Just made Throttle Gals calendar

Doni Langdon at Throttle Gals has produced a calendar of girls who have cool bikes, cars, trucks or even BOATS.  I am honored to be featured as the October Throttle Gal.  Photo was taken in 2010 by Charlie Smith of Posters and More in Harrison, Arkansas.  It is one of the RARE occasions you will EVER see me without a bandanna or knit hat on.

Calendars are $10 each plus shipping and she also has two other ones available- one with guys posing which is really funny and another one of "Junkyard Jewels", old autos sitting and rusting.  I try and support Doni Langdon and Throttle Gals all I can as she is doing something that needs to be done for the female gearheads like me who Do exist!

 To learn more and purchase calendars:  Throttlegals

And here's a preview of the one I am on:

Chris Gibbany in Throttle Gals calendar

All the cars I've loved before........

I have Asperger's which means I only care about certain things.  

So, here's to all the cars I've loved before.....These are all the cars I've owned.  It seems like people only remember me for the Vettes but Camaros were my first true love.   8 cars total- 3 Corvettes and 5 Camaros is the tally that we are at so far.
Here goes:

1978 LT

.

1978 Z-28

Both 78's

1981 Z-28

1975 Stingray

75 Stingray and 81 Corvette

1980 Corvette

80 and 81 Vettes

1986 Z-28

1980 Corvette, 1979 Z-28 and 1981 Corvette.  The 78 Z was in the body shop getting painted.

1981 Corvette

Photo shoot at the local quarry- 1978 Z-28 Camaro

I LOVE the local rock quarry.  It makes such an AWESOME background and the guys there are nice enough to let me come down and shoot my rides and rods.  When certain magazines want NO grass or greenery in the background, well, the local quarry fulfills all of those needs.

Gabe took a week off and I scheduled to go to the quarry to get some shots.  We were originally going to take my 78 Z, his 50 International and his 49 Pan-Shovel (since it is high compression and I can't kick it).  It had just rained a few days earlier and bad weather was coming again, so we ended up only taking the 78 and the 50.  I've had the car over 20 years and if I even think about getting rid of it, I start crying!  Can't help it- it is a part of me- it IS my child!

OMG, my first true love.

My baby

Old Iron Never Dies

Such a show-off

This baby's got 500 TRUE horsepower

Mean Streak- yep

So my first car I bought was a 1978 black Camaro LT.  On it I put "Back in Black".  I got pulled over almost daily and had a stack of warnings and speeding tickets to prove it.  I ended up going to Defensive Driving TWICE. When the judge sentenced me to Defensive Driving, he asked if I had ever been, expecting me to say "NO", and when I said YES, he almost fell out of his chair.  He then told me he would allow me to go again, since obviously I didn't learn anything the first time and that I would be the first person to ever go TWICE!  The second time I went to defensive driving, I showed up late, due to being pulled over and the teacher made me sit up front with him.  How embarrassing.  Especially when he asked why I was late! And even more so when we went outside and my Camaro's frontend was smashed, since I was waiting to get it fixed (not due to my driving but an asshole backing into it in a parking lot).

I wore ALL black almost all the time!

How about my Jack Daniels plate (that I still have to this day)??

I always remembered my license plate cuz I always thought of "SIN 666"- hey I was 19!

Both the 78's I had when I was 19

First magazine I was ever in - 1994 All Chevy magazine

Preview of Throttle Gals magazine

This is a preview of my feature in Throttle Gals magazine.  Looks like they will be coming out next month, shipping on March 11.  I wrote this story back in May- funny how things change even in under a year.  But at the time this was the best story I could write.  It is INDEED my story but I can tell in just a short time that my writing skills have improved DRAMATICALLY, which is a good thing.  Also funny, how my 56 Panhead is now in mock form of the way I envisioned it whereas when I sent pics in of it, it was in my other, more conventional Jammer frame.

I don't know how many pictures they will use, of my 20 years as a gearhead, but I am totally excited for it to get here!  I may not have grown up in a "car/bike family" or had any great money or talents passed on to me, but I have made the best of what I have and created my own interests without any family or friends persuading me in one area or another.  I can truly say that I have chosen this life for me without anyone's influence.

This is my life, this is me and this will always be me!

My story starts on page 14!

The first of the story preview

You can pre-order issue 6 here, for $8 a copy- Throttlegals

New ink- Harley Panhead motor tattoo and gearhead tattoos

A little over a week ago and went and got my Panhead motor put on me permanently.  I am doing a half sleeve and this is where I wanted to start.  I also wanted "Old Iron Never Dies" since that is our motto and we both ride and drive old iron.  (Well, I guess TECHNICALLY my Corvette wouldn't be old IRON but maybe old FIBERGLASS, lol).

All of my tats are motor related and all mean something to ME.  This one and the last one, the piston and chain were both done by the VERY talented and popular Sassy aka Dessa Blackthorn from Tattooz by Sassy in Mountain Home.  I am SO SO glad I found out about her over 6 years ago and won't trust my body to anyone else.

