CLASSIC MECHANIC

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This article was published 17/03/2017 (3095 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brad Johnson has a difficult time saying goodbye to classic vehicles.

Whether it’s his reluctance to retire from his work as an auto mechanic or the words he chooses to describe classic vehicles that have been junked (they’ve “gone to car heaven”), his passion for automobiles of the nostalgic variety runs deep.

Some people don’t understand how one can attach such fondness to inanimate objects, he said in his downtown-based garage, Brad’s Classic Auto Services, earlier this week.

“But you can, and you do,” he said. “I say it’s a disease, but I’m not looking for a cure, either. I’m quite comfortable living with it.”

Johnson’s lifelong interest in vehicles dates back to his childhood, when as an eight-year-old he watched his uncles show off their own classic vehicles, including a Model T and another vehicle, possibly a Whippet.

His uncles’ passion transferred over to him, and at age 15 Johnson bought a ’55 Ford Customline.

It stopped running after a day, forcing the teenager to get cracking on upping his skills in automotive mechanics. On the plus side, the vehicle’s inactive state prevented him from driving it prior to earning his driver’s licence.

He put many miles on the Ford during the subsequent few years, before selling his half of the car to his brother in order to help fund the purchase of his next vehicle.

The ’55 has since “gone to car heaven.”

At the age of 19, Johnson purchased a 1963 1/2 Ford Galaxie 500 XL — the same model NASCAR used during a very successful year at the racetracks.

Johnson still has this vehicle and puts on about 7,000 miles per year driving about with his wife Linda.

Meanwhile, Johnson’s hobby transferred over into his professional life.

His first related job was as a gas station attendant at Brandon’s North Hill, where he pumped gas prior to transitioning over into repairs. His education was furthered at a dealership prior to opening up his own shop, Twin Service, with his brother in 1982.

Johnson subsequently bought out his brother and considered retiring in 2012 due to a needed life-change, but decided against saying goodbye to the profession just yet.

Instead, he refocused the general automotive shop toward the repair of classic vehicles only, specifically models built between the 1940s and 1970s.

As such, he believed, he could continue to work and enjoy “every minute of every day,” which he said has been exactly what he has been able to accomplish.

He’d initially given this effort a five-year lifespan, but now that the five years are up at age 65, he’s still not ready to say goodbye to the auto shop.

Unable to remember the last time he woke up in the morning and didn’t feel like going to work, Johnson said that he fully recognizes how rare his professional satisfaction is.

At present, his shop houses a ’64 Buick Riviera, ’55 Ford Thunderbird and ’68 Ford Galaxie 500 XL he’s fixing up for clients.

The shop also houses the frame of a ’63 1/2 Ford Galaxie as the early beginnings of what he anticipates will be a three-year project to rebuild the vehicle from the frame up.

This isn’t his original ’63 1/2 Ford Galaxie. That one’s at home. This one’s a brand new beast, which he hopes to make even better than the one he’s had since age 19.

This one will stop faster, handle more smoothly and will get greater fuel mileage, at 30 miles per gallon to his current vehicle’s 12.

While this project reaffirms the nostalgic influence that underpins much of his work, Johnson also lives by the idea that any day he hasn’t learned something new is a wasted day.

On occasion, he dabbles outside of his comfort zone, including the recent repair of a Ford Model A — a vehicle built between 1927 and 1931. After fixing it up to his client’s specifications, he had to road test it, right?

That, alone, was a learning experience, with vehicles of that age requiring an entire process to be undertaken in order to run properly, or at all. A lever adjusted its spark timing, another lever adjusted its throttle setting and a manual choke had to be considered.

Classic vehicles all have their quirks, unlike today’s functional but characterless, homogenized vehicles, Johnson said.

Older vehicles have a “unique character,” he said, adding that “they’re all an amazing work of art in their own right.”

Servicing about 100 vehicles per year, Johnson has remained busy keeping these works of art on the street.

He’s a rare breed, with many newcomers to the automotive repair trade unaccustomed to older technology and have never even touched a carburetor.

With countless people in Brandon and Westman having squirrelled classic vehicles away in their garages, there’s a steady stream of people who require help keeping them in running order.

When he’s not working at his downtown shop, Johnson is likely tinkering away at his home-based shop, driving classic vehicles with Linda or meeting with the local classic automobile appreciation club, Strokers Social Club.

While in 2012 he gave his automotive repair efforts another five years, Johnson is no longer guessing how much longer he’d keep at it.

“I don’t see any reason why I can’t continue doing it for another few years,” he said with a shrug, “but, I’ll see how it plays out.”

» tclarke@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @TylerClarkeMB