The Empire and The West Hotels....Simpson St.

Another THEN & NOW - The Empire "Fort William's leading hotel" ..a quote from an earlier ad from 1913 had read. I suppose it was the leading hotel then, but as certain areas of the city deteriorate, its great to see what it once was and sadly what its become. The obvious grandeur showed through in those early years, however its pretty incredible that these two buildings stood the test of time and without fires as so many Simpson Street and Victoria Ave buildings went. The new photos were taken July 12th this year 2009. Sorry the b&w photos aren't super crisp. Wanna go for a beer?.....NOT. Love those Brass Ford "T" tourings in front of the west, and the expensive rates back then! click on

Ozzie, Harriet, David and Ricky - The Hot Rod Road Race...

Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we0YK_Tx394

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NS3pSKUllo0&feature=related

Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5OJdZMXbbg&feature=related

Part 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H998Y8Pew1g&feature=related

.......Everybody loved watching the Nelsons on their black & white TV in the '50's. They were hokey. They were ridiculous. They were dimwitted. They were featherbrained. They were asinine......but we loved them all the same. The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet show launched one of the most interesting and inspiring careers in the music business at that time. Their son Rick(Ricky when he was younger)was quite the teen idol but had the greatest opportunity to show himself off to the public on their weekly television show. Their family was much like most of ours back then but lent a type of innocence to the family and family values that we can even learn from today.

This is one of my favourite programs due to the fact that it has a very cool hot rod in it and a vintage model "T" touring. It is presented in 4 parts through youtube so you can see the whole episode, and also includes the KODAK advertising of the time.

........sooo click on each of the 4 above then come back and click on the others in order. ENJOY!!

Car #54 Where Are You?.....

"Oooh, oooh", this first picture is a bit tongue in cheek but the real Car #54 is next in this post. The TV show "Car 54" if you remember, with these two clowns was in the late 50's and started not too long after the local favourite #54 driven by Wally Prokosh and Sammy Myronuk came to the fairgrounds track. Thanks to Jack Rea, lifelong friend of Charlie Miller(you can read a bit about Charlie an an earlier post) we are all able to enjoy these great photos of Car #54.

Dirt flying in the #2 corner (The gate corner) at the CLE track!
These two photos of the Model "A" were taken on the Abitibi Mill grounds, and the cars in the background in the parking lot defines the era when they were taken.

The back of this picture reads - 1954 Mercury 256 cu. in. #10 Pappy Fowler and the #54 Wally Prokosh car were the first overhead valve V8 motors used at the Exhibition track in 1954.

The back of this picture reads - Won track championship in 1955 with a 292 Ford Engine...300 cu. in. was the limit then.

The back of this group picture reads - Abitibi employees stock car(this is the second car - first was a model "A" Ford driven by Wally Prokosh). Abitibi had these cars between 1954 and 1956. The '34 Ford won the championship in 1955 at the Fort William fairgrounds track with Sammy Myronuk behind the wheel. Only 2 cars were built. The first(model "A") had an overhead valve mercury motor(same as Pappy Fowler) in 1954 - 255 cu. in. Wally blew it up in 1955 and was replaced with a 292 cu. in. Mercury motor. Sam Myronuk occasionally drove the car and Sam is pictured to the right.

Left to right in this group photo is: Mill Manager Jerry Carey, Al Cruickshank, Art Gray, Dick Bamford, and Casey McCallum and Sammy Myronuk.

Abitibi Mill Manager Jerry Carey....

These last two photos were taken at the CLE racetrack in about 1955. The last photo on the right shows them lining up for time trials. Car #54 is last,then further up you can see the Barry Kettering #47 car and ahead of him the #87 Tony Massaro car.

Thanks again to Jack Rea for loaning us the photos.....Dave ...Click on to enlarge