Where was GRAIN PORT MOTORS and what is it's claim to fame here in Fort William and Port Arthur Ontario....

This is a bit of a follow-up to the last post due to the fact we are using old invoices to find addresses and data, and yes, you did see this first picture in the last post.  This photograph is of a Motor(Moto) Meter which was on a very famous local race car, The King's Ford Special......however this post is mostly about what this is, what it's for and the fact that a Ford Service Garage in the 1920's was a very important sponsor of the above noted race car....called Grain Port Motors (as noted right on this MotoMeter.)
This is a Boyce MotoMeter and you can read an ad here from 1912 telling you pretty much what it was, and what it was used for.  It was located on top of the radiator and protruded through the grill shell. I have never before seen and specific business name on a motor meter.  Read on to find out more, and click on all the photos and documents for enlargements.

This MotoMeter sat on the radiator of Mr. Frank Colosimo's King's Ford Special race car built by Art and Arnold King in the 1920's.  Without going into too much detail about the car on this post, you can read more about it by clicking on this link then return to read the rest. http://hotrodsandjalopies.blogspot.com/2010/08/kings-ford-special-local-star-from.html 

The following is a poster from one of the meets here at the fairgrounds in Fort William, Ontario, showing Frank as one of the racers.  One of the first known races here at the Lakehead cities was in 1914.  Frank however was pretty much unbeatable from 1925 until 1932.

In this picture to the right, you can see the MotoMeter above on the nose of the car.

Below is a picture of Al and Sandra Cronk with his restored King's Special.  Two years ago it was on display at the Thunder Bay Airport...there is still hope that this race car will eventually make it's home back here in our home town....also note the original MotoMeter still sits on the nose of the car.

This first advertisement (on the left) from Grain Port Motors was used around 1925 and predominantly shows the Fort William address as on the corner of May and Leith Street and the Port Arthur address says opposite the rink, which meant the Port Arthur Arena.  The May and Leith corner address changed to 113-119 Leith Street in about 1927, which would later become Kam Motors Limited, the Chev-Olds-Cadillac dealer.  The invoice on the right shows the Leith Street address....and interestingly enough they would adjust your brakes for only $1.75.....which actually was not an easy task on the old cars.
The next photo/newspaper clipping is from a December 1939 newspaper showing a very early shot of Kam Motors Limited then "formerly" Grain Port Motors.  Also note the Imperial sign on the top right of the clipping.  That station would have been on the north/west corner of Leith and Simpson Street, a used car lot now and formerly the Palace Confectionery.  The next picture is a Kam Motors Limited Brochure from the early 1950's.  Kam Motors is of course where my father spent 30 years of his life between 1937 and 1967 and in the later years became the body shop manager before he taught at the Gron Morgan trade school here in Thunder Bay.

This is how the original Grain Port Motors/Kam Motors looked a couple of years ago.

 ......and here on the corner of Leith and Simpson Street is a Brill Trolly bus in front of the old Palace Confectionery where I used to buy all my hot rod magazines as a young man.  The smaller picture below is how that corner looked earlier this year and the final picture taken just a few weeks ago shows that corner completely empty now, (down go all those Simpson Street buildings) but there in the background on Leith St. is the old Grain Port Motors/Kam Motors building still in use today.

The invoice below is one from the Grain Port Motors Port Arthur Garage in 1934.  It was situated pretty much across the street from the old Port Arthur Arena.  The Port Arthur Arena property now houses the Safeway Store on Court Street.  The last photo to the right shows you exactly what is at 79 N. Court St. where the garage was located back in 1934.  Click once or twice to enlarge.

This photo is a nice addition to this post thanks to Dave Howarth...which brings together the Invoice above and the place of business.

It is very interesting to see the changes in our own home town after so many years.  There have been many more buildings and landmarks torn down (some historic) just in the last few years and without this documentation the history would be lost forever....HR&J hope you enjoyed this one!! ...and thanks to the Scalzo collection for the wonderful Brill Bus photo above.

TOM DOW - his contribution to local racing, history and lore...PART 1

Roger Rickards and I were very privileged to have had the opportunity to visit Tom last year and talk about his racing years, as well as some of his flying years.  Tom also let us use some of his photos, most of which I had never seen before.  Please enjoy these but please do not copy them to another web site without permission from HR&J.  Be sure to click once or twice on each of the photos for larger versions.  This will be published in two or possibly three posts due to its large photo and story content.

