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Another World Premiere for Port Arthur, Ontario - "Corvette, Port Arthur" at the Colonial Theatre in 1943...

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"Corvette, Port Arthur", was a film produced by the National Film Board of Canada in 1943.  It illustrated the Royal Canadian Navy's part in battling U-boats and protecting British supply lines during WWII, featuring the crew of the "Port Arthur".
This was an actual WWII propaganda film using a British Submarine on training duty to represent a U-boat that was forced to surface; the U-boat's surrendering crew was played by the British Submariners.
The world premiere of this film was shown at the Colonial Theatre in Port Arthur, Ontario.

The photo above shows the model of the H.M.C.S. Port Arthur, built by the Port Arthur Ship Building company on the back on one of their trucks and in front of the Colonial Theatre.
The following photo shows the people gathering at 235 Arthur Street(now Red River Road) in Port Arthur, Ontario for the premiere.


This next photo shows the number of people waiting to attend the premiere in 1943.

This is the exact spot where the Colonial Theatre used to be....a pretty boring street compared to how it looked back in the 1940's and 1950's.
This is a closer photo of the truck and model as shown in a brochure from the Port Arthur Ship Building Company.  My friend Al asked the BIG question, "Where is the model of this ship now?" It's typical how local artifacts seem to just disappear.
The following print is a description of the year and date of the films as well as who directed and narrated the film...  Double click on all photos for enlargements.
Thanks to the National Film Board of Canada, we can see the 22 minute film right here.

To view more about the Colonial Theatre in Port Arthur, Click here then return to HR&J

The Best of the Best 1950's Canadian Lakehead Exhibition Racing Wrecks....at Fort William and Port Arthur, Ontario....

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As requested, we have 27 great photos from the 1950's at the Fort William and Port Arthur Exhibition Race Track.  Only a few of these have been seen in prior posts on this blog.  It is interesting to note that there were literally thousands of fans who came out every Wednesday night and on special holiday race days to support such a wonderful event in our area for years and years.  I believe that no other sport here at the Lakehead cities of Fort William and Port Arthur was ever supported to this extent......some race days topped the 4,000 spectator mark.  Riverview Raceways in later years had some great fan support but nothing like it was in the 1950's.   
Sit back and click on each photo for a special memory or your own and enjoy the best of the best CLE racing wrecks.
Be sure to click on each and every photo for much larger views. 
Due to the fact that some of these photos are from private collections, I have been asked that you not copy them, but come back to view them time and time again.  Thank You.
Wednesday racing under the lights all summer long.

Over 4,000 fans came to see!
Click on this and you can see all the people in the stands.
They had to build larger bleachers on the north and south
side of the original grandstand.

These two photos attest to the fact that thousands of fans came out each week to support and enjoy the racing where every driver put his life on the line to entertain you.
This next photo is my all time favourite.  It shows Barry Kettering's '32 Ford Coupe in the River, to the north side of the race track during a Wednesday evening race.  Luckily Barry only went in part way, but note what is written on his back bumper - "In God We Trust".

In the following photo, the Glenstad Motors #6 car is another almost in the river shot.  The view is to the west and in the background you can see all the parked cars on the other side of the walking bridge across the river.  The walking bridge separated two sides of the original fairgrounds.....beyond that is May Street and the old Elevator on Vickers Street in the distance.

#77 Clyde Ditmars was probably on his lid more than on 4 wheels back then, but he always gave his fans a thrill.
This picture was taken just before the
one on the right.
Here's Clyde up on two wheels...not uncommon for these guys.


 
Here's another two #77 Clyde Ditmars photos...the second one being a close-up of the other.  Clyde was racing a big Ford Sedan with a nice checkerboard paint job, and did a barrel roll down the track right beside the Coliseum building which is still there today....You probably park your car today right where Clyde flipped over.
Go over to the Golf Dome today and face the Coliseum building....you will see this same view.

 
This next picture is probably the most spectacular photo ever taken at the track......it's a full two wheel unintended stunt by #73 Jim Manduca.  In the third picture here you can see how much fence Jim ripped out with this roll.

Click on this picture to see all the fence torn out
as well as the stores on the corner of Fort William
Road and Northern Ave.  Also you can see the
Grain Elevators in the distance.


Here is Sammy Myronuk doing a nose roll in his #15 car along the backstretch.  The houses you see are along Northern Ave. on the south side of the Golf Dome today.
#15 Sam Myronuk with #49 Conrad Trombelli
about to nail him!



The always present St. John Ambulance boys on hand to give
aid to injured drivers such as this #41 car.


Here's #87 Tony Massaro in his almost perfectly streetable #87 car...first time out and does a spectacular roll.


This wreck is that of the #12 Cye Kehoe car.  I found the body from it almost 50 years later and built a vintage style modified racer with it.  The restored modified that I built now resides in Syracuse NY, where the owner gives total credit to history of the car whenever it is raced or shown.  If you want to see a photo of the finished restoration, click here, then come back. http://hotrodsandjalopies.blogspot.ca/2009/03/down-and-dirty.html
Here you can see the dated ambulance and Dominion Motors
tow truck, as well as the CLE Coliseum building in the background


Here, #49 Conrad Trombelli's car looks like a dead lady bug on it's back.....It is actually a 1932 Chevrolet Coupe.

 
That's Don Marsh standing at the front of his '32 Ford dead lady bug hoping the someone comes soon to help him get it back on all rubber.  On the right bottom is "Little" Joe Guzzi up on the timbers as well.  His pair of deuces didn't help him at all.
#60 Don Marsh




 Here, Albert Massaro's car took quite a hop to get on top of the rub rail.  Noted on Albert's car is Rea's Esso Service.  Rea's was located on Arthur St. between Vickers St. and Marks St. in Fort William, where the parking lot for Arthur Square is today.  I also lived just down from there on Arthur Street back in the day.  The next picture is #96 Harry Hearn with Embassy Grill sponsorship poking his head out of his coupe so the corner flagman could see that he was OK.




Finally, I have to add a couple more of my all time favourite CLE shots.  Look and you can see the tire flying through the air in both these photos.  The first one has a pretty large hole in the middle, which indicates that the whole centre came out of the wheel.  Those animal barns on the fairgrounds would be right in the middle of the parking area for the golf dome and a little to the west.  The coliseum building is just out of the picture to the left.
 

 
Hope you enjoyed these as much as I do.  Thanks for looking. HR&J

BUCKET LIST #1 NOW CHECKED OFF - My Good Friend Dennis Winko and I were in Pomona California Jan 22-30th 2014 for the 65th Annual Grand National Roadster Show.

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This post is a little diversion of what I usually do on my blog but feel that it would be nice to share.

To go to an event of this magnitude and to take over 1300 photos, it was extremely difficult to decide which ones to use and which ones to leave out.....so to help things out, I grouped a number of them together which are of common interest, but sadly reducing their clarity.  Be sure to click on each of the photos and groups of photos twice to get a full screen or larger, then you can scroll around to view them all. 
My good friend Dennis Winko and I spent an incredible 8 days in the Los Angeles area, not only to attend the 65th annual Grand National Roadster Show, but to visit some hot rod shops and automotive museums in the area and take in some of the local sights as well.  These photos however are all from the show and taken by myself.
...oh...a little side note "AMBR" means America's Most Beautiful Roadster.

This is the main hall and largest of 9 buildings.  The photo was taken from the center of the building so it only shows half the length of the hall.

We were there on set-up day and these two photos show the contrast of what you could see and everything in between.  That's Dennis beside a very cool deuce roadster barn find and the one on the right is an AMBR contender owned by Ron Goodwin.  Ron's car was one of our first choices to win.

This is a full restoration of Ed Roth's Surfite by Rick Rawlins.....it wouldn't be a California show without a surf mobile!!
 Bizarreness was the order of the day and this "Blitzen Benz" by Bob Burman was a great example.
Love the California "Horseless Carriage" plate
The theme of the show this year was 100 years of Bonneville, and there was a huge representation of Bonneville cars from over the last 100 years.  Heading to Bonneville for speed weeks is another thing we have to do to check off our bucket list.  The only photo that wasn't actually in the show is the Challenger 1.  It actually resides in the Wally Parks Drag Racing Museum just adjacent to the fairgrounds.  We did attend that on Thursday before the show, and felt that it was the best automotive museum that we had seen on this trip including the Peterson Museum.


Check out this film of Mickey Thompson breaking the 400 MPG Speed Barrier.  This is the same car we saw in the Wally Parks Museum.

