Female Of The Species
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday July 18, 2008
More women are trying their hands at car modifications.
When Amanda Leighton decided to try her hand at customising her mother's 1991 Nissan Pulsar hatchback she came at it from a feminist perspective."My main aim was not to hand my keys to my father or a boyfriend and say, 'Here's some money - go modify the car for me'. I got as hands-on involved as I possibly could," she says. "I wanted to promote a positive image that girls can do it and take it as far as they want without a guy ... actually doing it for them."That was in 2002. Today, despite having won numerous competitions, including best vinyl graphics and best suspension at Auto Salon, Australia's largest automotive lifestyle show, in Sydney late last month, she says it's still a male-dominated world."There are more women getting into it but only on a basic level - the type of girls who think that putting new wheels on a car and respraying it is what modifying a car is all about. I want to show people that, as a woman, you can do much more than that," Leighton, 24, says.With a bachelor of fine arts degree and some specialist study in airbrushing under her belt, Leighton describes her life as Superman-like. She works in the corporate sector by day and slips into paint-splattered attire after-hours to take on her other persona as the sole trader behind Amanda Leighton Airbrushing - a business she says is growing steadily.After respraying the Pulsar, Leighton tried unsuccessfully to sell it. So she modified it even further."I did an engine conversion in my driveway with the help of my father and two mates. We took out the standard engine and put in a turbo-charged Bluebird engine, which had quite a lot more power. That was in December 2004," she says. Next came a full leather re-trim and yet another respray, complete with her own airbrushed graphics, in 2006. That time her handiwork saw the car shine in bright candy pink "with water droplets on one side and what looked like layers of muscle on the other".Last year she did the engine again - fitting it with "the most powerful M13 we could find" - and painted one more time, in pastel pink, with graphics of "angel wings down the sides and ESP gold graphics and highlights in the engine bay". The wings complemented her personalised number plates - HVNSNT.Ask her how much she has spent on her passion and she admits she hasn't added it up. "It's too scary. You always lose money when you sell a modified vehicle. It's done for the love of it - and the challenge."I thrive on being told I can't do something and then going ahead and doing it anyway. If someone tells me I can't push a certain amount of power out of my vehicle, I'll make sure I do it. If someone tells me it's a guy's business - that makes me more determined to do it my way. Hopefully my involvement is encouraging other girls to get involved, too."According to Cisco Corea, national marketing manager at Auto Salon, while men aged 17 to 29 typically dominate the modified car scene, more women are taking up the hobby. "Every year more females enter their self-modified cars into our shows," he says. With her Pulsar now sold, Leighton has bought a new Subaru Impreza for about $35,000. The changes she has made in the past few months have already won Auto Salon trophies.Her association with Auto Salon, Leighton says, has "helped me heaps". "People get a chance to see my work and know what my own style is and if they like it, they'll come to me. I'm trying to create a niche in the market."As well as just airbrushing on to cars, I can also do a portrait of someone's car on to a canvas," says Leighton, who has also body-painted a girl for a magazine shoot.The thrill is in creating her own style. "I want to do something that hasn't been seen before."See more of Amanda Leighton's work at www.alairbrushing.com
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald