Hot Rod Memories in Ontario

RWW · PICTON, ONT

RE: Hot Rod Memories in Ontario

sasquatch · NORTH BAY, ONT

Geez a hell of a coincidence!! Don't envy you having to go to his wife.

Don · PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY

He was a good friend of mine too Bob. His brother Clark married my wife's brother's wife after her brother Doug was killed in the plane crash when the six County guys were flying to the ploughing match. BTW since you will know. Joan Stanton was Ben Thompson's aunt (his mother's sister) . I didn't realize your accident was that same day.
don

RWW · PICTON, ONT

August 31st 1985. The worst day of my life.

DavyJ · NIAGARA REGION, ONT

Don, that sounds like a memory that will last forever................proves you can never judge a book by its cover................

great story, thanks!

denns1989 · New Member

Hi I'm a new member here, I posted my Introduction but in case some may not read the the intro's I thought this would be an appropriate post to reply to - I just got this "survivor" Model A Hot Rod back in August, I have located the original builder, 2nd owner (3rd owner is deceased) & I'm the 4th owner - but hoping by slim chance someone here would recall this car & maybe even have some pictures from it's heyday... Trying to get as much info. as I can - Built 1960-1962, last plated in 1970 never left Sault Ste. Marie.

I know it's a long shot being a Northern Ontario car, but had to give it a shot !

Thanks

Bob T · BRANTFORD, ONT

Been following this on the HAMB. Good luck , great find.

Don · PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY

Find one of the Alton boys Greg or Rae (sons of Carl.) They were into cars as teenagers and showed my brother Ron and I that car I believe sitting in front of some speed shop in the Soo in the late 50s. Probably the first Hot Rod I ever saw in my whole life. Someone there will know them. They are my first cousins but I haven't seen them in probably 35 years. They worked at the Steel plant and trucking from there. They were at that time into customizing using lead and had great distain for bondo. So if that is the same car and it looks like it, it is probably leaded. The speed shop had a dirt (sandy) parking lot. It wasn't their car but they knew whose it was and where to find it to show us.

don

-- Edited by Don on Tuesday 28th of October 2014 12:34:57 PM

Carrw · AUBURN, NY

Just lost10-12 Line reply somehow.Famous for it.Looking for any Canadian input on my Brother

Peter Magel( 52 Stude. Maggot ). Mostly unbeatable at Niagara and Cayuga. Don't know what other Canadian tracks he ran 85 yrs old and on my way out. Trying to get as much info.as I can on Peter to give to my son. All he did was race and end of Jr Stock killed him. Deeply depressed and sick. Died in Buffalo Nursing Home in Aug. 2014. Never wanted to talk about the racing, said" why do you want to talk about it,that was 50yrs ago" .Any thing you've got I probably don't. Would appreciate it.

Thanks Carrw

v8deuce · OAKVILLE, ONT

sasquatch wrote:
Wally, Joe Cross finally got a girlfriend, Susan?? and they got married and had one little boy. Joe packed it in then and they moved to Mission BC, i think Joe pased away around 40ish years of age ,something to do with cancer in his leg??
I heard since that his son, who would be in his 40's now is running a drag car at the Mission Dragway.

I was wondering if his name would come up at some point! I was about 19-20 when joe first moved to chilliwack he rented a house next door to us and I got to know him by his work on engines,he would tell me about racing in ontario and some of things he would try to get by the tech guys lol. I will check and see if I can find any pictures of him in my younger years.He was a huge influence on me and I'm sure he taught me more about cars than I ever learned through out my life. Yes he did pass away at disney world in california but he knew time was short he was battling gout in his foot,it had travelled though out his body by the time he saw any doctors and he always had a shop but was never rich so the heat was always very low or non excitant and always damp. Sure miss him. After he past away wife and his son andrew sold most of the stuff but me and his brother in law, that did most of the painting in his shop, got the tools and tool boxes. I have never heard from Andrew for many years.

Randy

bw · WINDSOR, ONT

I hope I'm putting this in the right place...I'm no computer guy.

I grew up (???) in Sarnia.

I am a little younger than the guys on that list but, I do recognize some names.

