Today we’d like to introduce you to Alicia Couto.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
In 2015, my fathers’ business partner began to have health issues and needed to take a step back from the business they had created together since 1980. It was a British car restoration and repair business that up until that point I had never taken too much interest in. Having just completed my degree in business and psychology my dad thought I could be the perfect fit to come in and run the office of the British European Auto and I thought why not? At first, I was working in the office, making up job sheets and answering phones but soon after I began to make my way into the shop and follow my dad around learning about the many different makes and models of cars we worked on and all the different things we could repair and restore on these classic British sports cars. The first thing that caught my interest was carburetors because if I’m being honest in the beginning I believed that to work on cars you had to be super strong and able to move mountains because that’s what the job would require. So naturally carburetors were the least intimidating thing in my mind because I could actually hold them in my hands and disassemble them without too much strength necessary and rebuild them like a 3d puzzle. In rebuilding carburetors, I found a new passion I didn’t know existed within me and that was the passion to fix things that were broken. After rebuilding a pair of carburetors and noticing a difference in the way the car runs, I was absolutely hooked. It wasn’t long before I was no longer a fixture in the office anymore and I began apprenticing my father full time. He taught me everything from rebuilding engines and gearboxes to rebuilding braking systems and distributors. My dad also taught me that it’s not about having the most muscle it’s about finding the right tool to use and leveraging it to your benefit. You don’t have to be a man to do manly things, you just have to think and find the right tool to get the job done. Now a decade later I can take a car that has been sitting 20 plus years and get it running and driving. I’m always learning something new on a daily basis and that keeps my job exciting, but the absolute best part of my work is that when I leave at the end of the day, I feel accomplished when I’ve fixed something that wasn’t working before and it’s a feeling that really never gets old for me.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Working in a predominately male industry has not always been easy but I’m so lucky to work with the people that I do because they are always so helpful and willing to teach me things that I never knew. Sometimes I do get the odd customer that will assume that because of my gender that I couldn’t possibly know about fixing cars but overall most people think it’s really cool that a girl can fix a car. The biggest struggle in my job is that old cars are extremely time consuming and really put up a fight against being fixed. Even when you do everything right a new part can fail you and your back at square one. It can be really demoralizing at times but you just have to keep showing up and continuing to try and find the right fix whether it be modifying a new part or completely fabricating something from scratch to get the job done. The cars we work on are upwards of 60 years old in most cases, and over the years they’ve seen many different mechanics, and many strange things have been done to them and it’s our job to restore them back to as original as possible while making them fully functional and safe to be driven in the ever-changing roads of Los Angeles.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
British European Auto is a family owned and operated classic European auto repair and restoration shop that opened in 1980 in San Pedro, California. We work on classic Jaguar’s, Austin Healey’s, MG’s, Triumph’s, Aston Martin’s, and Rolls Royces. We pride ourselves on never cutting corners and doing things the right way while having good and honest communication with our customers.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
I feel the most important characteristic to my success has been the ability to think outside of the box. You have to be willing to try new things in different applications because sometimes the answer to the problem isn’t always the same. Every car we see is completely different because over the years they have all been modified in one way or another and what works for one car may not work for another even if it’s the exact same make and model. The other most important characteristic that has led to my success is the ability to keep showing up. This job is not easy and it will kick you when your down but you just have to be resilient and never give up and know that you will get there in the end.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.britishcar.la
- Instagram: @britisheuropeanauto
