Lumb always keeping busy

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This article was published 02/04/2020 (1477 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

At 27 years of age, Brandon resident Harley Lumb has already cultivated a pretty impressive collection of classic vehicles.

While each automobile is unique, the one theme that ties this group together is the fact that Lumb has revitalized them all to his liking.

Talking to the Sun last week, the local power engineer said that he removed and resealed the engine of pretty much every vehicle in his possession, and also carried out some body work to make sure each chariot is safe and roadworthy.

“I just enjoy working with my hands and fixing things and the satisfaction that comes with that,” he said on March 27.

But this process is old hat for Lumb, since he has been tinkering with vintage cars and trucks since he was 12 years old.

“I didn’t just start yanking the engine out of things when I was 12,” he said. “I would start with cleaning it or I would change the spark plug or something. Simple stuff. And then things progressed.”

Lumb’s first major project involved a 1973 Dodge D100 truck, which he found parked underneath a nearby evergreen tree in a state of major disrepair. Even though the Dodge had been left outside for more than a decade, and was completely covered in sap, Lumb managed to restore the truck to its full glory after years of hard work.

As a kid, Lumb said his father played a major role in helping him develop his skill for automotive restoration, since he would largely leave his son to his own devices and only intervene if he hit a roadblock.

“There was definitely a lot of failures and mistakes, but that’s how you learn with this stuff,” he said. “That’s the great part of it.”

From there, Lumb took everything he learned about restoring vehicles and applied it to a variety of other projects, including a 1978 Dodge Lil’ Red Express and 1966 Fargo W300 Power Wagon.

However, his favourite vehicle to drive right now is a refurbished 1965 Chrysler New Yorker, since it encapsulates everything he loves about old cars compared to newer models.

“There’s no road noise or anything on it,” he said. “The engine is just dead quiet, but it has lots of power. With new cars, you just pull up beside them and hear the injectors ticking away.”

Recently, even though spring just arrived in Westman, Lumb said he has been busy putting the finishing touches on a customized snowblower truck that he calls the “Snow Yeti” after three years of hard work.

Lumb originally just wanted to change the busted transmission on this 1991 Dodge W250 once he bought it from Koch Fertilizer, but the scope of this project changed after he noticed the welding truck’s sizable rear flatbed; the perfect spot for an electric motor.

“I fixed the transmission in it and then I got thinking why not get started on a project with me and dad and my brother,” he said. “So we found an eight-foot-wide snowblower and mounted it onto the front of the truck. There’s other snowblower trucks out there, but this is the only one I know of that’s powered by an electric generator on the back.”

Lumb went on to say that none of these restorations could have been possible without the local car collector community, since its members always provide him with guidance and inspiration during every new project.

Even though this group skews a little bit older, Lumb says that automotive enthusiasts his age should not hesitate to start customizing their own dream vehicle in this environment.

“You’ll find lots of help talking to other people,” he said. “Or if you’re into it, there’s just straight up YouTube tutorial videos. Anyone our age knows how to use a computer.”

To Lumb, the only downside to this hobby is his drive to move on to the next project, since he’s running out of storage space.

“I’ve been warned before that I can’t get any more vehicles, because then I’ll need a bigger spot to put them all,” he said with a laugh.

» kdarbyson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @KyleDarbyson