized sound systems.

"There's a certain amount of dressing up, but today the emphasis is more on performance," Spoonhower continued.

But for some women, sometimes it's all about appearances.

"I'm more into the style and the look of the car. I like racing, but would I want to do it to my car? No!" exclaimed Jennifer Rhodes, the 34-year-old president of Team scioNRG.

For Rhodes, from Long Island, New York, it was the beginning of a love affair when she bought a Hot Lava (bright orange) Scion xB Special Edition in April of 2004. She now leads the club of 1,300 Scion lovers (35 percent female) with more than 20 chapters worldwide.

"I find that guys say, 'Oh you can't do that; you're a girl' or, 'You can't work on your car! No way!'" said Rhodes.

"Then, I show them my car and they're like...'Ahhhh.'"

Her xB, one of 2,100 in the Hot Lava series, became her design project; she was determined to make it stand out from the crowd.

First she tricked it out with a custom paint job — to match her tattoo.

"I have a tribal heart tattoo on my ankle and I painted it all around the bottom of the xB so we could have the same theme," she said.

Next, she painted the interior Hot Lava and dressed up the gauges with a tribal heart background. She added accessories that include three flip-down TV screens and a subwoofer — with a matching paint job — in the trunk.

"I like the Pimp My Ride type of awareness," Rhodes says, referring to the MTV show about customizing cars. "It's awesome!"