One man's mission to save rust

Jun 13, 2023

With a grandfather who was a Winnipeg junk collector, 'saving the rust' is in Keith Blais's blood

It's something Keith Blais won't ever forget. His grandfather Raymond Blais was a junk collector, and on the outskirts of his Winnipeg yard, Raymond had stored a number of rusty vintage vehicles. When the city told him to clean up the property, tow truck after tow truck lined up to haul away what Keith saw as precious relics.

"That broke my heart," Blais explains, "I was 12 years old and since then I’ve always wanted to save the rust."

Now 48 and living on an acreage in Selkirk, Manitoba , Blais has made it a mission to save the rust, and has focused on antique and vintage motorcycles. Follow some of his adventures on Instagram @save_the_rust.

"It doesn't matter how rusty or twisted it is, I’ll want to save it from the scrap heap," Blais says. For example, after buying a rusty and bent 1910 Flanders "4" motorcycle chassis that had been discovered in a farmer's yard, Blais went back to the farm first with a metal detector and shovel, and then a backhoe, "So I wouldn't constantly wonder if I missed anything." The frame looks like a pretzel, he says, but it’ll be back on the road. He's been accumulating parts including the correct four-horsepower, single-cylinder motor. A replica gas tank has been constructed using the original for a pattern. The Flanders is one of six project motorcycles Blais works on in his 1,200 square-foot basement workshop where he does mock-up and clean assembly.

That's just a small selection of his overall collection of 40 machines that spans several decades, from 1910 to 1976. He prefers American and British bikes and says the majority of them have all been found locally. Tinkering with old machinery since childhood, Blais credits his grandfather for putting a wrench in his hand and inspiring him to fix what was broken.

"There was always an old snowmobile or powered three-wheeler to work on, and we figured out, out of necessity, how to make them run," Blais says. "It was all other people's stuff that they were done with and that they just considered to be junk. There was really nothing that wrong with it."

At 12, Blais bought a 1970 Chevy Nova with his own money. But, thanks to his cousin who was a licenced Harley-Davidson mechanic, his attention turned to motorcycles. By the age of 17, Blais was building a Harley-Davidson Shovelhead motorcycle in his bedroom. That was soon followed by a 1965 Panhead chopper.

"I learned very early on, that if you’re going to learn about how something works, you have to start by taking it apart," Blais says.

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In the early Nineties, Blais got a job as a gravedigger at the Glen Eden cemetery in West Saint Paul. He's now the property manager, and even the job has helped him learn new skills. Not only is he fixing mechanical equipment such as backhoes, he's also fabricating trailers and other implements from scratch.

"I have taken courses in TIG welding and machining, but most everything I’ve learned has been self-taught," he says.

While he does most work in his basement shop, in his 30-foot by 30-foot garage, Blais has a welder and metal lathe. He doesn't profess to be a machinist, but he can make many parts that might be missing from his projects. And finding vintage parts is something he enjoys, acquiring them from a variety of sources.

"If you ride your old bikes, people see that and that's how I get quite a few leads on old parts," Blais says. "My 1942 Harley-Davidson 45 always draws people in, and a couple of times in conversation about the bike when I’ve stopped for gas, for example, it's led me to some parts."

And Blais really does build most of his bikes from parts. One of his favourites, a 1953 Harley-Davidson Panhead with sidecar, started with a broken frame, a set of cylinder heads and blown-out crankcase halves.

"After 22 years of gathering parts – and most of them were found locally – it's on the road," Blais says of his finished Panhead. "My eight-year old son, Waylon, is interested in this stuff, and that's important to me."

He is helping to save the rust, too, as Blais adds, "He loves going for rides in the sidecar of the ’53, and I just get him involved in whatever I’m doing. Whether that's helping and holding a wrench or having him take something apart and figuring it out, it's great to see him working on something."

Greg Williams is a member of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC). Have a column tip? Contact him at 403-287-1067 or [email protected]

Car. Trucks. Motorcycles. Even bicycles. If it has wheels I’m curious not just about the machine but the role they play in everyday life and the stories people have to share about them.

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