Two of them I knew . Rodger Killbraith was a good friend of a guy that lived next door to us.

This was about 1960-61. The neighbour had a beautiful '32 Ford rod. Rodger would often show up with his latest project.

One that stands out to me was an English Bedford van. Lots of noise (no exhaust) as he pulled right down the driveway between the two houses.

Our house shook like hell. He left it idling and opened the side cargo door. Right there directly behind the driver's seat

was one big, loud, engine. He said it was a Chrysler. I was 11-12 years old and had never seen anything like that.

"gramps" was Dale Hargin a true motorhead (Ford guy). Apparently turned grey about 14 years old hence the nickname.

He went to school with my older brother. A few years later I got an after school job at Lambton Ford delivering customers cars,

running for parts, joe boy. Gramps was a mechanic there. He never called me by my name. I was always little Tom, which

is my brothers name.

I don't know anything about any early '60's Lambton Ford sponsorship. I do know that they acquired the '67 Ford LTD that had been

"Linda's Ford" and renamed it "Lamb Chopper". Gary Kerr headed up the race team.

Bob T · BRANTFORD, ONT

bw.. Small world. I knew both Rodger and Dale [Gramps] The Bedford Van [grey?] did have a 392 Chrysler hemi in it with a homemade tunnel ram and a torkflite trans. His previous car was a 32 full fendered Ford 2 door sedan with a 392 Chrysler hemi practically in the front seat. As for Gramps [RIP] I bought his 427 powered 57 Meteor from him. Remember the canted quad headlights? I traded a chopped 32 ford sedan [Buick powered]. I sure would like to know where that car went.

SPEEDWRITER · TORONTO, ONT

So I must admit I have lurked on this space for a long time. Never signing in. I am usually too busy to get involved simply interested in what is being said.

Recently I began to read this thread andrealized I might be able to fill in some of the spaces. So here goes.

I will start with the first page.

The Kid
Mentioned the Ox Cart. That was built at the Roadmates by Paul Brioux with lots of assistance from Duke Brown and the rest of the club. At the time Duke was the ISCA judging supervisor so he knew what they were looking for. Unfortunately Paul has passed and I lost track of the car.

Flatblack
I was one of those Portland street guys. the Etobi Cams were started on Paul Hopkins front lawn about 1957, Paul was building a 41 Merc Convertible. The Portland street building was owned by Tillie Miskin an older lady who liked all us clean cut boys. She would never let her son sell the building till she passed and we got the bums rush. The heat was marginal but we had built a small club room inside that we heated with a wood stove rigged to burn old motor oil once you got it going good. I can remember looking into the room to see the whole thing red hot!!! The Rod and Custom cover was Paul Dermos 39/40 Ford Coupe, Gerry Cox 32 Ford coach that he had bought as an original car from Jack Look. (He still has the hand written bill of sale ) Leigh Cox 34/35 Ford pickup and my T bucket. Yes I remeber you Flatblack, lot of water under those bridges.

Lil John
Paul Dermos 39/40 was rebuilt into a custom in the club garage after he had an altercation with his neighbours culvert damaging the front end. This led to building a one piece tilt front end, the canted quad headlights, rolled rear pan, full width tailights and a custom interior. I believe it was Buick powered at the time. If I remember right it was sold to Steve Tanfield from the Cambridge area, Steve added a mopar wedge engine painted it black and drove it everywhere. I lost track of it till it turned up here early in 2014. Looked great with a nice two tone paint job, all the body work still looking good and the same interior. I didn't get the name of the owner but at that time it was for sale.

Sasquatch
Lance Hill left the speed shop and drag racing, added the r to his name (R Lance Hill) and wrote at least three books about drugs, crime etc. Still can be found on Amazon. Far as I remember the first one was Nails, next was King of White Lady, then The Evil that Men Do. He was well received and there was a story that one of them was sold to make a screen play of. I heard he has since been writing projects for Hollywood.

Bill Morrison, friend of Bob Burch was in the Sarnia area but I have lost track.

