HOT RODS and JALOPIES

This is a little deviation on what we normally do on Hot Rods and Jalopies. I was always fascinated by vintage advertising and have quite a collection of it on my own PC.
There are literally hundreds of brands of Anti-freeze to keep the coolant in your car from freezing in the winter months including all the major oil company brands. The most well known is likely "Prestone"....I will cover a few others as well as some obscure ones here...... so without further adieu HR&J presents "Anti-Freeze".
If you're nervous driving around highways and freeways in the Winter months today in your modern automobile....just imagine what it would be like back in the 1920's and 1930's when many of the cars on the road didn't even have an interior heater, or even side window glass or snow tires.

Love the '32 Ford Coupe with the cardboard over the radiator to warm things up a little!...CLICK ON ME TWICE!

The Ghost of Winter Freeze-up!!

"Prestone" is a brand of Anti-freeze originally made by Union Carbide. Several varieties of Anti-freeze are sold under the Prestone name, in addition to radiator additives, such as stop leaks. The Prestone name is also used for other automotive chemicals including windshield washer fluid, lock de-icer and gas line antifreeze.

Check out this wonderful billboard "Prestone" advertisement from the 1930's in Vancouver, B.C.

....Click on all ads and photos to enlarge.

1930's Billboard ad from Vancouver, B.C.

War-time Prestone Advertisement!

1930's Prestone Magazine Advertisement!

These are great old winter photos.....Here's a 1938 Buick ploughed in while the family was watching a movie back in Boston in 1940.....hope he installed his "PRESTONE".

Here's one more "Prestone" magazine advertisement from the early 1950's. The art work was incredible and the price was reasonable.

SUPER PYRO anti=freeze was made by U.S. Industrial Chemical company in the 1930s and claimed that for only $2.00 you could protect your car from freeze-up for the whole winter long. Click-on to enlarge.

The Aflac looking duck was used by the Zerex company way before the insurance company....as seen here.

Zerex was manufactured by DuPont Chemicals. They claimed back in the 1970's that if you punctured a can of Zerex anti freeze that it would seal itself (do you remember the TV commercials and claims?). DuPont pulled the ads because of court cases due to a variety of false advertisements, and not just for anti-freeze.

A 1940 magazine advertisement for "Trek" anti-freeze. Trek was manufactured by the National Carbon Co. Inc. from New York. This ad appeared in a Canadian publication called Liberty Magazine. Again, the graphic art is wonderful with the 1939/40 car shown. The price was only $1.00/gallon or .25 cents a quart.

"Thermo" anti-freeze here was manufactured by an odd named company called "Publicker Commercial Alcohol Co." in Philadelphia, and was also sold for only $1.00/gallon. Commercial oil companies like Texaco here and many others had their own brand names. This Texaco one was called "Texaco PT" which only stood for "permanent type".

Another brand name was "Hot-Shot"....produced by "Gooderham and Worts Limited" in Toronto and Montreal, Ontario Canada.

Another post snow storm winter shot taken somewhere in North America in 1922. The first car has some side curtains but note that the second car is totally full of snow...and we complain today....LOL!

This final photo shows a bulk drum of Anti-freeze sold by the Fort Motor Company in its day for .25 cents/quart.

Hope you enjoyed our beginning of winter post on Hotrods and Jalopies. As of this date, Hotrods and Jalopies has had over 206 thousand hits......Please keep coming back for more!!

The upcoming Christmas Season brings a different twist to the Hot Rods and Jalopies blog pages....we get nostalgic, don't you?? FIGHTING TUBERCULOSIS WITH CHRISTMAS SEALS from 1903....

.....At the beginning of the 1900's tuberculosis was a greatly feared disease, and its harmful effects on children seemed particularly cruel. In 1903 Einar Holbell, a Danish postal clerk developed the idea of adding an extra charitable stamp to mailed holiday greetings during Christmas.....the money being raised could help children sick with tuberculosis. By 1904 the world's first Christmas seal was issued with over 4 million sold in the first year in Danish Currency 0.02 per seal.

The campaign then spread throughout the Scandinavian Countries and into Europe and continues to be popular today.
.......and in 1908, the campaign had reached other countries including Canada. Interested people in Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario began Christmas Seal campaigns to build and support sanatoriums, as tuberculosis hospitals were called back then.

The Toronto Globe came promptly to their aid and in early December, began running daily stories on the front page giving news of the campaign. The column was bordered by holly so that readers could easily spot it.
The above stamps are not from my own collection but the ones in the three next groups are. My mother saved some of the stamps from her teen years and into the war years after she was married and my father was in the service. Be sure to click on all groups and individual prints to enlarge them to screen size.

Click on above group to enlarge

One story in the Toronto Globe told how the children of 58 Toronto schools had sold 10,000 Christmas seals. Another issue announced that out of Regina, Saskatchewan another paper, the Regina Leader had written to say its staff would sell the seals and send the money back to the sanatorium being built in the Muskoka region of Southern Ontario.

This next group from 1953 to 1961 was an Internet find.

From Saint John, New Brunswick, the Rev. G. A. Moore wrote to say that he and other volunteers would sell 6,500 and send the money to Toronto for the Sanatorium.

The two very colourful advertising posters above are from the early part of the 20th century and the one below from 1952 give a serious reason to buy and use Christmas Seals.

Continuing with the story from above - That first year, the Toronto campaign brought in $6,114.25 and Hamilton citizens gave $1,244.40 during hard times. Year by year other cities across Canada tried the Christmas Seal campaign as a means not only of raising money but of creating the awareness that tuberculosis could be controlled.

Finally, in 1927, it was agreed that the Christmas Seal Campaign was to be the official method for tuberculosis associations to appeal to the public for funds. A national seal was established.

There were many creative means used to advertise the purchase and use of Christmas Seals such as these milk bottle caps from the 1940's.

......and also these milk bottle neck rings.

Christmas Seal campaigns have played an important role in public health. At first the money raised was used for the new and badly needed sanatoriums. When these were established, Christmas Seal funds were used for TB prevention. The seals have paid for millions of Canadians to have chest X-rays of tuberculin tests. As a result, thousands of TB cases were discovered before the disease had spread to others.

On a sad note - Hopes that the disease could be completely eliminated were dashed in the 1980's with the rise of drug-resistant strains. TB cases in Britain, numbering around 117,000 in 1913, had fallen to around 5,000 in 1987, but cases rose again reaching 6,300 in 2000 and 7,600 cases in 2005. Due to the elimination of public health facilities in New York and the emergence of HIV, there was a resurgence of TB in the late 1980's. New York had to cope with more than 20,000 TB patients with multidrug-resistant strains.

In response to this resurgence, the World Health Organization issued a declaration of a global health emergency in 1993....every year nearly half a million new cases of multidrug-resistant TB are estimated to occur worldwide.....

Consequently...continued support is needed.

Here is a typical advertisement by movie and television stars supporting the purchase and use of Christmas Seals.

..........The Lone Ranger and Tonto.

.......and finally....did you know...................

Thank you for watching and supporting Hot Rods and Jalopies. Look for more Christmas Season posts soon.

During the Christmas season, HR&J enjoys and publishes a nostalgic look at this festive time of the year and takes a little detour from the "mostly car and local history" information that you usually see here. You may see a vintage car or two however. We hope you enjoy it.

The following are a few vintage pop Christmas sheet music covers...ones I'm sure you'll all remember. When I was a kid taking music lessons, these were my favourite pieces to play over the holiday season. I would purchase them from my music teacher or from Heintzman's Music store on the corner of Syndicate and Victoria Ave. (long gone now) or from Coran's music store further west on Victoria Ave. The top three I still have today.

CLICK ON ALL PICTURES TO ENLARGE

Click on Jimmy Boyd below to hear "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"

Then click on Bob Hope below to hear "Silver Bells" from "The Lemon Drop Kid"

These next two images are from a 1954 Esso brochure (thanks to Dave Howarth). Many Esso retailers would have the identical brochure and put their stamp or print on them. This one shows Esso Triangle Service which was on the corner of Fort William Road and Memorial Ave back then. The photo scans show the front cover in and out, the music pages then the back cover in and out.

