The British Columbia Thread!

Hey Jon, I miss your company. I hope all is well. I have the red car in Kelowna as you know....I suspect I will be back to Y-town soon. Hope all is well.

 

I'm surprised nobody has posted this: https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/man-who-killed-father-over-ferrari-will-spend-minimum-10-years-in-jail

 

Wow....I had no idea...effin kids. Funny story, when I was in grade 12, we had a really rich kid whose parents were often travelling over seas. They gave him a gas card, credit at the grocery store and a brand new Dodge Daytona turbo (this was late 80's). So, the party boy liked his drugs and needed cash so he used to fill up other people's gas tanks for pennies on the dollar. I still remember him coming to school with what looked like injuries consistent with being hit by a truck. Turns out the parents got the bill, buddy ran to his bedroom and hid under his blankets and his mom and dad took turns beating him with a ski!!!! Hahahahaha! They actually bought a condo in West Van for him and furnished it....he and his girlfriend sold all the furniture for cocaine. There were a lot of stories about him.

 

My hometown had a few "rich" kids. One with two friends killed his mother and grandmother for the life insurance around 1991. One of the friends has been out on parole for a few years now.

My elementary school class of 23 had seven kids with dentist fathers. Hometown is Tsawwassen.

 

Wow, that's terrible Max. When I say "rich kid", what I mean is this guys parents had several very successful company's during a major economic downturn. My dad did well, several of my friends parents did too....these people were on a different level. Put it this way, they had a "ferro-concrete" yacht built on our local lake. We always thought this dude had a bit of Downs Syndrome.....he had the look and demeanour.....he could also have absolutely anything he wanted, hence the Dodge turbo. There was so many more stories about this dude but I have to keep my mouth shut.

 

I almost forgot. Next door neighbors of my uncle in the 1980's. Their son tried killing his entire family. The sister and father survived the attack. My uncle used a rifle to hold the murderous kid at gun point until police arrived. The father was a jeweler. The kid also had two friends helping.

 

Are you referring to the Huenemann case: https://globalnews.ca/news/3704354/darren-huenemann-the-mastermind-of-1992-double-murder-in-tsawwassen-getting-parole-hearing/

 

Yep..... I lived near that neighborhood. Friends house was two down from the house it happened at.

 

That's horrible! Last year a dude I went to high school with was beaten to death in a targeted home invasion. My little city has some really nasty operators. As far as I know, it's still unsolved.

 

Vancouver and the lower mainland have become more dangerous from when I was a kid. During Expo, I was 14 and going into Vancouver with just my friends. We'd do Expo until close and take the bus home. We caught the bus at the art gallery downtown. The only "dangerous" part was walking from Expo to our bus. We had to go through all the hookers on Davie. Now Id have trouble letting 16 year old's in their own car go downtown at night. We even did the PNE and bused through the DTES to get our bus home. I miss 1980's Vancouver.

 

Had the 488 out at cars and coffee last week, awesome turn out.

 

Good day max930,

I would add that pretty much anywhere and not just Vancouver in the 1980's seemed a lot safer than it does now. That being said current crime statistics suggest otherwise, but I would beg to differ. Way back when one could pretty much go where one pleased... not so much now.

Cheers,

Sam

 

Downtown is safe now Max. About four years ago the cops cracked down on the.....hmmm....how do I say this....Indo Canadian crime groups in the downtown core...remember, there were lots of shootings. No prob anymore, that stuff is in Surrey etc. My pops company built a bunch of nightclubs back in the early 90's on Richards street....really bad characters.....those are all gone now...just dinner clubs and condos now. Do you remember "the Russians" back in the day? They were giving interviews in the Province newspaper. They were wiped out by dudes that ride air cooled motorcycles. Yeah, again, downtown including the Eastside is safe....different than a couple of years ago.

 

JJ......ahhhh......what a car!!

 

FF on Marine/Cambie today with AB plates.
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I still can't figure out those cars Navdeep....same as the Porsche Panamera.....confusing designs.

 

Difficult to design a real sports car look when you have 4 usable seats (so to speak). The extra length just changes the styling dynamics of the cars. I like the restyled Panamera for 2019 but not as much, the Sport Turismo version. Similar looks, but the FF or GTC4Lusso has better lines, even though they appear to look similar. I guess its that hatchback/ station wagon look that turns me off somewhat....lol. But, I've gotten use to their looks and would consider either a FF or its more recent version simply because I really never get a chance to drive the old 430 two seater much.....

 

The FF has a great drivetrain and AWD.....its just so damn....yeah....not attractive. I'm sure they sell out though.

 

Ferrari's version of a "cute ute"? I don't get it either, but I wouldn't turn one down. Jon

 

I think the styling grows on you. They look better in person.

 

Red 488 heading east on hwy1 thru chilliwack at 1030am today.

 

The wildfire smoke is really pooling in the valley. It looks like fog, its that thick here.

 

Yes haven't seen it this bad ever.
On another note someone in town owns one of these. Saw him driving around the other day.
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Spotted a 991.2 Turbo pulled over on 152st in Surrey this AM, just off the Port Mann bridge. Driver was seated in the back seat of the police car. Perhaps some over zealous driving this AM?

 

Found this period advert on IG, along with an interesting write up. Enjoy!

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“One of the last of the great Georgia Street dealerships was operated by wartime Ford of Canada vice-president Clarke Simpkins. He opened his dealership in 1946 to take advantage of a four-year wartime production hiatus that created a frantic demand for vehicles. The first location was in the 1200 block of West Georgia Street where the buildings that housed some of the city's earliest dealerships still stood.

Understandably, Clarke Simpkins sold Ford products including Meteor, Mercury and Lincoln cars along with Mercury trucks. In 1953, Clarke Simpkins opened a new ultra modern dealership in the next block at 1345 West Georgia. This featured a showroom facing the thoroughfare, the most up-to-date service department in the city and beautiful offices looking down on the cars for sale.

As the eldest son of the owner, Michael Simpkins remembers helping out in the parts department and washing cars in his early years before becoming a car jockey at the age of 16. One of his duties was to take customer cars through the City of Vancouver motor vehicle testing station across the street.

Clarke Simpkins was a brilliant business strategist and he seized the opportunity to sell small, fuel-efficient British Fords to motorists seeking more economical transportation.
That was so successful that Clarke Simpkins became the largest volume English Ford dealer in North America. That didn't make Ford of Canada very happy because their cars weren't moving.

Ford fought back in 1958 by setting up Zephyr Motors to sell their English cars and Clarke Simpkins responded by dropping the Ford franchise. Soon, Clarke Simpkins Motors on Georgia Street was displaying a wide range of cars from small imports to racy Ferraris.

Michael Simpkins recalls that the dealership stored 300 to 400 vehicles on vacant property now occupied by one of Vancouver's best known hotels -the Bayshore Inn.
The company became the first Fiat dealer in Canada and soon added Rolls-Royce, Triumph, Rover, Borgward and of course Ferrari. "My father signed up for every car franchise that was available”