Topsail Road, some 44 years ago
We are fairly certain the photograph at right was taken in the early to mid-1970s. Some interest has been expressed in identifying the location and the vehicles as you’ll see from the following emails.
Received Tuesday: “Morning Paul, first I have to say great column, I look forward to it every week.
“Some comments on the photo sent in by Scott Sheppard. The location is/was Aska Sales and Service Building just off Mt. Carson Avenue. You can see by trailers in the photo – they sold and serviced mobile camper trailers. This property is just behind the Newhook Property (Scott’s Grandparents) which is on Topsail Road, at Mt. Carson Avenue. The white two-storey still stands today. The Aska sales Building is now home to Multi Material Stewardship Board (MSSB) and other offices.
“The car, next to Volkswagen bus (lower right) looks like a 73-74 Plymouth Duster or Dodge Demon.” Keep up the good work, Regards, Darrell O’neill
Hi Paul
Received Sunday: “The photo along Topsail Road with the VWS was taken from the back of what is now the Speedy Auto Glass building when it was a residential property or the Topsail Road Medical Center. The building shown is Aska Sales, you can see the travel trailers which belonged to Ashford Sales. The blue car looks like a Maverick which is parked close to the back parking lot of (then) the NCR building. Robin Moore Jr
A REPORT FROM 1965 says that a British coach (bus) doing offbeat tours to the Middle East and North Africa was towing its own hotel for on-the-spot accommodations “in primitive lands”. The trailer, 24 feet long and eight feet wide cranked out to a width of 14 feet at overnight stops. It had nine curtained-off, three-decker single beds on each side and nine double beds in the centre. The back opened up into a kitchen for light suppers and breakfasts.
We first ran the photo at right in last
weekend’s column. The rear-end of a Studebaker is used to demonstrate a breakthrough in car protection 65 years ago. At that time, Popular Science magazine reported that motorists could now “ease the bumps their bumpers get.” They were talking about flexible guards moulded from rubber or plastic. We received this email from a reader:
“Paul, I remember a similar looking item on 40-something Chev. But it was Chrome and folded down out the way so you could open the trunk when you pulled a lever on the back of it. The car was owned in St. John’s by George Cobb. Maybe someone else has memories of this also?” Regards, Jim Hammond