A DIY or die ethos
Calgarian spends as much time in his workshops as he does in his house
Grant Kinzel is a master craftsman. For the most part, he’s self-taught, and the restoration skills he has honed working in his Calgary garage are sharp enough to compete with professionals.
In 2015, he displayed his 1953 Abarth 1100 Sport Ghia coupe on the lawn at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in Monterey, Calif.
Kinzel captured the attention of the judges as he took two awards — first place in the postwar touring category, and runnerup for best in show. Kinzel’s hands had touched and restored every part of the rare Italian auto, because he rarely sends anything out for someone else to do.
“Often times farming work out leads to disappointments,” Kinzel says. “It usually costs more, takes too long, and the work is unsatisfactory.
“I’d rather learn the skill set myself and if I waste money doing it three times, then I can look in the mirror and say it’s my fault if it all goes wrong.”
Kinzel was born in Saskatoon but moved to Calgary when he was in Grade 6. He grew up in Willow Park and says there wasn’t anyone in his family who was seriously mechanically inclined.
“I guess it really started just before I turned 14,” he says of his lifelong passion for working on vehicles. “In Alberta, you could get a motorcycle licence at 14 and I was just aching to get a bike. I went to Bow Cycle two weeks before I was 14 and bought a Honda 100.
“With that, I was always fiddling, crashing and riding.”
Following high school, Kinzel got a job in the construction industry but that’s not where he stayed. He recently retired from his last job as general manager of Focus Auto Design, a local company that specializes in producing components such as headlight protectors and wind deflectors for a number of car manufacturers.
Outside of work, Kinzel’s main thrust became auto restoration.
He’d been renting a house with a two-car garage, and when he went shopping for his own home, a garage was at the top of his priority list. The house he bought came with a single-car garage, but the lot would accommodate a much larger building across the back. While he dreamt of the garage he’d one day build, many cars were restored in the single- car garage and the basement of the house.
“Cars would come apart,
I’d work on the parts in the basement, and it would go back together in the single garage,” he explains.
He rebuilt Panteras, Ferraris, Lamborghinis and other exotics that way before constructing a 1,050 square foot garage. In it, Kinzel performs his own machining, metal shaping, welding and upholstery. The single-car garage is still on the lot, and that’s where he does his own paintwork.
“I never wanted to just open a catalogue, order parts and build a car,” he says. “Instead, as skill sets developed, I would just persevere through things, build things and make it work.”
Here’s what we learned about Kinzel’s workspace and the tools he uses.
Q What tools are in your collection and where did they come from?
A I’ve purchased them as I’ve needed them. The most obscure one is a big power hammer that was fabricated in Michigan that I bought and had trucked up here. The power hammer is a result of my making small metal panels and struggling through it. That’s when I took a (metal-shaping) course through Fay Butler in Massachusetts, and he specializes in power hammers. His facility was in a barn, and it was an intensive 15-hour course. I’ve got MIG and TIG welding equipment, an English wheel, a bead roller, a shrinker/stretcher, and a cart full of hammers with many miles on them. I built a metal-forming work station with many different shaped dies that I bought.
Q Which tool or tools do you use most often?
A The most important tools are the garage, the heat and the light; I wouldn’t be doing this hobby without them. I’ve discovered I really enjoy the upholstery side of things. I have the one sewing machine, and I should have more, but it’s clean and I find it relaxing. When I’m at a car show, I’m always looking at other upholstery jobs, looking at the seams and the tightness. I’m long past getting frustrated; if something goes wrong, I don’t throw things and get upset, but just calmly make another one. Because I can do metal fab, I can shape a panel for a door card and make the bones of what I’m upholstering as good as it can be. That gives me a leg up when I do the upholstery.
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 It’s simply patience and perseverance, and just doggedly moving ahead. My garbage bin is always full of the first three tries — that’s an exaggeration now, because you learn as you get better.
Q What’s the most important project in the garage right now?
A I’m just completing a Fiat Abarth 750 Zagato Double Bubble. It’s a car that came out of Fort Lauderdale, and it’s been in my inventory for quite some time. I took a long time to get to it.
Q Is there anyone else in the house or in your life interested in working in the garage?
A No, and maybe it’s part of the success. I don’t have any family commitment. If you do, you need to deal with that and delegate time. I’ve never been married, and I don’t have kids, and really, I’m very selfish — my time is my time. If you take sleeping out of the equation, I spend as much time in the garage as I do in the house.
If you have a workspace filled with tools, projects or memories and are willing to share, let me know; I’d be pleased to write it up. Email me at gregwilliams@shaw.ca. Driving.ca