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Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

lrookies said:
I think there used to be one in Perkinsfield, just outside Midland, Ont. that was reconditioned into a restaurant, but it was gone when we were up there a couple of years ago. I think the only PCC streetcars left in the Toronto area are in the Halton County Radial Railway Museum. We were there a few years ago and they had 4 of them but two were rusting out badly and they had no money to restore them. The rest were scrapped or sold to other cities around the world.
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There's a shell of a PCC on Highway 6 between Guelph and Hamilton; a farmer has it parked next to his driveway. Horrible condition, though.
 
this looks like it from the other side (masonic temple in the background)?



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Interesting thing about that shot is that the present curved yellow-brick curtain wall building at the SE corner wasn't built yet. (I'd have sworn it was older.)

Incidentally, by the 70s, the "Austin" signage was replaced by some star/crystal-like abstract pattern representing "British Motor Cars" or something...
 
adma said:
Interesting thing about that shot is that the present curved yellow-brick curtain wall building at the SE corner wasn't built yet. (I'd have sworn it was older.)

Incidentally, by the 70s, the "Austin" signage was replaced by some star/crystal-like abstract pattern representing "British Motor Cars" or something...
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this probably, once BMC (owners of Austin and Morris among many others) had been merged with Jaguar, Triumph,Rover, Land Rover etc back in 1968, quite an astonishing array of brands, but BL was woefully mismanaged into oblivion by 2005 (Jaguar and Land Rover survive though currently under Indian ownership).

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It wasn't the British Leyland logo in the new sign, though; more like some abstract crystalline homegrown thing...
 
adma said:
Interesting thing about that shot is that the present curved yellow-brick curtain wall building at the SE corner wasn't built yet. (I'd have sworn it was older.)

Incidentally, by the 70s, the "Austin" signage was replaced by some star/crystal-like abstract pattern representing "British Motor Cars" or something...
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IIRC it was "British United Automobiles" - Actually you used to be able to see the rear lower garage level from the subway as it went by...
 
themarc said:
IIRC it was "British United Automobiles" - Actually you used to be able to see the rear lower garage level from the subway as it went by...
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"Owning GTA is just one more chapter in Geneen’s colourful and passionate history in auto retailing, a story that goes back to the 1960s and British United Automobiles, an ambitious store selling the BMC line of British cars in downtown Toronto that hired Geneen as a salesman."

http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/17981
 
Mustapha said:
Just the sign... hope that's good for now. I'll keep looking.
QUOTE]



I've actually seen a rather well-preserved Austin (actually a Morris badged as Austin for North America) a few times lately. The logo on the back seems to be a 1970s simplification of the one in the sign:

Austin.jpg
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If anyone likes to play around the looks of their digital images to give them a 'film' look, this is a must have free download. You don't need to buy any Sony products to get the DXo filmpack 3 software. I've been playing with it and it's great fun.

http://www.dxo.com/intl/sony
 
the lemur said:
Mustapha said:
Just the sign... hope that's good for now. I'll keep looking.
QUOTE]



I've actually seen a rather well-preserved Austin (actually a Morris badged as Austin for North America) a few times lately. The logo on the back seems to be a 1970s simplification of the one in the sign:

View attachment 18562
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A Marina! Top Gear's Number #1 hated car (aside from the VW Beatle).
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Then. NE corner Wellesley and Bay. Wellesley Public School. A couple of 'Then' views for us today.

This handsome building was erected - in the flowery language of the day - in 1874. It lasted until the mid 60s when it was replaced by the Sutton Place Hotel. I'm not sure if I 'did' this one already in the past.. if I did, this is a rebroadcast. :)



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Now. August 2013. Soon to be 'The Britt' condo.

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http://torontofamilyhistory.org/kingandcountry/archives/955
 
themarc said:
"Owning GTA is just one more chapter in Geneen’s colourful and passionate history in auto retailing, a story that goes back to the 1960s and British United Automobiles, an ambitious store selling the BMC line of British cars in downtown Toronto that hired Geneen as a salesman."

http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/17981
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I can't be sure, but I think 'Coventry Motors' may have been an offshoot of British United Automobiles. Coventry had a dealership at Mount Pleasant and Merton, it's footprint where the Esso gas station building is now. I used to gaze at Spitfires there. They sold Volvos as well.
 
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