Hotrod provides avenue to new experiences

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This article was published 03/02/2022 (1511 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

While Barb Balanyk is an avid member of the classic car community in Westman, it didn’t always used to be this way.

In the 1980s, the Brandon resident admits, she knew next to nothing about automotive restoration and didn’t believe she could rebuild a car from scratch.

But that all changed when her partner, Rob Rose, surprised her one Christmas with the husk of a 1934 Ford pickup truck, which would provide a reliable source of fond memories in the decades to come.

But in order to get there, Balanyk was tasked with bringing this vintage vehicle back from the brink, which was an intimidating feat at first given her inexperience and the truck’s decrepit state.

“It’s an overwhelming project to begin with, because we’re talking about a rusty truck that sat in a field. We had to install a brand-new box that was built in the shop,” she said on Wednesday. “So the whole thing was … a step-by-step process.”

Luckily, Balanyk’s willingness to learn combined with her partner’s pre-existing knowledge of automotive restoration made for a productive dynamic inside the shop.

“It worked out really well because I don’t mind getting dirty. I don’t mind working with tools,” she said. “And Rob always encouraged me. I could look extremely overwhelmed … but he was very patient with helping me using tools that I wasn’t too familiar with.”

After four years of hard work, the pair finally got the truck on the road in 1990, with enough modern modifications to officially label it a hotrod.

Not only did they install a 350 Chevrolet motor to make the 1934 Ford highway-worthy, but the body was also massively changed in order to maximize the vehicle’s safety

“The cab is chopped four inches, the box itself is shortened by, I believe, 10 inches,” Balanyk said. “So it was meant to be a hotrod from the get-go.”

With all these pieces in place, Balanyk and Rose immediately hit the road in their modified 1934 Ford truck, travelling all over Canada.

By 1995, Balanyk discovered a new way to travel in style by joining up with two women from Winnipeg who also drove hotrods of their own creation.

They called themselves the “Lipstick Girls.”

Balanyk recalls how the group garnered many interesting looks in those early days, since not many people were used to seeing a trio of women cruise by in their classic cars without any male co-pilots.

“It’s interesting how they approached us and sort of had a hard time believing that nobody was following us, men in another vehicle,” she said.

“They’re just pleasantly surprised that we had the wherewithal to do this, because they say ‘What if it breaks down? What if you get a flat? What if there’s an issue?’ And we say ‘what would you do if you had a flat? It’s the same thing.’”

Balanyk brought this renewed sense of confidence to a couple of additional automotive restorations in the intervening years, where she was able to add onto everything she learned rebuilding her 1934 Ford truck.

The new challenges include a 1964 Rambler and a 1930 Model A Roadster, which weren’t nearly as daunting as her first project.

“It’s not overwhelming like the truck was, even though they were both built the same way, from scratch,” Balanyk said. “Now it just seems like this makes sense and it will come together.”

However, Balanyk admits that opportunities to travel in her treasured Ford truck have been few and far between since the COVID-19 pandemic began, especially since runs with her fellow Lipstick Girls usually took them south of the border.

But until those long-distance trips become a possibility again, Balanyk is just thankful that she had the chance to rebuild her modified 1934 Ford in the first place, since this project has led to countless wonderful experiences.

“We have connections all over the States,” she said. “That’s the kind of networking that took place, the kind of friendships that developed from going to these events. It’s an amazing thing to keep in contact with people because they have the same interests.”

Moving forward, Balanyk encourages other rookies to spearhead their own automotive rebuilds if they have the drive, especially since the broader classic car community in Westman is very supportive of newcomers.

“It is all about patience, and it’s about asking questions to the people who have experience,” she said. “So, network with other hotrodders if you can.”

» kdarbyson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter:@KyleDarbyson