Bob Burch has had an interesting ride. Originally from Sarnia racing 265 Chev powered 55's most sucessful with an Junior Stock I/SA 195 horse 265 and an automatic powered 55 Chev Delivery. Set the class record at the 1967 Spring Nationals with a 14.88 pass at 92+ mph. Car ended up with Cal Pon who lived in Etobicoke. Cal raced it for a long time till he moved over to Mopars. Meanwhile Burch moved to Toronto, had a small speed shop for a short time at the bottom of Kipling Ave, built carbs in the basement of our store then got a job working for Accel Canada. They sent him to California to work on creating a fuel saving device that the California Air Research board wanted to make manditory on all cars from 1960 on. It would have been a gold mine for them but CARB couldn't get the politicians to approve the legislation. He was offered the chance to come back to Canada but chose to stay in CA (Bob was never stupid) he took a job with SEMA where he watched the California legislators and fought every law they tried to pass that would have a detrimental effect on us car guys. He was very successful and retired from SEMA. Moved to Germany with his German wife and today is still driving his really fast AMG Mercedes on the autobon and tending his garden. I talk with him once a year and he sounds like a happy man.

Don Cloake "the world's oldest teenager" still turning wrenches in west end TO and racing his hemi car.

Jack Hyde Based out of Stratford has cloned his "Jack and the Green Stock" with a 502 crate engine and is racing with the ONDRA crew.

So thats what I know of page one. If you like this stuff I will look at page 2 next week. God it's great to be old!

will · WALKERTON, ONT

Bob - Thanks for coming on board and sharing your information. There are some great memories on this post. It does take us old guys to have those memories.

sasquatch · NORTH BAY, ONT

Agreed, much thanks Bob, welcome, and you have some interesting postings there. Yes, please continue, looking forward to more great reads.

I was in Lance Hills shop years back when i got him to run up my distributor, the place was full of race cars under different projects. I found him to be a very sharp, nice guy. Yes i had heard years ago about him leaving racing, and started writing.

Bob T · BRANTFORD, ONT

I understand Lance is still into Vettes and in the last year or so bought a 427 435 h.p. original. Maybe there is still hope for Lance. LoL. Burch did work for me when he was in Sarnia [396/375 68 Nova ] but some clown at Atco N.J. [downhill at night] bombed the record. The car still won class but was uncompetitive in eliminator as we ran off national records then.

Model A Guy · STROUD, ONT

About 10 years ago, give or take, I got a phone call from a guy that was restoring a "little Italian sports car".
I told him I didn't know anything about Italian cars, he said it was basically a Fiat and he was sure that I
could help him with the wiring. He had removed all of the wiring and was ready to put it all back together,
he just wanted some reassurance and guidance that everything was going back in the way it should. I said ok.
I drove to his shop and was met by a thin white-haired gentleman who introduced himself as, wait for it, Lance Hill!
The "little Italian sports car" turned out to be a mid-sixties, front engined [12 cylinder as I recall], one of one or two
in existence, Ferrari! Beside it under wraps was a Ferrari Daytona, there was another one up in the garage at the house.
I really enjoyed the time I spent working along side of Lance on his car, a real gentleman, not bragging about his past
accomplishments in racing, barely even mentioning them. I was there twice, once before the motor went in and again
when the motor was installed. What a treat to hear it run!
Yes, he did write some books, and did writing for Hollywood.
He became an expert on Ferraris to the extent that he was a judge at the Amelia Island Concourse as well as
who knows how many other concourses.
A few years later, I was walking through Performance World and met up with Marty Leivo from the Roadmates,
the fellow with him said "Do you remember me?" I said "Sure I do Lance", I was amazed and honoured
that he remembered me as well!
He has sold his Ferraris [Ferrari people are too snobbish according to Lance], he is now into Corvettes as Bob said.
Working with him for that short time was one of the highlights of my career!

Dick Kirkpatrick · MILTON, ONTARIO

Welcome aboard Bob, I know you and you know me.
If you don't want the people here to know which company you own I will respect that.
Say hello to too tall for me. lol

SPEEDWRITER · TORONTO, ONT

Never thought to identify the company. We own Performance Improvements.

Model A Guy · STROUD, ONT

I thought every one knew who Bob McJannet is!