Next we have Ron Main and his Flatfire engine and Streamliner.  Dennis was in his glory talking to Ron about flatheads and I just stood there and tried to take it all in.....one's never to old to learn something new.  Read this poster about his very fast flathead Ford.

The following group of photos are vintage drag cars, and we had a nice chat with Bill Corbett (originally from Victoria B. C.) who owns and restored the purple 1948 Fiat Topolino shown in the following photo group....the car is also the cover car for this months Rodder's Journal.
 

Exotic engines and actually mostly flathead Fords were the trend here in California.  Chrysler Hemi, Studebaker, Cadillac, Buick, Ford 4cyl and Flathead Fords were the most popular engines seen in cars at the show, many of which had McCullough Superchargers.   There were very few Chevrolet V8's, especially in hot rods and if there were they were nicely disguised as something else.

Next, you could buy a pair of deuces here....beautifully done real steel replicas.  The one from Sweden was interesting at $15,000. US dollars and we felt left a lot to be desired in detail.  The real deal as far as we were concerned was sold by SoCal and was extremely nice looking, more like an original body, but the price tag was near $28,000. and that was just for a body shell.....way over my head!!  I've had my own deuce back when but now I'll stick to the much more reasonable model "A", and having just as much fun as they are.
The one from Sweden is on the left and the already chopped SoCal one is on the right.
Next, we have some hot rods and custom cars scattered around the buildings and some even outside the buildings on drive-in day which was Saturday.  The body work and paint schemes were absolutely incredible....giving any gear-head some great custom ideas.

Next, we have some hot rods and custom cars mostly from the "Suede Palace".  My own car would have fit nicely along side some of these.  The vehicles in the "Suede Palace" had their own judging and awards program.  Some of the most interesting ones were the original barn finds of cars built back in the '50's or '60's which have survived the test of time and left in their patina state.  The one we liked the most was Greg Hopkins '31 model "A" roadster of unknown origin shown top left below.

We couldn't pass up the trophy girl contest that was held in the Suede Palace on Saturday night.  It was very interesting to say the least.  A few good Rockabilly and Blues bands also graced the stage there through the weekend.

One of the things I had planned to do was to get my friend Shaun Hopkins here in Thunder Bay to paint my glove box door from my custom '41 Chevy dashboard that I'm using in my next project a nice gloss black and bring it with me to have it pinstriped and autographed by George Barris and Gene Winfield.  The pinstripers would volunteer their work and you would then make a donation to Ronald McDonald House.  Other pieces of art by the stripers were auctioned off.
Well as you can see by the photos below that it all came to fruition.  Two pinstripe artists did a great job and George and Gene did sign it as well as the artists and "Deuce of Spades" film maker Faith Granger.  Thank you Shaun for painted it for me and getting this plan started.
 
Top left is myself with George and his grandson, top right is Gene signing the piece, bottom left is Gene with Dennis, center is Gene shaking hands, and bottom right is the artist Ric Malicoat.

Here are a few more pictures pretty much self explanatory!
 

 
They gave away 100's of trophy's and awards and we were very fortunate to have great seats for the awards and closing ceremonies.  Even though we didn't agree with the judges on their final pick for AMBR, all the cars were incredibly beautiful, and I could never afford one damn one....but Dennis and I still have tons of fun with our Model "A" Fords.

Dennis and I were very fortunate to have been able to attend The 65th Grand National Roadster Show, an event I've wanted to attend since I was in my teens.  Hey Den, aren't you glad I waited until you retired...Dennis is a great travel companion.  We had a fabulous time that we'll talk about for years.  Also thank you to my old friend Bryan Howland who was our tour guide for a day to the Peterson Museum and throughout the Hollywood area.  Bryan is a childhood friend of mine and lives in Woodland Hills, a Los Angeles suburb and we've only seen each other 3 times since 1958, but talk often and email often....great time!
 
Dave and Dennis in the Suede Palace.
This final group of pictures reminded me of the old Fort William Gardens car shows....at the end of the show you would stand outside to see the guys coming out of the Gardens and rapping their pipes and smoking their tires.....wonderful memories.
 
I hope you enjoyed this sort of unusual post on this blog !!  Thanks for watching...D.
 
 

Winter Memories of our home towns of Fort William and Port Arthur, Ontario plus a few other tidbits......

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With the accumulation of snow this year, it brought back an abundance of winter childhood memories.  At our coffee/gearhead weekly meetings we talked about the fact that the snow that has fallen with the recent storms is pretty much the same type of weather we remember having in the 1950's and '60's.  
As the streets get narrower around town due to the heavy snowfall, the city has been clearing many of the snow banks on major streets. I remember as a kid seeing these incredibly large snow blowers sucking up the banks around town and in turn blowing the snow into large trucks to be dumped down at the waterfront, either in Fort William and/or Port Arthur.
This is what one would have looked like in the 1930's....and would be a spectacle to watch to the delight of many kids and also adult kids.  Unfortunately this is not a local photo, as Fort William and Port Arthur wouldn't have a snow blower until the late 1940's and early 1950's, as you will see in next photo.
 

This next photo is in fact Fort William's first snow blower dutifully working on south May Street.  You can vividly see the O'Brien and Son's sand and gravel truck hauling the snow to somewhere along the Kam River or the Waterfront.  In those days, the city would contract out these trucks for their need. 

The next picture here is the actual location today, just across May Street from our City Hall, and just south of Blake's funeral chapel.  Blake's can also be seen just to the top left of the above photo.  As usual, click on all the photos for enlargements.

The next winter photo is of myself and my little sister (no I wasn't sleeping) in front of our home on east Arthur Street in Fort William.  The big building is St. Joseph's Boarding School (well...that's what they called it back in the 1950's).  They had huge skating rinks there and welcomed any kid that wanted to come over to play scrub hockey any evening or weekend.  Also, the Canadian National Railway line came down Arthur Street right through the city of Fort William.  The tracks turned east from the main line, came down Arthur, then started to turn north at Mark's Street and continued to the CN station which was just south of the Fort William Gardens along Vicker's Street and finally reconnected to the CN main line at the end of Vickers.  Notably there was ton's of snow back then, pretty much like we have today in Thunder Bay. 
 
This is how the same property looks today...no tracks, no St.
Joseph's Boarding School and not very much front yard anymore
where we lived there on Arthur Street.  Off in the distance on
the left is Pope John Paul school and the tall building on the
right is Arthur Square on the corner of Marks and Arthur.  The
Pope John Paul property was the old St. Patrick High School
property.


 
The following winter photo was taken about the same time as the one above and is my little sister sitting on a small sled.  I posted this photo to show you that every home in those days had a 45 gallon drum incinerator in which we burned (burnable) garbage or discarded building materials or what have you and only placed non burnable garbage items out for the city to pick up.....It was a great way at the time to reduce the buildup at the city landfill site, and you didn't need a permit to do so.  Also, most people still hung their clothes on the line even in the cold weather.  I remember my dad's frozen long johns standing up on their own.

Here is a wonderful picture of the corner of Victoria Avenue and Syndicate Avenue taken in the winter of 1917.  You know that if you stand where this picture is, you would be smack dab in the middle of our favourite indoor mall in our town....the one we love to hate, "Victoriaville".  The building on the left is the north/east corner.  A wonderful Trolley Street Car is headed for a turn south on Syndicate Ave.


Screw Driven Vehicle
The following few photos are not taken locally but are very interesting to say the least.  The first vehicle here is a screw driven sled which would be pretty versatile and very innovative back in the early part of the 20th century.  The little film below shows its concept in 1929.  It's about 4 1/2 minutes long but worth the look.



Propeller Driven.
The mail must go through with this model "T" Ford conversion.

 
 
Finally here, we have the same version of the mail vehicle above, on a Ford Model "A" chassis, taken in Alaska....what a great way to get around on the snow.  I would love to own one today.
HR&J hopes that you enjoyed this and thanks for watching.

AN OLD BIRTHDAY PARTY & DIXIE CUPS.......right here in my home town....

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Here's a post I've always wanted to do starting off with my 10th birthday photograph.  All the kids will be named....then I'll explain about the post.
 
This was taken in my back yard on my 10th birthday.
Left to right - Meyer Toole, Rick Joseph, with round glasses Randy Lang, with a bit of his head showing is Bobby Evens, the tall guy is Mitch Taddo, in front of him is Nancy Baker, the two little blonde girls in front are Sharon Harrison, and Laura Kellough, the red circled head is yours truly and to my left is Bruce Lees, the taller girl with straight hair is Darryl Wheatley and the far right is Kathryn Coppard.
Now.....as you can see in the next little "photo cutout" of the above photo is Rick Joseph and Randy Lang holding something I circled in yellow.  They are Dixie Cup lids with movie stars on them....so the next thing you should read is the story on the collage below this photo.

