Stroke a female auto! (6)
I believe the answer is:
caress
'stroke' is the definition.
(I know that caress is a type of stroke)
'a female auto' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'a' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'cress' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for caress that I've seen before include "Gentle loving touch" , "Stroke affectionately" , "Stroke, fondle" , "Scares with loving stroke" , "Gentle stroke" .)