Building my Model "A" sedan.....

The final clip at the very bottom of this post is a 13 minute film that my son Jay took during and after construction of the Model "A", a few years back.
A newer engine and a few more current pieces have been added since. 
Firstly here are a few pictures of my beautiful niece Sarah with the car.  At the request of Ol' Skool Rodz magazine, we sent an article and some pictures of the car with Sarah but I guess she didn't have enough tattoos for the magazine so they only used one picture.  These pictures were taken near the rowing club on the Kaministiquia River.   Click on all to enlarge.

Sorry guys, Sarah is presently engaged to Trevor and will be married next year...you're a lucky guy Trevor.

Here is how the article in Ol' Skool Rodz came out back then........click twice on these to view full screen.

And finally the 13 minute film - it is a combination of photos and video......It's not super clear but the content is there and the surf music is great.  This film was actually misplaced for a bit but has since been found, added to my YouTube pages and now added to Hot Rods and Jalopies.  Hope you enjoy it.

Give Them Blood and Thunder and They Will Pack the Joint - Jalopy Tidbits in Fort William Ontario 1953 - 1962 and the Lyn McIntosh story.

Here are a few clippings from the 1953 to 1962 Stock Car Racing seasons at the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition race track from Barry Kettering's own scrapbook.  These were the peak years at the track when ups to 5,500 fans crowded the old wooden grandstand to overflowing to view the best entertainment that ever graced the fairgrounds to this day. 
They are all interesting reads and hope you gear heads will take some time and reminisce about the good ol' days at the intercity dirt track here in Thunder Bay, formerly Fort William and Port Arthur, Ontario.  Click on each clipping twice to get an extra large reading format.

 WOW...5,500 fans watch the stock cars at the old CLE track!

This is a 1953 advertisement showing tons of people in the grandstand.....more people per week than Silver City Movie Theatres ever got!!  By the way...Silver City is in the exact same place as this grandstand building was.

They always smile when they win and Tom Dow is no exception a he takes the 1954 Point Standings trophy.

 Here is smiling Conrad Trombelli after equaling the track record back in 1955.  The next photo is none other than Merv Dove, who is still kickin' today and also a good friend.

 Controversy always surrounded Louis Tocheri (The Witch Doctor) during those exciting days at the CLE track.  Most of the mayhem was staged between many of the drivers including the Massaro brothers, but Louis would say that staged or not, tempers did rise and there were many fist fights on the track directly in front of the grandstand to the delight of thousands of patrons.  I spoke to Louis this past week and he said that all the neck pain he has now was definitely caused by all the rollovers and wrecks he endured back then....not to mention the fist fights.

This was May 26, 1956 and the beginning of the racing season with no let up in the popularity of stock car racing here at the Lakehead.  "The Lakehead" is a short form for our city now as well as the two cities it once was.  If the voting was different back in 1969, the new amalgamated city in 1970 might have been called "The Lakehead" or maybe just "Lakehead".....were you old enough to vote back then?

 This is Barry and Glen Kettering on either side of their good luck horseshoe welded to the back bumper of their '34 Ford coupe with the nickname "POOPSIE".  Do you remember?
The next picture in 1958 was the rookie year for Jim "Chicken" Herron.

Lyn McIntosh was inducted into the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame this past year (2011).  Here are a couple of clippings of his early years on the CLE racing circuit in his home town here in Fort William, Ontario as it was called back then.  He always had the passion for speed as I recall hanging around his home as a kid being best friends with his brother Dwight.  Between the Racing passion and Skiing passion(basically just a need for speed), Lyn has accomplished much in his life that he can be very proud of.  Much can be read about Lyn on many Internet sites.  Congratulations on all your accomplishments Lyn.
Click above to view Lyn's story.

......and finally, many thanks to Rene Kettering for the loan of Barry's Scrap Book, and to all the drivers that gave us such enjoyment back in those days.  They boys of the Lakehead Stock Car Club will never be forgotten.

Kettering Brothers and Lacey's Taxi....441 S. Syndicate Ave., Fort William, Ontario

441 South Syndicate Avenue, Fort William Ontario, across from the C.P.R Station,

Was Once Kettering Brothers Husky Service Station

Glen and Barry were part sponsors of Barry's Famous #47 Stock Cars here in Fort William, Ontario.....how convenient was that............

Here are those two famous #47 Cars racing on the dirt at the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition Track back in the 1950's.  There is much more about Barry and Glen that you'll have to search for in this blog, or click on this LINK to get all the Kettering related posts. http://hotrodsandjalopies.blogspot.com/search?q=Barry+Kettering

This is what a Husky Service gas pump would have looked like in those days, and also a Husky Heavy Duty Oil Can, with the famous Husky Dog and Northern Lights featured on it.

Here's a Kettering Brother's Husky Sign as it would have appeared at their station, soon to be replaced in the late 1950's by a Lacey's Taxi Sign.  Lacey's Taxi has been around for decades and presently occupies the old Kam Motors building on Leith Street, on the Fort William side of Thunder Bay, Ontario.

This is a very early Lacey's Taxi ad actually before they were at 441 S. Syndicate as noted by the year of the cars in this ad.

This is how their ad and the famous phone number 3-3-4-2-3 looked in a 1960 phone book.

Finally here are a couple more ads for Lacey's in 1962, after we added the 6-2 prefix to our phone numbers here in Fort William.  Be Sure to click on all the ads and photos for an up-close look.