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Post Info TOPIC: My car and My Town


Guru

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My car and My Town


Hi all,

This spring, I took a bunch of pictures of my 68 2+2 at various locations around the little town I live in. When I was a teenager, I couldn't wait to get out of here, as most teenagers want. I've lived in Hamilton, Toronto, Chatham, Vancouver, Frankfurt Germany and when I had kids of my own, the only place I wanted to settle down, was my hometown.

Some of you Southwest Ontarians may have heard of Petrolia, Ontario, but most people don't and it's a shame. It's a small, vibrant, growing town of 5500 people who's claim to fame was the discovery of oil 125 years ago, hence the name. Some day I'll expand on all history of the town, but suffice to say, it has an embarassment of interesting history and historic buildings, proudly maintained by the local community.

So, attached are a bunch of pictures from various locations in town, not limited to :

1) a derelict mansion (said to have had a dance floor floating over a fish pond)
2) beautiful bed and breakfasts
3) the library which used to be the railroad station
4) Town hall and live theatre (rebuilt for millions when destroyed by fire years ago)
5) Petrolia Discovery (a recreation of life around the time of the oil discovery)
6) various old buildings and businesses

And finally, some vanity shots of the car during restoration and some shots of my garage.

Note :  It's rumoured that there is a 56 Buick Roadmaster with the original air in the original tires stored for decades in one of these old buildings. I'm not saying which one, because I want to keep that secret to myself.

PS. It's not a rumour, I've seen it.

Ptown Baines 1.jpg

Ptown Baines 2.jpg

Ptown crescent 1.jpg

Ptown crescent 2.jpg

Ptown Discovery 1.jpg

Ptown Discovery 2.jpg

Ptown Discovery 4.jpg

Ptown Georges.jpg

Ptown Home.jpg

Ptown library.jpg

Ptown Mansion 2.jpg

Ptown shed 3.jpg

Ptown Tullys.jpg

Ptown vantyl 1.jpg

Ptown vantyl 2.jpg

Ptown VPP1.jpg

Ptown VPP3.jpg


Body 3.jpg

Body 4.jpg

Body 6.jpg

Body 8.jpg

Body 9.jpg

Inside 1.jpg

Inside 2.jpg


Engine 1.jpg

Engine 2.jpg

Garage 1.jpg

Garage 2.jpg

Garage 4.jpg

Garage 3.jpg



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Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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thanxs for the picts. we have friends that live there. nice town to visit.

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sTevE

55 GMC, 70 Pontiac 2+2 rag

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Poncho Master!

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Posts: 1560
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That's a beautiful car. And, having seen Petrolia for the first time, just a few weeks ago, I agree that it's a fine example of small town Ontario.

smile

 



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A Poncho Legend!

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Just fantastic photos Scott, really enjoyed  seeing them. The car looks fantastic with all of those historic backdrops.

As far as Petrolia goes I couldn't call myself a true red blooded Canadian hockey fan without knowing that town and the famous NHL brothers, Dave, Mark and Dale Hunter! biggrin

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Ray White, Toronto ON

Formerly - The one and only 1973 LeMans 454 "Astro-Jet"

Built March 9, 1973 - Oshawa ON

1993 Corvette Convertible LT 1

Built January 10, 1993 - Bowling Green Kentucky 

 




A Poncho Legend!

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Great photos. Love the car. I haven't been fortunate enough to visit Petrolia. It looks like a great town. My wife and I often like to take a drive on weekends and discover the small towns of Ontario. We'll have to make a point to check out Petrolia.

Thanks for sharing.

Todd


-- Edited by 69Laurentian on Tuesday 16th of June 2009 09:01:22 PM

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A Poncho Legend!

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Nice Car!    Nice town     We should have a cruise there sometime

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Uber Guru

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I still get my Insurance from Petrolia.

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Uber Guru

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Great pics looks like a great little town love the old mansion can it be saved or will it be knocked down one day

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1957 Pathfinder deluxe 4 door wagon
1961 Pontiac Parisienne bubble top Traded for a Harley sorry guys.

2007 Grand Prix Gxp

2009 Pontiac Montana SV6

Winnipeg MB 



Guru

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The mansion is quite interesting. It's known as the Fairbanks Mansion and was built by a wealthy family during the oil boom here over 100 years ago. My mom, who is quite the local historian, got ahold of a copy the original plans. The mansion literally had a glass dance floor over a fishpond. I believe it even had a personal bowling alley at one point.

I'm not that familiar with the history during the first half of the 20th century, but I do recall it selling to a local family in the 60's (I think) for some ridiculously low amount for back taxes.

This family then divided it up into apartments and it started it's decline.

Around 10 years ago, there was a fire on the top floor which really damaged the roof. The roof was repaired, but during the inspection, it was deemed unsafe for living in.

So, it languishes in it's current state. The current owners are unwilling to sell or invest and even if they did, it would cost a ridiculous amount to make inhabitable again.

I quite often wish I could win the lottery, and throw all the money at it required to bring it back to it's original glamorous state.

I can only cross my fingers and keep buying 6/49's.

Scott

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Poncho Master!

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Love your '68 L35 car Scott...great memorabilia collection too!.

Neat story on the Fairbanks place, here's a link below to a site that has info on the Fairbanks family and the mansion including a floorplan of the building that may be the same as you mentioned above..

http://www.petroliaheritage.com/fairbankStory.html

smile.gif

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I like real cars best...especially the REAL real ones!
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Poncho Master!

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I'm hoping to get down to Bothwell again this year. Hopefully i'll get the opportunity to meet you and see the car in person.

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Randy

1967 Beaumont Custom 4 dr survivor
1985 Firebird

2004 Montana shortie

2007 Uplander extended*newest addition to fleet*

 



Veteran Member

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nice car nice town there are many really nice things to see in ontario hope i get to see them before my time

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Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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Beautiful car,

I see your car is sporting the wire spoke wheel covers with the generic Canadian Pontiac center cap. 

Dumb question, the center pedestal of the wheel cover that the center cap mounts on, are they all the same height, or do 2 of the wheel covers have a higher center pedestal?  I've seen both high and low pedestals, and my theory was the front wheels needed the high pedestals to account for the wheel hub, but not sure if that's the case.



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70 2+2 convertible
70 2+2 hardtop
70 Parisienne hardtop

 

 



Poncho Master!

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Beautiful town, and a nice car. Will have to ride that way one day this summer.

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ga


Addicted!

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Posts: 480
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i think i saw your car parked on front street in sarnia a couple weekends ago, very nice
my wife even commented on the cool old pontiac that she saw downtown, she discribed it as "a giant old car kinda like yours"....i went a took a bunch of pics
of the fairbanks house just after it burned, just in case i was going to be torn down..30yrs
ago or so,there was an antique shop in the house, i tried to get back in on a tour a few
years back ,got to check out the main floor it was really cool!


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The Imperial City, Sarnia, Ontario



Newbie

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1963 acadian


here is a pic of my 1963 acadian

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Poncho Master!

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RE: My car and My Town


Great job on the car and your story on Petrolia !! Thanks !

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Poncho Master!

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i've been there 5500 people to many people for me but it is a nice town

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Veteran Member

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What a beautiful car!!
Nice town too!

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'59 Parisienne Vista


Poncho Master!

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Beautiful.  I like the stance....did you add a lift kit?  Its perfect.

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Guru

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Hi,

When I had some other work done, the mechanic/friend of mine mentioned that he had an air shock system from a '70 Impala that he would install really cheap.

So.... now I have an air shock system that I can raise and lower via an external stem hidden behind my license plate.

I like being able to raise and lower the car, as I seem fit.

Regards,

Scott (LandShark ...)



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Poncho Master!

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petrolia is very nice, im from sarnia myself and have been there many,many times. Car looks great, i think i might try to do some air shocks as well some day.

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1959 El Poncho!!
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Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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ah yes the good old air shocks love em! nice lqand barge and all the towns seem so much older than the bc towns in ont.thanx 4 sharin

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