Pulling wrenches again

Phil's Southwest Automotive Specialties shop was located in South Richmond in an industrial park a few blocks from Steveston where I had lived with Mum in the mid-seventies.

I was about ten minutes' drive from our rental house which was very convenient.
Mum had recently moved from the little house on Yoshida Court to a new townhouse in Victoria where she had planned to retire.

The shop was full of various project cars, engines and equipment that made being thin an advantage as one squeezed their way around the work areas.

Phil put me to work on a variety of tasks while he attended to engine building, roll cage fabrication and rear axle narrowing among other things.

There was body work to be done, cutting out rusted areas, pulling engines and transmissions from vehicles being totally rebuilt and some routine engine and clutch jobs that came in infrequently.

Being the best of friends made our work days very pleasant as well as meeting the array of characters who frequented the shop either to visit their cars under reconstruction, or just to shoot the breeze.

The pace of work was usually very relaxed which soon became a problem for me who was paid for work done on a contract basis.

We had big dreams to grow the operation and purchase a facility for the headquarters and the first move was to find a shop truck to use as a rolling billboard and example of the work we could do.

Phil had previously spotted a rough old '64 Dodge panel truck around Richmond used by a painting contractor.

One day we approached the owner who agreed to sell it to me for $1300.00 which was pretty high, but it was perfect for our plans and did run like a charm with its slant-six engine and three speed tranny.

We even took a Friday off for a parts finding mission into Washington State cruising many auto wrecking yards and stopping in to visit our friend and hero, Dave Wren, a drag racing pioneer and legend who Phil had met years earlier and extended an invitation to drop in to see him whenever we were in his neighbourhood.

Dave's farm in Lindon was like a museum where he kept around fifty mainly Chrysler cars and trucks.
Most were either restored or good original condition.

Dave had his own plane and airstrip on the farm making it easy for him to attend events in distant locations.

Back at the shop we continued our daily toils with many slow-to-pay customers, but lots of work to keep us busy.

Phil took on another fellow in hopes that the additional help would speed up our completion of big jobs and the payouts would flow in better, but try as we might we were struggling financially to the point where after being there a year I had to start looking for steady work somewhere.

Phil often raved about the idyllic beauty of Salt spring Island, one of the Gulf Islands off the coast of B.C. which boasted a terrific climate and laid-back lifestyle where many big celebrities made their homes.

I got the big idea to place a work wanted ad in the island's local newspaper and soon after received a call from one of the owners of McColl's Shell Service, a multi-faceted operation who reported it difficult to find experienced and motivated workers among the local workforce.

We made plans to journey to Ganges, the town on the island for an interview with  Lee and Mary Ann McColl.