The rest of the photos are mostly magazine advertisements from the earlier part of the 20th Century which I hope will tweak a memory. My grandmother had a Victrola something like the one in the following advertisement....I wonder where it went. They are both advertising the record players for Christmas........

You could not talk about Christmas advertising and not have at least one of Sundblom's Coca Cola Santa ads........this very colourful example was printed in numerous magazines through the years.

If you were in the money back in 1928, you may by your wife a new Silver Anniversary Buick, as THE Gift for the Christmas season.

...or if you weren't well off, you may purchase your wife or child a pair of Barney & Berry skates for Christmas.

If your great-grandfather purchased a RAY Camera back in the early 1900's into the 1920's, you would have one of the rarest cameras in your possession. This particular ad shows that Fryer Studio sold these at one time. This camera is worth hundreds of dollars today.

The next ad shows the late President Ronald Reagan advertising Chesterfield Cigarettes during his acting days. Mr. Reagan actually had Alzheimer's disease and died from Pneumonia, not from lung cancer as some people think.

The 7UP bottling company always had some of the most colourful magazine advertisements, and this next one is no exception....with the famous green bottle, the swimmer/diver on the side and a total of 7 bubbles on either side of the 7up logo.

To the right is a very interesting health insurance ad saying that you could have an "easy mind" and spend more at Christmas knowing that you have insurance....

Last but not least is a tongue in cheek ad saying that after you make every one else happy at Christmas, you need to make yourself happy and purchase a new Colt Revolver.....WOULD YOU???...well maybe...the world is getting rough out there, but leave it 'til after Christmas, and don't put one under the tree.....

Thanks for checking out Hot Rods and Jalopies.....watch for more Christmas posts soon!!

Well here it is...that time of year again when you have to make that BIG decision..."Artificial or Real".

When I was a kid, there was never a decision...it was always REAL! There were very few tree lots so we would head out to the country...usually the Oliver Lake area, trudge through 2 or 3 feet of snow to find our "wonder tree". It was usually on the top of a 20 or 30 footer that you had to chop down first, then cut the top seven or so feet off. Hopefully after you cut down the large tree and cut the top off, that it was as beautiful as it looked 20 feet up in the air.

It is probably one of the most important family traditions I ever remembered that we carried on through the generations.

So without further ado ...GO GET YOUR REAL TREE!!

The above art work is courtesy of Retro Planet.com

Of course this sign at the left is not real, but it sets up the post for a few family photos taken this time of the year throughout the ages.

To those of you who don't know me personally, our last name is pronounced "sanno" with a soft "c" like in the word celery......surprised?

This photo is one of my all time favourite seasonal photos. I believe it was taken in around 1940 by my father. This is a picture of my uncle Henry straddling the hood of my dads Studebaker Erskine. They were obviously out in the bush somewhere near Fort William and Port Arthur, Ontario getting Christmas trees for the whole family.

Here's my father back in 1958 loading a few wonderful Balsam trees in the back of his new Bel Air company car...I remember it being green and pretty much matching the trees loaded in the back.
My grandfather hated Spruce trees with the short needles, because they would dry out in no time and the needles would be all over the place. He did prefer the Balsam which when watered properly would last much longer than the spruce. He had a Slovak name for the spruce trees that I can not mention here ☺. The Balsam choice continued for a few generations.
My grandfather never drove a car in his life so my dad and I usually with a few uncles along would pick up trees in the bush for everyone.
I loved those wonderful times that are rarely forgotten especially at Christmas.

NEXT we jump a generation and a bunch of years to about 1980. My youngest son was pretty young, so he and my wife were likely in the van to keep warm. Here is my eldest son Darren, his cousin Jason and Jason's sister Colleen cutting trees at a tree farm just south of Kakabeka Falls .....always fun times with warm hot chocolate for everyone later.

Click on all the photos once or twice for enlargements.

This one is fantastic....cut-r-down!

Darren and Jason riding in the old trailer with our
Christmas trees!

One of the sights I remember as a child was heading down to the old Fort William City Hall during the Christmas season to check out the beautiful light display there. One particular year, I remember the city workers made huge ice block cut-outs and placed lighted trees inside...it was spectacular.

A beautiful art piece showing a family heading

home with their recently harvested Christmas

tree...the children couldn't wait to set it up and

breathe in the pine aroma.

This young person can't wait to get

the tree home to decorate - what a

sweet picture!

The "Charlie Brown" tree is probably the best known tree of all time, next to the Rockefeller Center tree. "A Charlie Brown Christmas" has been synonymous with the Christmas Season. Be sure to check it out below.

FILM:
The next few photos of "getting the Christmas tree" are the tongue in cheek ones from the movies we love the most this time of the year. ...click on

After all that.......Ralphie still gets to see dad set up and decorate the tree, and all is forgiven! One note about The Christmas Story is that it is pretty factual to the times during the early 50's. Every time I watch this film, I see something I hadn't noticed before.

Christmas Vacation is another of the far out films of the season....we've all seen it....It's a film we all love and hate at the same time....well that's my opinion anyway ☺. The important part is that the Griswold's went out to get their Christmas tree as a "family".

Click on!

What a truly great photo from the turn of the century....hauling trees from the country for Christmas by horseback to sell in the city.

.....and finally of course the iconic "It's a Wonderful Life" ....showing the family Christmas Tree and a perfect ending.

OH...just one more.....we can't forget Alvin, Simon and Theodore under their Christmas Tree.....so...go out and get your REAL Christmas tree and relive your wonderful childhood days....Merry Christmas!

All of you may recall that last Christmas I did a few posts as well, one featuring my good friend Roger Rickards and all the wonderful toys he received when he was a child here in Fort William, Ontario. Have a look again at last years post (link below) then come back to see more of Roger's childhood at Christmastime.
Last Years Christmas Post - Roger
....then scroll down for some more photos and we will decipher what is under the Christmas tree as well as a surprise way down at the end of this post.

Here is Roger in 1948 about 1 year old and under his family's Christmas tree opening up his treasures..... In Fort William and Port Arthur, Ontario back then, times were simpler, and of course as a child you had nary a care in the world....but like any child then and now, you could barely wait until Christmas to open up your presents.

The first of the toys Roger unwrapped was this wooden toy...I think every child must have had one of these at one time or another. They were made by many manufacturers as well and called a toy lawn mower, clickety clack toy or whatever.

Be sure again to click on all the photos in this post once or twice to enlarge....

In this next 1948 photo Roger has many more toy presents opened including a whistling top, a riding steam engine and a wagon full of great treasures....some to be explained below....

The following collage is that of a number of riding steam engine toys of the era, and none of which were actually identical to his....

...Then the whistling top.....every child had one or more of these in their lifetime....

I have always appreciated vintage ornaments, especially the blown glass ones. The vintage pine cone ones shown below were quite common for their day, but when my kid brother Corey was little, our parents put only plastic decorations on the bottom two feet of the tree, because there would be none left intact by the time Christmas came.

Here's Roger looking totally content riding on his train.... and look at all the wonderful items in the background....The American Beauty wagon, the tree light reflectors, the vintage (likely Zenith) upright radio that the family gathered around to listen to Christmas music and shows, and the toys inside the wagon.

Lastly, the icicles on the tree (we called them tinsel) that actually had lead content.

My uncle Wally had the most perfect tree of anyone I ever knew. year to year he would actually iron the tinsel so they hung perfectly straight. It would take him weeks to finish decorating the tree.

Below is a colour photos of what the American Beauty wagon would look like, and in the wagon was this fantastic little Ferry Boat toy complete with little 1940's plastic toy cars. We're not sure exactly what the other items in Roger's wagon are.

The next two items are fairly close to what is shown in the black and white photo above. Here we have a Zenith upright radio, which was an absolutely beautiful piece of furniture in the day, where the family would gather round every evening, sit together and enjoy all the excellent broadcasting that was available in those days. Then there were the light reflectors (metal of course). You would unscrew a bulb, place the reflector over the base of the bulb and screw the bulb back in. I was always leery about getting an electric shock from these babies....and as I recall my dad did once or twice.

