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This is pretty luscious
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Hybrid auto shop has Luscious story

NEWS
Published 12/11/2008

by Heather Cassell

Luscious Garage's working manager and hybrid mechanic Michou Olivera, left, checks out a car with garage owner and lead technician Carolyn Coquillette. Photo: Sarah Lyon

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Two local women with their tools have just added "calendar girl" to their resume.

Luscious Garage owner Carolyn Coquillette and working manager and hybrid mechanic Mishou Olivera grace the 2009 Female Mechanics Calendar for the months of June and October, respectively.

It has been an amazing year for the hybrid-only auto shop that looks more like a showroom than a garage. Since opening in 2007 it has received the San Francisco Bay Guardian's Small Green Business of the Year award this year and has garnered a great deal of media attention not only due to its green ways, but also because it is one of a few woman-owned and operated garages, according to Coquillette and Sarah Lyon, publisher and photographer of the calendar. The garage will host the calendar's release party this weekend.

Located on a quiet South of Market side-street in San Francisco, artwork lines the walls of the garage and paper lanterns and plants hang above hybrid cars raised while the mechanics work on them; a piano waits to be played in the small sitting area at the front desk. The garage is eerily squeaky clean. Upstairs there is another waiting room filled with plush couches and bookshelf-lined walls.

But an auto shop it is – the garage of the future. When out lesbian Coquillette, 30, opened Luscious Garage it was the first hybrid-only maintenance shop in the Bay Area. Inspired by the hybrid car, she decided to depart from the typical garage culture.

"The fact that we were going to base the shop on hybrids meant that we could try to depart from auto repair the same way that the hybrid does from your regular car," Coquillette said. The shop maximizes technology and the environment is considered with every decision the mechanics or Coquillette make. "We use the hybrid as our inspiration," she said.

Coquillette recognized that in a car culture people aren't going to give up their automobiles, but that the hybrid "apologizes for the fact that it burns gas" by reducing its use of oil. She said she sees a "duality" in the minds of owners' perceptions of a car being both a "necessity and yet still having issues."

"We really don't brag about being green," Coquillette said about being a green certified and operating business (she recently installed solar panels on the roof of the garage, recycles everything, and purchases as many reusable products as possible). "Let's be really honest about the damage on the environment ... and try to reduce that impact."

Coquillette, the sole owner of Luscious Garage, estimated the auto shop earned $170,000 in its first year of operation.

Coquillette expects business to grow as the automotive industry continues to move toward energy independence and improved technology. She recently hired another mechanic, John Peters.

Within the past year a handful of other hybrid-only garages have opened and some existing garages are starting to extend services to hybrids in the Bay Area, Coquillette said.

More than just a garage

"I see a huge amount of potential for us to expand elsewhere," said Olivera, 39, a self-described "big butch girl" who was born to work on cars. Her hand drawn birth announcement that shows a baby in a hotrod basinet – flames and all – welcoming the "new addition to the Olivera pit crew" hangs above her workstation. One of the garage's goals is to appeal to female car owners, Olivera said.

"We are trying to create an environment where women can come and get their car fixed and feel comfortable and confident that they are not going to get taken for a ride," said Olivera, recognizing "there are a lot of women who own cars – more than you think" and their occasional frustrations when they take their cars to some garages.

Olivera, who often helped her father prepping Corvettes to race at Laguna Seca raceway in Monterey, California until she started working on her own cars in high school, has a degree in computer science, which helped her quickly adapt to hybrids, she said.

"That gives me a huge edge when troubleshooting these cars, because I know kind of how to think about how it all comes together," Olivera said.

Gail Colombo, who has been bringing her 2006 Toyota Prius to Luscious Garage for nearly a year, is one of the many women who had a tale about garage troubles.

"They treated me like [it was] 1950," said Colombo, 54, owner of www.catfaeries.com, about the dealer mechanics when she attempted to have them fix a rattle in her dashboard.

When someone casually mentioned Luscious Garage to Colombo she decided to check it out.

Coquillette and Olivera didn't find the rattle after a long investigation, but they alleviated the problem by placing yoga mats beneath the dashboard, Colombo said.

"I just trust them implicitly with my car," Colombo said. "No matter what the problem with your hybrid is, they are going to solve it with humor and compassion."

Dip Ghuman, another customer, agreed with Colombo about Luscious' customer service.

"It's the most incredible customer service I've ever come across," said Ghuman, 26, who bought his 2000 Honda Insight from the original owner nearly a year ago.

Ghuman, a business development executive of Lonely Planet Publications, estimated that he logs more than 600 miles a week but didn't know where to take his car for repair when he first bought it. Slightly distrustful of mechanics due to past experiences, he said, when he found Luscious Garage online he was hooked within one phone call.

"I'm very, very satisfied," Ghuman said. "I get that peace of mind going to them."

"It's one of those local treasures," Colombo added. "It's so unique. The fact that there is art that changes and she has occasional parties ... it has me thinking that my mechanic is somebody that is more than a person with a wrench."

An accidental calling

Coquillette started her career in auto mechanics when her car broke down and she realized she didn't have a clue how to fix it.

"I thought boy, this is pretty stupid that I don't know anything about my car," Coquillette said.

The physics and English major decided to take auto shop night courses, at the same time her nonprofit career in Detroit, Michigan collapsed and a stint as an eighth grade English teacher made her think about a career change, she said.

"I just got my ass handed to me. I just got brutalized by these eighth graders," Coquillette said. Then her auto shop instructor offered her a position as an assistant.

"That's when I decided that I needed to take a break and maybe just work in coveralls," she said.

Coquillette found that garage life suited her.

"I thought it was just really great that you could help someone with a car," Coquillette said about discovering mechanics. "[It] came in broken [and] it left fixed ... I hadn't been exposed to trades and then realizing how cool it is to have a skill, take it with you, and not just be a cog in the wheel that really changed my world view."

Surprisingly, Detroit wasn't the place for auto mechanics and especially to feed Coquillette's desire to learn more about hybrid cars. California is ranked number one in hybrid car sales, with San Francisco trailing Los Angeles, according to a hybridcars.com study published in August.

Recognizing California as the hybrid center, Coquillette packed up and moved to the Bay Area in 2003, she said. She temporarily landed at Out West Garage, a Petaluma-based woman-owned garage, before opening Luscious.

"She's a brilliant technician and a hoot to work with," said Maria Do Ceu, Out West Garage owner.

The 2009 Female Mechanics Calendar release party takes place Saturday, December 13. Calendar publisher and photographer Lyon will be present; the party is at Luscious Garage, located at 459 Clementina Street from 4 to 7 p.m. The show is free and calendars are $20 each. An exhibit will remain on display through January.

"I'm really excited, because it's actually in the garage," Lyon said. "It's a great way to combine the artwork with the shop – it's totally unique."

For more information about Luscious Garage, visit http://lusciousgarage.com and for more information about the calendar, visit www.sarahlyon.com/calendar.