Tom Dow as he looked in the early 1950's with his crash helmet on.
They were used for much more than just football!!

An ad from an early
1950's CLE program!

The King's Special taken from a film clip in 1933.

 TOM DOW

The Following is a portion of an article by Jeff Caldwell on the famed “King’s Special”.

QUOTE - “The car was last known to be owned by local racing legend Barry Kettering in a different form, powered by a regular T Ford motor, in 1950 he would informally race it against another 1920’s race car, “The Hudson“, then owned by Tom Dow.”

In Tom Dow’s own words, the race noted above was the new beginning of Jalopy racing here in Fort William and Port Arthur in the early 1950’s.  Tom was working at the family shop “Dow’s Auto Electric” at the time.  It was located directly across from the Times Journal Building on May Street in Fort William at 112 N May Street(The old yellow building still exists to this day).

Tom would call them “Bugs” and said that he and Barry would legally drive these cars on the street as well as on the track.

At the same time Barry Kettering was working for Thornes-Sargent just around the corner from Dow’s on Violet Street(presently a parking lot).  The businesses were back to back and Barry and Tom would naturally have become good friends due to their mutual interest in car racing.

Tom would say that after racing their “Bugs”  around at the Murillo track for fun, they thought they could make some cash by convincing some fellows to bring their cars to the Murillo track.  They would be paid a small fee just for bringing their cars to race and would charge $1.00 for the public to watch.  In Tom’s own words, “We just couldn’t believe it, we were bringing home cardboard boxes full of dollar bills”.

This WAS the true beginning of stock car (jalopy) racing here at the Lakehead cities of Fort William and Port Arthur.
After doing this for two years  the Lakehead Stock Car Racing Association was  formed out at Uncle Franks on the Scott Highway on August 21^st, 1952.  See the attached article from an old CLE program.  They would race initially at Murillo but would soon move to the CLE racetrack at the fairgrounds close to the border between the then Fort William and Port Arthur, to be closer to the fans and a much larger grandstand and much better track for car racing.
The following is an advertisement from Thornes-Sargent, taken from a Fort William Collegiate yearbook from the same era.

Present day location of Thornes-Sargent

This is how the back of the present day Dow's Auto Electric

building looks today.  You can see where the automotive door

has been filled in over time. The far right is the old Times Journal

building on May Street.

The article on the left is pretty much the story on how the Lakehead Stock Car Racing Association was formed.  This was taken from a late 1950's Championship racing program.  Click on this and all other photos for a better look!

This is how Uncle Franks looked at the time the Lakehead
Stock Car Racing Association was formed.

This is a ticket for the first club sanctioned
race in 1952.

This photo of Glen Kettering's car and the following photos

were taken at the Murillo Race Track about 10 miles north of

Fort William and Port Arthur during the 1952 racing season.

Jalopies racing the back stretch at
 Murillo Speedway.

Lining up in front of the Murillo Grandstand.

Jalopy jockeys doing the Murillo back stretch.

Here, Barry Kettering's "Snitch Special" is lining up with
what looks like a car that someone drove from town to the track.

Every one's talking about the great
entertainment at the Murillo track!!

A great shot of the Murillo Grandstand.

#33 on his lid!

A great panorama shot of the Murillo backstretch!!

Another backstretch shot!

More action!

An early spring or late fall shot in the snow at Murillo....
yes...it's #00, Barry Kettering!

See??  ...It's Barry's car!

A shot of Tom Dow in Murillo.

This and the rest of the photos are of Tom's famed '32

Ford 3-window coupe(look how perfect it was)

most rodders would die for a 3-window in this

shape today!

Tom's Deuce 3-window coupe!

A bit blurry but showing the cut off fenders.

A very cool #2 - Remember "Nipper" from the 1950's
Comics??

Here's Tom doing a pre race tuneup!

#2

Check out that sophisticated Tune-up Equipment!

Tom's Deuce hauler - Not too shabby itself.

Thanks to Tom Dow for the photos and great interview.  There are more to come but not necessarily in perfect chronological order.

The King's "Ford Special" Local Star from the 1920's.....

When Merv Dove, Barry Kettering, The Massaro brothers and Louis Tocheri were mere babies, car racing in Fort William was in its infancy too, and much had already been written and said about the famous King's "Ford Special" driven by Frank Colosimo.
Recent accolades go to Al and Sandra Cronk for completing the incredible restoration of the same one and only racing machine from the 1920's. They had spent almost half their lives accumulating the components and completing the restoration work, and the finished example stands as a tribute to them.

Photo titles - Here is the poster and a subsequent week write-up in the newspaper in 1924. Note the use of the words "Jupiter Pluvius" meaning a downpour!!
.....As age creeps up on all of us, it is difficult to reminisce about the 1920's unless you are 80 plus years old, but research, photos and memories help us bring up shades of the past that began an incredible era. The following is an excerpt from an article written for the Daily Times Journal during the late 1950's by Barry Craig titled "When Frank Colisimo was Tops" and "Car Racing in the 1920's. This was written during the era I call "Hot Rods and Jalopies":

.....The most interesting racing car that made its debut back in the 1920's was called King's "Ford Special". It was a silver-smooth speedster which tore up the track at speeds up to 101 miles per hour over a route where holes had to be filled with clay and cinders through the courtesy of the Fort William Street Railway. King's car was built by Art and Arnold King, and driven by Frank Colosimo, high flying speed demon who was practically unbeatable for seven years between 1925 and 1932.

Believers in doing things the correct way, Art King, 28 years old and brother Arnold, 16 years old laboriously built their pride and joy in the family chicken house at 64 Algonquin Street in Port Arthur. One wall had to be removed to get the car out. It was completed in 1924 following almost two years of dedicated stubbornness and $2,200. cold hard cash.

This first photo shows the car in action at the CLE as a clip from a film, and the second here is part of the mock-up during re-construction!
.....It was difficult getting sponsors, just like today, so the brothers formed the Twin City Motor Contest Association and rented the fairgrounds. In the day 3 to 4 thousand fans would cheer them on. Art's driving career began May 24, 1924 at Murillo and ended 20 minutes later. Regular races were run at Murillo when the Fort William track was in poor condition. At 80 miles per hour the back axle sheered a key and the car flipped three times and ended up on the stone wall that surrounded the track. Art drove his 1922 Chevrolet home with one arm and decided his brush with death was enough. If he hit the stone wall, things could have been more disastrous. Art, however would rebuild the car to be complete for the first race in 1925 at the fairgrounds track and the power plant could rev at 4200 RPM.
He had no driver so he called on Frank Colosimo. He compared Frank later on as having the personality of Louis Tocheri and the stature of Albert Massaro. Frank driving his former car the "Green Spear" had been "out of the money" in previous years. Fortunately for Art, Frank had become "King" of the local speed artists as well as the most controversial figure in the racing circles.
Frank would come to the track with a spotless starched white shirt that was black as coal by the end of the second race. He would also tempt fans to wager against him by flashing $10. bills in front of the grandstand.
There were 4000 fans at that Labour Day meet who witnessed a stirring race between Frank Colisimo and Ernie Boffa, cunning driver of the famed "Dreadnought". Frank and Ernie were avid competitors each fighting for top laurels and this day they had bet $200. on the outcome. Frank was leading by a healthy margin when his car nose-dived on the second turn and he become the first driver to fly 25 feet in the air and live to tell the story. Suffering from four broken ribs, he was taken to hospital, patched up, and came back to the meet to watch the rest of the afternoons proceedings. In the 1950's Art had related "Those were the days".



Here is Al and Sandra's 25 or so year labour of love as it was shown in the Duke Hunt Museum here at the Lakehead during this summer!
.....Those definitely were the days, and today I had the pleasure of meeting Al and Sandra Cronk. Russ Wanzuk had helped Al bring and set up the King's "Ford Special" from the newly done Duke Hunt Museum(formerly the Paipoonge Museum) to its winter home at the Thunder Bay Airport to be on display for all to see in its incredible restored splendour. By talking to Al, one could write at least a 500 page book on the restoration itself. Be sure to check it out at the airport the next time you are in Thunder Bay.
Thanks again to Al and Sandra for a job well done!!

Here is the Motor Meter on the King's Special...note it says "Fort William, Port Arthur, and Grain Port Motors Ltd". Grain Port Motors was on the corner of Leith Street and May Street, north/east corner in the 1920's. The story board displayed with the car is next and explains even more about the car. Finally, a photo of Al and Sandra, a wonderful couple, next to their own King's "Ford Special" taken today just after setting the car up at the Thunder Bay Airport.

Be sure to click on the photos(some twice) to enlarge them...