Well Chuk's little Esso was the reason I ended up in St.Marys ..I had been working in a factory Talbot-Ville Ford plant..Got sick of factory life,So I bought my own little place in the country where I could fix cars and my wife could run the confectionary..It did not work out to well after about 5 tough years we went bankrupt Lost everything ..That was in 1974..That place was located almost across the highway from Wildwood Conservation dam..Tough few years, but we picked our pants and I slugged wrenches for another 10 years working in stealerships, Those pictures with the imperial sign are the same building as the Esso with pictures of my Ford Coupe in black and white That was my youngest boy in those pictures..

The place with the Texaco signs is my present home and shop..I bought this place in 1982 while I was still working out. I was actually the service Manager for the Honda dealership in Stratford and A couple years later I had this place rezoned commercial and started my own shop.  One would think I shoulda learned from trying that once eh!!.. Spent the rest of my working life right here..Doing local repairs and restoring and building hot-rods up until a about 2010..Seemed like the hot-rod stuff died off no money, but I still managed to build about 3 cars from 2010 till I shut it down last year..73 this year and the old arthritis was getting to me so I could no longer keep up with 12 hr days. I helped the guys working with me to find other places locally and as of June last year (2015) I was officially semi retired and this is the first winter I have not worked in the shop..arthritis in my ankles , knees, hands, and my back ..I am not going to die from it ..but it does slow you down a bit..My car building days are past me now ..I have not sold anything out of the shop yet My shop and trade certificate licenses are current and paid up as I still plan to do a little work here and there for grocery money....Working for me I didn't save a lot of money..U know the old saying Not for sale I am still gonna go back to work.." don't think that will happen..I still have an unfinished 28 Ford roadster sitting in the shop about 1/2 finished, been 1/2 finished for about 10 years now and I doubt I will ever finish it..I will be getting it all in a pile and selling it this year some time ..I am just going to keep my Coupe for another year or two and we will have to sell this place and move to town..my Wife will need much more care in the coming years She is in early stages of dementia...And who knows how long I got left