Dick Frankish can still remember his first car. Pointing to the black-and-white photo hanging on the wall in his living room, he smiled and described the first time he eased himself into the seat of the two-door Model A Ford.
And after all these years, when it comes down to horse power, nothing these days compares.
“It was pulled by two horses, that coach,” the 95-year-old South Surrey resident said. “I was 20-years-old, living in southern Alberta and had just graduated school when I got that from my older brother, who originally had started out with just one horse.
“It had rubber tires, and that’s what I started with, making deliveries.”
Most importantly, Frankish pointed out, the outfit gave him an advantage over other men his age.
“I had transportation at night. And that meant I could chase the girls, further than with a saddle horse.”
Frankish kept the Model A Ford until he joined the air force in 1940. It wasn’t until more than 40 years later that his passion for cars was revved up again, when he purchased his 1961 Ford Falcon for $200 from Virden, Man.
“It had little gravel chips all over it, but it had never been damaged,” Frankish explained.
Immediately after he got the “marvelous little car,” he went to a body shop to find out how he could restore it. After sanding down the body until he could see three layers of paint, he had the car painted so it shined.
When he saw the result of his labour, Frankish decided to enter the Falcon into Edmonton car show Motoring Memories. Even with high hopes, Frankish was not prepared for what happened next.
“I got the trophy for the best Ford, I got the trophy for the best 1960-’64 – and that’s all makes – and I got the best in show. All with my first restoration,” Frankish laughed. “Well, then I knew that I knew something about restorations. I’m a fussy person and I do things properly.”
“That was where I got my start and I never looked back.”
Two years after the car show, Frankish and his wife moved to their home in South Surrey, Falcon in tow.
Through the years, the living room walls quickly became covered in photographs and plaques from car shows and competitions.
While he started out as a Ford man, Frankish has also become an avid collector and restorer of Triumph Spitfires, thanks to his youngest daughter, Leslie, who first purchased the English two-seat sports car in 1976.
“I thought she was nuts. I really did. Because we lived in Edmonton, where you have a winter,” he said. “But she drove it from 1976 to 1984, winter and summer. By 1984, it really needed some tender loving care.”
After receiving a job offer in Ontario, Leslie had the car shipped to her father in B.C., where it sat for another seven years in a shelter he had made for it in the backyard.
Following an accident in 2003, when Frankish had a heart attack and drove into a pole on 16 Avenue, the classic car lover was no longer able to drive his prized restorations.
Instead, he poured his time into fixing up the red Spitfire, inside and out. Replacing the engine hood and sprucing up the interior, until it was back to its former glory.
Sine then, more than 50 Spitfires have passed through Frankish’s three-car shop, which he built behind his home, five of which he restored and dozens more he has parted out. His hard work has earned him the moniker Spitfire Dick, with car collectors and Triumph fans seeking him out.
For each of the cars he restores, Frankish estimates that he puts in 900 hours of work, and with his 95th birthday come and gone this year, the car fanatic shows no signs of slowing down.
“This is my passion. I restore them for my personal pleasure, to take them to shows and for the glory of it all.”