In this next photo, we are jumping ahead to 1953....Roger's brother Bob was just an infant (I don't see any toys for Bob...I guess Roger got all of the incredible toys shown here. Bob was even too young for an abacus....well maybe the Bobo Clown was his....LOL

Their dog Panda also raked in a ton of his favourite canned treat "Pard Dog Food".

OK...here's the abacus and the slush cast RED tractor, likely by the Tootsie Toy Company.

.....and here is the Junior Doctor Kit, the Binoculars and the Bobo Clown which might have been Bob's...

Finally from the picture above we get to the PARD dog food....I'm thinking....could this be Roger'stoo? Roger said his dog's name was Panda, but I don't see any dogs in any of the photos.

Forgive me Roger, I couldn't resist.... :-)

For these final few Christmastime photos and graphic items we jump to 1962...Roger would be about 15 years old, smack dab in the age of adolescence. Yes...now we have colour photos.

I truly loved the decorating in that era here in the Lakehead cities of Fort William and Port Arthur. I remember my parents home looking almost exactly the same inside...similar nick-knacks, furniture and draperies.

BUT.....look what is just to Roger's left on the chair... It's an AMT model kit.....not just any model kit, but George Barris' New for 1962 Ala-Kart double kit....build the Ala-Kart and the stock model A in one kit.....WOW

We all loved our model car kits....so much so that I still build 1;25 scale model cars to this day.

OK....there is one more photo below.........SCROLL DOWN to see how we view Roger today........

WE HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS 2014 - There will only be one more small post before Christmas Day - from Dave and his entire family at Hot Rods and Jalopies!!!

Merry Christmas to all our fans, members, and followers - your input is much appreciated.
from Dave and his entire family at Hot Rods and Jalopies

We are adding this little Christmas film that my son Jay produced a couple of years ago. (It was originally shown in 2012) It is very special to me and I would like to add it once more. Click on the bottom right hand corner of the picture below to view it full screen.

Also a big thank you to all who send or supply photographs and stories that make this blog site what it is today...you all know who you are.

MAY THE PEACE AND HAPPINESS YOU EXPERIENCE THIS HOLIDAY SEASON WITH YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS LAST THE WHOLE YEAR THROUGH. HAPPY "2015"

In my vault of treasured history, I came across this old News Chronicle from January 2, 1952, and thought I might share a bit of what we were doing back when I was just a kid.

It's very interesting to read print even from the 1950's to see how we expressed ourselves....some of it almost sounds like a foreign language. ☺

Hearty, Noisy and Spirited as it was described here.
Also, remember when everyone had to renew their driver's license plates every year just after New Years day....the line-ups were horrendous.

Click on all these ads once or twice and enjoy reading the articles from 63 years ago right here in our Lakehead Cities.

The Port Arthur Harbour January 2 1952. The Korean War was also upon us. It lasted from June 25, 1950 until July 27, 1953.

It's also very interesting what we watched at the Famous Players Theatres and at the Odeon as well. Most films that were shown in Port Arthur were also shown simultaneously at the same theatres in Fort William.

My all time favourites from that time frame were Laurel and Hardy and Roy Rogers. Remember also all the active theatres back in 1952 such as the Royal, Lake, Fort, Lyceum and Colonial. Most all the facades of these buildings still exist today.

Mahon Electric was located on Arthur Street in Port Arthur (now Red River Road) as well as on Victoria Ave in Fort William which is now inside Victoriaville Centre. There was always a dance somewhere in town and my parents took them all in. Roy Coran was always their favourite. (sadly many times, the newspapers misspelled Roy's name as Ray, as shown in the ad below.

There was a ton of action at the old Port Arthur Arena in 1952, such as the exhibition hockey games shown below and very affordable prices even for the day. I don't recall the Port Arthur Spitfires at all. The Port Arthur Arena also had the best roller skating, as the surface was wood and very smooth, not like the marble type surface of the Fort William Gardens. The Port Arthur arena was where the Safeways Store and it's parking lot on North Court St today.

McGolrick's Men's Wear had a store in Port Arthur and in Fort William. Remember also Oikonen's Taxi, 191 Lorne St., with "Radio Cabs" which was next to the old New-Chronicle office in 1952.

Here is some interesting statistics from the Korean War era in '52, as well as some comics we read in our newspaper then.

"JOE PALOOKA" AND "BUGS BUNNY"

New Years January 2 1952 brought some advice about making New Years Resolutions, and again, it's very interesting to observe how the English language was written.....and a few more comics. Again, click on all to enlarge to screen size.

"BLONDIE" AND "FRECKLES AND HIS FRIENDS"

KAM MOTORS LTD. USED TRUCK BARGAINS, January 2, 1952, as well as Lakehead Motors Limited advertising their new 1952 Plymouth vehicles. My dad Jonnie was a very active body shop manager for Kam Motors at this time and worked for them from before WWII and after - from 1937 until 1967 when he started teaching Auto Body and Welding at Gron Morgan trade school, and did so until he retired from there when he was 65.

Here at Hot Rods and Jalopies, we want to thank everyone who faithfully follows this blog site for their support and also for their donations of photos and stories to add to the content.

Even though there is no remuneration for any of this, I thoroughly enjoy doing the writing and stories for your pleasure. Dave at HR&J

A very nice surprise and the first post albeit short for 2015.

It is with great pleasure to announce that this blog is featured in Thunder Bay's Arts and Culture alternative magazine called "THE WALLEYE".
A huge thank you to Kyle Poluyko for the very nice article.
"THE WALLEYE" takes a very interesting and informative look at local arts and culture as well as music food and film.
The Walleye is a free monthly publication distributed on racks throughout Thunder Bay and region, and can also be found on-line here.
Once you click below, head to page 34 to see us featured, then click on the page to enlarge it.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE

Oh...and one more thing ☺...we are also very happy to be voted in Best of Thunder Bay in the WALLEYE.....as tied for Best Blog for the year 2014.

Prologue - Dave says:

At about 14 years old I had already “borrowed” my dad’s car on a few occasions (without being caught of course) and after spending much time at Kam Motors body shop where my dad worked, the intoxicating effects of exhaust fumes and the scent of body filler, began running through my veins. To add to this, in the early 1950's the wonderful world of local dirt track racing entered into the mix at the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition grounds.

These were the beginnings of being a full-fledged gear head. Now, 55 years later, George Rogers writes this wonderful article titled “Field of A’s”. Reading George’s story brought forward a flood of memories of the cars George described in detail, and he even had photo proof.

...now these two photos are not George's, but you could well imagine the excitement of any 14 year old seeing something like this in the 1950s. These both scrap yard photos feature mostly Model "A" Fords and you can click on each of them for enlargements. George's local photos will appear at the end of the article.

So, with George Rogers approval, read his story next and I will comment more at the end.

FIELD OF A's - by George Rogers

(formerly of Fort William, Ontario (now Thunder Bay) - George now resides in Winnipeg.

As a teenager growing up in Fort William Ontario, my time was divided between schoolwork (in limited doses only), my part time job, and lots of cruising. This was at the time when cruising actually involved driving, long before it came to mean sitting for hours in a lawn chair on a parking lot staring at your trunk lid. Typically Sunday afternoon cruising led me to back roads out in the country, checking farm yards and abandoned buildings for old cars.

Near Kakabeka Falls, some 20 miles west of town on a side road south of Hwy 17, there was a property where a few old cars could be glimpsed out back of the house through the trees. However, they could be seen only from a distance because local legend had it that anyone venturing onto the property would be met by an angry old man with a shotgun. Although I wanted to get a close look at the cars, I had no interest in confirming the legend.

Now, it happened that my part time job was at the Safeway store, and somehow I came to learn that one of our customers was the wife of the angry old man. She would periodically take the train to town for a shopping trip. She’d get her provisions at Safeway, and I’d often take her boxes a block or so to the CN station where she’d catch the train home. She was a lovely lady, and once I became aware of her relationship to the objects of my interest, I’d make a point of steering our conversation in that direction. After a few fairly broad hints she invited me to come out to see their cars. I did so the next day, camera in hand.

