APRIL 25, 2012 – By now, the core values of the Gasoline Girls are clear, right? (Thirst for knowledge and the desire to do the job herself… or at least try!) This past January, two new girls came to our meeting, Jennifer and Rochelle, who truly exemplify the foundations of what the Gasoline Girls are about… as does G-Girl Jessie.
As you may have read, Jessie had a bad experience with a shop recently. Jessie is a hands on girl. She’s always first to volunteer in a learning session. She’s come to wrench nights and helped scrape old paint and bondo (the messiest job ever!), she’s helped with tuneups, and attempted jobs on her own car even when they might be beyond her current skill level. Jessie is the type who will never say no, or I can’t, or let someone else… the kind of attitude we value.
But her car Red needed more help than she could handle, so Jessie made the smart decision to have Red gone through by a mechanic. The rest isn’t pretty…. and that brings us to Jen and Rochelle (not the “isn’t pretty” part… they’re both quite lovely!).
These two, after just a month with the club, came to Jessie’s aid when she needed help determining if she should stick a new engine in Red (something Jessie planned to do herself even though she’d never done it. That a girl!). Sadly, they figured out poor Red was sicker than Jessie knew. Not only that, they discovered much of the work she’d paid to have done, needed to be redone.
Jen and Rochelle once again came to the rescue and went above and beyond. They had Red towed to Lancaster where they proceeded to find and rebuild a 170 engine, modify a transmission, rebuild the wheel bearings… the list goes on and on and on. A local shop (Classic Dreams) let the girls use their facility and offered advice when they needed it (we thank them effusively!). In one month’s time and a couple hundred hours of their own labor, these girls brought life back to Jessie’s Red at a time when Jessie really needed it. If that doesn’t reflect our club’s mission statement , we don’t know what does.
Here’s the amazing thing about Jen and Rochelle: they’ve been working on cars for less than a year (although Rochelle has been around cars as a service manager for many years). Yep. Since September, they’ve been on a major learning quest, and boy have they learned: from body work, to suspension and chassis, to (with this experience) rebuilding an engine.
This goes to show what a girl can do when she puts her mind to it. Check out their profiles on the Meet the Girls page.
When Jen and Rochelle drove Red into the shop for our monthly wrench day and surprised Jessie, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room.
As for Jessie and the bad shop? The mechanic who worked on Jessie’s car is no longer employed there and Jessie is actively pursuing getting her money back, even if it means taking action against them.
All the Gasoline Girls are proud to call these three amazing women peers. Thanks Jen, Rochelle, and yes… Jessie… for inspiring us all.
Now let’s get wrenchin’!
as a father of 4 girls it was a pleasure to read such great story and to see the camaraderie between you girls. keep after the shop to get your money back jesse and all you girls rock.
keep up the good work and thank you for being a such positive roll models for the young (and older) ladies.
ruben
Great story and great effort Girls!
I too have had that happen to me just very nice to see a happy ending and to get it back earlier then expected. Keep up all the hard work!!
This is a very inspiring story and I know first hand what these two girls, Rochelle and Jen, can do. I am very proud of them both, these are my girls and I love them both so very much. They will go above and beyond to do things for others. They have a passion for working on cars, you could say they found their calling.
LOVE YOU TWO! MOM
I tell ya, Mom… we all felt an instant connection with these two. They’re fantastic humans! THanks for commenting!
Wow!! That’s inspiration, I hope to be more like you girls, meanwhile I’ll keep working and learning!
A great story from another mom. It is so great to see so much coming from this unique club with vision! Keep up the great work. It is things like this that give our society hope for the future.