Mansoff appreciates the classics

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This article was published 20/01/2023 (1025 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The admiration and appreciation for the craftsmanship of classic vehicles is built into Brandon’s Barry Mansoff.

He loves everything about the design and drive of vintage vehicles — how they look, how they feel and above all, how to get them restored and back on the road.

Mansoff’s memory is as clear as day as he recalls being 12 years old and wandering around the auto wrecking lot with his dad, who worked in a body shop.

While his dad was looking for parts, Barry would roam the lot trying to figure out the year of the vehicle by looking at the numbers on the tail lights. Back then, that’s where the manufacturer put the year of the model.

“I loved the old chrome. Sure, some were smashed but not all of them were. I’d get inside the cars and the interiors were still OK. It was just one of those things, I just grew up liking the ’50s cars and the ’60s cars.”

His first car was a black 1963 Chevrolet Nova, which was a write-off he found at a Brandon auto wrecker.

“By that time, I was 15 going on 16 and my dad had his own shop called the Mansoff Brothers, so my brother Darrell and I would be out there working on vehicles. I took care of my cars,” he said.

Ask Mansoff to list the cars he has owned, and he can rattle them off with ease and a big smile on his face. After the Nova came a 1968 Pontiac Station Wagon, he said — a stint in the boy scouts urged him to always be camping-prepared.

“I’ll bet I’ve had about 60 vehicles and I’ve had them all — GMCs, Chevys, Fords, Mazda, Hyundai. I wish I had my ’64 Rambler now. I loved that car,” Mansoff said. “You’ll get the odd lemon, but I don’t think there’s a bad car out there.”

There’s no hesitation when asked what his favourite vehicle was. It has sleek and it was fast.

“I had a ’70 Dodge Challenger. It was a hotrod, a muscle car and the fastest car I had. That was a nice car.”

Mansoff is not alone in his love of the classics. It’s common right across the country.

During the summer in Manitoba, there are show and shines, classic car shows, cruises, and rallies almost every weekend organized and attended by about 100 car clubs in the province.

Mansoff is a member of the local Road Rebels car club and takes every opportunity he can to show and share his latest restoration projects, which are two pickup trucks — a 1961 Chevrolet and a 1949 Ford. His newest acquisition is a vintage trailer, a 16-foot 1962 Redwing manufactured in Brandon by a company called Redlick Trailer Company Ltd.

“All my vehicles are licensed, but the ’49 Ford is not at the point where I can drive it yet,” Mansoff said. “There’s a Ford V8 engine in there and a Ford transmission, but it’s on an S10 Chevy frame, so we have to marry the Ford and GM together, but it’s going to be good.”

When restoring vehicles, it’s common to use a Chevrolet S10 frame and adapt it to make another vehicle fit. Mansoff said that’s because the S10 frames are easy to work with, the parts are affordable, and they’re not hard to come by.

As with many classic car acquisitions, it starts with a conversation about the mutual admiration of collecting and restoring vehicles. It was a car salesman who told Mansoff about an old Chevy pickup that had been given to him by his grandfather. Mansoff said as soon as he saw it, he knew.

“This ’61 Chevy is all original, including the 235 six-cylinder engine, but when we got it going, it was smokin’ and I thought, ‘oh, what am I getting myself into here?’” Mansoff said, laughing out loud.

Fast-forward a few months with the help of a buddy who had a flatbed trailer, and the Chevy is up and running. It’s not able to reach highway speed, but last summer it made its debut at several shows including Thursday cruise nights, a fundraiser for Special Olympics and Super Run, Western Canada’s largest classic car show that Brandon hosted last July.

It is the law in Manitoba to have a licence plate on the front and rear of a vehicle, and classic cars are no exception. But since most classic vehicles are not driven 12 months of the year, Manitoba Public Insurance agreed to offer a collector plate at a reduced price.

After attending an MPI seminar, Mansoff and five others from the Road Rebels are approved to check classic vehicles and decide which ones qualify for the collector plate program using a car price guide and making sure the vehicle operates.

“For a car to be a classic, it has to be 25 years and older. When I go out and a vehicle qualifies, it gets a yellow collector plate, but most of all, I get to go out and see all these old cars!” Mansoff exclaimed.

There is a value in restoring and reselling vehicles, but Mansoff said it’s all about seeing all the different types of vehicles and meeting people who have the same respect as he does.

“When I drive down the street in my ’61 Chevy, I get looks and thumbs-up from people, and you can tell it makes them happy. It’s amazing. I love it.”

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com