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Remembering the ‘60’s -- by Ron Paliwoda
The time frame was from 1962-1967. The place was my hometown of Leamington, Ontario which is known as “The Tomato Capital of Canada”. Its climate makes it an abundant crop growing area, so much so, that it’s where Heinz built their only Canadian processing plant.
The population at the time was 7,000. Leamington’s other claim to fame is being “The Most Southerly located town in Canada”. On the shore of Lake Erie, it’s less than 25 miles south of Windsor & Detroit, in the middle of 30 miles of beach-front property.. a favourite summer place for Americans to vacation (they owned a majority of the cottages)
Back in the Summer of ’62 there were 2 major events that occurred in my life. I became a teenager, and my parents opened Leamington’s first drive-in restaurant, Stewart’s. It was located right across the street from the beach and the main dock. It was a seasonal business that only had “Car Hop” Service. You could get burgers, fries, milkshakes.. and of course the famous Stewart’s Root Beer. There was parking for 60 cars, so mom & dad always had 6 to 8 “Car Hops” working the busy shifts. One of our car hops was Paul Anka’s cousin. But as hard as we tried, we just couldn’t get Paul to sing a couple of tunes on a Saturday night.
Within a couple of weeks Stewart’s was a big hit. The success was due to it’s location. Also, Leamington’s summers are very hot and humid, so people would always drive down to the lake in the evenings to cruise the dock….it’s cooler down by the lake. People now had a place where they could sip an ice cold root beer and catch the lake breeze, without having to leave the comfort of their car. We’d heard of these restaurants in the States, but now we had one. The weekends were the busiest. Friday was “Guys Night Out” (there’s trouble – drag racing). Saturday was “Date Night”. Sunday, you were cruisin’ up & down the lake shore.
No matter what time during the weekend, the parking lot was full, so cars would cruise around the parking lot until a spot was available. It didn’t seem to matter if you found a space or not because it was just as much fun to cruise the parking lot, and then down to the dock and back again. My dad never closed for the night until the last customer left. And after closing, he would leave out coffee for the police on duty.
No matter who you were or whether you were driving your own car, or your dad’s, the cars were always spotless inside an out – and as some of you know, that meant polishing the chrome and cleaning the “White Walls” with SOS pads. From the classic cruisers to the new muscle cars, they all created a spectacle when they gathered at Stewart’s. As the night would wind down and it was time to go home, it became tradition to say goodnight to everyone by laying down a patch of rubber on the street as you left the parking lot. (As long as the police weren’t around). One of my favorites was a ’63 four door Navy Blue Biscayne Sedan. That car had absolutely nothing on the outside, but it had the newly revamped 409 under the hood. It was locally known as “The Sleeper”. There was nothing more hilarious and scary as watching a 4 door Biscayne “lighting them up”.
My dad loved those cars, and soon he began to sponsor them to race at the Windsor Drag Strip. He was hoping to keep the kids away from street racing, but that was all just wishful thinking. It was also wishful thinking for my dad to work at GM during the day, and then the restaurant at night. After years of working day and night, he decided to sell his share of the business to his partner. Stewart’s remained open for a few more years but eventually the new owner struggled with the work load, and sadly, in the fall of ’67 Stewart’s closed for good.
Stewart’s had started out as a place to go on a hot summer’s night to get an ice cold root beer. We never imagined that it would become something much bigger than that. It developed into a social event that was all about the car. It became a place where those with pride of ownership and the respect of others who shared the same passion for the car, would gather. Leamington didn’t have any car clubs back then, but it sure had an incredible ‘Show ‘n Shine’ crop up every weekend. If you wanted to see a great collection of cars, you’d just show up at Stewart’s. (Only Ford, GM & Chrysler of course.. never a BMW or Mercedes when you lived that close to Detroit.)
Well, those were my teenage years. It was an exciting time for me because “The Motor City” was making some great cars.. I was there to witness the birth of the Mustang and especially the birth of the Muscle Car, and they all showed up at my dad’s place.
To this day the town doesn’t have a car club, but it still has the cars. The young and the old still cruise up & down the dock just like they did 40 years ago. And just like 40 years ago, it’s still a show. There are times when I wish I’d kept one of my own cars from that time. Especially my ’67 Thunderbird with the suicide doors. But Barb and I are proud to be the original owners of our ’87 T-bird. A few years back I started to surf the net for T-bird clubs. There’s lots out there, but one club caught my attention. I discovered a club that accepted Birds from ‘55 to present. I thought to myself, “This is my kind of club”. So we joined the Calgary Thunderbird Club. We didn’t know what to expect when we attended our first meeting. The first pleasant surprise was that the Robert’s Rules of Order do not apply, and hopefully never will. But the best surprise for me was that the president was a young 20-ish multi-bird owner. I was also impressed to see other young members in the club. The show ‘n shines and cruises that followed have all been fun to attend. At times our events take me back to my teenage years. My dad couldn’t get Paul Anka, but somehow this club managed to get “Elvis” to sing at ‘Ed’s Birthday Shine’. It’s been a lot of fun so far, and Barb and I look forward to enjoying more of the good times with you.
But we would never have met any of you if it weren’t for one guy. Dale, I want to thank you for not only creating this club, but more importantly, presiding over it. For Barb and I, you are the most inspirational member of this club. I know that some 40 years from now you will proudly look back at a time when you brought so many good people, and cars, together… just like my dad did in his time.
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