Cars X Girl

I came across another of those horrible, depressing things again… This time, in the pages of Honda Tuning.

For the record, I kinda like Honda Tuning, it’s a pretty good mag. I will admit, however, I’m not a huge huge Civic head… Yes, I like the Civic, but I’m not, “OMG, Civic is the best car evarrrrrrrr!!!!11!!!!!1″ kinda thing. And I won’t ever be that way, really.

But I still like admiring cars that people built… Though, of course, most cars in mags were built to be in mags and not to be used. It’s a crying shame, honestly, but there are a few lucky exceptions. (Like the one Spoon-covered S2000 that IS tracked.)

And then…

So I went and flipped through the latest issue of Honda Tuning. (Or it might have been the last issue, not sure at this point, memory’s kinda shoddy for these sorts of things.) On the cover was something about a husband-and-wife duo that builds cars.

I thought, “Hey, that’s cool, there’s another couple like us out there!”

What I thought was wrong, and boy was it disappointing. Apparently when it comes to applying the label “car girl,” it’s passed out VERY liberally.

(Not the issue I was reading, just so you know!)

The Scoop

So the couple in question was written up with an EK hatch and an Integra, don’t ask me specifics on the Teggy because I’m quite bad with them… Ha. It was that, though.

First off, the guy’s hatch was nice. Maybe a bit too show-y for my tastes, but still respectable.

The Integra wasn’t exactly bad either… But I have developed a huge love for the JDM front ends, so the ones with the multiple lights (even though they were JDM for a few years) don’t resonate with me on the same level as the others.

I mean, I have a feeling I’m going to end up respecting the people who go ahead and do the front end swap more after I go through the Sil-Eighty conversion with my 240SX… I have a feeling it isn’t so easy.

Wait, what?!

Anyhow, car wasn’t so bad, that’s not my point.

(Well, the hubs did point out that the HP reported and mods that both cars had didn’t match up, hardly at all. If the engines really had that much work done, it’d have been higher HP, not slightly more than stock… WTF is up with that? Lying…?)

I dislike anyone who would lie to get into a magazine... That's low. Just be real!! Real cars are way better anyhow, I think.

I digress. It really isn’t what irked me the most, that kinda made me just laugh.

What really got me was the fact that it seemed to be making a huge deal out of the fact that this chick drove a modded Integra.

So what?! Her husband has been long into the car scene, and the article said he had parts lying around that went to the Integra’s build. Wow, excuse me for saying this, but that’s hardly something you should applaud a chick for.

Would you applaud a guy for picking up parts lying around a house and installing them, when they were kept for being good or whatever? I doubt it, honestly. Don’t lie to me about it.

Come on now. Really?

There can’t be that few girls into cars that you have to go and stretch that a chick driving around that her husband probably built, or at least had a LOT of input for, deserves to be made a fuss over.

Maybe I’m being too cynical, but I’ve had to put up with a lot of the, “Oh, so your husband’s into cars?” Yes, he is. But so am I.

He didn’t build my Miata. I did. He didn’t have parts lying around or even suggest too many to me. I asked for his opinion and did my own research. I got a job and made my own money. I bought my own parts at my own discretion. She’s what I wanted her to be, not something my husband just threw together.

What upsets me is that this totally minimizes what I do…. I’m not sure if people can see it, but that’s how it comes off to me.

Just because my husband’s into cars doesn’t mean I don’t have my own thing about cars. In fact, we have totally differing opinions sometimes. It would be way too boring if we thought exactly alike, ha.

Yeah, I'd like to make it into a mag someday... But for all good reasons, please!

I’m real.

Honestly, I’m the real deal here. I eat, sleep, live and breathe cars, because I love them, not because it impresses my husband or anybody else.

I blog about cars because it’s what I love doing. I take pictures of cars because it’s what I love doing. I race my cars because it’s what I love doing. I build my cars because it’s what I love doing.

I hate it when something comes along and somebody happens to get attention that seems to minimize many female accomplishments in the car scene. While many girls have a good guy behind them to thank for their love of cars, be it a husband, boyfriend, father, uncle or whatever, it’s when a girl takes to cars in her own way that’s commendable. It’s hard to be a girl in a boys’ world.

I’m hoping you can see my point. I’m not meaning to bash (Love you, Honda Tuning! :3), but come on now…

We all know that real car girls exist without having to make any stretches, right?