The title says Dixie Cup lids were our link to Hollywood....Be sure to click once and twice on all the photos for enlargements.


















Here is how the top of the lid looked from Kellough Bros. Dairy (Port Arthur-Fort William), and if you pealed off a little onion skin cover from the inside, it would reveal a movie star photo, and as noted in the collage above, you would bring 10 lids to Kellough's Dairy to receive an official movie star poster.  You could even purchase a viewer to see these lids in 3D.  This was a time when you couldn't go down to your five and dime store and buy a movie star poster....they weren't just around unless you knew someone in the Movie Theatre business here in Fort William and Port Arthur.
The poster would look exactly like the ones below.
 
 

BETTY GRABLE - the beautiful war time gal
with Million Dollar legs!
FRED MACMURRAY - who played the father
in the popular TV series "My Three Sons" in the
1950's


 
The next few photos are of Kellough Brothers Dairy where all this took place!
This is the first Kellough Brother's Dairy building located on the corner of Brunswick and Cummings street in Fort William, Ontario, Canada

This is the dairy where we fed the horses up until the mid 1950's.  They were the last known in-town business to deliver with horse and wagon.  Here the handsome uniformed drivers are showing off their new early 1950's Ford delivery trucks. 
Now....this is the place where we would cash in our Dixie Cup lids for the posters.  It was located on the North/West corner of Victoria Ave and Selkirk street.....kitty corner from my grade school St. Mary's.


 To the left is a typical Kellough Bros. Dairy book or magazine ad for Fort William and Port Arthur Ontario, and to the right is a half pint Kellough Bros bottle from my collection.  The half pint bottles were quite common in the 1950's, as the dairy's would sell white, chocolate and cherry milk in them and were distributed to and sold by corner stores around the Fort William and Port Arthur Ontario area.  Your home distribution with the same silk screen painted bottles were delivered via delivery trucks above in pint and quart bottles.  The bottle were always returned to the dairy for refund and refill.  Finally to the left is a typical milk lid.

This was one of their large refrigerated delivery trucks with a photo taken a bit earlier than the ones in the photo further above.  The truck looks like a Diamond T, but I'm not totally sure.

Finally...this is what the horse drawn delivery wagon looked like from Kellough's Dairy.  The horses were kept and looked after right behind the Kellough building shown in the truck photo above.  I fondly remember going to the dairy after school to feed the horses and of course picking up my movie star poster by handing in 10 Dixie Cup lids....but....I actually have 4 in my collection today that I was glad I didn't cash in.....THOSE WERE THE DAYS.
Hoped you liked the post....Dave

Happy Birthday Clyde Ditmars - One of the Boys Who Started Their Engines at the CLE in 1953......

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A little clipping in this past Thursday's newspaper brought back a ton of memories of the one and only Clyde Ditmars (Mr. Texaco)......Happy 80th Birthday Clyde (March 27, 2014) from all your old buddies and Stock Car fans from 1953 and later years.  Clyde was one of the Boys of the summer of the 1950's who started their engines at the old Canadian Lakehead Exhibition race track right here in our home town of Fort William, Ontario.  Their isn't a gearhead my age that would not remember guys like Clyde.....these jalopy jockeys brought us more entertainment as kids than any venue in our home town.  These were our movie stars, our idols....the guys that we admired most back in the early 1950's
 
There was no name printed on the ad, but who could not remember
 that face from the CLE days.....Happy Birthday Clyde Ditmars!

Picture of Clyde from a 1953 CLE racing program

Unfortunately you'd see Clyde upside down once in awhile......he did that to entertain us....Check out the Coliseum building in the background at the CLE which still stands today.



 Here's a close-up of Clyde's #77 Car upside down with a very cool checkerboard paint job.



















Above and to the left and right are pages from the 1953/1954 program showing Clyde Ditmars right in the middle of all the action including two newspaper clippings from 1953 to the right.  Be sure to click on all the photos and clippings here once then twice to enlarge to screen size so that you may read them in detail.
It is totally amazing to read this 1953 article from the Port Arthur News Chonicle paper dated Aug 27, 1953.  It states that there were 5,500 fans taking in the races at the CLE grounds that day.  I don't remember any entertainment in our city in recent history that brought out that many fans for a single event.....and there, down near the bottom is Clyde's name in black and white........those were truly the good ol' days.


Clyde ran a Texaco Service Station in Kakabeka Falls for many years and hauled his jalopy numerous times from Kakabeka to the fairgrounds for the ever popular Wednesday night racing.  Here is a clipping from a 1959/60 Fort William Ontario phone book showing the garage.
 
.....and would you think that there would be a street named after the Ditmar's family in Kakabeka Falls today......see for yourself!

Finally one more thank you to living legends like Clyde Ditmars for the entertainment he and others gave us young guys and for the inspiration and determination to carry on a great sport be it on the track or not......once more, Happy Birthday Clyde!
Clyde now lives in Fort Frances Ontario and by all reports is doing quite well even after all the thrills and spills at the old CLE track.  Thanks to Clyde's friend and my old friend Glenn Carson for filling in some of the blanks, and thanks to those photographers who took all those incredible pictures back in the day, for us to enjoy now!
Now, before you go......Click on each of these following links, then come back.  In each of these links there are more stories about Clyde...check them out.....
 
 
 
 
 

The Untouchables Car Club - The Northern Ontario Timing Association - MEMORIES OF THE 1960's in our own home town....

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As a past member of the Northern Ontario Timing Association, it is a pleasure to bring this post to everyone with tremendous thanks to Dennis Winko for the great article, Art Lee, and Gary Ager for the wonderful photos and information.    .....Dave
We ask that you PLEASE do not copy these photos to another blog or facebook page, as they are from a private collection. Thank You.
 

These are the club cards that were handed out to people that were assisted by members of the Untouchables and later the NOTA.

The following article in its entirety was written by my friend Dennis Winko, originally to be published in the "Old Cars" newspaper a number of years ago and never was.  Thanks Den for holding on to it all these years.  This is a "must read" not just for car enthusiasts but for anyone interested in local history.  Click on all pages and photos below (sometimes twice) for screen size enlargements..... We apologize that some print is fuzzy in some articles.  Put on your bifocals. 
 






CLICK ON EACH PAGE !
           Above is Art Lee's Untouchables Car Club Jacket in the window of his Oldsmobile.
The following three 1963 pictures are of the "Untouchables Car Club" in a 1963 Winter Carnival parade.  The photos (thanks to Art Lee) were taken near the corner of Finlayson and Simpson Street across from the then original Gilbert's furniture store. 
This truck belongs to Brian Koski.

Above are some members of The Untouchables Car Club - left to right are Eddie Neimi, Joey Doles, Vic Amadeo, Terry Cuff, Ron MacDonald, Terry Christianson, Bobby Nichols, Jack Mallon, Wayne Cameron, Brian Koski and Ed Bottan.
NOTE - The Gilbert's Furniture store across the street.


In this photo left to right is Jack Mallon, Ken Hacio and Art Lee.  The '34 Ford on the float belongs to Ken Hacio.

     The photo on the left is how the property across the street in the above photos look today, actually just before "Music World Academy" took over the property from Gilbert's furniture.

 

The photo on the right (once posted already to HR&J) is a Lakehead Stock Car Club float with Albert Massaro's Popcorn Special showing the year (1963) of the carnival on the side.  This photo was taken a couple of blocks to the south of the ones above.













 












The three articles shown here are also well worth the read...it lets you know pretty much what was going on in young guys minds back in the 1960's....oh!... and there were girls too!!
The article to the left is a bit fuzzy and a small portion is not shown to the right of it, but it still can be read.
I believe the title reads "Highway Drag-racing Is Illegal...But It Still Is Fun".
 

Front and Back of one of Brian Phillips' jackets.  This is the second edition jacket style......The club had a design contest and I actually won my jacket for the above logo design.  The jacket in the photos below were the first edition jackets.

     With special thanks to Gary "Peachy" Ager (that's the young guy in the bottom right hand corner) this picture turned up recently.  I have been searching for this photo for years and Gary's wife Margaret put it up on her face book page asking if anyone knew who all the guys were.  Well Margaret, we know most of them now....just a couple of last names are left out.
     Sadly, I missed the club photo above and this one as well (I was sick or something)....well, I wasn't the only one, as you can read below who was missing from the photo.
     This was taken at the Blue Swan Inn where most of our meetings were held when the EMO building on Waterloo and Victoria Ave. become too small.
     My jacket went missing during the years and Brian Phillips graciously donated one of his two jackets to me....Thanks Brian!!
 
