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Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

14-Year-Old Kathryn DiMaria Wants a Car for her Sweet Sixteen… So She’s Building One Herself

by Rebecca Pahle | 4:15 pm, October 25th, 2012


The latest example of kids who are just plain better than you, no offense meant, but really, they are: Kathryn DiMaria, who at 12 years old decided she wanted to build herself a car. Two years later Kathryn has taught herself the ins and outs of automobile mechanics and is well on her way to having her own 1986 Pontiac Fiero in working order in time for her 16th birthday.

When I was 12 I decided I would write the great American sci-fi novel. Needless to say, that hasn’t happened (…yet), but two years after setting her own ambitious goal Kathryn is still at it. She’s 14 years old and already knows how to rebuild a car engine! I’d say something snarky about her making me feel bad about myself, but I don’t want to besmirch her freaking amazingness.

Restoring the Fiero has been something of a family project for the DiMarias: Kathryn’s mom teaches her the more “creative” aspects, like sewing upholstery; her sister is the unofficial team photographer; and her dad, whom Kathryn calls her “information technician,” teaches her how to handle tools and keeps the online Fiero community updated on his daughter’s progress. Kathryn’s restoration project has become something of a cause célèbre online; Fiero enthusiasts she’d never even met sent her tools for her 13th birthday.

Dubbed by Jalopnik “The Girl Who Played with Fieros,” (good one, Jalopnik) Kathryn says that she “[hopes] to get out of the project a lot of learning experiences and something I can take on to help me with my future career of what I hope to be: An engineer.”

Kathryn DiMaria for president!

(via: CNN)

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  • http://www.facebook.com/ashe.samuels Ashe P. Samuels

    This girl is awesome.

  • John Wao

    If she’s going to be President then Stella Ehrhart should be her running mate.

  • Anonymous

    Either I’m getting major Deja Vu, or this site has already had a feature on this young lady!

  • Anonymous

    faith in humanity restored…!

  • Life Lessons

    This girl is AWESOME!

  • http://twitter.com/KennyZ3D Kenny Zaborny

    Pure awesome. Her work has popped up on several car forums I’m on and the response is always positive. She’s tackling every aspect of car restoration where even the most hardened of restorers will farm out portions of the build.

  • Anonymous

    Wow. I feel encouraged and i’m many times older :)

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