SUBARU REPAIR

CLARKS AUTO
Keeping your Subaru Happy and Humming

By Richard Markosian | Photography by Dung Hoang

“I HAD QUIT A JOB ON FRIDAY AND I OWNED A SHOP ON A MONDAY.”

Alan Boyer didn’t plan it that way, but when the owners of Clarks Auto finally called him up in 2009, he didn’t hesitate. Raised in a blue-collar St. Louis neighborhood, Boyer had spent his childhood in garages, learning how things worked by watching his dad fix wrecked cars. He wasn’t looking for a desk job — he was looking for a corner he could rebuild.

Clarks Auto had been around since the 1950s. It still ran on handwritten invoices and pump-top credit card readers. But the bones were solid. Alan and his wife, who ran Schofield Tax Service across the street, made the deal. Within days, they’d installed a computer, brought in modern tools, and started the slow work of turning an aging shop into a high-performing operation.

Clarks Auto now specializes in Subarus — a decision driven by observation, not branding. “We just looked up one day and half of everything we worked on was Subaru,” Alan said. “It made sense to focus.” 

With specialization came precision. “I believe in mastery. I believe in a 10,000 rule — you’re not great until you’ve done something 10,000 times.”

The more Subaru engines they handled, the more problems they saw with third-party rebuilds. Engines sourced from out of state or overseas often failed. Alan decided to take matters into his own hands. “We had some other failures and it was kind of driving me crazy,” he said. “We can do this better.”

That mindset led to the creation of Blue Star Works, a dedicated machine shop just a few blocks from Clarks. There, Alan and his team rebuild Subaru engines in-house and manufacture key components themselves. “Now, if a customer needs engine work, it’s all done locally. We control the quality, and we can get in there and fix it immediately if anything goes wrong.”

Alan isn’t just keeping a shop alive — he’s restoring something deeper. “The vocational education track gave us a way to take care of ourselves,” he said. “And I think we can get that back.”