Belle River street rodder has Toronto hot rod roots
Posted Jul 15, 2010 By Bill Sherk
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Tweet ThisEMC Lifestyle - Peter Roberts of Belle River, Ontario, is the proud owner of a highly modified 1928 Ford pickup truck. He found it about nine years ago at the side of Hwy. 7, near London. Today, only two parts are original: the cowl/fuel tank and the "A" pillars (windshield posts). Everything else is either NOS or hand-made.
The chassis has a tube frame with a Chev V-8 engine and drive train offset to the right by 1 * inches to accommodate the clutch for the 5-speed manual transmission and the booster for the 4-wheel Wilwood disc brakes. The front suspension has polished stainless independent control arms from TCI. This awesome truck took five years to build, the last three full-time following Peter's retirement. It took 6000 hours of labour.
Peter is chair of the committee hosting the Belle River Sunsplash Classic Cruise car show held this year on Friday, July 16 on the main street of Belle River. Last year, 600 cars participated and 700 are expected this year. Peter and I made contact in May when he invited me to attend this year's show as a VIP in my role as the "Old Car Detective." How could I resist? asked Peter how his interest in cars began: "I can talk your head off about how I got into cars. I learned to drive when I was 13 and hanging out at a White Rose service station in Haviland (in the north end of Toronto). A customer asked me to fill up his brand new Mercury with gas and tossed me the keys. Of course it was standard but I jumped in and jerked it up to the pumps. Instead of the owner being upset, he said: 'You need to get some practice!' So that's just what I did.
"While still in high school, I bought a 1950 Ford coupe, chopped the top three inches and sectioned the body five inches, all this in our driveway with gas welding and coat hangers for welding rod. Then I dropped in an Olds V-8 with 6 two-barrel carbs and did quite well at the Deseronto drag strip in eastern Ontario. Then I joined the Road Mates car club in Toronto. With their help, I built up a wild Model A coupe wit the Olds engine from my '50 coupe, but that's another story..."
As a thank you, if your story is published in this column you will receive a copy of Bill Sherk's book "60 Years Behind the Wheel: The Cars We Drove in Canada 1900-1960". To share your stories or photos e-mail billtsherk@sympatico.ca or write Bill Sherk, 25 John St., P.O. Box 255, Leamington, ON N8H 3W2.
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