Here is what the Blue Swan Inn looked like in the 1960's
 
Thanks to everyone that helped with this post, especially Den Winko, Art Lee and Gary Ager.   HR&J hopes that you enjoyed it..........Dave

THE 45 AND THE UNDERDASH PLAYER.....

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THE UNPRETENTIOUS 45 RPM RECORD
 
We have used it for years and years.  It is an icon of a simple, maybe better time wherein we lived a simpler life...well, maybe for some.  
Here on Hot Rods and Jalopies, it's nice to deviate from the usual local history and vintage race cars and this post is no exception.  Lots of interesting reading here to scroll on, and click to enlarge as you need to.

45's as we knew them, formally called The 45 RPM Record was developed by RCA Victor in 1949 right after the invention of "vinyl plastic" and the 12" LP record, developed by CBS engineers in 1948.  The 45 RPM speed was the only one to be decided on by the most cost effective procedure.  Calculus was used to show that the optimum use of a disc record of constant rotation speed occurs when the innermost recorded diameter is half the outermost recorded diameter (hope that makes sense).  That is why a 7" single 45 has a label 3 1/2" in diameter.  Given the CBS LP vinyl groove dimensions and certain thoughts about bandwidth and distortion, a speed of 45 RPM comes out of the formula....whewww....got it?
To sell their idea against the current "reigning" 78 RPM and the CBS 12" LP, RCA released a series of very low priced 45 RPM "only" record players in the late 1940's and early 1950's.  Both amplified and non amplified models were manufactured.  The player shown here was sold in the early 1950's
and was equipped with a ceramic cartridge and an "RCA" jack, also invented at the time.  The model here did include an amplifier and a speaker but others were meant to be plugged into a corresponding female RCA jack in an RCA radio or early TV, and use that product's amp and speaker (something we later called a "deck").  If you are aged 60 or older, you may remember quite a few of these players by 1955, sitting on TV sets.
In spite of LP's popularity, the sales of 45 RPM records continued to increase from the 50's and well into the 70's.  In their peak sales years from 1973 to 1976, more than 100 million were sold in the USA and Canada each year.
All 45's since 1971 have been pressed in STEREO and actually have had the same fidelity output as CD's (20 Hz to 20,000 Hz)......a credit to the RCA engineers more than 60 years ago.

Many varieties of centers were made so that 45's could be played on a number of different styles of turntables, as you can see here and below.
The metal ones are the most collectible today.

 



On the record label to the left, the triangle center actually came attached to the record and could be knocked out to play on large spindle players.  They were produced this way mainly for use by DJ's throughout the 45 RPM era.
Here are some of your favourite 45 RPM record jackets.  A regular 45 would have one song on each side, and as time went on, record labels produced EP's which were extended play 45's and would have 2 songs per side for a total of 4 songs per record.
 

NEXT, CAME THE UNDER DASH RECORD PLAYER
People who check out HR&J from time to time know that we have to add something to do with transportation to the blog posts.  The ad shown below was a very popular one in pretty much all hot rod and custom car magazines throughout the very early years of the 45.
 
$54.95 was a hefty fee for this back in the early 1950's.

The following article in two parts pretty much explains all about the under dash 45 RPM record player.  Be sure to doubleclick on each of these to enlarge them for reading then come back for more!!
 


 
 
 





This collage shows some of the ways you can protect your 45's during travel or bringing to a friends place....

I have always had a special place in my heart for the lowly 45 and because of that, I have a huge collection of my own and a wonderful 1952 Seeburg M100C Jukebox I purchased from Howard King of the old King's Stereo to play them on.
Double Click on this last record for a tongue in cheek, never actually produced 45. 
Thanks for looking and hope you enjoyed this post.
 
 
 


Old Spring Memories in our home town of Fort William, Ontario....

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Here in Central Canada we are finally supposed to get some Spring weather.  It is already April 20th and there is still tons of snow here in what used to be called Fort William and Port Arthur, Ontario.  This is just a short post to wish you all a Happy Easter and hope you have a wonderful summer.
This first photo is one of my sister and I on Easter Sunday way back in 1957 in front of our grandmother's.

The next one here is of myself back in 1954 with my new bicycle.  My father would put one together with used parts and have it painted up at Kam Motors by "Canary" Trevisan, the painter at Kam in those days.  You could never buy a bike as cool as mine and I would get one like this about every couple of years to the envy of all my friends.  My custom bicycle was the beginning of my gear-head years that actually has never ended.
 

The Fort William Bicycle plate here was used 10 years after the photo on the left.  Be sure to click on all the pictures for enlargements.
The picture on the right (George Bott on the right and myself  on the left) was taken in June in 1950 at a rented cottage at Oliver Lake.
You can't buy wonderful memories like these and as the snow finally melts, we can be sure that summer WILL come.
 
Here's one of Bill French (driver) and myself back in about 1958 on Cuthbertson Place in Fort William.  Push mobiles or "buggies" as we called them were commonplace in many neighbourhoods back in the 1950's and ours was no exception.  If you were the tallest guy like me, you would be the pusher and the smaller you were, the driver of course.
The following picture was taken many years later in 1971, the second year that Fort William and Port Arthur became Thunder Bay.  It's hard to believe that I actually pulled my trailers with my brand new 1971 Chevelle SS 454 and clamped trailer mirrors to the front fenders.  Geez, what was I thinking.  I loved that car but as my family grew, I did sell it in favour of a 1974 Chevrolet Camper Van.....WHAT was I thinking again?

Finally a much older photo of a card game we had around the house for years that we played while travelling with our family.  My parents always saved their pennies during the winter months so that we could have a wonderful summer trip each year....how lucky were we!!
HAPPY SPRING 2014

Murray Simmons and The Lakehead Stock Car Club in the 1950's.......

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With spring finally here, thoughts of the old 1950's CLE race days come flooding back.  As you know if you read into this blog on a regular basis, Stock Car Racing here in Fort William and Port Arthur was one of the largest attended events in the history of our city (now of course...Thunder Bay), especially at the CLE fairgrounds bringing fans by the thousands to view the best entertainment around.  Names that you remember were Merv Dove, Barry Kettering, Louis Tocheri, the Massaro brothers, Pappy Fowler and Lyn McIntosh to name a few.  Sadly one doesn't always remember the unsung hero's who came out week after week to entertain and put their lives on the line for a few dollars of prize money.
One of these unsung hero's was Murray Simmons.  Although I never knew Murray personally, his family donated some photos to Russ Wanzuk's collection and I thank Russ for loaning them to me a few years back.  As usual be sure to click on all the photos and posters to enlarge them.


A 1950's CLE racing poster.
The 1950's Lakehead Stock Car Club logo.


A nice younger picture of Murray in his racing helmet .


Here is another photo of Murray all buckled up and ready to race.










Here is Murray's first race car.  It's a 1934 Dodge 4-door sedan which had a 6 cylinder T120 truck engine installed.  Murray drove it exclulsively and the sponsor was Western Tire, the Port Arthur store.
Here is Murray again standing on the track with his helmet on, pretty upset at his car sitting in an infield ditch in about a foot of water.  Also check out all that board fence that was ripped out by many a race car back then.



The above photos...circa 1956, still of the Dodge 4-door without an engine at the end of a season of racing.  Murray was likely planning on a new and better car for the following year.

Murray's next car was a 1935 Dodge Business Coupe.  He still used the Dodge T120 6-cylinder engine, but added dual carburetors to it.  The car was co-owned by Murray and Russ Vester, and was driven exclusively by Murray....still with Western Tire Port Arthur as sponsor.




The final car Murray raced in the 1950's was a much faster car.  It was a 1938 Dodge Business Coupe.  It started out using a 292 CID 6 cylinder 1953 DeSoto engine that was bored, stroked, ported and relieved with larger valves.  Later in the year Murray and the boys took the 6 cylinder out and added a new 270 CID 1956 Dodge V8 engine...also bored, stroked, ported and relieved.  It ran a 3/4 Isky Cam and had 2 4bbl carburetors.....WOW, what a difference from the 6.  Murray and Jean Simmons owned the car and Western Tire from both Fort William and Port Arthur sponsored the car.
Murray and his crew travelled to Wisconsin and Minnesota racing this car, as well as a number of cities in Canada as far away as Edmonton, Alberta, and North Battleford Saskatchewan.

This picture is one of my all time favourite ones actually showing Murray's tire high in
the air with the centre totally removed from it.  This picture also shows the North end
of the CLE Coliseum building, giving you an idea where the track was located today.