Offset · HALIBURTON, ONT

Bob has always been the same. I first met him when he had his store at Queensway and Kipling then they moved into the "superstore" on the Queensway. Always a really helpful and friendly helpful guy. He sponsored my friend Brooke DeShaw with his B/A car.

bw · WINDSOR, ONT

for Bob T......just one of the home town things we talked about. 030-Miss-Supertest-II-at-Sarnia.-July-27-1954.jpg

Dick Kirkpatrick · MILTON, ONTARIO

Bob Hayward piloting Miss Supertest?

bw · WINDSOR, ONT

Yup.....practices in Sarnia Bay.......early '60's??

will · WALKERTON, ONT

Great pictures of a great guy and a great speedboat. Thanks for sharing.

Dick Kirkpatrick · MILTON, ONTARIO

Sarnia, 1961

I was working there rebuilding Sarnia Golf Club, about half a mile from the river where Bob was testing.

That is where I met Bob and Dave Gladwish and bought my 348/350 horse Impala bubble top from Park Lane Motors.

Detroit Dragway 45 minutes away.

CRANKER · AJAX, ONT

We all have those great esrly hot rod memories. I built the flamed flip front 55 Chevy you mentioned. I sold it to a young London lad about 1974 . It was his first car, a bit of a handful for sure. IIt had a 68 302 z28 motor (wish I had that today) and a muncie 4 speed and with that light weight glass front end it was pretty quick. I remember he called me the evening he took it home . He told me he hadn't been in London for an hour and the local constabulary had pulled him over to read him the riot act . Those London cops didn't have a sense of appreciation for hot rod art in those days! Probably still don't! Anyway I sold him that car for $1800 to finance my next build , a 34 Ford 5 window coupe. Thats another story!

bw · WINDSOR, ONT

here Dick detroit_dragway_logo_bg2 (360x270).jpg

Dick Kirkpatrick · MILTON, ONTARIO

right on bw

sasquatch · NORTH BAY, ONT

Bob Hayward had a pretty colouful drag racing career before he got involved with Thompsons Miss Supertest.
He had an Honest Charly's speed shop outlet at the home farm Near Embro Ontario.
One of the funny stories about Bob, was that he had a modified Coupe, and would drive to London on a saturday night with a buddy, and wearing a blonde womans wig would pull up beside a street rod, and when the light turned green blow their doors off! Lol
RIP Bob, another that left us too soon.

Dick Kirkpatrick · MILTON, ONTARIO

Bob Hayward also had a dragster that he took to the Nationals.
It was pretty crude compared to the other guys in class and one of them called it the Rickshaw and the name stuck.
|He beat most of those guys with that car, I don't know where he finished but did well.

I knew Bob fairly well, he was good friends with the mechanic (Ed McFarland) in the garage in Burgessville where I was an apprentice and that is where I met him.
I was dismantling a six cylinder chev and was having trouble getting the camshaft out and finally discovered I had to take the distributor out first.
Ed and Bob stood there talking and watching me and when I got it out Bob just smiled at Ed and nodded.
When he left, I asked Ed who was that guy and when he told me I almost died. I knew who Bob Hayward was...............oh boy!

will · WALKERTON, ONT

Bob Hayward is also in The Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame.

58Chev · ETOBICOKE, ONT

Speedwriter,
Welcome aboard. Please continue with the next set of pages.

Dick Kirkpatrick · MILTON, ONTARIO

There is a Bob Hayward memorial YMCA on Hamilton Road in London, Ontario

teejay99 · BELLE RIVER, ONT

Here in the Windsor area we could hear the hydroplanes on the Detroit River whether practicing or racing . Bob Hayward had us all cheering for him especially with the Canada vs U.S aspect about it . We were crushed when he lost his life in that accident ....guess I was 15 or 16 at the time .

