LEARNING MECHANICS BY TRIAL AND ERROR
calgarian received no formal training until he attended beaverbrook high school
When the McLellan family renovated their home in the late 1990s, a key component of the project was a heated, attached double garage. Prior to the reno, Gord McLellan was rebuilding motorcycles in the basement and storing his 1958 MGA off-site during winter months.
Raised in Calgary, McLellan learned to tinker in his early teenage years, piecing together bicycles that he could ride by harvesting parts from neighbourhood castoffs.
“I gained experience just on my own through trial and error,” says McLellan, who dreamt of riding a motorcycle. “And, I hung out with other kids doing the same things, pretty much abusing bicycles, damaging them and fixing them.”
McLellan’s first motorcycle, when he was old enough to ride one, was a Honda 100. He rode it everywhere, on the street and in the dirt as well. He and his friends followed the same program with their motorcycles as they had with bicycles: ride, break, fix.
It wasn’t until McLellan attended Beaverbrook High School that he got any sort of formal training in the automotive shop. He took that mentorship and began working part time at a garage after school and on weekends. He’d change oil and tires, and he learned plenty of tips and tricks from the resident mechanic. That helped him keep his first car on the road, a Ford Frontenac given to him by his father.
He moved fairly quickly from the Frontenac to much more sporty Mustangs. But his tastes turned decidedly British in 1986 when he bought a 1958 MGA. He was limited to working on the car only during the warmer months of the year, as it had to be tucked away in a rented garage over the winter. That led him, in 1996, to the purchase of a 1969 Norton Commando.
“I hadn’t had a motorcycle for about 16 years at the time,” he explains. “The reason I was looking into bikes is I didn’t have a garage I could take a car apart in, but I could do a bike in the basement.”
McLellan still has the ’58 MGA and the ’69 Norton, but now he’s added to his motorcycle collection, with a 1928 AJS K8 and a 1926 Douglas OC-Type. About six years ago, McLellan purchased a 1954 MG TF from Dorothy Smylie, who had let them use the car more than 30 years previously for their wedding.
We caught up with McLellan and asked him some questions about the tools he’s acquired and the space he uses them in.
Q What tools are in your collection and where did they come from?
A Most of them are hand tools; I don’t’ have any large machinetype tools, such as a lathe or a welder. I’ve purchased most of them, but my neighbour was a bike mechanic through the 1940s and 1950s and he gave me quite a few of his British-specific tools, including brand names such as King Dick and Snap-on. In fact, he gave me enough that I had redundancies to give to other people. The first set of British Whitworth tools I bought were sent over by a friend’s family in England. And, when the garage I’d worked at during high school went out of business I acquired some hand tools from there, too.
Q Which tool or tools do you use most often?
A When I’m working on the British stuff, it’s the Whitworth sockets and wrenches. I don’t think there’d be one single tool I go to all the time. With this old stuff, sometimes you have to get creative. For example, I had to use a pair of hacksaw blades together to clean out some splines that had been welded over on the front hub of the Douglas. It takes some time, but if you’re careful you can get some tricky stuff done with very little in the way of special tools.
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 Self-taught, and then automotives at high school and the mechanic at the garage I worked at. In a way, the internet is an abstract tool that does help me do a lot of things, especially with these much older British motorcycle projects. On a forum, you can ask questions and folks from Europe, Britain or Australia — where these vintage motorcycles are more prevalent — can give some good advice on how to solve something.
Q What’s the most important project in the garage right now?
A Most important is the 1928 AJS K8 500-cc single. I now have everything to put it back together and need to focus on that. I found it on eBay in Australia as a complete basket case and bought it after the auction ended. It came with some pretty rare spares for other AJS models. The engine has been rebuilt and the cylinder has been sleeved by Mongoose Machine in Vancouver. The crankshaft was in good shape and the head just needed tidying up. I’ve finished the frame, and need to get the tank, fenders and chain guard painted. The 1926 Douglas is rarer than the AJS. I got it on Vancouver Island; it came without motor, transmission or wheels but the seller had a 1928 500cc OHV motor meant for a different model that he’d sourced out of Florida; it was a full race engine. I didn’t do the rebuild on it, but we’ve toned it down for street use.
Q Is there anyone else in the house or in your life interested in working in the garage?
A No, not really. My 24-year old daughter is interested in using what’s in the garage but not really working on it. She likes to drive the TF; she’s comfortable driving a standard and she’s good with the car.