Glamorous model turned mechanic details bad behavior of men on the job

A model who opened her own car repair garage has revealed how becoming a mechanic while also flaunting her girly side has led to her receiving tons of backlash, death threats – and claimed it even resulted in her facing sexual assault from customers and rival repairmen. But Peyton Cicconi (pictured), 25, is determined to continue in the field, which she said saved her from the depression and anxiety that she suffered throughout her childhood.

Peyton, from Avalon, California, said she became interested in cars from an early age, after she started playing racing video games like Midnight Club. While she initially considered pursing mortuary science and pathology, everything changed at age 19, when she got her first car and started attending car meetups with her boyfriend. She soon fell in love with the idea of fixing vehicles, and forked out roughly $174,000 to launch her own mechanic business.

But she loves to embrace her girly side too; aside from fixing cars, the 25-year-old is also a successful model, and she often dresses belly shirts, mini skirts, and heels at work; she also has bright purple hair and 27 tattoos. However, Peyton admitted that trying to combine her two passions has resulted in a lot of negative responses. She said people often ‘don’t believe her’ or ‘take her seriously’ when she says she’s a ‘mechanic’ due to her feminine style, and that many have told her that it ‘isn’t a job for a woman.’

She also claimed that customers have ‘cat called her’ and that she even faced ‘sexual assault’ while working as a mechanic. ‘People don’t believe me when I tell them I am a mechanic,’ she said. ‘Especially when I’m dressed up in something glamorous or when I am wearing high heels. Old men can’t believe that I’m a mechanic. It’s funny to see their faces once I start talking about cars. I’ve faced sexual assault so many times in mechanic shops. I’ve received every comment in the book. I’ve been cat-called. I’ve been told I’m too small, that I’m too weak. People say, “This isn’t a job for a woman.”‘

She continued: The majority of men don’t take you seriously until you prove it to them. I’ve gotten death threats. Men leave mean comments on my posts online. They try to bully me. Men are threatened by a woman who can do everything herself. Men don’t support me simply because I do modeling and I am a mechanic. Surprisingly, many people in the automotive industry don’t like tattoos and still look down on them. I’ve faced lots of judgement and assumptions.’ Peyton, who has posed for goth clothing bands Killstar and Vera’s Eyecandy, explained that she learned from a young age that gender shouldn’t hold you back, since she said she comes from a long line of inspiring and strong women.

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Her family moved from Italy to the USA in the 1970s, and she was raised on a small island, called Catalina, off the coast of Southern California. ‘The women I grew up around showed me that it didn’t matter what job you did, as long as you could get it done,’ she gushed. ‘My mom did construction, bartending, sailed boats and was a fisherwomen. My aunt made pasta and wine from scratch and rode motorcycles. My aunt owned her own business on the island doing upholstery on cars and building her own house from the ground up.’

And while the negative response have certainly been disheartening for Peyton, who now lives in Avalon with her boyfriend and cat, she is determined to stick it out to prove to other women that they can accomplish their dreams.

‘I am an advocate for fair treatment of women in the industry and I’ve had many women come forward to me,’ she explained. ‘They tell me that they have stayed quiet about the abuse in the industry due to fear of retaliation and being banished from the local community.’

Peyton explained that many women have approached her and told her that they too want to pursue careers in automobile repair because of her. She said: ‘I didn’t realize how many people have been inspired by my confidence and bravery. Both men and women both message me on Instagram to tell me that they have been inspired by my ambition. I’ve had many women tell me that they started working on cars because they saw me dressed up in my glamorous clothes, working, and felt like they had representation and someone to motivate them.

‘Being a mechanic and working on cars has helped me gain my confidence back. I now fully express myself and don’t care about peoples’ opinions of me anymore. My car events and my mechanic workspace will always be a safe place for women. I’m so grateful I can inspire others and get new people into mechanics,’ she said.

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