60's Drag Shop Ad from Brampton

69SS454 · MILTON, ONT

60's Drag Shop Ad from Brampton

oldkoot · BROCKVILLE, ONT

Oh Yes, Bruce"Greasy" Gowlands, just south of the Hwy 7 bypass on Hwy 10. At the time Brampton had a population of about 17K, was known as the flower capital of Ontario because off all the greenhouses. His shop was about a mile north of anything, at that time it was out in the country in an old gas station on the west side if memory is correct. Being a young gearhead at the time living in a small town their where lots of tall tales originating out of the place, many of which were urban legend.

-- Edited by oldkoot on Wednesday 28th of November 2012 11:55:11 AM

oldkoot · BROCKVILLE, ONT

go to the Odeon downtown

Harry,

Back in the 80's, town council declared the block where the Odeon was and still is, a historical site, too bad they didn't do the same for A&W on Queen street.

-- Edited by oldkoot on Wednesday 28th of November 2012 06:51:07 PM

poncho62 · ADMINISTRATOR

sasquatch wrote:
Harry,, was "Chinks" the name of the restaurant??? Lol!!

LOl...no......was Wongs, or was it Yongs, I know it wasnt Fongs.....maybe Dongs?

Wait....I think it was Chows......no, thats not it

-- Edited by poncho62 on Wednesday 28th of November 2012 08:25:54 PM

sasquatch · NORTH BAY, ONT

Wow, didn't know Gowland ran a 4DOOR chevy 2 !

Didn't Gowland run a car one time with no roof, (they had cut it off,) it ran an altered class.
( Or maybe it was John Petrie?)

Remember seeing him often at the old "Sparta" strip. (Damned near HALF A CENTURY AGO!!! ) Yikes!!

Thanks for posting the ads.

scott420p · BRAMPTON, ONT

That was here long before my time and I'm sure Brampton was actually nice back then.

poncho62 · ADMINISTRATOR

scott420p wrote:
That was here long before my time and I'm sure Brampton was actually nice back then.

Brampton was a cool town back then...late 60s....We would come in from Georgetown, go to the Odeon downtown or the drive in theatre beside where Shoppers World is now and after the movies, go downtown to the Chinks restaurant for Chinese food.

scott420p · BRAMPTON, ONT

oldkoot wrote:
go to the Odeon downtown
Harry,
Back in the 80's, town council declared the block where the Odeon was and still is, a historical site, too bad they didn't do the same for A&W on Queen street.

The city owns it they call it Heritage Theatre now and has been vacant since 2006 and last I heard might be sold or torn down.

2drpost · KETTLEBY, ONT

69SS454 wrote:
This was posted over at SNS (stevesnovasite.com). Might bring back some memories for some here. Lots of great photos on this guys page as well.
Enjoy
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2809542570082607023pLZxTe

-- Edited by 69SS454 on Wednesday 28th of November 2012 09:26:28 AM

brother doug's webshot album wink

sasquatch · NORTH BAY, ONT

Harry,, was "Chinks" the name of the restaurant??? Lol!!

Bob T · BRANTFORD, ONT

Gowland's 4 dr. had the roof cut off and ran as a funny car as well as other classes.

sasquatch · NORTH BAY, ONT

Ha Ha Ha!!! Anyway Hope the Chinese food was GOOD!!

And the link posted does have a LOT of great pics in it,, (Even a Bikini Contest!!) Lol

sasquatch · NORTH BAY, ONT

Thanks BOB T !

427CARL · CLINTON, ONT

Youngoldguy · POINT CLARK, ONT

I remember John Petrie too, geez long time back. I lived in Long Branch and on Saturday nights in 65/66 we would go up to a cement truck place, quarry I think, and run night drags down the long paved roadway. Near Heart Lake Rd. Cops raided us a few times. Only one way in and one way out. It was a blast. Weird, they let out of town guys go and ticketed the locals??
Doug

oldkoot · BROCKVILLE, ONT

Doug,

If you raced on Heart Lake road them you must remember the battery powered timing lights we used. Back them that area was patrolled by the Chingacousy police which I believe only had 2 officers for the district. With Brampton being the home of AMC they used Rambler Classics , 232 powered, that a hot VW could outrun, they came by this area only once a night after this the fun began. It was different time with no traffic or housing in this area, never had an accident or even a close call.

Harry,

The restaurant was Wongs Family Restaurant on Queen Street

Seeker1056 · DOURO, ONT

If it is the same Bruce Gowland that still is in the performance game and truck pulls today - I am not so sure that the stories are urban legends, as he is one hell of a competitor, and many tell of his exploits from many years ago.
Rumour has it he has done everything from stock cars to drag racing to boats to pulling and many more

poncho62 · ADMINISTRATOR

Probably the same guy..He used to run stocks at Pinecrest...After selling his Brampton shop, he bought a farm up at Grand Valley and is near Orangeville now I believe.....He had gravel trucks up there......He would be about 70 now

33 fuel · ORANGEVILLE. ONT

Lol Bruce was at my shop not long ago borrowing a blower pulley from me for his pull truck . Crazy ****er . I sold him the blower motor he has in the truck now it was an old Oddy motor I had . It ran 6.40's in an alterd made stupid power lol. Bruce bought it less the 14/71 and put a 8/71 on it and ran it all summer at 35% over and thought it was at 40% over . He won the championship this year and last year also I think . ( he wanted to borrow a 40 pulley ) He spends the winter racing stock car in Florida .lives the dream lol