A nice picture of Pop Simmons, Ray Gardiner and Murray.  The
photo on the right is the car with Ray.


Here is Murray mixing it up with the boys around turn

two and along the backstretch.  The houses you see are along
Northern Avenue and are still there today.  The photo on the
right is Murray and the boys taking a rest


A more recent picture of Murray holding his #79 racing helmet shown in many of the photos above. Sadly Murray passed away almost 2 years ago on May 15, 2012.  We want to remember these unsung hero's who gave us their all.
THANK YOU.....MURRAY SIMMONS (RIP)
 click on...
This photo taken in about 1953 was the heyday of the early racing days here in Fort William and Port Arthur Ontario.  Even though I did some racing during the beginning of the Riverview Raceway years, I hold the fondest memories of Stock Car Racing from the CLE track in the 1950's.  HR&J hope you enjoyed this post.  D.

PEOPLE, PLACES AND THINGS....another then and now post from our home towns of Fort William and Port Arthur Ontario....

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For those who don't know, the twin cities of Fort William and Port Arthur, Ontario is now Thunder Bay, Ontario since our amalgamation in 1970.

Then's and now's haven't been regular posts on HR&J for quite some time but since I have tons of photos on file...it's about time to do one.  Then's and now's aren't just places and things but as you see here, it can be people.
A well known face in the public eye especially with the Dave Letterman show and also being a local icon, I thought I would start off with Paul Shaffer.  Now here is a great clipping showing Paul, I believe in the 1960's when he returned to Port Arthur to entertain at The Corral at the Circle In on Memorial Ave.  Paul actually had quite a mop of hair in those days as well as a well appointed cookie duster.  Us folks from Fort William and Port Arthur are very proud of our home town heroes that made it to the big time.  The next photo is more recognizable as the Paul Shaffer we know.



BUILDINGS
This photo of the Prince Arthur Hotel from back in the early 1940's is one of my all time favourite local pictures, as it vividly shows the "McColl-Frontenac Products""Red Indian" sign in front of their service station which was on the corner of Cumberland and Van Norman Street where the Everest College building is today. 

The McColl-Frontenac Red Indian sign here is actually the Holy Grail for automotive sign collectors today, fetching many thousands of dollars in the antique market. The one in the black and white photo above is exactly like the one shown here, and I'm wondering where it went to....If you find it, let me know...LOL.  The Prince Arthur today photo has not changed much in all these years as you can see here.


The following is a very interesting advertisement from Nicholson's Tire back in the 1930's.  It wasn't just called a repair shop....it was called a Tire Surgery shop, saying "you don't have to wait" and "don't cuss, phone us".  As well as repairs, they also sold Goodyear tires.  This same building many years later become "The" Goodyear Tire Centre and now I believe it's just a gift shop.

The picture on the right is how it looked just before it became a gift shop at 271 Bay Street last year.  The building truly stood the test of time over the past 8 or so decades.  Many of the buildings our city wastefully destroys could easily be re-purposed for other business as shown here.

This is a very difficult picture to recognize, as literally nothing looks familiar...but if you click on this one you will see runners from the 10 mile road race in the background in the 1920's.  They are running towards you as you stand in the intersection of Donald and May Street facing north.  The only give-away is the name on the building on the left..."City Hall Garage".....now scroll down to see how that intersection looks today. 


The Royal Edward Hotel wasn't even in the above photo.



                                                              THE WHITE LUNCH

If you are as young as myself....LOL.....you might recognize The White Lunch.  A well known establishment in the 1950's and a bit later, it catered to the younger generation and families.  It, like the old Lorna Doone was a great place to hang out after roller or ice skating at the Fort William Gardens.  Click on all to enlarge
   You might recognize this spot before all these wonderful buildings
    were torn down.The parking lot shown was where the White Lunch
    was on 117 Syndicate Ave.  Of course we all know that the new 
    Court House takes up all this property and more.


THE SCOTT HIGHWAY
Three pictures of highway 61 coming into Fort William Ontario (now Thunder Bay) are shown here.  Highway 61 was historically known as "the Scott Highway" named after lumberman William Scott who had much to do with Pigeon River Timber.  The construction of a highway on only a trail to Pigeon River began in 1913 and was completed by 1916.  Much more detail can be found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario_Highway_61  Be sure to click on ALL the photos on this post for higher detail.
Scott Highway 1916

HWY 61 - Scott Highway 1957
HWY 61 - Scott Highway 2013



WHEN SERVICE MEANT "SERVICE"
This is a great clipping from the opening of Darling's Service on the corner of  Victoria and McKellar street...McKellar was originally called John Street and had to be renamed after amalgamation of our two cities back in 1970 due to the fact that there was a John Street in Port Arthur too.  
In the clipping is Mayor Gordon Carson shaking hands with the proprietor Ralph Darling...also with Zennie Dubinsky on the left and other "service" station attendants in the background.  The building behind with all the glass blocks was the old "Pilkington Glass" building.  This service station location today is Dave Knight Optical.  Click on this link http://hotrodsandjalopies.blogspot.ca/2011/09/906-victoria-avea-hot-rod-and-jalopy.html for more on Darlings in this blog, then come back...

A time when this cap meant
"SERVICE"

Note that the modern photo
below left shows the glass
block windows the same as
shown in the clipping.
Click on each to enlarge!
Dave Knight optical taken from McKellar Street 2013




EARLY MEMORIAL AVE
Thanks to my friend Shaun Hopkins, Hot Rods and Jalopies has this great photo of Glen Berger's Porsche powered Dune Buggy.  It was parked along Memorial Ave in front of Thunder Bay Volkswagen I believe in the 1960's.  The history is - Where Thunder Bay VW was is now the Dulux Paint store, the dark coloured house across the street is now the entrance to the Future Shop off Memorial Ave, and the Dow's Auto Electric building became the blue and yellow "Easy Cash" building all shown in the second photo here.  It's truly hard to believe how many changes have been made in our city in the past 50 years.....it's surely fun to look back....especially if you remember.





MARINA PARK GROWTH AND THE CPR STATION
It's very interesting looking at these two photos...not exactly sure of the dates but comparing the two probably over about 40-50 years the changes jump out at you....and the bottom one is at least 30 years old itself.  The orange roofed structure in the top photo is the old CPR station (I will do an exclusive post on that alone one day).  Water Street today travels right through the station, and notice how close the water line was to the tracks.  In the second photo you can see the station gone and then the beginnings of Water street and Marina park.  Ton's of fill was added to the water line and most of the park you see today would still be water if the massive many-year project would have never been started.  The property across from the tall PUC building will likely soon be our new Arena/Event Centre.....changes, changes, changes....some good some not so good...no politics here!  LOL



TWO FINAL TIDBITS....


137 W. Frederica Street West Fort William Ontario
HR&J hope you enjoyed this post.....once more, Thanks to Shaun Hopkins for the dune buggy photo and all the other photographers whom through history had the sense to take all the great photos we have to enjoy today.

Today I Lost My Wonderful Friend Ron Clark.....May 25, 2014.

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Ron Clark (Big Daddy Hot Rod) was my inspiration, and one of the most courageous men I have ever known.  He lived his life making one feel that not one tiny thing was ever wrong...never complained and never showed any of the distress in life that he had to deal with.  Ron, with his disability never wanted anyone to treat him any different than you would anyone else.....an incredible man and I felt so privileged to have known him.
So, for you Ron, for Pat and all your family.....here are about 20 photos of some of the memorable and happy times we shared...co-managing the Sensational Hot Rods in the early years, the great parties and the in-depth talks we shared many times over.  And Steve, if it wasn't for you and our involvement with the Sensational Hot Rods, Rosemary and I may never have met your parents Ron and Pat. Thank You!
Ron Loved his 1946 Chevy Coupe

Check that Smile!!

Be sure to click on all the pictures for enlargements.  Here's a great shot of Ron in my old Buick, Pat, Josh and my wife Rosemary when the Hot Rods played at Back to the 50's in the early 2000's....fabulous memories!
Here is a picture of Ron and I as co-managers back in the early days of the Sensational Hot Rods on stage telling everyone about the new and upcoming band's website, and announcing up and coming concerts.
Here's a great shot of Ron (drinking Diet Pepsi of course) and son Steve (NOT drinking Diet Pepsi). This was at one of those great after concert parties we all enjoyed...this particular one being at Grand Portage Lodge and Casino.














The pictures above and below are my all time favourites of us.  This is Ron and myself dressed as the Blues Brothers for a Halloween concert with the band at Armani's back when.......
We actually got on stage and sang "Ghost Riders in the Sky." You can see the fun we were all having...again another memorable moment with our friends.

