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The Baltimore Motor Trend Auto Show

Baltimore, Maryland January 2008

All Photos are by Diane Knaus and copyrighted

Chevy Corvette 08

Chevy Corvette 08 - 15 Miles Per Gallon City $46,950.00

While GM offers all UAW Union employees buyouts, the car shows continue to draw crowds.

GM08

GM08

Buyouts and Their Numbers

74,000
Number of employees offered buyouts - all of GM's U.S. hourly workers represented by UAW.
$62,500
Incentive offered to skilled workers who agree to retire.
$45,000
Incentive offered to production employees who agree to retire.
$140,000
Cash payout offered to employees with 10+ years of service who agree to quit and cut all ties to GM.
$78.21
Hourly labor costs, including benefits, for current GM workers.
$26.65
Hourly labor costs for new GM hires.
Sources: GM, Center for Automotive Research

 

Photographs provided by Dave Tanner

Dave Tanner Pattern Maker
by Diane Knaus

There once was a truck that was driven from Windsor to Vancouver in 1917, a Model T Ford to get orders for the Champion Spark Plug company by President Charlie Speers, and Cal Evans.

The trip taken by Charlie Speers and Cal Evans is thought to be the first cross country tour for a car. Some of the tour was taken with the truck on the flatbed of a train. Then when Charlie and Cal got to individual towns, they would take the car off of the train and go conduct their sales for the spark plugs which the company manufactured. A year ago, Dave Tanner (a member of the Canadian Transportation Museum), was talking about the truck and the idea to rebuild the entire truck was born, so he was asked by members of his car club to build it.

To start from scratch was a challenge indeed, as Dave had to cut individual pieces to create the spine of the car, the mould so to speak. Dave' garage was designed and equipped to make almost anything, which was where he built the car. Many of these pieces were glued then screwed into place as Dave began to rebuild the car as a replica of the original Champion Spark Plug Truck . By using the space between the wheelbase of 100 inches as a pattern, he ably constructed the truck exactly as it was originally. The whole process took about a year to complete the truck during his spare time. Today, the truck runs, and is shown at the Canadian Transportation Museum in Essex County.

Dave moved to Windsor in 1965 with his family, as a trained pattern maker, he teamed up with a few fellows to start a company here. The company called TEAM was made up of himself, Dave Tanner, Ellis, Anderson, and Mullindorf, and they did pattern making in Windsor. As he became interested in antique cars and vehicles, he began to make model cars, only life size.

One of his creations that produced a lot of buzz on the car circuit was the Ford Model T Depot Hack. Someone gave him a radiator cap and he began talking about it and talked himself right into building it when his fellow car enthusiasts asked him to actually do it. The car was called a Depot Hack because it was used to pick up people from the train station and take them to the hotels or resorts, thus the “Depot Hack “ was born. His reputation as a perfectionist took off. He has been known to take something apart as many as tree times to get it just right. The rebuilding of this car, the Model T Depot Hack, was the catalyst that actually led to the creation of the Champion Spark Plug Truck last year because Dave had done such a remarkable job on the Model T Depot Hack.

Dave Tanner is originally from Lutterworth, England. He was trained because his uncle in England wanted to give him a chance to earn his own way. Dave was an indentured apprentice as a teen at the age of 15 until he reached 21 years of age, and became a pattern maker at that time. Dave said, “It was really a term for slavery at the time. Pattern makers then were trained to make wooden moulds that created the moulds for the foundry industry. These wooden moulds were used to cast metal parts, like a cylinder head or bolt. As Dave says “technology has changed that method now.” He describes his rebuilding of antique vehicles as a “labour of love.”

Me, My Dad and Cars

by Diane Knaus

My father came back from the Army in 1953, after spending a few years in Korea . While in the service, he learned to like the work of fixing cars and engines in the Motor Pool. His later life tag of "Mr. Fixit" experience came from the time when he was at the Motor Pool in the service.

When I was younger, I remember him working on his cars, changing the spark plugs, the oil, and filters. Most of the cars were Fords . A few years later I remember him buying a 1956 Ford Fairlane. At the time I was 16 and not very interested in cars all that much. Although I did want to get my driver's license, I waited until I turned 17 to do so.

