My Life In Technology by Alex Fricker

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My Life In Technologyby Alex Fricker
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Here I am (age 1) with my mom and my parents
1959 Humber SupersnipeThis was at an auction in
the States where my parents put the car in to be
sold but didnt let it go
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Here I am with my Dad at the same placeMy dad
bought the car in 1970 and restored it painting
it in the custom two-tone metalic green paint
scheme
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My Dad has always been a big influence on
meHere he is in 1979 with his 50s Sunbeam
Talbot drop-head coupe and Volkswagon Beatle
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• My Dad apprenticed on custom car manufacturing
  but since moving to Canada has been a Autobody
  Technician
• He has always been interested in British cars
  which is where I got it from
• Growing up I was always exposed to the inner
  workings of technology
• It seemed like my Dad could fix anything
• This naturally sparked an interest in me

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Here I am (age 2) with my Aunt on the left and my
brother and mom on the right
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Here I am (age 4) with my Dad in his 1954 Riley
RME while in SwitzerlandHe had this car since
the early seventies when he restored it and left
it in storage at a friends garage when my
parents moved to Canada, only to bring it Canada
over two decades later
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Here I am with my first car (age 1)
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Here I am (age 6) in my race car (quarter midget)
in Portland
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Here I am doing my victory lap after winning my
class in the 1985 Western Grand Nationals
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Here I am holding the checkered flag which I got
with winning the raceI also received a trophy
which at the time was taller than me
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Here is a picture of one of the transportation
museums in Switzerland on our 1989 visitThis is
a picture of a Lamborghini Miura
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Here is a picture of an MG TC at the same museum
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Here is a picture of the Beatles Rolls Royce in
the last museum left in B.C.(Cloverdale)It has
closed since
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Here is an 1962 Amphicar at the same museum
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Growing up I was always interested in cars and
how they workedHere is a picture of my first
gas powered R.C. car which I had many fun hours
tinkering on and rebuildingThis is after a wire
on the car came lose disabling the R.C. I then
fixed it up and had it going again after this
mishap with a cement wall
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The cement wall obviously won
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Ive also always been interested in furniture
constructionHere is a picture of my parents
circa 1850 Buffet
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Ive also always been interested in radios
especially old onesHere is a picture of my
Dads 1960s Grundig
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One of my Dads friends is a contractor and I
always enjoyed watching houses being built
especially when he was building his log house
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Here is a picture of my Dad and I in 1995 on
Cypress Mountain after we rebuilt the Rileys
engine and brakes
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Here are some pictures of the engine rebuild
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Though the car is a 54 it already had dual cams
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The engine has two preheat pipes that go through
the block from the exhaust manifold to the intake
manifoldThese pipes were designed to heat the
fuel, air mixture so the choke didnt need to be
used as long
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Just about ready to go
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Here is a picture of what my 1966 Triumph
Spitfire looked like in early 97 when I bought
it from its owner in North Vancouver where it sat
idle outside for the last ten years
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This was after I got the car to runThe engine
was so seized that a 5 foot bar on the crankshaft
nut wouldnt budge itThe Pistons had to
hammered out due to them being seized in the
bores and on the piston pins
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This shows just how rusty this car wasThe
drivers floor was practically missing and a
stainless steel one was fabricated in its
placeThe b-post was so rusted that if you
pushed on the top of the quarter panel the whole
assembly moved over 2 inches down
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Showing once again just how badly the b-post was
rustedThe doors wouldnt close no matter how
hard I slammed them
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Note the absence of rocker panels, wheel-arches,
and trunk-floor
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The floors were no longer attached to the rockers
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Slowly getting thereFloors and rockers welded on
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No a bomb did not go off.just me doing
bodywork
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With rocker panels now fitted the doors actually
line up and closeThis is where my Dads
experience and help really paid off
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Starting to look like a car againThis was just
before I sprayed the car Signal Red
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• This project would not have been possible without
  the help and training I received from my Dad
• It was a truly successful project
• Not only did I end up with a great looking car I
  also gained priceless skills that will forever
  useful working on cars and with technology in
  general
• Having said that, it sure was a lot of work and
  seemed to go on forever