They had four A’s, all different models. One, a two door sedan, was still licensed and in regular use. Out back there was a Phaeton, equipped with a non-original barnboard roof rack, which they explained had been used to carry a boat when the car was driven through bush on fishing trips to remote lakes. The others were a rumble seat equipped Sport Coupe, and a rare Victoria. With the exception of the Phaeton, which bore the scars of its off-road duty, all appeared to be in decent condition. After that first visit I went out to see her and her husband, who proved to be a good fellow, on a number of occasions. More than once I asked about buying one of the cars. The answer was always no, until a couple of years later when one day over a cup of tea they told me they would sell me a car, but only if I’d take all of them. That just wasn't feasible for me, and I believe the cars were still there when I moved away a little later.

Incidentally, during those years I did buy a Model A, a very nice low mileage one owner four door sedan. Ironically, it had been stashed for many years in a garage on the adjoining property, a short walk from these cars.

In 1960, when these photos were taken, Model A’s were very old cars. However, doing the math, it’s clear that they were the same age as a 1985 car is today. I find it difficult to get my head around that!

George Rogers - December 2014

THE PICTURES (as you can see, they were all taken in October 1960. Click on all to enlarge!

The angry old man's wife (sweet looking lady)

'28/'29 Model A Ford Coach

1930 Model A Ford Sports Coupe

George must have liked this one the most, as there are more

pictures of this one than any other.

Very Rare 1928/29 "Bush Phaeton"

Very Rare 1931 Ford Victoria - Larry Pugh in picture

1931 Ford Model A Victoria

George taking a "SELFIE"

After reading George's story and viewing the pictures, I couldn't believe my eyes, because I actually remembered these cars and where they were....I recognized some of the buildings in the photos as well, .....but before we go on, I must say that the cars are NOT there anymore and the family is NOT either. There is a newer home on the property now and the area is pretty well built up.

When you pass Kakabeka Falls, head up hwy 590 which is just past the falls. At the top of the hill, there is a road called Luckens Road which branches to the left. The cars were right there on the south/west corner, and back from the main road. It was definitely the shot gun that we were afraid of too...the rumors were true. A couple of years later, the last car I remembered being there was the '31 Vicky stacked to the brim inside with firewood. All you had to do was stop by the owner's driveway and he would head out with the gun and say "Get the hell off my property, you kids don't have a damn cent to spend on anything"....and he was pretty much correct.

One more note: At coffee this morning(Jan. 4, 2015), my friend Ron remembered the rumor that the reason everyone was shooed away with a shotgun is that this fellow had coffee tins full of cash stashed everywhere around his property.....well, it was only a rumor. ☺

The following maps show the exact spot where the cars were

This is how that corner looks today....HWY 590 goes off to the right and Luckens Road is to the left. Luckens Road was named something else back then and was used a few times for racing hill climb runs.

Many thanks to George for this article and photographs. George has contributed to Hot Rods and Jalopies before, and you can read more of George's input but clicking on this following link, then scroll way down past the current story - http://hotrodsandjalopies.blogspot.ca/search?q=George+Rogers

My Father, My Teacher, My Mentor, My Friend passed away peacefully at 10 pm last evening in his sleep.
Thank you Dad for handing down your automotive talents to your son. We shared many a day in the garage planning and designing either in our minds or on paper. He loved nothing more than a ride in one of the new Hot Rods I had built knowing that he had some input in the work and design.. I've spoken to many of his former students through the years from Gron Morgan Trade School and they all said that he was one of the best and most respected teachers they ever had.....a wonderful tribute.

Thanks to everyone that had sent condolences and thoughts and prayers on my FB page as well.

Jonnie Cano as some of his old colleagues called him was 95 years of age.
We will never forget him.

Here are a few photos some of which are on my FB page as well....

My dad at the NOTA Car Show in 1967 at the Port Arthur Arena - He had a ton of input in this car.

Dad and I doing the '33 Ford Victoria circa 1986

He loved the Model "A" but always said to me " When are you gonna put some damn fenders on that thing".

This picture was taken at an Antique Car Club Cruise show this summer held at Dawson Court where his resided for the past 11 months. He could still point to all the cars and new what year they all were, even though he had dementia.

RIP Dad....Love you and miss you - This was taken at Intercity Mall on one
of our walks about 1 1/2 years ago. He was 93 here.

Dad at his 95th Birthday Party with my sons and his Grandsons, Darren and Jay

Thank you to everyone from Rosemary and Dave at HR&J.....

It's been quite some time since we did a "then" and "now" post. Sometimes, however we cannot add the "now" because the now is inside Victoriaville Centre, as the first part of this post starts.......
Click on "THE CLOCK" collage twice to get it full screen then read the history there. You can click on all the other photos once or twice to enlarge them as well.

I am reposting this photo from above for another reason... The first vehicle on the right parked in front of Chapples is a 1929 Pontiac Six sedan...the big giveaway is the split grille, the molded visor, and chief Pontiac on the on the radiator cap on the grille shell. This is a wonderful local photo taken in front of the Chapple building also known as the Grain Exchange Building in its day.

Chief Pontiac

Read all about it.

Side view.

Pontiac Six only $895.00

The next Then and Now was known as "The City Substation and Telephone Exchange" (photo taken by the Fryer Studio, Fort William). It is quite a unique little building and has been used for many things through the years such as an art studio and a dance studio. It still exists but looks vacant at present. The address is 910 E. Donald Street.

Current photo.

I never knew why our city would tear down this absolutely beautiful building which was once city hall. The city should have left this building and built a new structure in the Intercity area after the amalgamation of Fort William and Port Arthur into our present City of Thunder Bay. I am not sure of the exact year of the photo. The Hydro Electric building property in this photo was actually a service station at one time.

Current Photo.

"THE ARMOURY" in this next collage, like the one at the beginning of this post tells a story in itself, so, again, double click on it twice to enlarge full screen then scroll around to read all the data.

Here are some enlargements of the tiny graphics that are in the collage above..click on them too.

HMCS Fort William - RCN.

Navy League Cadets logo.

Royal Canadian Navy sticker.

Here is the Hydro Substation on Walsh Street taken in the mid 1950's. The present day photo is pretty much the same except the Hydro grid that was beside the old photo is no longer there, and I am not sure what the nice strong brick building is even used for today. The building is on the corner of Walsh and Sprague St.

Current photo.

This next photograph is of Port Arthur Motors (Used Cars). It was their used car lot on Court Street in Port Arthur which was later used for many years as the Port Arthur Motors Body Shop, and just to the right of it was their outdoor used car lot. Kam Motors in Fort William where my father worked and Port Arthur Motors were both owned by Hubert Badanai Sr. in the 1950's when this photo was taken. The Badanai name still stands as the only Chevrolet dealership in Thunder Bay today.

Current photo.

Sargent and Son Funeral Home and the Port Arthur Fire Hall on Court Street in Port Arthur...photo circa 1950's. Here is a then and now of that particular spot. Sargent and Son's now own all the property heading all the way north to Van Norman St.

Current photo.

OK...back to Fort William. Check out this beautiful touring car parked on Simpson Street, just north and around the corner from Victoria Ave. As you can see, this was a very busy part of Fort William in the 1910's during the transition from horse and buggy to horseless carriage. What an interesting time it must have been to live during those days. The current photo below shows no buildings left in that area. Many were destroyed by fire in the later years. When viewing the old photos like these, note that most of the gentlemen always wore suits and hats, and the ladies were always in their Sunday best. In the vintage photo, the next side street at the right of the photo is Miles St.

Reminder - click on photos twice.

current photo

The Daily Times Journal - The first photo is my own canvas bag that I used to deliver the TJ back in the 1950's.

The next two photos are then and now Times Journal building photos at 115-119 N. May Street in Fort William. I'm not sure weather the gentlemen are waiting to get a job or just waiting for the new edition of the Times Journal to be released. The Palace Cafe next door was many different businesses throughout the years.

For more about this building on Hot Rods and Jalopies, here is a link, then come back CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON THE TIMES JOURNAL

A huge thank you for all the support we receive from local and international members and watchers of Hot Rods and Jalopies.

Also a big thank you as well to "The Walleye" (a fabulous and informative local arts and culture magazine), and Kyle Poluyko for the wonderful article written about us in the January 2015 issue.