When it came time to change the brake pads on the Ford Fairlane I became pretty adept at giving him the tools that he requested, like a 3/8" wrench rather than a 3/16". Seemed like every time when he was fixing the car, I was right there by his side. Soaking up the information about how the car was supposed to run, my knowledge about car repairs grew as I did. There have been times in my adult life when I have changed spark plugs, tightened wires, changed the battery and checked the oil level and refilled it to the mark on the oil stick. Not great things, but satisfying to me in the knowledge that I could do it if I had to.

I remember when my father was trying to fix my first car, a 1952 Ford. It was a light green 52 Ford convertible with a white top. He went through a series of, if the problem isn't this then it is this. If it won't start, then maybe we can clean the spark plugs with sandpaper or run a wire brush over them to get the "ick" off. Then of course he went to the parts store and bought new spark plugs. That helped but he wasn't satisfied, so he replaced some little square looking rubber brushes in a metal cylinder, and the car ran much better. The next problem was the battery. So we charged it, but it was too weak, so then he went out and bought a new one. A few months later I had taken the car through a field a few times just for the fun of it, guess that was when the muffler became loose. I never told him how it came loose.

My father was good at changing oil and not spilling it all over. He eventually took the used oil to a gas station where they reclaimed it. He kept his cars in good running order and in later years then in his garage.

During his lifetime my father bought me a few used cars. I'll never forget one in particular, it was an orange taxicab he bought from a junk yard. I wish he had left it in the junk yard! The brakes were nonexistent. He even bought a junked police car one time. We had a curious relationship!

Some of the things I learned from Dad was to pay attention to the normal car sounds and the feel of the car while I had my hands on the steering wheel. Tactile is the word I believe that tells you things through your hands. Like if the right wheel is wiggling, you may be getting a flat. He taught me some things that I do with my car now to keep it in good running condition. When the oil gets nasty and dark looking that it is time to take it to have the oil, the oil filter, the air filter changed.

Yes guys I do mark down the mileage, and change the oil every 10,000 miles. Regularly I check my tire pressure for safe inflation, windshield wipers for wear, and the spark plugs annually. He taught me well, and I remember the lessons. Am I am expert, no! But, I do like to know what goes on under the hood and I work at knowing something about the engine. Most of the time I know what to ask for when going into the parts store.

Usually I was right alongside of him when anything had to be repaired at home, no matter if it was a screen window, or a furnace filter, the car oil, the car or air filter. I watched him do the repairs and learned my lessons well. Like Alfalfa in The Little Rascals (you remember the kid who had the one spike of hair sticking straight up in the back of his head), "Amazing, simply amazing! " It amazes me even today how car engines actually perform in a vehicle.

This site produced by Diane Knaus.
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Oh Those Fifties
by Diane Knaus

What is read and white and black, if you said a newspaper, you will only be half right. if your second answer was a checkered race flag you’d only be partially right. If your third answer added a 1950’s Diner you would be exactly right. That is where all of the hot rod cars were after 10 pm on the weekends during the 50’s.

Oh those good looking guys and their shiny hot rods, what a combination! Believe me when I tell you that, lots of girls hung out at the drive ins back in the 50’s. They did so just to look at the guys with their hair slicked back and their shiny rods just spoiling for a race. The guys were wanting to put someone else car down and show off their spiffy cars and loud mufflers.That was one of the ways the guys would get their frustrations out back then.


The best looking sparkly cars took hours and hours of painstaking work to keep them looking sharp. One of my cousins was washing his car twice a day to keep the dust off of it, especially if he was going to go into town. A hefty supply of Turtle Wax and clean rags were a mainstay of everyones toolbox and maintenance program. Some of the boys then would work at a garage to learn the trade of fixing the motors and repairs, then buy junkers and fix them up. They certainly were the precursors of today's Nascar drivers and owners.

Those kind of cars and the guys that drove them made the diners interesting, they brought that extra tingle to people eating at the diners. What with their white tee shirts and their pack of smokes rolled up in their shirt sleeves, and clean pressed jeans, they looked cool. Can’t forget to mention their work boots and dressy Penny loafers which really set their style.

Of course then we had to bring Dad a milk shake as a reason to make the drive in the first place. The drive ins were bright and colorful, and clean. The menus featured good hamburgers, french fries, and thick milk shakes. (Oh we didn’t even think about cholesterol back then) The diners had bright colorful jukeboxes and flashing lights inside, so we could play our Ricky Nelson, Fats Dominoe, The Beattles, and finally Elvis Presley songs.

At the 50’s Diner in the Canadian Transportation Museum, you can get grilled burgers and dogs to your liking. If you want to recreate those memories, you can take your antique car or go to see other cars at the Canadian Transportation Museum & Historic Village in Southern Ontario. You can actually dine in their new 50’s Diner as did many in their first ever “Cruise In” on May 18, 2006 . With dine in facilities, and an outdoor patio area, as well as an inside bar and banquet facilities their offering to the public is one in a hundred. While sitting on their red and white chairs, listening to the jukebox you will think you are reliving history as you watch the classic cars rumble in on the blacktop driveway. Cruise Ins are scheduled for Thursdays during the summer.
For additional information see:
http://www.ctmhv.com/

The Baltimore Motor Trend Auto Show

Baltimore, Maryland January 2008

All Photos are by Diane Knaus and copyrighted

Chevy Car of the Year

Cadillac 08

Cadillac 08

Lexus SUV

Lexus SUV 08 $50,095.00 5 Door - 24 Miles Per Gallon

hi ho restaurant

Photo Courtesy of The Fortin Family

Hi-Ho Restaurants by Diane Knaus 8-16-2006

Years ahead of their time, the Fortin brothers opened Hi-Ho Service Limited, otherwise known as Hi-Ho Drive in Restaurants during the depression in 1937. The brothers Leo and Frank Fortin actually built their own building with foundry sand for their parking lot priced at $1.00 a load in Windsor, Ontario Canada.

Their first diner was 20' by 30' located at 4033 Tecumseh Street East where they had plenty of space to park. They flipped hamburgers and hot dogs for $.10 a piece, they did so with hydro for cooking and lights because there was no gas and for heat they used a coal stove. Their only other equipment was an electric bun toaster and a grill.
At the time the drive in opened, Windsors population was approximately 36,000 people and Tecumseh road was a paved two lane highway.

They were overwhelmed at their success because people came from everywhere to try out their menu items. Soda pop was selling for .05 each, a double dip of ice cream was .05 and a single .03 cents, coffee was only .05 a cup. Hmmm, I wonder how much Starbucks pays for theirs at this day and time.

Because Leo Fortin had joined the Army, Frank worked the diner by himself. Delivery service was instituted, but soon discontinued, due to drivers wrecking the cars too many times, and their menu list was huge. It was too large to have the deliveries made and the food in good condition at the same time. As real community people, they sponsored teams and bought a bus to transport the neighborhood kids to school. The diner was closed during the winters because Frank was holding down two jobs.

Within few years times there were another five Drive Ins to be built and their wild success enhanced their reputation. Their reputation was so good that Walt Disney Company gave them permission to use their Seven Dwarfs images on the menus. Remember the "Hi-Ho, Hi -Ho It's Off to Work We Go" song from the movie "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" made in 1937? It has been said that Leo and Franks' mother gave the boys the name of Hi-Ho for the restaurant when they first began in 1938.

Although the restaurants have been closed since 1985, Franks daughter Annette and son Norman Fortin remembered the hard work that was involved, and how hard their father Frank Aime Fortin and their uncle Leo worked. Sounds to me like Canada had another first by the brothers Frank and Leo opening the "Hi-Ho" Drive Ins. Franks son Norman Fortin made some of the signs for the original diners. Norman Fortin as an artist has replicas of the Hi-Ho Logo, in his Lincoln Street studio in Windsor.


The Canadian Transportation Museum has an exhibit which features the front of a Hi-Ho drive- in, complete with images of the waitresses in their fifties uniforms. Dave Tanner, pattern maker extraordinary provided the talent and technical skills to reproduce the exhibit.

cruise ins at the Canadian Transportation Museum

"Cruise In" Thursdays at the Canadian Transportation Museum

Essex County,Ontario Canada /photo byDiane Knaus

Canadian transporttion museum

Day Tripping to the Canadian Transportation Museum & Historic Village in Southern Ontario
by Diane Knaus

If you really want your family to experience a taste of the "olde world" and find out about Canada's Transportation history at the same time, the best place to find an authentic atmosphere is at the Canadian Transportation Museum in Essex County.