T

Fast Elvis · LONDON, ONTARIO

CRANKER wrote:
We all have those great esrly hot rod memories. I built the flamed flip front 55 Chevy you mentioned. I sold it to a young London lad about 1974 . It was his first car, a bit of a handful for sure. IIt had a 68 302 z28 motor (wish I had that today) and a muncie 4 speed and with that light weight glass front end it was pretty quick. I remember he called me the evening he took it home . He told me he hadn't been in London for an hour and the local constabulary had pulled him over to read him the riot act . Those London cops didn't have a sense of appreciation for hot rod art in those days! Probably still don't! Anyway I sold him that car for $1800 to finance my next build , a 34 Ford 5 window coupe. Thats another story!

Wow...I haven't seen that 55 Chevy is so many years....lol.... I remember that car well Cranker. The guy who bought it from you in 74 lived on Second Street just off Dundas St. East at that time and I would see it most days as drove past it in my 69 RS Camaro on the way to work. That 55 really worked well as I had my ass handed to me one night when I thought my Camaro was in the same class...lol....I guessed wrong. Shortly after that I built my 55 Chevy but at that point he had sold your 55 and I've never seen it since. But once every summer that guy who own your 55 seems to run into me when I'm out in my 55 and always tells me he regrets ever selling it all those years ago....what a small world brother....thanks for posting the picture....great see it again.

Gwillyville Kid · BRADFORD, ONT

Just reviewing Bob McJ's post brought back another memory. When Jim's Speed Equipment was on Hamilton Rd. in London there was a 40/41 Willys parked in front, maybe orange. The Willys pretty much covered the front "yard" there. Don't know anything about Willys except it had solid lifters. Not sure if was a streeter or a 1/4 pounder.

the Kid

toomuchjunk · S/W ONTARIO

In about 1970 I worked part time at Earl Holders Supertest at Dundas and Clarke road.
They painted a 40-41 Willys coupe orange in the garage there.
I don't remember who was involved in it other then maybe "POMPELLI" (last name sorry 'bout the spelling).
TMJ

wuga · PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY, ONT

Just because this thread went to sleep last January, does not mean that this is not one of the most significant threads on the sight. Bob, if you have any more insights, please comment, it really puts things in perspective. Also, since we have about 200 new members since the thread was last posted, I thought it was time to revive it.

Warren

Ragtop · BELLE RIVER, ONT

If the MOE has it's way all Hot Rod stuff will be memories soon. Guy in Windsor just got a ticket because he had the wrong air filter on his car. What the hell does that have to do with emissions?

Model A Guy · STROUD, ONT

Ragtop wrote:
If the MOE has it's way all Hot Rod stuff will be memories soon. Guy in Windsor just got a ticket because he had the wrong air filter on his car. What the hell does that have to do with emissions?

Was this guy a friend of a friend's brother-in law on his divorced wife's side? Let's get all of the facts before we disband all of the Car Clubs!

Hear-say means nothing without the truth!

parklane · St THOMAS, ONT

Ya, what he said.^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Model A Guy · STROUD, ONT

How many wake up calls do you need?

This is just an unsubstantiated rumour as far as I am concerned!

Maybe the guy deserved to get a ticket, who knows why he was pulled over, maybe he was driving like an idiot [being polite here],

maybe he gave the MOE guy some attitude! Maybe the guy was knowingly driving an illegal [as far as the MOE is concerned] car!

I, for one, am tired of these third party tales of woe! Let's hear from both sides of the 1st parties involved before yelling that

famous phrase "the sky is falling"!

wuga · PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY, ONT

This was the best thread ever on Ontario Rodders and again negativity has to denigrate it into just the usual. I really don't care about MOE or Wynne or Durhan Police or rumors or any other thing except the good memories we collectively have of our youth and the good times we had. If you don't have something fun, good or 60s-70s revealing to add, don't! Thanks Bruce and John.

Now, haven't we got any more great tales?
Warren

Barchetta · TORONTO, ONT

Ragtop wrote:
Guy in Windsor just got a ticket because he had the wrong air filter on his car. What the hell does that have to do with emissions?

To answer your question, an enclosed air filter that has the temperature actuated flap in the snorkel (and the vacuum line and the 'stove pipe' from the exhaust manifold) IS an emission control device. It has to do with supplying the engine with heated air when the engine is started cold (as opposed to restarted when it is already hot). Removing this system and replacing it with an open element air cleaner 'can' be illegal is certain circumstances (depending on how the MOE views the car/engine combination).