Throughout the years there has been literally tons of local advertising to make one visit our home towns or to sell products here. The following items are a small portion of my personal collection of local advertising. Most are pretty self explanatory, so be sure to click once or twice on each to view them screen size. ENJOY!

These of course are automotive window decals...everyone would put them on their campers or travel trailers to show where they have travelled. Local ones are very difficult to find especially here. These were found in an antique shop many years ago in Minneapolis.

Former Alderman Hubert Limbrick dubbed our area "The Land of the Sleeping Giant"

Bill Spicer also a former Alderman of Fort William, with

his brothers, ran Spicer's Tire Service for many years. I worked for them in

the 1960's

The use of the Esso tiger started after WWII.

"There's a Tiger in your tank".

Remember when you got your oil changed

they would put a sticker like this on your

car's door jamb.

This is a cool little Auto Expense booklet to keep
track of oil changes and servicing of your vehicle.

In the Lakehead area, windshield scrapers were probably given out more than any promotional item through the years, and here are some great examples from T&S Service, Don Long's White Rose in Westfort and D. J. McCall, BA fuels agent.

This is always a favourite that I have used on a post before. This is an ink blotter advertising card from the 1950s.

The graphic art on this Ossie's White Rose map is fantastic, as well as the Kettering Brothers (Barry and Glen) Husky advertising card above. These business were very close to each other on Syndicate Ave. The White Rose was on the South/West corner of Arthur St. and Syndicate Ave. Kettering's Husky was just across the road from the CPR Station on the corner of Isabella St. and Syndicate Ave.

Here's a group of glass advertising ashtrays from Henderson's Taxi in Fort William, Ed's Triangle Service at the corner of Memorial, John and Fort William Road in the day(it is a Confederation year ashtray), and George's B?A Station which was on the corner or Waterloo St, and Victoria Ave in Fort William.

This was a very popular button in 1975. Car

Enthusiasts were forever trying to get a Drag

Strip going in our towns from the 1950s to the

present with never any luck. Terrace Bay finally

succeeded a few years ago.

If you click on this one you can see the tiny print saying
Fort William and Port Arthur shown at the head of the lakes.

Here are 3 advertising pens and a small tune-up screw driver from some local businesses....the first one is from Brescia's Gulf Service and the second is Brescia's when it became a B/A Station. The tune-up screw driver is from the well known Dominion Motors....still serving our city today. The last is from Spicer's Tire Service, where I worked in the 1960's.

Here is a little Dunlop Tire Sales and Service ladies rain hat from the 1960s, as well as a newer small key fob from Spadoni's Dealership in Schreiber.

Here are a couple of advertising thermometers , one from Gino Antoniazzi's B/A agency from about 1961 and the other from Woods Gulf is a little newer. Woods was located between Spud's Burger Major and Green Acres Plaza near the North/West corner of Arthur (Thanks Roger for the correction ☺).

Key Fobs were another smart advertising piece, which usually stayed on your key ring even until you sold your old car to buy a new one. They made them of leather to survive the tests of time.

The last two pieces are not automotive related but interesting anyway. This Fryer Studio one, would hold a few pennies for your parking meter. Sadly they won't hold loonies that you need to park today. The final piece is a Street Car Conductor's badge from the days of Rail Trolly (electric railway) here in Port Arthur and Fort William. This is a recent new find for me and is one of my favourite pieces.
We hope you enjoyed this post, a little different from the others. Thanks for watching and looking. Dave

OK...here we go. Yes, this is me circa 1946. My dad had recently returned from England after the WWII years and we were on a typical Sunday outing in the car. The car he had then was a Studebaker Erskine.

After my father recently passed away, I started searching through our family photos again and came up with a couple of interesting ones of yours truly. This photo was taken in front of the original McKenzie Inn on Lakeshore Drive. I was a pretty chunky kid when I was little...but the cool thing is that I am standing beside a very rare double visible gas pump..."A Wade #2". I wish there was a picture of the whole pump, but the fact that it has two hoses is a dead giveaway. I guess I was more important than the pump was in those days.

The two pumps shown here are very similar to the pump shown in the photo of myself above. I'm not sure what brand of fuel was sold at the McKenzie Inn.....it could have very well been B/A with the old bow tie logo shown at the left. It definitely was not Gilmore as shown on the right, which was a very popular American Brand in the day. I'm just adding these photos to show you what a double visible looked like.

Sorry....here's one more old 1946 photo of myself, taken at Boulevard Lake in about 1946 as well....the interesting find in this photo was the fact that I was drinking chocolate milk from a Thunder Bay Co-op Dairy milk bottle.

Here are the three sizes of Co-op milk bottles that are presently in my collection. The Chocolate milk was sold at corner stores mainly in the smallest bottle, and the other sizes as well. My dad's good friend Bub Kellough also sold cherry milk at his "Dairybest" dairy.

Some stories about the Thunder Bay Co-op Dairy are shown in a couple of posts on my blog pages here - Click on this link then return for more - THUNDER BAY CO-OP DAIRY

MORE RACING AT THE OLD CLE

I loved going to the dirt track races at the CLE...and obviously you know that, but when the Championships came, the excitement was overwhelming to a young gear head like myself. The International Dirt Track Stock Car Races at the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition Grounds were the best anywhere. Here is a cover page from a Sept 25, 1957 program....I was 13 when this program came out, and the next print here was on the first inside page of the program stating only 25 cents to go to the races, which was very affordable for a kid in those days.

The following two rare colour photos are favourites of mine...not too crisp but you get the idea. At the beginning of the race day in 1957, the cars and drivers would angle park at the rub-rail and in front of the Grandstand, so that you could get a glance of your favourite drivers and cars.

The red and white '34 Ford in the middle of the first photo and lined up for the first race in the second photo was none other than my favourite of the day, Barry Kettering.....there are many photos and stories in my blog pages about Barry and more of many of the other drivers, so if you haven't already.......search out all the pictures and stories.

Here is the Roster for the above race day....you can see all the drivers names who participated as well as the fact that they came from near and far to race for the big money. Literally thousands of spectators would cram the old grandstand to watch the thrills and spills.

NEXT - My mother's old BEATTY

This is an actual photo of my mother's Christmas present in about 1947, just before we moved into our first NEW house. It looks and sounds a bit sexist, but my mother loved her new washing machine. The one she had before this was a gas motor powered one that you had to kick start.......and hopefully it would start. When it was running, it would vibrate itself from one side of the back porch to the other....she hated the old one, so this was pretty much a miracle for her.

The photo of my mom's Beatty is a little fuzzy....but I can't improve it... The Beatty ad is a real 1940's magazine ad and the colour photo of the lady with the "Connor" brand washer is from our friends at Shorpy.com. The big thing was to keep your fingers out of the wringers....

NEXT - A Rare Local Photo

This next local historical photo was a puzzle to me for a few years, It is of a visit from Lord Willingdon, Governor General of Canada's visit in the 1930s. I started searching building tops in and around the Port Arthur downtown area and where dignitaries came and went from our Lakehead cities. I have come to the conclusion that comparing the two following photos, the picture was taken on Syndicate Avenue in front of the CPR station facing Cronos cafe.....Check it out for yourself!! It is a wonderful and fairly crisp old photo with some great billboards shown on the store in the background and to its right.

The last picture for this post below is also quite interesting as not many people have noticed what advertising was painted on the south side of the James Murphy Coal Company building to the right of their signage. On close scrutiny you can recognize a big arrow...and definitely see that it is a Wrigley's Spearmint advertisement.

We hope you enjoyed this post and as usual be sure to click on all the pictures for enlargements.

A huge thank you to all the people through the years that took some of the wonderful photos that you see on these blog pages as well as those who have graciously donated historic photos to this site.

Thanks, Dave

HR&J wishes you and yours A Very Happy Easter 2015

We were always very happy kids and at Easter time it was always quite special. Easter brought back thoughts of spring, green grass and leaves on the trees as well as tulips and flowers....but most of all because we could get our bikes out and enjoy the beautiful spring weather. Scroll down for more!!