The above is a collage of the night at Armani's...click on it to enlarge.

Below are two nice photos of Pat and Ron....it may have been one of their anniversary parties. We had so much fun in those days and would entertain ANY excuse to have a party of some sort.  This picture was taken at Riley's Tavern in Westfort where we all spent many a time at the microphone doing Karaoke tunes.  "Fun" was the word of the day!!


You guessed it...Ron and Dave doing a re-make of "Ghost Riders in the Sky" from the Armani's Concert!!

Great times together for birthdays, anniversaries and just regular old visits!!!

This was the first time I had seen Ron's first power chair.....of course I had to take if for a tool down his hallway.....damn thing was pretty fast!!


















The above photos are from one of Ron's Birthdays I believe.....all of us cracking jokes and having fun as usual.

THESE TWO PHOTOS ARE APPROPRIATELY TITLED "THE LOVE BIRDS"
 Scroll all the way down....


We will miss you so much Ron, and Pat we are here for you for whatever you need.
"RIP OUR GREAT AND WONDERFUL FRIEND RON CLARK"
with Love, Rosemary and Dave Cano
....Oh, one more thing.....He loved his Maple Leafs

The War Amps Key Tags and "Where are they Now".....

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Here's a different start to a new post.  I have had this collection of key tags from way back when...some of the real old ones were given to me by friends.  Key tags began in 1946 when war amputees had a chance to work by producing them.  In 1972 this program began to serve year-round employment for disabled staff.  If a pair of keys are found with a War Amps tag, and giving them to either police or the postal service, it would allow the keys to get back to their rightful owners.  War Amps report that the key service has returned more than a million sets of lost keys.

This next segment is titled "Where are they now".  A friend of mine, Al Pomanti was gracious enough to give me these old receipts to look at...particularly for remembering how inexpensive things were back in the late 40's and early 50's, but mainly to find out what happened to these businesses and what is presently at their location.  Thanks Al!!
The first one is Art's Service on 906 Victoria Ave.  Most of these old service stations changed ownership many times during the peak "service station" era during the 1930's to the 1970's.  Art's Service in particular at this address was once Kettering Brothers Garage, Darling's Service and Ray Charles Texaco to name a few.  
 On the Art's invoice it says "Let us Marfak your car"....this was a Texaco lubrication trademark.  The photo below right is the present day address and is now Dave Knight Optical.  Be sure to click on all the photos and old invoices to enlarge them!


This next one was Kelly Coulter's Tire Sales and Service.  It's original address was 202 N. May St.  The address is presently Harmer's Quality Auto Service and is on the corner of Leith and May St.  This address was used by many a proprietor through the years and in particular "Grain Port Motors".  Grain Port Mtrs supplied the original Motor Meter(seen to the right) for the famed "King's Ford Special".  Click on this link to read about the "King's Special", then come back.  http://hotrodsandjalopies.blogspot.ca/2010/08/kings-ford-special-local-star-from.html  On the motor meter here you can read "Fort William and Port Arthur Grain Port Motors Ltd." It was located at this same address as noted above, and later on Leith Street before the building became Kam Motors Limited.



Another multi-use facility through the years at 138 S. May St. was Walter Hewitt Motors which was a Willys Overland distributor as well as a service station.  The photo shows how the property looks today and was right next door to the present day Thunder Bay museum on the corner of May and Donald Sts.




Going into West Fort William we have an invoice from Ross Service Station which was located at 200 West Gore St.  The actual location with the vintage looking building still exists today as "Zimmy's".
Check out the invoice....you could buy a new 600X16 tire for your old Ford for only $3.60 with your discount.



Next is an invoice from Budd's Tire and Service Station on the corner of May and Cummings St. in Fort William, Ontario.  Budd's was another location that had many proprietors through the years such as Wes and Jerry's Service and Bahlieda's Shell station.  This location is kitty corner to the Superior Bowling Alley.  Budd's actually sold a bicycle tire for only $1.57.  Today that property is totally vacant.  Actually two city blocks along here are totally vacant on the west side of May Street and have become quite and eyesore as of late.



The next two invoices and locations are very interesting.  The first one is "Canada Tire" from 1948 which was located at 119 S. May Street and the second is "Canadian Tire" from 1949 and was located at 126 N. May Street just a few blocks away from each other.  The stores ran simultaneously but used the words Canada at one store and Canadian at the other.
It looks as though this store supplied mostly Marine products and the other was an auto parts and accessories store.
 




Leaney Motors Ltd's location is another empty lot today on the corner of May and Bethune St.  Another multi-use property through the years.  The details below will show the it was Leaney Motors for only a short period of time later to become Jessiman Motors and also Kam Motors Depot.


To the right is a Leaney Motors Matchbook Cover showing the "New" Meteor....

148-150 North May Street as it looks today on May and Bethune Sts.
Thanks to my friend Al Yahn....he researched the Henderson directories for me to supply the following information on the property.  Leaney Motors was also on 236 Van Norman Street in Port Arthur Ont. as well as the May Street address.

The final photo here is how the property looked as Jessiman Motors in 1951 and beyond.  It's fun to research these things about our local history and provide all of you with informative data to tell your kids and grand-kids.  Thanks for watching...Dave
One Final Note:  It's fun to remember when a Service Station meant "SERVICE" !





Where was GRAIN PORT MOTORS and what is it's claim to fame here in Fort William and Port Arthur Ontario....

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This is a bit of a follow-up to the last post due to the fact we are using old invoices to find addresses and data, and yes, you did see this first picture in the last post.  This photograph is of a Motor(Moto) Meter which was on a very famous local race car, The King's Ford Special......however this post is mostly about what this is, what it's for and the fact that a Ford Service Garage in the 1920's was a very important sponsor of the above noted race car....called Grain Port Motors (as noted right on this MotoMeter.)
This is a Boyce MotoMeter and you can read an ad here from 1912 telling you pretty much what it was, and what it was used for.  It was located on top of the radiator and protruded through the grill shell. I have never before seen and specific business name on a motor meter.  Read on to find out more, and click on all the photos and documents for enlargements.

This MotoMeter sat on the radiator of Mr. Frank Colosimo's King's Ford Special race car built by Art and Arnold King in the 1920's.  Without going into too much detail about the car on this post, you can read more about it by clicking on this link then return to read the rest. http://hotrodsandjalopies.blogspot.com/2010/08/kings-ford-special-local-star-from.html 
The following is a poster from one of the meets here at the fairgrounds in Fort William, Ontario, showing Frank as one of the racers.  One of the first known races here at the Lakehead cities was in 1914.  Frank however was pretty much unbeatable from 1925 until 1932.
In this picture to the right, you can see the MotoMeter above on the nose of the car.

Below is a picture of Al and Sandra Cronk with his restored King's Special.  Two years ago it was on display at the Thunder Bay Airport...there is still hope that this race car will eventually make it's home back here in our home town....also note the original MotoMeter still sits on the nose of the car.

This first advertisement (on the left) from Grain Port Motors was used around 1925 and predominantly shows the Fort William address as on the corner of May and Leith Street and the Port Arthur address says opposite the rink, which meant the Port Arthur Arena.  The May and Leith corner address changed to 113-119 Leith Street in about 1927.  The invoice on the right shows the Leith Street address....and interesting enough they would adjust your brakes for only $1.75.....which actually was not an easy task on the old cars.
The next photo/newspaper clipping is from a December 1939 newspaper showing a very early shot of Kam Motors Limited then "formerly" Grain Port Motors.  Also note the Imperial sign on the top right of the clipping.  That station would have been on the north/west corner of Leith and Simpson Street.  The next picture is of a Kam Motors Limited Brochure from the early 1950's.  Kam Motors is of course where my father spent 30 years of his life between 1937 and 1967 and in the later years became the body shop manager before he taught at the Gron Morgan trade school here in Thunder Bay.



This is how the original Grain Port Motors/Kam Motors looked a couple of years ago.

 ......and here on the corner of Leith and Simpson Street is a Brill Trolly bus in front of the old Palace Confectionery where I used to buy all my hot rod magazines as a young man.  The smaller picture below is how that corner looked earlier this year and the final picture taken just a few weeks ago shows that corner completely empty now, (down go all those Simpson Street buildings) but there in the background on Leith St. is the old Grain Port Motors/Kam Motors building still in use today.



The invoice below is one from the Grain Port Motors Port Arthur Garage in 1934.  It was situated pretty much across the street from the old Port Arthur Arena.  The Port Arthur Arena property now houses the Safeway Store on Court Street.  The last photo to the right shows you exactly what is at 79 N. Court St. where the garage was located back in 1934.  Click once or twice to enlarge.