Panhead tattoo- a week old

The first tattoo I ever got was my blue Chevy bowtie.  Gabe also has a blue Chevy bowtie and one of his best friends has a red Chevy bowtie.  I have been Chevy ALL my life.  At 40, I have only ever owned Corvettes and Camaros- owning 5 Camaros- all but the first one being a Z-28, and 3 Corvettes.  My baby, my 78 Z-28, is blue and was the 2nd car I ever bought and I have had it over 20 years.  That was the reason for the blue Chevy bowtie.

My second tattoo was the 1981 Corvette flags.  The 81 model was different than all other models and the 81 was the first Vette I ever bought and I have had it over 13 years.  My goal was to own a Corvette before I turned 30 and  I ended up owning THREE of them before I turned 29!  I ended up selling the other two- a 1975 and a 1980.  The 1975 was a black Stingray that had a 4 speed that I bought and couldn't even drive!    What a way to learn to drive a stick, that's what I say!

My 81 flags tattoo is the same size as the emblem on the front.

Ha, when I still had blond hair!

My third tattoo was the piston and chain tattoo that Sassy drew out and I LOVE  it.  I had it done in black and gray and I don't think I will ever do color again.  I heard the same comments over and over "It is SO perfect it looks like a sticker".  What's funny is now I am hearing the same thing about my Panhead motor tat.  I have won several tattoo contests with the piston and chain, including a 1st place in "Individual Tattoo" in 2009- the first tattoo contest I ever entered..

After it was done in 2006 at Tattooz by Sassy.

Winning 1st place in 2009 in Eureka Springs.

Piston and chain gearhead tattoo

Burnout Contest 1978 Z-28 Camaro 2007

Check it out- Chris Gibbany in Burnout Contest 

First Burnout Contest I entered.  I was the only woman and I came in 5th.  I actually ran out of gas since I had a manual fuel pump.  My car is the blue 78 Z-28.

Throttle Gals- check it out

Ever felt like you were the only woman on Earth who loved the machine?  Have you spent your entire life looking to find others who felt the same way you did when it came to ANYTHING with an engine?   ME TOO!  Well, there is now help and a magazine dedicated to just that very thing.   Doni Langdon along with Latricia (Trish) Horstman are continuing their search for more women who are into the machine.

They started a magazine called Throttle Gals.  It  is all about the woman, along with the ride that she races, drives, off roads and wrenches on. The commonality in the publication is that all the vehicles featured are Hers. The variable is the ride itself. The ride will range from traditional hot rods, to choppers, Jeeps, trucks, different styles of race cars, dirt bikes, etc. This magazine focuses on the woman and her history with the vehicle, or her involvement in the automotive world. 

Trish on her Ironhead "Hellcat"

It is presently being published once a year and issue 6 will be released at Autorama Extreme in February 2013.  (That is the issue that I will be in!!!)

Doni on her Ironhead "The Love Child" that was featured in The Horse magazine

Some of you may remember her from working at The Horse (that's where I first saw her).  Doni got the idea for a women's motor magazine while she was working there and mentioned it to her boss but that didn't go so well. So she did what any gearhead female would do- SHE STARTED HER OWN MAGAZINE!  She then teamed up with Trish Horstman who also is a gearhead who works at Baker Drivetrain.  Both girls ride Ironheads- Trish a 1972 model that she calls "Hellcat" and Doni a 1974 Ironhead, "The Love Child".  Doni is presently working on a 59 Chevy project and Trish has got an old Ford pickup that she is wrenching on.  Just like any gearheads, both girls love four-wheeled machines just as much as they love their bikes.

Doni working under the hood of her new project

When Doni was in high school, she felt out of place. Splitting her time between her printing/ photo classes and wrenching on bikes with her dad, she felt isolated from the other girls in her high school.  Although she knew she couldn't be the only girl who liked to work on cars, there just had to be other females out there with the same interests.  She decided to turn her love of motorcycles and cars into a magazine to empower other women.  Some of the women she has featured are nationally known, such as Athena "Chickee" Ransom who owns and builds bikes at Vagabond Choppers in Florida.  Other women featured are drag racers, bike racers and women who are passionate about the machine.  Besides being founder and "head chick in charge" of Throttle Gals, Doni also owns a printing company, "Milkhouse Press" and works full time. The magazine is also now in Australia. 

Trish grew up around Harleys and when it was time to get her own bike, she built her '72 Ironhead from a basket case with some help from her dad and a couple friends.  She owns a tattoo shop, "My Little Needle Tattoos", has worked at Baker Drivetrain since 2005 and  is one of the Garage Girls along with Sara Liberte and Jody Perewitz. 

Trish working on her Ironhead

Throttle Gals has a very active page on Facebook or you can go to their website-www.throttlegals.com.  They also have a wide variety of clothing just for the Throttle Gal, from "Girls Can Wrench too" T-shirts and cap sleeves to hoodies and "Girls Can Weld too" apparel.  Christmas is coming up and I know EVERY female gearhead would LOVE to have anything from Throttle Gals.   Put your apparel order in, order back issues or preorder for the upcoming issue.  Throttle Gals is a MUST HAVE for  ANY girl or female that could use some empowering or to any current lady gearhead who could just use the motivation.   We women should stick together and support one another- especially when there are still so FEW of us in the industry!

Throttle Gals hoodies for sale to support the magazine

 A couple of videos from Youtube for your viewing pleasure: