Ever since the COVID 19 pandemic arrived in the spring of 2020 our lives have changed.  People began to and many are still working from home and “staycations” became the new form in family holidays versus travelling elsewhere.

During the past two years of our new “lifestyle,” home improvement projects became a priority for many and there are no shortage of television shows to inspire you covering everything from complete renovations to backyard makeovers and more.  No matter what it involves, too often I hear people say “I could never do that.”   My response is “you never know until you try.”

Personally, I like projects, big or small.  No matter if I was tearing a car apart to restore it, doing some carpentry, plumbing, electrical wiring etc, my father often asked me “where did you learn how to do that?”  Like his father and brother, my dad was a dentist, a skilled profession that you obviously need to go to school for.  While formal “learning” was the basis for my father to be able to earn a living fixing teeth, I have always thought “you can do whatever you want in life provided you try and are willing to work at it.”  This has always served me well and as a parent I tried to instill that in my daughter and son, it appears I succeeded.

There is no doubt that some of my attitude came from both of my grandfathers.  They couldn’t have been more opposite in terms of professions.  One was an orthodontist the other a farmer.  As a kid I spent many summers on my grandparent’s farm on Manitoulin Island. Whether it was already in my genes or perhaps just from watching the and my grandmother work, they played a role in shaping me into the person with the skills I have today.

Closer to home in Toronto, my father’s parents retired to a small acreage with two ponds and a bush north of Markham.  While he had limited and rather crude carpentry skills, my grandfather was always building something.  With nine grandchildren (one girl and eight boys) he built a change house by the pond so we could swim along with a floating swim raft.  What he was perhaps most proud of was the nine bridges he built traversing the stream that ran through the bush.  One bridge for each grandchild with our names on them.  Whether it was scrap lumber, an old door, a piece of pipe or whatever, his motto was “use what you have to make what you want.”  No doubt, living through the depression years of the late 1920’s and early 30’s when things were in short supply and expensive was a significant factor in him adopting that attitude.

Stemming from my father, out of all my many interests and hobbies, the one that I am most passionate about is cars, especially older ones from the 50’s, 60’s the 70’s muscle car era.  Those are the ones I grew up with and when my dad would take me to car shows.  While he was not overly mechanically skilled my dad loved cars and it rubbed off on me.  In need of a mental health day, yesterday I took some time from working and attended a custom car show in Toronto, Motorama 2022.  Currently there are a number of car shows on television produced both in the U.S. and Canada where cars are being restored, built or customized.  One of the Canadian shows I follow regularly is Bad Chad Customs starring Chad Hiltz from Canning Nova Scotia on the Discovery channel.

While attending Motorame 2022 yesterday I met Chad and his fiancee Jolene McIntyre. While you may not be particularly interested in cars, you can’t help but admire Chad’s vision and skills.

He grew up in Nova Scotia and while we were chatting he told me that when growing up he had nothing.  Essentially he has the same “use what you have to make what you wan” motto as my grandfather.  When I asked him where he gets the cars he builds he told me that many of them and the parts he uses some of which are not even from a car are no more than a couple of hours from where they live and that he’ll often drive 100 miles to look at and buy something.

Unlike many people, Chad has the vision to transform what is sometimes nothing more than a rusted hulk such as this Cadillac below into a piece of automotive art.

 

Some custom car builders utilize computer aided software design programs and the latest in computer controlled cutting machines, 3D printers, welders and other high tech equipment to create their creations, not so with Chad.  It starts in his head, he can look at something and simply envision what could be.  That is not something you learn, I believe it is something you are born with and my wife keeps reminding me how fortunate I am to have that capability.

The purpose of this post is to illustrate what you can do if you have the right mindset.  Not everyone is a Chad Hiltz but the human brain is a powerful tool that far is too often under utilized.  Perhaps you have a home improvement project you would like to take on but lack the funds.  My grandfather’s “use what you have to make what you want” motto might work.  A number of times on the many home improvement shows on television, I have seen some unique decorative and other items made from and or re-purposed that for many would be viewed as junk and taken to the dump.  Many such items were purchased at a salvage yard or re-use centre and turned into household art.  You would be amazed at what you can find for a nominal cost and what you can accomplish if you put your mind to it often by just trying.  Most importantly, the satisfaction and pride that you will get in yourself is priceless.