From the wooden Red River carts that farmers used to pile their vegetables into to the first cars built by the Henry Ford Company and others, you can see them all in the museum. Restored antique cars that sparkle, old motorcycles, touring cars, a 1904 hearse, an antique La France 700 series fire truck, the Champion Spark Plug Truck which was driven all across the country to prove that the plugs were reliable, can be seen at the museum.

Along with fabulous antique cars some of which have been restored with love on site by volunteers, there will be an Emergency Medical Service Museum on the grounds as well. Most of these EMS vehicles were donated by Len Langlois, the former director of the Chatham and District Ambulance Service. A variety of their equipment that was used on a daily basis will be on display from the actual switchboards from a dispatch centre, to a bunkhouse, to operating tables.The heritage village area is an authentic refurbished village of homes that have been moved from their original home sites. It offers the history buff a place as a way to quicken the beat of a young person's heart, "a truly remarkable experience to be in the moment, yet in the past. " From the naturalist Jack Miner, his homestead which he hewed with his own hands, was donated by the Miner foundation to the heritage village, as was a barber shop, and post office.

As an added attraction, there will be a 1950;s working diner inside the main building.
Decor consists of black and white tiles, red and white covered chairs, an old time jukebox which works and has CDs for the old tunes of the '50s, a full chrome kitchen where you can see people prepairing the food that truly creates a reflection of the best part of your or your parents' memories. The diner will open on May 26, 2006.The Museum is owned and run by the Historic Vehicle Society of Ontario, a registered charity. They do have some paid staff to run the centre, an administrator, a media and tour interpreter meaning guide, and a teacher who is in charge of their education programmes to children and their teachers, as they offer Grades 2, 3, and Grade 6 day classes. The rest of the daily operations of the centre are carried out by some of the 140 member all volunteer staff. There are common areas that can be rented for antique cars shows, overnight camping, dinners, theatre, and other events.

The organization features a cancer fundraising walk for cancer each year, last time they raised over $77,000.00. Visit the Museum's web site at:
http://www.ctmhv.com/index.htm
or call toll free 1-866-776-6909

Nostalgia NASCAR and The Environment

The Backyard Garage Boys to NASCAR to a Better Environment

by Diane Knaus

Oh those good looking guys from the fifties. With their slicked back hair, white tee shirts with rolled up sleeves, their smokes in the folds, and of course their clean jeans what a sight they were alongside their hot rod cars at the “Drive In” restaurants.The best looking sparkly cars took hours and hours of painstaking work to keep them looking sharp. One of my cousins was washing his car twice a day to keep the dust off of it, especially if he was going to go into town. A hefty supply of Turtle Wax and clean rags were a mainstay of anyones toolbox and maintenance program. Some of the boys then would work at a garage to learn the trade of fixing the motors and repairs, then buy junkers and fix them up. They certainly were the precursors of today's Nascar drivers and owners. That is where NASCAR began for the boys who made the hot rods in the fifties.

Coca Cola became big in the fifties as well, now there is even a Coca-Cola 600 race. For the guys and their families who go to races with their flatbed trucks carrying their cars,many of them will wear black tee shirts now. Black because it doesn't show the dirt so much, and some people think it is cooler looking!

To keep their cars in good running order was their focus, which is the same focus of the NASCAR drivers and highly paid crew members today. Regular oil changes were paramount to a good running car, now many oils are made especially for the souped up hot rods that participate in the NASCAR races. Their tires are especially made for racing, Now you can go to the Canadian Transportation Museum in Essex County ,Ontario Canada to see some of those hot rods, and other earlier cars as well. Actually if you still have an antique car that runs you can participate in their

Thursday “Cruise Ins” at the 50’s Diner and get fed as well. With dine-in facilities in an authentic diner, an outdoor patio area, as well as an inside bar and banquet facilities their offering to the public is one in a hundred. While sitting on their red and white chairs, listening to the jukebox you will think you are reliving history as you watch the classic cars rumble in on the blacktop driveway. Cruise Ins are scheduled for Thursdays during the summer.

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