Who is Red Car Garage?

Robert Cope on the shop floor, working behind the rear wheel of a silver Range Rover with the wheel removed; a red car cover and tool chests fill the background.

My name is Robert Cope, and I own and operate Red Car Garage. I've been a lifelong car enthusiast, and air-cooled VWs were my first true love. After high school, I spent a few years working at a VW shop in Austin, Texas, where I learned the foundation of my car repair skills. I've been tinkering with cars ever since.

I currently own a few modern classics:

1985 Ferrari 308 GTS QV
1992 Acura NSX
1995 Corvette ZR-1
1998 Lexus SC400
2009 BMW E92 M3

My daily driver is a 2010 Range Rover with the 510hp supercharged 5.0 motor, which is among my favorite vehicles of all time.

Why start a shop?

There are a few reasons why I started Red Car Garage. The simplest is that I enjoy working on cars. I left the business during the dot-com boom and have had a good career in IT since then, but it's now time to wind that career down and get back to what I actually love.

I've also come to realize that a lot of my automotive joy comes from learning about different cars and, ideally, applying that knowledge to keep a car on the road. But it isn't practical to own every car in the world, so rather than try, why not work on other people's cars?

And finally, I got tired of listening to people have terrible experiences with other shops, or simply not have a shop to take their modern classic to. My basic goal is to have a shop that people trust, so they can use and enjoy their cars knowing they have a mechanic they trust to keep them going if they run into issues.

Got a modern classic that needs attention? Email sales@redcargarage.com with the year, make, model, and what's going on.