I do not know the vehicle details of the person from Windsor who allegedly got a ticket, but getting a ticket for having the 'wrong' air cleaner is absolutely possible.

Now, back to the regularly scheduled program biggrin biggrin biggrin biggrin biggrin

-- Edited by Barchetta on Sunday 5th of July 2015 11:13:24 AM

Ranch71460 · CALGARY, AB

How about the clandestine drag strips!

In St. Catharines / Niagara on the Lake There were 3 that come to mind. St. Catharines had Coon Rd. on the east side. There was a horse racing track that closed and was demolished that this road served. It was about a mile long with most of it widened for track access. In the mid '70's there was a campaign to legalize drag racing on it.

I went to high school in Niagara on the Lake and there were two strips marked out on the East West Line Rd. One was west of Virgil, the other east of the Niagara Stone Rd.

Although I don't agree with these activities today as laws and populations have changed considerably, it was a lot of fun back then.

-- Edited by Ranch71460 on Sunday 5th of July 2015 01:14:27 PM

teejay99 · BELLE RIVER, ONT

Yeah , we had an impromptu strip in Windsor that was very popular and around for many years . If you are approaching the Windsor area on 401 there are several branches to choose from if you don't want the downtown core . One of theose was 3B and if you mentioned " 3B " in a car discussion , EVERYONE knew what that meant . It was a double lane of cement and the finish line was an overpass so it was pretty simple to decide winner / loser . I'm talking mid 60's , the golden age in my mind , but 3B was running for many years after that . Ah , those Friday and Saturday nights of old ...I do miss them .

Ragtop · BELLE RIVER, ONT

Model A Guy wrote:
Ragtop wrote:
If the MOE has it's way all Hot Rod stuff will be memories soon. Guy in Windsor just got a ticket because he had the wrong air filter on his car. What the hell does that have to do with emissions?
Was this guy a friend of a friend's brother-in law on his divorced wife's side? Let's get all of the facts before we disband all of the Car Clubs!
Hear-say means nothing without the truth!

No he wasn't.. There have been a number of tickets handed out around Windsor lately (some of them deserved and some stupid like this one) and sticking your head in the sand isn't going to make the problem go away. I would think someone owning a speed shop business would be lobbying against this stuff instead of trying to make it look unsubstantiated. I've contributed as much as anyone to this post about old Hot Rods and Hot Rod memories. The comments I made are a very real concern to this hobby

51 Styline · NIAGARA FALLS, ONT

In Niagara Falls we had " The QUARRIES" which was a road leading in to walker Bros. quarry. It was quiet, secluded, no local traffic , and after working hours it was quite deserted. There was a marked 1/4 mile and even a spectator parking area along the track with drainage ditches about 3 ft deep along each side. It was a great spot to race, and it was a pretty wide road too. One Sunday night we challenged the boys from Markarians in St. Catharines and there was such a turnout the spectator area was full and there was even 1 car towed in from Hamilton , nasty lookin car, . before we got started the cops showed up and blocked everything up. A few of us got out the back way and later that week we were talking to one of the local police and he was telling us there was even a car from U.S. there with 3 priests in it . They said they took a wrong turn and got caught up in the traffic and thought they were in a line up to cross the border. We all had a good laugh out of that one.
There was also the 405 highway before it was opened up. It was really good. Brand new concrete surface and NO traffic at all. I am sure every town had stories like this and the best part about them, wherever they happened , is that at our ages we can sit back and relive them over and over and they never get old and , for just a short time , we are back in our youth at the Quarries or wherever the locals gathered for a race date.

DavyJ · NIAGARA REGION, ONT

Speaking of the 405, before it was built the road that runs alongside Brock's Monument park was a great place to race. I remember one great night, my buddy made a run with his white SS Chevelle. As we thought he was coming back, flashing lights appeared in the distance. A white car pulled up with no lights on. Another friend, big John, opened the door, yelling lets get out of here, the cops are coming, and jumped in.....................well the cop in the white car just looked at him and started laughing.........
As we all made a hasty retreat, we were thankful not all cops were against us..............