Bugs Bunny was always my favourite Easter Bunny anyway, and here he is, driving his Hot Rod in "Hot-Rod Hare".
I still have a few of these 10 and 12 cent Gold Key comics.

I really like this 1959 Easter morning photo.....My sister and brother are chowing down on their chocolate getting primed for their hyper sugar high for the day, and here I am, already to head out for Church with a not so pleased look on my face while I wait for everyone to get ready. I always wondered why my parents let them eat all that candy before we headed out as they were absolutely wild in Church. I remember those Easter Baskets were around our house for years......and often wondered where they got to. (Love the curlers in my sisters hair).

It's too bad this picture isn't a bit clearer.....Here it is 1962, and my sister and brother are all ready to head out to Church on this snow-less Easter morning on Arthur Street in Fort William. The car with the visor on the right is my first car...a 1949 Chevrolet 2-door sedan. In those days everyone parked on the street in the 1400 block of Arthur Street in Fort William.

Here is another snow-less Easter in 1953. My Easter present was pretty much the envy of all the kids on the block. I never did get a brand new bike until I started to work, but my Dad would pick up a bunch of bike parts, bring them to Kam Motors Body Shop (where he worked) to repair, and Canary Trevisan, the painter at Kam back then would paint and pin-stripe the wheels and frame. I was a pretty lucky kid because I had the only custom bicycle in the whole neighbourhood.

Don't forget the movies of the day included this musical..."Irving Berlin's Easter Parade". My mom would force me to go to these musicals under major protest. She figured she could drum some culture into my life....LOL. Be sure to click on the posters for full screen enlargements.

Pretty hokey.....but this is how the musicals were in the 1950s......."Easter Parade"

Click to play then X out any ads etc...then click the bottom right hand corner to enjoy full screen.

This next picture is of no one we know, but thought it was of the same era and shows all the kids dressed in their Easter finery, including their Easter bonnets.....and Mom's and Dad's two Fords in behind.

So....Have a Happy Easter - from our family to yours. Enjoy Easter with your family.......

It seems as we get older, we love to reminisce more and more about our childhood years, be them bad or good. I am no exception to the rule. As I get closer to my birthday this June and feeling a little melancholy...I looked through some old family photos and came across one that stood out from the rest. You will see it below, but it reminded me of one of my old favourite films shown in the two posters below. Being only 11 years old in the photo I could put myself in the same place and time as these kids were in "Stand By Me".

I was very fortunate as a child to have happy loving parents that let me experience all the wonders of growing up. This following picture was taken on my 11th birthday with "Stand By Me" friends sitting at my birthday table. They are left to right. Myself, Robert Cameron, Donald Wheatley, Mike McGuire, and Meyer Toole. These were my bosom buddies when I was 11. I told my mother that I didn't want the typical family, and female school friends in attendance, just the guys I hung around with at that age....I was growing up, you know!!

So now...looking closer at the photo (I love to enlarge small old photos to see all the detail), We are all drinking "Mission Orange" Soda Pop with the motto "Naturally Good".

We are also eating my mother Noreen's famous burgers - what else what a kid want on his 11th birthday but Mission Orange, my mom's great burgers and a nice little birthday cake.

I truly enjoy the old ads too, but also at the back of the table in the above photo you can see my mom's little windmill napkin holder. I actually found one for sale on an on-line auction shown below. It is identical to the one I remember.
Click on all photos to enlarge them!!!

Here's the same crew again with my 3 year old sister.

The photo below shows our old home and the exact steps where we were sitting in the above photo. We enjoyed many play days at Vicker's Park at the end of the block, and made our own fun without any cell phones. I remember spending most of the 4 seasons outside, no matter what the weather man dropped on us.....and YES - The two family photos above will be 60 years old this June.

GOING BACK FURTHER - 1947 - When my father was discharged from the Army, we lived in a little apartment on Ogden Street. Here is a picture of me in my Melton Snowsuit in front of Ogden Street School (long gone now) - you know, the one like the kid wore in "A Christmas Story". We all had them. The photo below shows pretty much the exact spot where this photo was taken, showing the playground of the present day and new Ogden Community School playground.

GOING BACK ONE STEP FURTHER TO 1925 - My father lived in the east end in those days and went to St. Peter's School which is no longer there, but all the classroom photos of the day were taken on the steps of St. Peter's Church. The wooden steps and hand railings were upgraded over time to concrete and steel however. If you click on the picture below to enlarge it more, you will see my father, Jon Stephen Cano circled in red near the top left of the photo.

This is what St. Peter's steps look like today.

Thank you all for watching....Look for more old Canadian Lakehead Exhibition Racing photos coming up soon, as well as stories on some old drivers not previously written about in these blog pages.
In the meantime feel free to look through over a thousand photos of racing, local history and just plain local memories on these blog pages during the Hot Rods and Jalopies years.
Click on the picture below to view a trailer and listen to "Stand By Me" -
As fate would have it, 2 days after I posted this story, Benjamin Earl King aka Ben E King passed away April 30th 2015. RIP Ben E King Sept 28/1938 - April 30.2015. The most famous song he recorded on his own was "Stand By Me".

Thank you all for being patient....I've improved quite a bit since my eye surgery in Winnipeg and finally able to get back to some blog posts. Thank you for all the well wishes......Dave
This is one I've been working on for some time....

HR&J doesn't usually delve into subjects like this, however this sad story is part of Canadian Lakehead Exhibition racing history, and after some research and donated photos, we can read about the most serious local accident in racing history here in our Lakehead cities of Fort William and Port Arthur. NOTE: IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU CLICK ONCE OR TWICE ON ALL THE PHOTOS AND ESPECIALLY THE NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS TO ENLARGE THEM.

We start with the dream.

In the photo below, taken in front of Wes and Jerry's Service station on 231 N. May St. (The Service Station is behind the photographer) is Wes Inkster, Jerry Whittaker, a very young Lorne Hay, and in the cockpit of Wes' 1934 Plymouth Jalopy (stock car) is also a very young Lyn McIntosh. The car was just built and sported a new paint job with #13 and even white wall tires.

The building in the background of the above photo no longer exists...there is presently an empty lot on the north/east corner of Cummings and May streets as shown here.

The photo below was taken at the same time as the one above, and shows that Wes & Jerry's was a White Rose station....and kitty corner across the street was Gibson's Bowladrome which still exists today as Superior Bowladrome. Sitting in Wes' car is a very young Lyn McIntosh who would later go on to an incredible racing career of his own.

Gibson's Bowladrome and in the today photo Superior Bowladrome, as mentioned is still there, but the restaurant that is there used to be separate from the bowling alley. It was named Uncle Frank's Top Hat Coffee Bar and Billiards and was located at 214 N. May St.

Wes and Jerry's Service from the front and still yet another rear angle photo of Wes' #13. The Service Station was located at 231 N. May Street here in Fort William, Ontario.

This corner is and has been completely vacant for some time now, and will likely be used as a parking facility for the new Court House as needed.
A huge thank you to my friend DENNIS WINKO for donating the above photos for use on HR&J.

Another friend of mine who also acts as a proof reader for me, ALAN YAHN put together the following history of the addresses surrounding Wes and Jerry's Service.

Wes and Jerry's would be to the right (north/west corner), Jessiman Motors would be to the right (north) of Wes and Jerry's and on the south/west corner would have been Tom's Texaco at the time.

Here is Wes' car at the CLE track the first day he raced it.

This is what an original 1934 Plymouth Coupe would look like brand new and the picture I edited below it is a "what if" photo.....
Wes had dreams just as we all have. He wanted to be a great driver like all the rest of the guys who entertained thousands of people at the old CLE track such as Merv Dove, Louis Tocheri, Tom Dow, Barry Kettering, Louis Tocheri and the Massaro Brothers.
Sadly this would not happen.

Read on to see and read the clippings, well done by the editors of our newspaper back in the 1950's. The following clippings appeared in local newspapers after that fateful night back in the summer of 1957.......

After the accident, many fund raising events were planned to assist Wes and his family with the huge medical bills, such as raffles, dances, dinners and concerts. The beautiful dolls below were raffled off and someone made tons of little cars to sell that kids could paint up with their favourite driver's numbers and names...some shown below....