Gearhead · ELORA, ONT

poncho62 wrote:
Probably the same guy..He used to run stocks at Pinecrest...After selling his Brampton shop, he bought a farm up at Grand Valley and is near Orangeville now I believe.....He had gravel trucks up there......He would be about 70 now

I think you're right. Gowlands sand & gravel on hwy 9 west of O-ville...seen the montster trucks out there and motorsports trailers etc. Not sure if he has offical shop there or not

-- Edited by Gearhead on Saturday 1st of December 2012 09:13:40 AM

sasquatch · NORTH BAY, ONT

interesting history on Bruce Gowland.

Being still involved , man,, he must have 1/2 a century of experience in racing.

poncho62 · ADMINISTRATOR

A friend sent me these pictures in an email today.....sorry about the size

ruceGowlandChevyIIAWB32566DNvi-vi(2).jpg

gowlands chevy ii gasser.png

sasquatch · NORTH BAY, ONT

Great pics Harry, thanks for posting those!!

Lots of memories seeing those pics.

Ragtop · BELLE RIVER, ONT

I hear they don't call it drag racing there anymore - now it's Bangla-Dash

scott420p · BRAMPTON, ONT

Ragtop wrote:
I hear they don't call it drag racing there anymore - now it's Bangla-Dash

LOL. Being white in Brampton definately makes me a minority.

shag766 · FOXBORO, ONT

Ragtop wrote:
I hear they don't call it drag racing there anymore - now it's Bangla-Dash

amen to that

shag766 · FOXBORO, ONT

anybody remember the harveys on jane st and draggin the 400. i was driving for esso at keele and finch, 73-74?

dualquadpete · BLACKSTOCK, ONT

How about "DRAGGIN UNLIMITED" on St. Clair at O'Conner!!!in East end of Toronto "Al" always had the Orange 55 Chevy Gasser parked out front.I spent a "few sheckles" in there for the 55 2dr. post I had back then in late 60's

poncho62 · ADMINISTRATOR

shag766 wrote:
anybody remember the harveys on jane st and draggin the 400. i was driving for esso at keele and finch, 73-74?

There are a few threads about Harvey's on here

http://ontariorodders.activeboard.com/t50527993/harveys-on-jane-home-of-the-hot-ones/

http://ontariorodders.activeboard.com/t47897423/harveys-jane-401/

http://ontariorodders.activeboard.com/t51073900/somebody-was-asking-about-the-ground-pounder/

http://ontariorodders.activeboard.com/t48706439/trying-to-find-historyphotos-of-this-road-runner/

There will be a test later....lol

64sd · DUFFERIN COUNTY, ONT

Had a ride in the LITTLE COLONEL back then before the roof came off.
Only had 1 seat so it was hold on to the roll bar, which became are you comfy in the trunk.
Nice ride right on hwy.10

64sd · DUFFERIN COUNTY, ONT

oldkoot wrote:
Oh Yes, Bruce"Greasy" Gowlands, just south of the Hwy 7 bypass on Hwy 10. At the time Brampton had a population of about 17K, was known as the flower capital of Ontario because off all the greenhouses. His shop was about a mile north of anything, at that time it was out in the country in an old gas station on the west side if memory is correct. Being a young gearhead at the time living in a small town their where lots of tall tales originating out of the place, many of which were urban legend.

Think now it's a restaurant across the road from walmart.

-- Edited by oldkoot on Wednesday 28th of November 2012 11:55:11 AM

64sd · DUFFERIN COUNTY, ONT

Pics no longer there?

33 fuel · ORANGEVILLE. ONT

Sorry to hear Bruce Gowland passed away a couple of days ago. Bone cancer . Rip Bruce

sasquatch · NORTH BAY, ONT

Geez sad to hear , he was quite a showman at times.

Cat in the Hat · BRANTFORD, ONT

WoW reading this thread brings back memories

You may have the Bangla-Dash but every Friday afternoon we have the "Hindi 500" you cant get Gas, Timmies or a Cab around mississauga from 1-2:30pm

Sorry to hear about Bruce...I bought parts from him back in the day

64sd · DUFFERIN COUNTY, ONT

wow, will have to look at obits in o'ville paper for it

R.I.P.

Dick Kirkpatrick · MILTON, ONTARIO

I knew Bruce (greasy) very well.
I met him in 1958 at his uncle's Esso station at the corner of Eglinton Ave and Highway 10, just down the road where we were building a golf course (Hawthorne Valley) no longer there.
He was apprenticing to be a mechanic at the Chev dealer in Brampton who would later sponsor him.
We raced at the same tracks, Kohler, (Cayuga) Grand Bend, Deseronto, Detroit, Ubly,Milan etc.
He was a hell of a competitor.
He somehow got his hands on a "semi hemi" 427 chev motor that he put in that little chevy 11, he got it about the same time as the nascar guys did and of course nascar banned it because it ran away from the other guys.
Within the year, Bruce had the car stripped out, a solid front axle, and was running nitro.
He would match race anyone, and did quite well for an independent.
May he rest in peace.