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.
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!
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
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.
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..
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.
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!
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.
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.