Here's a young fellow showing off his wooden car collection all painted up. If someone knows who built these cars for the fund raiser, I would like to know who it was.....Thanks

The above clipping was taken from the Fort William Gardens roster of 1957. The benefit concert held at the Gardens was incredibly well attended and local artists gave of their time to help the Inkster family. Our cities of Fort William and Port Arthur always came together to assist others through the years.

This final clipping was taken from the 1957 CLE racing program showing a thank you from the Wes Inkster Benefit Fund Committee

Wes' #13 Car shown below with some of the damage from his accident never stopped racing however, as Junior (Fran) Speer took over the car sponsored later by Master Cleaners and Tailors on Victoria Ave. Junior raced this car for only one year as #13, and later changed the number to #21.

Junior Speer continued to race the car for many racing seasons thereafter and even headed across the border to race on occasion.

A year later this advertisement with an earlier photo of Wes taken before his accident appeared in the News Chronicle. At that time Wes was the sole proprietor.

This photo of the same car as #21 and still driven by Junior Speer may have been taken in Superior Wisconsin at their track.
Wes had moved out west many years ago.
After much research we believe that Wes passed away in Medicine Hat Alberta on October 2, 2013 at the age of 78 years.
1957 however was an extremely sad ending to a promising racing career at the old Canadian Lakehead Exhibition Track in Fort William Ontario.
RIP Wes Inkster....Your story lives on............

Icons of our past get lost in in our memories, but certain ones remain all our life. We still have KFC because they are afraid to call it Kentucky "fried" Chicken anymore because saying that sounds like it's full of "fat"....Well folks, it still is!!!
Enough of that.....Kentucky Fried Chicken was always "DINTY'S" back in the day...and that's the name we will always remember.........BUT.......how did that come about??
Gordon "Gordy" Crompton was quite an entrepreneur (still is), but his claim to fame were a few interesting things as we will see....and many more I don't even know about......

Firstly it was DINTY'S Kentucky Fried Chicken.

In the phone book page from 1962 you can see quite a few Cafes and Restaurants....but one of the big two at the bottom was the well advertised "Dinty's". Many ads were in school yearbooks, IODE recipe books, in the TV guide etc. etc.

"DINTY'S" as we see was a well known name....scroll down to see how it became Dinty's... ...be sure to click on all the ads in this post to enlarge them and read this right to then end...It's a good story.

OK.....Told by his daughter (yes his daughter) Sam.....Gordy always liked a good deal, and all his life he was well known for that. Back when Gordy wanted to start the Kentucky Fried Chicken business, he went to purchase a Neon Sign that would have his name on it as well as the KFC logo. He ventured to Deluxe Signs on Cumberland St., and found that it was a little expensive for Neon especially since his name was quite long and the price was likely by the letter. Management of Deluxe signs offered Gordy a great deal. It seams as though there was a sign made that was never picked up, but had something other than Gordy's name on it......You guessed it........ it said DINTY'S. Gordy could not pass up the deal ......and now you know the rest of the story. By the way, the TV above with the ad is thanks to my facebook friend Gary Spence.

LOCATIONS

The Fort William location was where the "Burger Barn" is today on the corner of Walsh and Syndicate streets. That is the intersection where you would travel up the Jacknife Bridge to cross over to Island #1 and #2 as we called them.

The Port Arthur location was at 303 N. Cumberland Street. The actual location is the next photo, but when Gordy gave up the business Kentucky Fried Chicken was moved a little further north down Cumberland St.

Now if you look back at the ad in the phone book page at the beginning, you will see that in 1962 it said there were 3 locations. The last location is actually here at 380 John Street....John and Banning Street to be exact. This is the location as it is directly across from Kangas Sauna and there address is 379 John Street. This Dinty's location also had offices on the second floor.

Now for argument sake, many people think there was a Dinty's at the corner of Waterloo and Arthur St. in Fort William....the answer is no. The property at 2013 Arthur Street in the day belonged to Percy Dacey, and was called Dacey's Drive Inn....later to be a Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Gordy also ran a place called the 4D (The Fourth Dimension) which was a coffee house and the areas first folk club. Gord Crompton opened the coffeehouse in 1962, which was formerly called "The Club Seaway" near the corner of George and McVicar St. (later the Simpson Street extension). He couldn't call that Dinty's because it was part of a coffeehouse chain with locations in Regina and Winnipeg. The building over time was demolished to make way to join Simpson Street to Arthur Street.

Local folk and entertainment groups played at all three locations of the 4D's such as The Rovers, Tom Kelly, and The Ramblers. In April of 1965 Neil Young and the Squires opened for Stephen Stills group called "The Company", Stills was impressed with Neil's band but the Squires broke up in the summer of 1965.

Many other groups and bands played there until it closed such as The Vendettas,...who returned in Sept 1966 with a new drummer from a local group call The Bluestone Five. They left Fort William in October before the 4D closed for good.

The following maps show where "The Fourth Dimension" was. Click on each.

Here is an excerpt from the Thunder Bay News Watch in 2012

Oh, and Yes there was a Dinty's Motor Inn on Cumberland Street called the Sea-View which still exists to this day without Gordy's DINTY'S name.

We couldn't end this story without a vintage car story....and this 1948 Buick Hearse is none other than Neil Young's Car he travelled in from gig to gig. Gordy's daughter Sam tells one final story about the hearse being parked in front of the Crompton home particularly at Christmas, as Neil would enjoy had Christmas dinner with them.

Neil was and still is a car enthusiast, and one particular song he sung was about this hearse "Long May You Run".............Click to Play.... Many thanks to Gordon Crompton's daughter Sam for the memories, and Gary Spence for the Graphic work on the Television Set above.
We hope you enjoyed this long awaited story...thanks for checking back from time to time for new stuff. Dave Cano at HR&J

Sorry for the long delay in new postings on HR&J....we have had some blogger issues to deal with.

It's been quite a long time since we posted some then and now photos...and we are right on track with this new post, beginning with a brand new never seen before Port Arthur photo. Some of the later photos in this post a few of you may have seen...so on we go....

This first photo incorporates 4 major business buildings most of which have highlighted the Cumberland/Van Norman street area for decades. This photo is dated early 1950's and shows the Lyceum Theatre, The Public Utilities building, the Prince Arthur Hotel and the little service station shown as a Texaco station was the Lakehead Motors Service Station. It originally was a McColl Frontenac(Red Indian) station and by this date Texaco had purchased all the Red Indian stations.

This then photo, fairly sharp also shows a few more landmarks north of this intersection.

This now photo was taken approx Oct. 10, 2015

This present day photo shows pretty much all the landmarks except the Texaco station.
Playing at the Lyceum shown above was firstly "Rachel and the Stranger" with William Holden, Robert Mitchum, and Loretta Young.
The second film playing also shown above was Valley of the Sun, with Lucille Ball, James Craig, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, and Dean Jagger.
The lobby cards and film posters are shown below

This Fort William photo goes back to about 1912. It is the corner of Franklin Street and Victoria Ave. facing west. It is difficult to believe that there was nothing but a few houses west of Franklin street back then.

The now photo below has a little blue rectangle showing two homes on Victoria Ave. that still exist on their original property to this day....be sure to click on all the photos once or twice to see them larger and clearer.

Click to enlarge

This next then and now photo is one of my favourites as we lived on east Arthur Street and these steam engines went right in front of our home in the 1950's. The first photo (a museum photo) shows #5274 either picking up or dropping off passengers at the CNR station to the right in the background. If you drive down Vicker's Street today you are actually driving where the original tracks were. I have another post on HR&J that explains much of this.

Then engine's nose would be pretty close to Victoria Ave. shown here. Off to the left in the "then" photo is "Red" Marsonet's Service Station which is Breeny's Collision Shop today shown below and to the right.

Breeny's and Apple Auto Glass where Marsonet's was.

Another Port Arthur photo shows Port Arthur Motors Body shop. The building still exists to this day, but not sure of it's use. It is rumoured that this building was once a very popular Port Arthur Dance Hall. (I'm looking for data on that if anyone can help)

South Simpson Street in Fort William was a bustling community in the 1910's as shown here, but sadly time, deterioration and fire have eaten away at the beautiful vintage structures that adorned Simpson Street. From the old bank building on the corner of Victoria and Simpson north, there are no structures hardly at all today for at least a full block and a half.