It is very interesting to see the changes in our own home town after so many years.  There have been many more buildings and landmarks torn down (some historic) just in the last few years and without this documentation the history would be lost forever....HR&J hope you enjoyed this one!! ...and thanks to the Scalzo collection for the wonderful Brill Bus photo above.

The Gentlemen Who "Started Their Engines" .....part 2

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Here at Hot Rods and Jalopies, most of the vintage racing photos are of cars.  This time the concentration will be on drivers...some well known and many are unsung hero's of the day.....with a few other tidbits here and there.
For the original or "Part 1" of The gentlemen who started their engines you can click on this link then return to read this post.  http://hotrodsandjalopies.blogspot.ca/2012/09/the-gentlemen-who-started-their-engines.html
....and again....be sure to click once or twice on all these photo groups for enlargements, and enjoy the memories....hopefully some of you will remember these guys as I do.
The two little panorama photos above are taken along the back stretch at the CLE track...the top one showing a brill bus at the Port Arthur/Fort William turn around bus terminal.


Some  of these guys are quite well known even today, but many gave their time and effort to have fun and also to entertain the thousands who came out each Wednesday night to the best entertainment our cities ever had.....



In the top right photo as noted, you see a well known local driver Louis Tocheri with a very talented young man Lorne Hay (they made an incredible team)...who went on in later years to help Lyn McIntosh with his modified race car.





The top left photo of Tom Dow was taken in about 1953.  Tom along with Barry Kettering were instrumental in resurrecting jalopy racing in Murillo and at the CLE track in the very early 1950's

We lost many of our local racing celebrities through the years such as Barry Kettering shown here, however many are still with us today to detail numerous stories of our racing past such as Merv Dove shown above.

A few unsung hero's shown here!!

I took great joy in building the vintage modified car shown above using Cye Kehoe's and Norm Addley's old #12 with the help of many friends and acquaintances.  I hope to do a more lengthy story on the building of this car in the near future.

HR&J hope you enjoy these blog pages, and by joining and following blogger, you won't miss any posts as they come along.  Thanks for the continued support and interest....Dave











UNIQUELY FORT WILLIAM, Ontario, Canada......more hot rods and jalopies later.....

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I'm not in any way trying to snub Port Arthur-ites (you know...people from Port Arthur) with this post, however, as I lived in Fort William and rarely ventured over to Port Arthur until I had my own set of wheels, or unless I was swimming in Boulevard Lake with my parents, I spent a huge percentage of time in Fort William.  In this post I am trying a new idea in posting a number of collage photo groups which I have been working on for some time. I tried to find one of my posts that would represent the uniqueness of Fort William in it's heyday.  I chose this old HR&J post, re-entered here as it looked back in 2009.
To me Fort William had the best cruising strip anywhere, and it was duly taken away from us baby boomers when we needed it most....well, you get the idea.....

This next group shows the beauty and excitement of a Shriner's Parade on Miles Street in Fort William.  I can't recall where this photo originated but I am very grateful that it was taken...it brought back a ton of memories when it was a bustling down town district.  BE SURE TO CLICK ON ALL THE GROUPS OF PHOTOS ONCE THEN TWICE TO ENLARGE AND VIEW.  A big thank you to my friend Al Yahn for checking on addresses and places for me in his 1950's Henderson directory.
 
 I had done a blog post about Bourke's Drug store way back when, but I recently came across a very old Bourke's Drug envelope while looking through my own archives from the era before dial phones were here at the Lakehead (I love saying Lakehead).  Note, the phone number is 1400.....pick up your phone, wait for the operator, then say "South 1400 please", and she would plug you in to Bourke's.  That was "the" place where my parents purchased all their drug needs back then....read all the details an data on these collage photos.


Fryer Studio was pretty much where everyone would get their photo finishing done.  In the 1940's if you wanted a colour photo, you would have to get a studio to hand colour or hand paint one.  Jessop's Pharmacy on Simpson St. is where my grandparents purchased all their drug needs, as they lived close to Jessop's address.....In those days it was pretty safe to head down Simpson Street....even at night to your corner store or drug store or even go to the movies at the Lake Theatre.

A recent yard sale find is this incredible brochure.  Read all the data as it was a very special event here in Fort William when Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip came to open the St. Lawrence Seaway.  My great aunt Catherine Seppala was Mayor of Fort William at the time and as you can see by the seating arrangement at the bottom, she sat directly beside Queen Elizabeth.....Click twice to enlarge as stated above.

One of the most interesting finds this year was this Fort William travel brochure which I had never seen before.  The map and data about Fort William is below, and I kept it at a fairly large format so you could read about how we promoted our city back in the day....click twice to enlarge.


I found this Dominion Motors newspaper clipping showing the 1952 Pontiac and decided to show these photos again of Dominion Motors on May Street.


As stated on the next photo collage, I have never seen the full size card for this photo....so we have a photo drawing of the original "Fort" William.

These are the things I love to collect...little tidbits of advertising from our city.  There was a lot of it back in the day and it is getting more difficult to find.  Note the phone number is MA 2-6463.  MA stood for MAyfair and is actually 62 on the old dial phones.  DI - DIamond and MU - MUtual were also used.  The clipping below is from a 1961 Fort William phone book.

HR&J hope you enjoyed this post which to me is UNIQUELY Fort William, Ontario.
ALSO BE SURE TO CHECK OUT "THUNDER BAY MEMORIES" ON FB FOR MANY MORE PHOTOS OF OUR TWIN CITIES.

More Clips from The Lakehead Stock Car Club.... 1952-1966 - the era of Hot Rods and Jalopies...

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OK race fans.....we've put together a number of misc collages and newspaper clippings which you may have seen in September and October just before Championship season here at the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition Track from about 1954 until and including 1966.  These are in no particular order by year, but you can compare who were the top dogs and what the public paid to witness the most incredible years in automobile racing here in the Lakehead cities of Fort William and Port Arthur.  To read the fine print in all of these...click on each of the following 29 or so clippings once or twice to enlarge them.

HISTORY OF THE LAKEHEAD STOCK CAR CLUB FROM 1952 UNTIL 1963



 How they were advertised!!

These stories are great reading.....The newspaper staff covered these racing events like no other sport in their day.....There really was something besides Hockey back then.




 
This is how the old Husky Station at 441 S. Syndicate Ave looks today....quite a unique building.




Above are a couple of ads from the 1950's showing two of Barry's cars in two different years to compete in the Western Canada Stock Car Championships.

Bob Harkness had a very distinctive voice which was perfect for announcing the races at the old CLE track.....


Remember when races were held during fair week?  In addition to the typical fair entertainment, racing always was the most popular.  Also remember when they gave six cars away at the Grandstand during fair week?



Louis Tocheri, the 1957 CLE Track Champion was always controversial and loved to get into scraps with the other drivers which made for great entertainment for the public week after week.  Louis would say that in the beginning it was faked a bit, but as time went on, the feuds became very real!!


It was a sad day when driver Sammy Myronuk quit.......


This following clipping stating that Indy Speedway driver Russ Larson(Laursen)(Laurson) would be coming to race as a feature attraction.  I remember being at that race and felt so bad for Russ as you can read in this newspaper ad.  I believe the correct spelling for Russ' name is Laursen.  Sadly Russ was killed on September 16 of 1970 doing what he loved to do.  I can't believe that happened 44 years ago...and we will always remember him.




This last insert is from a 1960 program and it shows you who won what from 1953 until 1960.  It was a wonderful time to be alive.
HR&J hope you have enjoyed these notes and clippings.  There are many more that will eventually grace the pages of Hot Rods and Jalopies....thanks for the notes and emails...keep them coming.
NEW UPDATE...........
SCROLL DOWN TO THE BOTTOM - DON'T MISS THE ALL NEW THUNDER BAY DIRT TRACK INVITATIONAL to be held at MOSQUITO SPEEDWAY THIS COMING WEEKEND SEPTEMBER 13TH AND 14TH 2014


NEW PHOTOS......ALWAYS A GOOD REASON FOR A POST.....from Fort William and Port Arthur, Ontario....

