The Importance of Sponsorship....Fort William 1950's

Jim Manduca and P. Macko were very fortunate to have not one but two sponsors back in the 1950's to help with their jalopy racing expenses. Their major sponsor however, was the Venice Grill, actually on 636 and 1/2 Simpson street and was one of the many hot spots for great food back then. #73 was also sponsored by the Martinuzzi brothers(maybe they owned the Venice Grill....does anyone know that? Here is a now photo of the Venice Grill. It looks as though someone is actually living there but never removed the sign, lucky for me as it was quite easy to find. Click all the pictures to enlarge, but be sure to click on the little ad between them as well. Johnny Zatti is next......

Here is Johnny Zatti's Potter and Kerr sponsored Ford 3 window coupe(no wonder these cars are so hard to find today...I wonder how far under the ground it is now...). Johnny's #11 was sponsored by Potter and Kerr(The flying goose with P/K on it was their logo). His number 11 P/K panel truck(tow vehicle) is also shown here.
Thanks to one of our blog followers Craig Chisamore, we have the following two staff pictures and quote: Craig wrote: "Potter and Kerr were one of "THE" post war auto parts wholesalers following the 2nd world war. My Dad was their outside sales rep after he got out of the Air Force at war's end. After a number of years with Potter and Kerr he went to the Mercury Dealer, Jessiman Motors as their Wholesale Parts Salesman. Shortly thereafter I believe Potter and Kerr was acquired by Acklands Ltd. As I recall, the photo was taken in front of their Port Arthur store on Algoma St." Craig continues to say "Looks like their fleet of vehicles covered all bases with a Ford, Chevrolet and a Plymouth." Thanks Craig.

Here's a very nice Potter and Kerr ad which appeared in the 1953 CLE racing program with Johnny and Johnny's car. Following that is one of Craig's photos as well as the one below.

This photo shows the late 1940's Ford, Chevrolet and Plymouth company vehicles parked in front of the business address. My sources tell me that this address is not 235 Bay Street as previously thought, but actually 182 South Algoma Street in Port Arthur. A new today photo will be forthcoming soon. Next...a look at Kam Motors again.

Here is a new find and very interesting tidbit from the early 1940's. Kam Motors Limited had the following ad in the newspaper..."Our Used Car Prices were low in 1940". This used car lot was located on the south/east corner of Dease and May street, but the interesting fact was that Hubert Badanai had erected an arch where you enter the used car lot which was pretty much a clone of the the famous welcome to Port Arthur arch that was near the fairgrounds....you can read further down this blog, much more about the arches. Way at the back was a "stage" like spot where they would feature "today's special", and at a Chevrolet/Olds dealership was a very rare 1936 Ford 3-window coupe....wonder who bought it??

The two arches!

This is the later spot where the used car lot was, across from the old Kam Motors showroom and shows how the old Kam Motors front looks today. Kam Motors was also a major sponsor of stock car #34 back in the 1950's, driven mainly by Canary Trevisan.
Click on all photos to enlarge!