Angela Grossmann-Roewe
Contributing Writer

Jeanne Lachmiller isn't your typical woman, although meeting her in the office or on the street, you'd never know otherwise. She's what many would call a gearhead with a true love for both vintage and hot rod cars. She has three babies that she cares for and takes much pride in - a 1985 Trans Am, 1986 Monte SS, and her pride and joy - a non-metallic burgundy 1933 Ford 3 Three-Window Coupe. All are near and dear to her heart, and represent the good and bad times of her life.

In the daytime, you'll find Jeanne in business suits, heels, and skirts at the office where she works as an executive administrative assistant, and at night dressed down to represent her passion and hobby - restoring and showing her vintage car collection.

She says she has always loved cars, even as a child.

"I'm not sure if it was because my dad used to work on cars, and I spent a lot of time watching and talking to him about it, or if it is just part of who I am as an individual," she said. "My mother was ill often so I spent a lot of time with my dad just sitting in the garage. That is what we did together."

She says her parents even knew she had an obsession with muscle cars after they gave her a teenager's gift of freedom and she refused it. In the mid 1970s when Jeanne received her driver's license her parents handed the keys to a lime green Mercury Montego that Jeanne said was so awful there was no way she would be seen it. "I said I'd rather walk than drive it," she laughs.

She saved her money and purchased a 1984 brand new Chevrolet Camaro keeping it for just a year until the 1985 Pontiac Trans Am caught her eye. She still owns the Trans Am and shows it locally along with her 1986 Monte SS. But, in the summer of 2001, her longtime dream came true when she finally began planning the car of her dreams - the 1933 Ford coupe. Bought in pieces as a body kit, little did she know this car would later be her therapy to get through a very tragic time in her life.

"I always knew I wanted a 1933 Ford," she said. "My dad always talked about riding through the farm fields with his father in a 1933 Ford, and it was the red ZZ Top car on the cover of their most infamous album."

At the time she and her husband Scott were ready to jump in but Scott was soon after diagnosed with a brain tumor, so the project sat. After his death in 2003, she was more determined to finish the project and nothing stood in her way. She hired Tolle Road Customs in Mount Vernon and sat down with them to specifically state what I wanted in the car - from the bumper to the engine block.

"There were battles because it was the first time they ever built a car for a woman, or so they said," Jeanne said. "And I think they thought that I didn't know what I was talking about, but I did, and after awhile they figured that out."

The Ford was completed in 18 months and Jeanne couldn't wait to show it off. She began showing it locally and in national competitions. Her partner Kevin Walk goes along for the ride showing his hot rod queens. It has won Jeanne many awards, including the 2010 NMCA World Street Finals Platinum designation, and attention for there are only a handful of women with her dedication to this sector.

"I've been to shows where there are over 2,000 cars and only a handful of women representing them," she said. "It makes me proud to get out there so the men who think women don't belong in this 'sport' realize women can do it, too. Women can do anything. But, the best part is the great friends I've made along the way, and that this car acts as a tribute to the two men in my life that meant the world to me - my father (who died in 1992) and my husband. They'd love this car as much as I do."