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On Hot Rods and Jalopies, there is always a reason for a good story/post....be it that someone put an idea in my head, someone sent me some new old photos from around Fort William and Port Arthur, the guys our age got together to discuss one specific incident from our former younger days or even putting a group of stories together into one.  Well, this post kind of covers all of that.  These were our young cruising days, these were the 1960's....how lucky we were to have lived our teen years and early twenties during one of the most colourful eras of the 20th century.
Most of the photos in this post were donated by Joe (Joey as we used to call him) Cooper.  Joe was a neighbour of mine in our younger years, and as we grew into our driving years we hung around service stations to learn and to see what the other guys were driving which of course later became what they were driving on the dirt track as well.  Well, Joe ended up working for one owned by Charlie Miller and Ray Defoy (Ray Charles Texaco) which was on the corner of Victoria and now McKellar St....we all hung around there a lot....so thanks Joe for loaning me these photos most of which I had never seen before...but the stories I remembered very well!
We first start out here with something we all love to hate, and that is the Victoriville Centre.  The city built this monstrosity right in the middle of our cruising strip.  Yes, you heard this story many times before and it has been written about many time on this blog.....well let's get to it!!
MR. MAYOR....TEAR THIS PLACE DOWN....WE WANT OUR CRUISIN' STRIP BACK!!!
 Oh Well!  We have to say it anyway pretty much with a smile now ☺..because we know it will never happen.  OK..this following couple of B&W pictures is of my '55 Chev Sedan Delivery...which for a time in the '60s was my Shaggin' Waggin'☺ "Oh, be-have", my motor home, my Saturday night cruiser, and my stock car hauler.  I hauled many other stock cars with it as well.  I added these photos as they were only two of a very few I had until Joe found the other photos of it shown below.
I must say this...click on ALL of the photos or groups to make them screen size.
My '55 Chev Sedan Deliver circa 1968

Well...here we are in front of Ray Charles Texaco in about 1968, and the car on the trailer behind me is Ken Pawluk's Camaro late model stock car getting ready for an outing at our new fabulous dirt track Riverview Raceways.  The brown brick structure in the background was at the time, the Pilkington Glass building.
Note...the redish coloured license plate on the front...well, a sedan delivery was considered a commercial vehicle and you were allowed to license it quarterly.  Quarterly plates were all different colours, not the typical black on white and white on black.  I also could never decide whether the car should have the front bumper on or off. ☺
Here we have the same scene 46 years later...well actually not too much has changed.  Ray Charles Texaco is now Dave Knight Optical and the old Pilkington Glass building is now re-purposed for something else.....at least some great structures stay around for awhile.














Here is the second picture of the group from Joe that I never knew existed....another great colour picture of my Sedan Delivery with Ken's stock car in tow....but the interesting thing here is the Canadian Tire Store on the other side of Victoria Ave., and White's Drug Store to the left of CTC.
Another thing that was from the time frame is that if you had a commercial vehicle, you would need to actually put your name on the side.....as shown here.  The Canadian Tire Store as you will see below was firstly a Safeway Grocery store in the early 1950's.....and the photo below shows what is is now.
The Canadian Tire Store much later to become the Sylvan Learning Centre with a variety of different offices along the east side of the building.  The old White's Drug Store would later become a restaurant, a video store, a card collector store etc. etc., but now looks pretty quiet.
Be sure to click on the above to read the story attached.

 Now...looking towards the north and east is a fantastic photo of Bruce Tiboni's Camaro, Drapkin and Son's delivery vehicle (probably being serviced at Ray Charles), a fantastic to die for Texaco Porcelain sign, beautiful red pump with Fire Chief Gas sign, a Starburst Bonus sign just above the Camaro....the handy as hell Liquor Control Board store across the street, Hurtig Furriers, Nu-Fashon Beauty Salon and of course Chapples Store and a Victoria Avenue that went straight through Syndicate Avenue....we were so lucky then. ☺

.........and here it is now....a huge Courthouse....no Chapples, No liquor store, and NO DAMN VICTORIA AVE. to drive through!☺


Well....in the middle of Joe's photos is a picture of my '57 Chevy which I actually sold before I got the '55....well, they are Joe's photos.  I'm not sure where it was taken....likely Boulevard Lake or Chippewa Park.    I'm leaving it in anyway!  Scroll down for more good stuff.


This picture was in with the bunch too.....it is a young picture of Joe Cooper pumping gas one winter day in front of Ray Charles Texaco.  I love calling him Mr. Texaco....with the Buddy Holly glasses, the Texaco coveralls and no mustache....LOL  Sorry Joe!



This next group of photos is pretty much self explanatory....so click to enlarge screen size and read away......
I'm adding this pretty blurry couple of cuts from two of the photos above.  If any of you out there have a copy of this poster in any condition, I would like to get a copy of it for future Riverview Posts.
This is the final collage photo set which is also self explanatory...be sure to read the whole story....it's the best one yet!!!
Thank you to everyone who watch a follow Hot Rods and Jalopies....its been over 5 years of writing and I am sorry I have been falling behind as of late, but there are literally hundreds of posts that you can go back to read......look at the cloud list to the right as you scroll down to reference anything that is in this complete blog.

Happy Halloween 2014

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HAPPY HALLOWEEN!  Instead of posting a new group of items this year, I'm attaching links to other Halloween years on HR&J....click each one then come back.  Enjoy.



I guess I didn't do posts in 2010 and 2011.  Thanks for looking and continue to come back to HR&J...Gotta love The Munsters......and George Barris!

WAR AND PEACE - REMEMBRANCE DAY 2014....

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LEST WE FORGET!
An early REMEMBRANCE DAY POST - This past June 6th 2014 was the 70th anniversary of the Normandy D-Day invasion of Europe, WWII.  
It was the largest amphibious invasion in history which changed the course of the second world war.
Allied troops numbering nearlly 200,000 boarded 7,000 ships and more than 3.000 aircraft and headed towards Normandy.  About 156,000 troops landed on the French beaches, 24,000 by air and the rest by sea.
They met stiff resistance from heavily defended German positions across more than 50 miles of French coastline.
The credits to these photos(starting the second one down) belong to Getty photographer Peter Macdiarmid and Reuters photographer Chris Helgren.  
They gathered archive pictures from the 1944 invasion, tracked down the actual locations and photographed them as they appear today.
It is incredible to see the transition from "then" til "now", and to see the difference 70 years can make.  Click on each pair or group of photos once or twice - scroll around to see the similarities and the differences.



June 1944 - American Craft of all styles pictured at Omaha Beach, Normandy during the first stages of the Allied Invasion - A view of the beach near Coleville-sur-mer, France.

US troops stand by with stores on Omaha Beach after the D-Day landings - the new photo taken May 2014 as the same spot near Vierville-sur-mer, France.

June 1944 - German prisoners guarded by British Soldiers from the Second Army on Juno Beach - The May 2014 photo shows a view of the beach in Bernieres-sur-mer in Normandy today....note building in the centre background.

June 6, 1944 - A Canadian soldier directs traffic in Bernieres-sur-mer.  14,000 Canadian soldiers had landed at nearby Juno Beach.  The May 2014 photo is a view of Notre-Dame Nativity Church as it looks today.

June 6, 1944 - Troops of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division land at Juno Beach on the outskirts of Bernieres-sur-mer on D-Day - The current photo taken May 2014 is a seafront view of that Normandy Beach today where 340 Canadian Soldiers lost their lives in the battle for the beachhead.


June 6/44 Royal Marine Commandos of Headquarters, 4th Special Service Brigade make their way from the Landing Craft Infantry (small) LCI(S) onto "Nan Red" beach at Saint-Aubin-sur-mer - The May 2014 photo is a view at Juno Beach today.

June/44 - Boats with US troops wait to leave Weymouth to take part in Operation Overlord - The April 2014 photo shows the harbour of the English town today.  This was the location used as a launching place for Allied Troops participating in the invasion of Nazi Occupied France on D-Day.


July/44 - US Army trucks and jeeps drive through the ruins at Saint-Lo - The current May 2014 photo is of the roadway there.  Saint-Lo was almost totally destroyed by 2,000 Allied bombers when they attacked German troops stationed there during Operation Overlord.


Strong contrasts of WAR & PEACE is shown here with the body of a dead German Soldier who lies in the main square of Place Du Marche after the town was taken by U.S. troops who landed nearby at Omaha Beach in Treveires, France on June 15, 1944.  The current photo from Aug 2013 is taken in the exact location.

Incredible contrasts shown here as well - A crashed US fighter plane on the waterfront sometime after Canadian Forces came ashore at Juno Beach on D-Day - The old and new photos were taken at Saint-Aubin-Sur-Mer, France in June of 1944 and August of 2013.

 There are many more photos similar to these but just wanted to post a few to establish the contrast between WARTIME and PEACETIME.

Our own families......I was born right after D-Day begun.
My Mother and Father, My Father and Mother-in-law - Thank you for coming home safely.....but remember the ones who did not !



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