Classic keeps Gray busy

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This article was published 03/05/2024 (873 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Al Gray has always been interested in machinery. When he was growing up on his family’s farm, his father was more attracted to the horses. Gray preferred the steel variety.

He has been tinkering with cars from the time he got his first at age 15. Since then, he estimates he has had at least 50 in his lifetime.

Gray does not have any formal training. Just a keen interest and persistence.

“As soon as I could get into a car, I did, and then just kept going from there,” Gray said of his longtime hobby.

Currently, he is working on a 1934 Chevy truck that he bought north of Saskatoon three years ago. The body and frame are original, but someone had already started to build it into a hotrod.

“It started probably after the Second World War, really. A lot of guys came out of the war, they had mechanical expertise, time on their hands, didn’t have jobs right away … They would take old cars and put pieces together just to make them faster and safer, I would say but primarily faster,” Gray said with a laugh.

He found the work that had been done on the Chevy already to be wanting, so he completely dismantled it and started anew. He stripped all the black paint off to leave the steel exposed for a cleaner look. On both sides, he painted thin red racing stripes.

Gray does all this work in his garage with basic hand tools — nothing fancy.

“Old cars are much simpler to work on. The new cars, I don’t even go near them. I don’t touch them. They’re too complicated,” Gray said.

The frame has been upgraded with a Mustang II front suspension steering and brake package. He sourced the engine from a 1960s-era Chevy truck. It is an inline six 292-cubic-inch, or 4.8 litre. For a six-cylinder, Gray said that is a big engine.

The transmission is a 200-4R that Gray said is for better fuel economy. It is a more modern part, coming from a 1980s Chevy. The rear axle, called a differential, is from a 1986 Buick Regal.

Although Gray is a skilled technician, he still finds he needs to ask for a hand now and again. When he does, he asks his buddies with the Strokers Car Club. Bob Rose helped with fabrication and Brad Johnson offered mechanical consultation when Gray needed it. Even Gray’s partner Linda got in on the fun. He has photos of Linda scraping off dirt and grease from the frame. She also did the stitching in the interior.

“The thing that drew me to it most was the look of it,” Gray said.

He also loves that it is a Canadian car. According to the serial plate, it would have been built in either Oshawa, Walkerville, Ont., or Regina. And it is not done travelling yet.

Gray hopes to take it to a few car shows and cruise nights this summer to see what it can do. Next year, he is planning to drive it all the way out to Victoria to show it off to the West Coast. He will install air conditioning for that trip. Gray joked that that is more for Linda, who will be joining him for that road trip.

But before he can think about all that, Gray has work to do on it this week. He needs to get the safety check done and to align the wheels. There are also panels on the inside that he wants to complete, where the power seat goes. After that is all done, he said he will be taking it out as much as he can through the summer.

A lot of work has been done on the 1934 Chevy, but Gray said that it is not done yet.

“There’s other countless stuff. It’ll keep me busy for the rest of my life. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that.”

» cmcconkey@brandonsun.com