It's difficult to believe that the photo below is taken in the same general area as the above one.

One more trip back to Port Arthur to see the evolution of Arthur Street (now Red River Road after amalgamation). The first photo shows the old City Hall being demolished after the fire. I'm not to sure of the exact date this photo was taken if anyone can help here. Further down the street is the original Post Office...demolished for a newer more modern structure over time which today houses a huge pawn shop.

Here we have an early 1950's photo still showing the old Post Office building, as well as many other structures along the original Port Arthur's Arthur Street.

Jump ahead a few years on the corner of Court and Arthur...Corporale's taxi is now the well known Fero's Restaurant, and Birks Stitt Jewellers is on the Corner. The new modern brick wall to the right of this photo is where the Post Office in the above photos used to be....and of course the Brill Trolley Bus that we remember so well.

As mentioned before...it's difficult to believe that the "now" photos are actually taken in the same exact place...such a dramatic change, but not always for the better.

I'm not sure where I found this last fantastic photo, so I couldn't give credit where due....but we move to Kakabeka Falls to Mark Leiterman and Sons General Store. This was such a popular place in the day supplying hardware and fuel to Kakabeka Falls and the surrounding area. When I worked for Shell back in the 1960s, they supplied much of their bulk fuel and oil products, as Shell had bought out North Star Oil and White Rose as well....I sure wish I knew where that sign and visible gas pumps went.

Thanks for watching and be sure to check in from time to time. Also be sure to check my facebook page (Dave Cano) for other informative photos and captions.

A big thank you to all who donate or loan me their photos to keep the history of Fort William and Port Arthur alive............

I don't usually use this venue for advertising, but this is one show here at The Lakehead that you don't want to miss - Be there or be square.

No...this isn't a misprint. The brochure page below says the 1960 Cadillac Sixty Two Sedan...who knows why...who cares! This is what Ken Coghlan's Cadillac would have looked like in 1960 or at least before the damage that you will see in the following photos.
In Ken's own words: "In 1967, I was driving the Caddy on Phyllis St., crossing Empress Ave., and was hit by a dump truck. The truck pushed me into a telephone pole on the corner in front of the store that used to be there and actually broke the telephone pole. You can see where the pole went behind the driver's side tire. I went out the door and two ladies in the store helped me, but I don't remember too much from that moment. I do remember however, looking at the car and thinking that it had some damage."

Click on all the photos once or twice for enlargements.

Seeing these photos that Ken sent me, I could hardly believe that he walked away from the accident. Thanks to Ken for sending these for us to post......Don't go away....There is MORE! The next picture is a now shot of where Ken's accident occurred on the corner of Empress Ave. and Phyllis St. Ken is a former resident of Port Arthur.

The next step with accidents such as this, is where to have it repaired. Ken didn't tell me if and where the Caddy was repaired, but if it was, it probably would have been one of the two next body shops. The first black and white is Port Arthur Motors used car lot and Body Repair shop(this building still exists today), and the next one is my father, John Cano's alma mater Kam Motors which was on Leith Street in Fort William. Let's consider that it was actually repaired at Kam Motors.......well, for a better storyline anyway....thanks for being patient. ☺

Yes, now here is my dad managing the Kam Motors Body Shop in 1967 in his typical Homburg Hat...and look at that....There is a brand new 1967 Oldsmobile Tornado behind him with some damage somewhere. The bumper sticker below was issued in 1965 commemorating Kam's 50th Anniversary.

On the right is about a 1950 ad on a brochure showing how Kam Motors looked at the time and advertising Chevrolet, Oldsmobile and of course Cadillac.

Below is a post card Kam would mail out back in 1939 showing how they could make your car NEW again.

A now picture - "DIAMOND TAXI"

The following pictures were all taken when my father was managing the body shop at Kam Motors for Hubert Badanai Sr. back in the early 1950's.

John Cano and Joe Canzi

In this picture - all we know are John Cano, Mike Tront, Dan Ozero(with goggles), Peter Petrick, and Joe Canzi. I remember hanging around Kam after school at 10 to 13 years old in the mid to late '50's and all these guys were so good to me....I still remember most of them....and all are now gone to the big body shop in the sky.... ☺

Well...what do you think came next.....a body shop was supposed to repair cars, not wreck them...

I remember when Kam Motors body and paint shop were working on their first stock car....I was 10 years old. The 1938 Chevy Coupe almost looked as nice as the one in this picture when they started modifying it. It was late summer 1954 and no one had any idea yet that there would be a Chevrolet with a V8 on the horizon in 1955.

..........and this is what they did to it! My father did all the body work, Canary(Onorio) Trevisan painted it, Archie Fowler did the mechanical work, and Bill Chepil drove it on and off for about 4 summers total....and oh yes, they wrecked a few of these before it was all over. Don't forget to click on each pic to enlarge them.

The Main Drivers of the #34, 1938 Chevrolet were Bill Chepil and Canary Trevisan. The following picture was taken at Russ Wanzuks museum only a few years before these two icons of the paint and body world of the day Mr. Mascarin and Mr. Canary(Onorio) Trevisan passed on.

The final addition to this post is this great write-up(from Barry Kettering's personal scrap book) that was in the Fort William Times Journal in 1957. It also mentions Sammy Myronuk filling in for Canary because he was in the hospital and Sam also ended up in the hospital after this race day. Sammy went on to race more races with his own cars, but sadly the lack lustre 1938 Chevy Coupe's days came to an end...It seems there was more bad luck than good luck, and the V8 Fords and V8 Chevrolets were leaving the old 6 cylinder Chevrolets behind in the dust.

Many thanks to Ken Coghlan for the Caddy photos, also to Archie Fowler for some of the #34 photos, to Rene Kettering for allowing me to copy Barry's scrapbook a few years ago.

I dedicate this post to my father John Cano for the great car years together and for all he taught me....I miss him very much. Please return for more HR&J photos and stories of our city during the Hot Rod and Jalopy generation.

ARE YOU READY?....the "REAL" WINTER is on its way...prepare your wheels for freeze-up....

Christmas Season Post #1....supporting Tuberculosis through the Christmas Seal Campaign in Canada from 1903....

Christmas Season 2014 Post #2 - Classic Christmas Music and Advertising.....

Christmas Season Post #3 - Go Get a REAL Christmas Tree.....here in Fort William and Port Arthur, Ontario....and more

Christmas Season Post #4 - Roger's Childhood Christmases 1948-62 here in Fort William and Port Arthur, Ontario......

Merry Christmas 2014 - where has the year gone?.......

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2015 FROM OUR HOUSE TO YOURS - also what we read 63 years ago.....

Hot Rods and Jalopies is featured in this months WALLEYE Magazine....

FIELD OF A's - near our hometowns of Fort William and Port Arthur, in Kakabeka Falls in 1960....thanks to George Rogers.

John (Jonnie) Cano ....our Dad.....RIP..... Aug 19, 1919 - Jan 17, 2015....

"THE CLOCK", "THE ARMOURY" and many more then and now photos in FORT WILLIAM & PORT ARTHUR, Ontario.....

OLD LOCAL ADVERTISING in our home towns of Fort William and Port Arthur, Ontario.....

Chubby Self Portraits, International Dirt at the CLE, a Wringer Washer and some local History all from Fort William and Port Arthur Ontario....

Happy Easter Memories from back in the day when we lived in Fort William and Port Arthur.....

"STAND BY ME" - A little taste of life in our home towns of Fort William and Port Arthur, 1955, 1947, and 1925.....

A Young Man's Dreams Dashed with Tragedy in our home town of Fort William, Ontario

DINTY'S, Gord Crompton and the Rest of the Story in Our Home Towns of Fort William and Port Arthur....

FORT WILLIAM AND PORT ARTHUR, ONTARIO....Then and Now in our home towns....

BE THERE OR BE SQUARE....

Ken Coghlan's Cadillac....the Body Shop.....and Kam Motors #34, all from our home towns of Fort William and Port Arthur, Ontario.