From the 1910s to the ’50s, vintage Twin City cars
Readers love to reminisce about their historical cars. Responses to the Jan. 4 Flash from the Past made it clear that for many people each car was a benchmark in their lives.
Two dozen classy car photos have been sent in, so today and again on Feb.1, we’ll try to recapture some of that auto fascination. While we cannot publish all submissions, with three photos today and another batch on Feb. 1, you’ll see a good selection. In the interest of full disclosure, I know very little about cars and depend heavily on a workmate from radio days, Kirk Blake-Dickson, who insists he loves to track down these cars’ details. Any errors are, of course, mine.
** * Today, three of the readersubmitted photographs:
Bruce Reinhart offered this lovely c1930 Ford Model A. Driven by his mother Margaret (Kaster) Reinhart with her friend Gladys Shoemaker in the rumble seat, they visited the Dionne quintuplets tourist attraction near North Bay in 1937. A grill flash proudly proclaims “Kitchener” across the radiator.
Shelley Haffner’s parents, Ed and Carol Otterbein, celebrate 70 years of marriage in October 2020.
The teens’ (19 and 18) honeymoon trip to Buffalo in 1950 was via this 16-year-old, 1934 Chevrolet that Ed bought from his buddy Walter Heimpel for $350.
Donald Foell of Waterloo raised many eyebrows in K-W when he became owner of an early Henry J car. Some consider Henry J by Kaiser to be the first American compact but by 1954 the J itself was history.
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On Jan. 4, I suggested readers keep the Flash column handy to match with the details published here. That column also appears on the Record website. Here are a few details: 1) Pennant car: Homer Snyder, great-great grandson of pioneers Joseph and Barbara Schneider, was born in 1910. He enjoyed the Roaring 20s tourism boom in his 1926 Model T purchased from O.W. Thompson Limited, Kitchener’s Ford dealer. Travellers often hung pennants on their cars when stopping for the night and here you can trace Homer’s trip. His daughter, Rita Thompson, provided the snapshot.
2) Four cars: Looking like Capone gangsters direct from Chicago, these five nattily-dressed men are friends and family of Stephen Chris, operator of the Station Hotel. Four brand-new Studebaker Dictators with consecutive license plate numbers were positioned in front of Kitchener city hall for a publicity stunt celebrating 1927’s end of Ontario Prohibition. Thanks to Mary Pappert for the photo.
3) Empty car: Nicknamed the Doctor’s Coupe, the early twoseater Ford Model T was the favoured vehicle for rural doctors. It was reliable on country roads, enclosed for country weather and had an enclosed trunk for supplies and equipment. If the doctor was paid in goods (bags of grain, chickens, boxes of butter, etc.) the items could be loaded safely into the trunk.
4) Couple in car: A photo courtesy of David Moore. Phaeton was a type of sporty 19th-century open horse-and-carriage and the term was transferred to early open touring cars such as this 1915-licensed Ford Model T.
5) Woman in car: Viola Snyder, another 1920s fifth-generation Schneider descendant, was a cousin of the Homer mentioned earlier and proudly shows off her new 1927 Pontiac. She taught school in Kitchener for many years and was my kindergarten teacher at J.F. Carmichael. Photo from Estate of Miriam Sokvitne.
6) Arrow Cabs: Robert Nicol was a leading photographer for many decades in Waterloo. He specialized in business photography and among his earliest clients were the Olender brothers, Michael and Tony.
They formed Arrow Cabs in 1946 after Tony returned from a prisoner-of-war camp. Robert Nicol captured their new 1947 Plymouth at Arrow’s 19 Water Street South location. At left is a postwar Buick and at right a pre-war 1941 Chevy. Anne Kressler, younger sister of Tony and Michael, touched base and recalled sitting in that small office after high school classes to answer the phones.
Three different taxi companies used the name Arrow — the Olenders from 1946 to 1949. Looming in the background on
Gaukel Street is one of Kitchener’s gasometers. Coal was burned and the resulting flammable gas stored under pressure in the huge tank. Robert Nicol’s archive is in the University of Waterloo Library’s Special Collection.
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Next week, Cameron Shelley with a Guelph Flash from the Past. On Feb. 1, more readers’ cars.