by Erik Steidl
The majority of Americans have seen the iconic movie The Sandlot. It presents an idyllic picture of blue-collar America in 1962. In one scene, two groups of young boys are facing off and exchanging insults. It’s a hilarious scene with two in particular hurling verbal darts such as “You mix your Wheaties with your momma’s toejam!” and “You bob for apples in the toilet . . . and you like it!” at each other. The verbal jousting is all well and good until Porter, one of the boys, shouts, “You play ball like a girl!”
This insult is simply too much for the other kid to take. This crosses some kind of imaginary line, and suddenly the exchange takes on a totally different tone. Their faces drop, the crowd goes silent, and the second boy asks incredulously, “What did you just say?” as if he cannot believe that Porter would insult him on such a level. Having his baseball ability compared to a girl’s, it seems, is the ultimate insult (Evans).
This example from The Sandlot is silly, I know. However, the truth remains that women have for a long time been forced to overcome extra obstacles and conquer additional challenges when it comes to earning the same respect as men in business. We even have a term just for this disparity: the glass ceiling. Some industries are tougher about this than others. The automotive industry is one of them. According to Data USA, men make up 97.9% of the workforce in the automotive repair industry. They are also paid significantly more . . . almost $9,000 extra per year, in fact (“Automotive”).
So why this disparity? Can women simply not build and repair cars as well as men? Well, the owner and technicians at Kandi’s Rods and Kustoms in Ashland, Ohio would say that is ridiculous. An (almost) all-women staff at the shop services, repairs, builds and restores cars at an elite level. The owner, Kandi Blaze, was awesome enough to take time out from running her business to answer our questions about the life of women in the auto industry.
CIF: I feel like car restoration is a career that you have to love to get into. I mean, it’s not like accounting or nursing that you might pick because it’s a solid career choice. So, my first question is why cars? What is it about building custom cars and restoring them that makes you get out of bed in the morning, excited to go to work?
Kandi: Racecar spelled backwards is racecar. That’s my life. It’s a mad passion that was embedded into my DNA literally from my conception. I was conceived at the local drag strip.
I knew by the time I was four years old, playing with my Hot Wheels cars and racing them in and out of the hot rod shops and dragways that I built with my wood blocks, that this was going to be my life. It’s not the money that entices me; it’s the disease or passion for wanting to recreate, modify, restore or put my twist on a little slice of American automotive history. I’ve tried to walk away once before in my life, and I couldn’t. I’d work every day doing this for free if I had to because I simply need to lay my hands upon antique machinery to keep my soul happy.
CIF: Did you work in an auto shop somewhere before striking out on your own? How big of a leap of faith was it to do that initially?
Kandi: I’ve been in and out of garages and hot rod shops my entire life. When I was a very small child, my dad co-owned a repair shop with his brother. He later retired from that and opened an automotive paint and supply store. I worked there as a teen and young adult. Not only did I custom match and mix automotive paint, but I assisted and helped other shops in learning and spraying the product. I later worked for a dealership that sent me to a couple of auto shows to promote their business.
When I decided I wanted to open up Kandi’s, I did it with nothing but the promise of a job. I didn’t have the first month’s rent, but I knew that if I could have a shop and people could see the quality work being done – let alone by a mostly female team – I was sure I could make it . . . or at least die trying. I’m still not sure where I’m at on that one!
CIF: Do you have a favorite car that you’ve built or restored in your shop?
Kandi: The hardest would have to be a ‘55 Chevy Bel Air that we did. It was a basket case. We had to make metal-fabricated extensions and side pieces just to create something to adhere a floor to.
My favorite was a huge custom ‘47 Cadillac we created; now it’s in a museum in Missouri.
CIF: What is your absolute dream car to own?
Kandi: Hands down, a 1960 Chevy Impala. It is and always has been my dream car, and one day I will have one to build and paint how I’ve always visualized.
CIF: I absolutely love that your business is an all-woman shop. Did you set out to do that from the start, and is that something that you’re very passionate about?
Kandi: Yes and no. Technically we are not “all-woman” but mostly women-based. The shop foreman and instructor, Thomas Thompson, is an older gentleman who’s been in the industry since the early 1980s. He and I used to work together for my father. His mom was a single mom raising four kids on her own in the 1970s and was into cars herself. She actually had a ‘72 Chevelle SS when the kids were growing up. Thomas understands the importance of encouraging younger generations in this industry, especially women who show an interest but perhaps have been told it isn’t for them.
My dad, Ken “Coop” Cooper (1942-2009), embedded into me that I could do anything I put my mind to. We would frequent Dragway 42, and I would watch Shirley Muldowney in all of her glory race a beautiful drag car. It wasn’t that common to see women racing in that era so, to me, Shirley was like Wonder Woman!
CIF: Do you ever feel like you get pushback being a woman in a business that is stereotypically male? How do you usually handle that?
Kandi: Absolutely! I usually handle it with a smile on my face and a little “Go . . .” Wait, I’m not sure if I can say that here. Hehe. Seriously, though, we see that a lot. I have actually been called the most anal-retentive person in this business because I strive to go above and beyond in our quality and craftsmanship. We are extremely educated not only in what we are doing with restoration, overhauls and customizing cars but in the general automotive history, too.
As women, we have to be better than every single shop out there that is run by men. Because those same men want to pick us apart and try to prove that we shouldn’t be doing this. We get it all the time. My girls have welding splatters on their hands, scars from stitches doing metal repairs and fabrication work . . . we have even caught our hair on fire.
And yet at the end of the day we are still asked, “So, who actually builds your cars?” Some people simply have a hard time believing that women can do the same caliber of work as men. Science has proven time after time that women have more patience, they see more details, and they simply give more attention to detail. So why wouldn’t several of us gearheads want to customize and build hot rods?
Unfortunately, we have story after story of resistance, egos, male chauvinism . . . but in the end my girls know that is why they have to be better than anyone else in the industry. They have to prove to themselves and the rest of the world that we can be the best of the best, despite what we have above or below on our bodies.
CIF: What can we do to engage the next generation of women in cars and car restoration?
Kandi: To get women or the younger generation involved starts from the time they are small. We need to take our kids to the racetrack, the dragstrip, the car museums. For me, it started with Hot Wheels cars; now kids have Power Wheels that they can ride around on at four and five years old.
This is how it starts.
It starts out by hanging with your grandpa or your dad or your mom, or just someone in your family who has a passion to work on and to be around classic cars.
CIF: How can our readers find out more about Kandi’s Rods and Kustoms and the services that you offer?
Kandi: Our Facebook page is popular, since we post a variety of shop and event images on it. The team gets some amazing opportunities to travel as guests, and we like to share those adventures with our audience. We also have a bunch of our build albums on there. Our Facebook page is: www.facebook.com/KandisKustoms. We recently started a YouTube channel with a minute-long introduction video that is super cheesy, just like us! We post those weekly as well on our Facebook page.
Again, thanks so much to Kandi for answering our questions and for just being awesome at creating amazing cars for us to enjoy. I think it’s time for us to regard the phrase “You build cars like a girl” as a compliment.
Want to learn more? Visit/check out:
- “Automotive Service Technicians & Mechanics.” Data USA, datausa.io/profile/soc/automotive-service-technicians-mechanics#demographics.
- Evans, David Mickey, director. The Sandlot. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, 1993.