Her Toyota is pretty in pink

Jana Bailey and her fiance Scott Gaudet with the 2003 Toyota Corolla in which they've invested plenty of time. Photo by Steve Huffman

Jana Bailey with a couple of the trophies her beloved Corolla has won at area car shows. Photo by Steve Huffman

By Steve Huffman

shuffman@salisburypost.com

Jana Bailey thinks her Toyota Corolla looks pretty in pink.

So, apparently, do a lot of other people.

Bailey, 25, a Mocksville resident, has owned her 2003 Corolla since it was new. For the first three years of its existence, the Toyota was your run-of-the-mill ride, a stock, sound, safe economy car.

But about three years ago, Bailey's fiance, Scott Gaudet, began transforming the car into a real eye-catcher.

"It's definitely a girl's car," Bailey said. "It's come a long ways."

The car is painted pink (but not bright; it's fairly tame as pink paint jobs go) with flames of lace print (it's hard to explain, you'll have to see it). The car's hood is a special-ordered model that sets off the pink.

The Toyota's seats are of the racing variety. Oh, and they're pink, too.

Much of the interior is pink, as are the Corolla's tail lights. The inside of the trunk lid is pink. The heat shield on top of the engine has been painted pink. The motor's wires are wrapped with a pink wire loom.

(We're undoubtedly forgetting some of the colorful details here, but you get the gist of what's going on.)

Not everything about the car is pink. The 17-inch wheels aren't (OK, you're right, the brake calipers are) and the 2,400-watt stereo basically commands attention without worry about hue. There are three televisions in the car (one on each sun visor, another in the back) that display colors other than pink.

The Corolla is equipped with ground effects, neon lights that set the vehicle off at night. In a word, it's hard to miss once the sun sets.

Bailey said the transformation of her car was begun on her 21st birthday when Gaudet — the owner of T 'n' T Car Audio in Mocksville — installed the stereo. Over the years, the work has progressed fairly rapidly.

One of Gaudet's friends, Timmy Earnhardt, the owner of Earnhardt's Paint & Body in Rockwell, painted the vehicle at cost.

Gaudet has done most of the rest of the work himself, which explains why he and Bailey have only about $2,000 invested in the car's extras. If they'd been paying someone to do all the work, the bill would be considerably higher.

Bailey has taken the car to a number of shows in North Carolina and South Carolina. She's won better than 20 trophies.

"When she won that first trophy, that was it," Gaudet said. "If there's a show close by, we try to go to it."

Gaudet, 24, and Bailey plan to marry next April 10. They've been a couple for seven years.

In addition to showing her Corolla, Bailey drives the vehicle almost daily. Its odometer shows 133,000 miles. She even races it occasionally at area drag ways.

"I'm not as good getting off the line as Scott is," Bailey admitted. "But I race against the boys. I ain't worried about it."

She said she's had numerous people ask if she was interested in selling her Toyota. Thanks, Bailey said she replies, but no thanks.

"If I have a child, they'll have to drive it," she said. "Even if it's a boy, he'll just have to get used to pink."