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Here I am in the Spitfire only minutes after
getting the license platesFinally on the road
though a few things were missing like hub caps
and carpets but who really needs those things
anywayThis picture was taken at Oakridge Mall
Easter Parade
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All Done!!!This is a picture of my girlfriend
and the Spitfire in Osoyoos
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• This was the first big trip I took with the car
  and I was prepared for anything
• In the trunk I had a complete tool set set and
  several parts including hoses, a V belt, carb
  kits, and even a spare clutch
• Hey I said I was ready for anything
• You never know when youll be on the side of a
  road and need a clutch
• This trip was uneventful for the most part except
  for a seizing generator which by dismantling (via
  wrenches and a hammer) and oiling got us the 5
  miles to my girlfriends house
• This was then sent out to be rebuilt and the car
  was as good as new again

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Heres a line up of some of the cars at the 75th
Triumph anniversary meet at Minter Gardens in
ChilliwackThis was taken after the funkana
which entailed driving forwards and backwards
through a slalom with the passenger holding a pan
filled with water on his/her lap
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This hexagon table was my wood work project in
grade 12The bowl was one of my projects at
B.C.I.T
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Naturally with my interest in radios once I was
given the opportunity to build one I jumped at
itThis was my grade 12 electronics
project(300watt Amp)
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Ping pong tables are great to store car parts
under
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Yes my girlfriend has seen my house like this and
still wants to live together next yearNote to
the right, the blue and gold trophy I won back in
1985
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Yes it gets worseYou didnt expect anything
else did you?Who else has a front end of a car
in their kitchen
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Transmission parts.yes it is a disease
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For a guy who listens to the Beatles and the
Stones what else than vinyl Yes that blue thing
mid left is an 8 track My spitfire came with an
8 track player and tapes. thats my story and
Im sticking to it
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Ok this I cant explainWould you believe I got
the reel to reel player freeHey I said I like
all radios. I couldnt discriminate
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Now heres something differentIts a tire
inflator from the fiftiesYou take a sparkplug
out and screw this in and then run your engine to
inflate the tire
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This where I do the most of my damage My
garageNo its not normally this clean
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Here is a picture of the Triumph TR3A I am
currently restoring taken by its previous owner
in Arizona No it wasnt powered by Coca Cola
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This car was in much better shape than the
SpitfireThe only thing that needed changing was
one of the doors due to it being the earlier type
that consisted of a welded frame instead of a
pressed one
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15 minutes later the frame looked like this
well not quiteI sprayed the frame when it was
all stripped, rebuilt the suspension, brakes,
motor, transmission and steering units
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This was after I sprayed the body in Dodge Viper
RedThe underside and inside were taken down to
bare metal and then etch primered, filler
primered, painted in black, rocker-guarded and
then finally painted in red
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• The body only has a thin skim of filler on it due
  to the skill of my Dad
• Any body damage was hammered out and then leaded
  by him
• This is so much harder than it seems
• Melting lead onto a vertical surface (Not easy)
• This results in a very permanent job
• FYI Jaguar cars used up to 1 inch of lead filler
  to achieve their door gaps (prior 70s)

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This is what it will look like when
finishedThis picture was taken at the annual
All British Field Meet at VanDusen Gardens (May
long weekend)
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B.C.I.T.Where it all began
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Hurry up and take the picture before I pull a
Ryan and fall
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Here is the Coffee table I built at B.C.I.T.It
has a lifting top perfect for those T.V. dinners
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The oak bed I also built at B.C.I.T.Built with
strength in mind
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This is the Trailer to be pulled behind my TR3A
built at B.C.I.T. by Dale Smyth and
myselfNearly big enough to live in if I TOC in
PentictonHMMMM..
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This is my friends shop where I have been known
to work on the odd car every now and then
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Here I am in the shop with a 1968 Triumph
Spitfire which I did a complete mechanical
restoration on
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It goes as good as it looks
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Here we are at All British CarsThis has been
like a second home to me ever since I started
restoring my SpitfireI am often found working
away in the back rebuilding an engine,
transmission, brake calipers, or carburetors for
a customer or wrecking a car out front on a sunny
day
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How can you tell I work hereThis is where I
learned a lot of my mechanical skillsNo really
its not all my doing
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See the rest of the shop is the same wayIm
Innocent Honest
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Here is an example of a typical job I do in my
spare time
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Summary

• As you can see my life with technology started
  long before I started attending B.C.I.T.
• Ive always enjoyed working with technology and
  trying to understand it
• Being an enthusiast of many rare cars Ive always
  wanted to be able to design and build obsolete
  parts which thanks to my training at B.C.I.T. and
  the shop availability that comes along with being
  a technology teacher I can now do

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This has been my life in Technology