C. Brown’s Autobody and Hot Rod Shop is open for business and offers a multidimensional take on autobody repairs. Located at 2185 Highway 59 between Niverville and Île-des-Chênes, the shop offers all the traditional autobody repairs and services. But they also provide custom body work for the hot rod enthusiasts.
“We’ve had people that want to make minor changes to their cars, and they are usually hot rods,” says owner Carol Brown. “[We might also take] somebody that wants to add a hood scoop to their car. Instead of going to Canadian Tire to pick up this fake hood scoop and stick it on their car, we can actually mould one into the original hood so that it is the real deal. [We can also make other] minor changes to the body—add something, take something away. It’s creative hot rodding.”
Custom work isn’t the only thing that sets Brown’s shop apart. To her knowledge, it’s the only Manitoba autobody shop owned and operated by a female drag racer. A female autobody apprentice also helps round out her staff of four full-time and two part-time employees and certainly makes her business unique in what’s historically been considered a man’s trade.
Brown’s love for fast cars began as a child.
“I was born and raised in a neighbourhood where there were a lot of fast cars: the Challengers, the Chargers, the ‘Cudas,” Brown says. “I had more interest in the cars than I did in having a tea party with my friends. It’s definitely my passion.”
As a young woman, she began to collect her own fixer-uppers, teaching herself the tenets of autobody repair on the street fronting her home. Today she’s the owner of a 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat in a unique paint shade she likes to call “plum-crazy purple.” The Hellcat is one of few vehicles factory-equipped for extreme speed. It comes with two key fobs. The street fob provides an engine performance of up to 500 horsepower. With the racing fob, she has access to 700 horsepower.
For the past six years, she has been a regular at the Interlake Dragway near Gimli and sits on the committee of the Drag Racers Association of Manitoba.
“I can go 126 miles per hour,” Brown says. In metric, that’s 203 kilometres per hour. “I like to go fast. I can probably count on one hand how many female drivers there are [at the track]. My kids’ friends say, ‘You have the coolest mom ever!’ I just love a challenge.”
Brown says that it’s taken some tenacity and guts to prove herself worthy in this male-dominated sport. But she’s come out a winner on more than one occasion and has even received a few awards. Now, with her experience in the autobody trade, she can walk the walk and talk the talk.
Brown got her start in the autobody business in 2016 when she became partner in Yegros’ Custom Hot Rods in Steinbach. She eventually bought out her partner and began actively seeking a larger shop to grow her business.
“This place just kind of dropped into our lap and we couldn’t pass it up,” Brown says of the former GDS Autobody shop. “It’s got great accessibility right on the highway.”
She opened the doors for the first time in January, and on April 25 they celebrated their official grand opening. Shop manager Gerald Blair assists her in running the crew, and Blair’s wife often steps in to give Brown a break from reception duties. Admittedly, Brown is still happiest when she’s in the shop, “getting dirty with the boys.” Not to overlook her female apprentice, Kissy, who’s got some spunk of her own.
“She’s a bundle of energy,” Brown says. “She has everything that we could possibly want in an employee.”
While Manitoba Public Insurance jobs will remain their primary bread and butter, Brown anticipates being able to take on about one custom autobody job per year. On top of regular body work, C. Brown’s also offers safety inspections, wheel alignments, oil changes, and windshield replacement. Brown anticipates having regular specials on an ongoing basis.
“We like to take our customer service a step further,” Brown adds. “We offer courtesy cars and shuttle services. [We provide] a friendly, non-threatening atmosphere. I know for myself that I’ve walked into place and felt intimidated and treated differently because I’m a woman. I don’t do that here regardless of whether you’re male, female, grandma, or some teenager off the street. I’ll treat everybody equally.”
While she’s had a number of other professions over the years, this one suits her passions better than anything she’s done before.
“I love this atmosphere,” Brown concludes. “My shop is like my baby. I wouldn’t see myself anywhere else.”