NO WORK SPACE? NO PROBLEM
Calgarian’s extensive car collection is scattered around various locations
Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Brant Inglis doesn’t have his own garage. Instead, he works wherever he can, be it a driveway, at a drag strip, or in the back of his dad’s Amperage Technology Industries shop.
“I’d love to have my own garage,” says the 27-year old Calgarian with a laugh. “But I’m still living with my folks. It’s cheaper and I can afford what I’m doing.”
What Inglis is doing is collecting and restoring vintage dragsters. But that’s not all. He’s accumulated more cars and motorcycles than most people, and even if he had a basic two-car garage, it wouldn’t hold a quarter of the collection he now stores in different locations.
“I’ve got a 1961 Beetle, a 1926 Model T hot rod, a 1933 Ford pickup that’s under construction, four dragsters and two motorcycles: a 1972 Yamaha XS650 that will be a show bike, and a 1967 Honda S90,” he says.
Inglis comes by his interest honestly. His entire family, including his mom, have been involved in motor vehicle racing and/or restoration at various points in time. In the early Nineties his dad Dave restored a 1949 Ford pickup show truck.
“While I didn’t help build it,” Inglis says, “I grew up under that truck, detailing it for shows, etc.”
And now, Inglis says, “If I’m not working with my hands, I go stir crazy.”
Inglis was eight when he got behind the wheel of a Briggs & Stratton-powered junior dragster, and his interest in vintage dragsters was piqued in 2008 when his dad hosted the Vintage Drag Racing Nitro Madness event at the now defunct Race City Motorsport Park. There, several old Hemi-powered dragsters took part in a cacklefest, an event where the nitromethanefuelled engines are fired up to “cackle” at idle.
“Through that event, I met a bunch of the guys in the cackle world who are involved in the restoration of original and historic dragsters,” Inglis says. “It helps show the history of where the sport came from, and I’ve honed my skills enough, to the point where some folks have taken me under their wing.
“For example, I met (Gary) ‘Red’ Greth, and earlier this year I went down to help get his car back together. He handed me the reins of a car I’d idolized since I was eight years old.
“I try to be good at whatever I put my hands to. I’m a self-taught welder, and enjoy fabricating, shaping and joining metal. With the drag-car engine building and tuning, I work with fairly volatile engines that make a lot of horsepower running on nitromethane.”
Although Inglis doesn’t have a workspace he can call his own, here’s what we learned about some of his tools and projects.
Q: What tools are in your collection and where did they come from?
A: I have some inherited tools. A couple of years ago my uncle gave me my grandfather’s torch set. I laughed, because it was passing the torch — literally and figuratively. My grandfather, Cyril French, was a professional welder, and my uncle, Ron French, still is. I look forward to using that torch set when I have my own space to set it up. A lot of my tooling, aside from general wrenches and screwdrivers, are specialty tools that have been swap-meet or antique-store finds. Like the distributor timing stand I have for doing early Flatheads; it’s a tool that was built for Ford of Canada in the 1930s. I use that on my own car and will set timing for others as well.
Q: Which tool or tools do you use most often?
A: Usually I’m using files and a TIG welder. When I’m doing fitment or fine fitment of tubes and brackets, I can be more precise and consistent with a file stroke thanIcanbewithsandpaperor an angle grinder. You can just get a lot closer with a file, using varying tooth counts and cutting styles. And I’m always TIG welding chromoly tubing together; that’s most often what the race cars are built with.
Q: How did you learn to use the tools? Did you go to school, did someone teach you, or do you watch YouTube videos?
A: A lot of it’s been self-taught, and really just standing back and watching what someone else is doing. I did learn quite a bit from my high school automotives teacher, Dennis Firth. In my past, a lot of people have just figured he’s young, give him a menial task to keep him busy. Mr. Firth recognized something in me, andhejustletmerunwithmany projects that I think many kids wouldn’t have had the patience or the mechanical aptitude to do. That was through the Airdrie Alternative Learning automotive program, and it gave me a great deal of confidence. I brought home my 1961 Beetle and built that car in my parent’s driveway while I was in Mr. Firth’s class. I pulled that car out of a field, and many classified it as a parts car. I did all the suspension, built the motor and made it a legal, streetdriving car. It passed its Out of Province inspection for registration with flying colours first try. Its driveable, and I was doing some fuel system changes to it aroundthesametimeIgotthe Model T on the road, and that’s taken precedence.
Q: What’s the most important project right now?
A: I have the Blaylock & Johnson dragster, and that was the most important for a long time. About 10 years ago, I saw vintage drag race footage on a Speed Channel program and recognized the chassis as a car that was once in the Larry Pedersen collection. That car had been bought out of the collection, but I spent the next 10 years chasing down its history before I finally acquired the car. All the projects I have, I have because they hold a special place in my heart.
Q: Is there anyone else in the house or in your life interested in working in the garage?
A: I met my girlfriend, Amber Greth, through Red Greth; she’s his granddaughter. Together, we’re putting together a 1926 Model T hot rod for her. She grew up around her grandpa’s nitro cars, so she’s comfortable and knows her way around tools, and I’m glad we share the interest. If you have a workspace filled with tools, projects or memories and are willing to share your story, let me know; I’d be pleased to write it up. Email me at gregwilliams@shaw.ca. Driving.ca