A11

Bill Sherk

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Ron Fawcett of Whitby, Ontario, died recently at 79 after restoring hundreds of antique and classic automobiles. He also supplied many vintage cars for movies and television.

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"Buck 'n' Snort" at a flea market in Oshawa.

When Ron was five, he was living with his mother and dad in a rented house in Hamilton, Ontario.

It was 1934 in the depths of the Great Depression and his dad was out of work with no money to pay the rent. The landlord told them they would be evicted Monday morning.

On Sunday evening, a man drove an old Model T Ford running on three cylinders into their yard and knocked on the back door.

He told Ron's dad he had no money for gas to get home and was wondering if he could sell the car to him for five dollars.

Mr. Fawcett said he was "financially embarrassed" and had no money.

Then the man said: "Could I have the screen door off the back of your house in exchange for the car?"

Without saying a word, Ron's dad picked up a screwdriver, unscrewed the door, and handed the man the door, the screws, and the screwdriver.

The man walked off down the street with the screen door under his arm.

Then Ron's dad gave his son a gallon can and a rubber hose with instructions to siphon "a small amount of gas" from each car parked along the street.

While Ron did this, his dad fixed the dead cylinder in the Model T and his mother packed up all their belongings.

They left town at midnight and drove all night till they arrived at a farm near Drumbo, where some kind-hearted relatives let them stay awhile.

Then they moved on. Ron attended fourteen schools while growing up, and to earn extra money, his dad turned that 1922 Model T into a clown car and drove it in parades for the next 40 years.

When he died in 1974, Ron placed the steering wheel in his dad's hands and then closed the coffin. He installed a replacement wheel and drove the car himself (nicknamed "Buck 'n' Snort") in parades for the next 33 years.

The off-centre wheels made the car bounce up and down and hidden canisters squirted water on the spectators. Ron's son, Peter Fawcett, of Fawcett Motors in Whitby, now has the car and it's still running.

If you happen to see the car at a movie shoot, be sure to read the wording on the back: "Borrowed from Fawcett Motor Carriage Co. located six corn fields north of Whitby just opposite white cow standing in field."

* Bill Sherk is an automobile historian who has had a passion for the topic since his days pumping gas as a teenager. We want to say thank you to our readers who send in their stories. We are giving a copy of Bill Sherk's book, 60 Years Behind the Wheel: The Cars We Drove in Canada 1900-1960 to each reader whose story is published in this column. To share your stories or photos e-mail billtsherk@sympatico.ca or write Bill Sherk, 33 Oak St. E., P.O. Box 10012, Leamington, ON N8H 2C3.