Belmont and Harvys
 

Harveys was only about one mile from Belmont.Lots of cars were purchased from there that frequented Harveys every night.A lot of stories about drag racing were cooked up right in the parking lot of this famous drag racing restaurant.Here is one of those stories.
There were 2 car clubs at Harveys The Shakers and Weston High performance racing club.The clubs were very competitive
and the constant badgering finally produced a challenge
as to which club was top Gun.The shakers club car was a 1963 Black impala 409 dual 4s 4 speed.They raced it every weekend at Cayuga.The car did top 11 as I remember great looking car too. The Weston boys just finnised a modified MG
with a 327 hilborn injected with a Brand new B & M Hydro automatic from Bob Speck.
We sold tickets in the parking lot for about 3 weeks collected $300.00 Canadian at $.25 each (winner take all)
We tried to race a few times however the cops broke us up before we could take the cars off the trailers. Thats because we had 300 cars following us for the big race.
Then one night after much negotiation we settled on 6 car lenths for the 409.
From Harveys we went north on the 400 hwy which was only a block away then just a few miles to the Sheppard overpass
and took the cars off the trailer. After tire warm up
we lined the cars up and put our christmas tree in front
that was made from a car Jack.The handle would be pulled up to the top and had 2 electrodes that contacted the lights on its way down the jack until the green light.
Weston High performance won the race by 3 car lengths. From that day there was no more question.
PJ

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

another

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

Oh by the way the girl in the pic went to the winner.
PJ https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...ins/3gears.gif https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...ins/3gears.gif https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...ins/3gears.gif https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...ins/3gears.gif

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

Post some pictures of the Muscle at Harveys

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

Carmine
If I find some I will post however we did not take too many pics of Harveys back in the day.Maybe some other members will
PJ

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

I remember a front page article in one of the Magazines I think it was (Hot Rod 1967)with the famous Harveys parking lot and a Jet enjine mounted on the back of a Ford Ranchero. He was at the back of the parking lot and tried to start it. It farted a few times with a loud explosion.If it had started that night it would of burnt all the wooden fence behind Harveys and maybe half of the neighbor hood. He was up from the US to put on a show at Cayuga on Saturday , the next day.
I wonder if anyone here might have that article.
PJ

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

found another article that puts names on the club members
of Weston High performance
Hope that maybe these names will generate some memories
and you might even want to post your info
PJ

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

One of the regular Musclecars at the Famous Harveys in Toronto can be seen on the Home Page of DetroitHorsepower.com .Iam 21 yrs old in that picture with one of the first five 1970 Chevelle LS6 in Canada. The car ran 11.78 at 117 mph at Cayuga Dragway.

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

Tony I remember the whiplash when the car shifted from first to second without moving the shifter handle. What about when we screwed the slicks on to the rim so they would not spin inside the rim. That car was unreal and you sold it to buy the 427 Vette that you still have today.

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

Tony link us up with the pick.
how about posting some pics of the car EH
PJ https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...ins/3gears.gif

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

try this one
PJ
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/i...n-hi-news2.jpg

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

I would Love to see some of these pics !! Neat!!

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

[ QUOTE ]
try this one
PJ
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/i...n-hi-news2.jpg

[/ QUOTE ]

Darn, I can't see that photo. just a box with an x https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/smile.gif

the other attachment did not work for me as well .

thanks

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

[ QUOTE ]
Harveys was only about one mile from Belmont.Lots of cars were purchased from there that frequented Harveys every night.A lot of stories about drag racing were cooked up right in the parking lot of this famous drag racing restaurant.Here is one of those stories.
There were 2 car clubs at Harveys The Shakers and Weston High performance racing club.The clubs were very competitive
and the constant badgering finally produced a challenge
as to which club was top Gun.The shakers club car was a 1963 Black impala 409 dual 4s 4 speed.They raced it every weekend at Cayuga.The car did top 11 as I remember great looking car too. The Weston boys just finnised a modified MG
with a 327 hilborn injected with a Brand new B & M Hydro automatic from Bob Speck.
We sold tickets in the parking lot for about 3 weeks collected $300.00 Canadian at $.25 each (winner take all)
We tried to race a few times however the cops broke us up before we could take the cars off the trailers. Thats because we had 300 cars following us for the big race.
Then one night after much negotiation we settled on 6 car lenths for the 409.
From Harveys we went north on the 400 hwy which was only a block away then just a few miles to the Sheppard overpass
and took the cars off the trailer. After tire warm up
we lined the cars up and put our christmas tree in front
that was made from a car Jack.The handle would be pulled up to the top and had 2 electrodes that contacted the lights on its way down the jack until the green light.
Weston High performance won the race by 3 car lengths. From that day there was no more question.
PJ

[/ QUOTE ]

Awesome story Peter! https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...iggthumpup.gif Love the Christmas-Tree-car-Jack-starting-gizmo. https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...s/headbang.gif https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/beers.gif

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

Post some pictures of the LS6 at the track

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

Further to that story about the Jack
We were racing one night in a new location
and I brought the Jack,set it up in the middle of
the road,set the arm of the jack to the top of position
and let it go as the arm went down the jack the two racers
took off on the green light. Just as they took off the cops drove up right behind.We took off and the jack was left in the middle of the road.
Too bad as it would be a collectable item today.
PJ

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

if the shaft was shorter you guys would have been gone by the time the cops showed up.

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

There were about 20 cars there parked at the side of the road and the jack was a standard car jack needed the distance for spacing the lights just like the drag strip.
PJ

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

I have this one photo but not of a car at Harvey's but one sponserd by Harvey's.
sorry that's all I have to contribute.

thanks

Al https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...ns/burnout.gif

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...roadrunner.jpg https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...ns/burnout.gif

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

Thanks Al
can you tell us a little about the car what year was the pic taken
PJ

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

Interesting topic for me. My after school part time job was working at Stu,s Tire Service down the road from Harveys. After school I would go to the area car dealers such as Belmont,Grant Brown,Little Bros. I would pick up the cars that needed tires. Did not know any thing about COPOs back then but I did get to drive some pretty fast cars I rember. We would go back on the side streets somtimes and really put down a lot of rubber. We where always told if we got caught burning the rubber we would be fired. We used to hang out at Harveys at night, and I remember going up to Pine Valley Dr. for street racing back then. I can rember the fellow that used to cook the hamburgers there his name was Les. I am still in the area quite often all the car dealers are gone and Harveys is now a Carribian resturant. I do have one picture that I will try to post if I can figure out how.

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

nice shot

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks Al
can you tell us a little about the car what year was the pic taken
PJ

[/ QUOTE ]

my brother snapped that photo , may have been early 70's . the guys at CanadianDragRacing group filled me in on the car awhile back but I can't recall the story. car was called Quarter Pounder as you may be able to make out in the photo.
my brother says it was probably at the Automotive building.
I will go through my files and find the story on it.

thanks https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/smile.gif

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

WoW!..great pix & stories.
This sorta makes up for all the Anne Murray songs you put us through down here.

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Thanks Al
can you tell us a little about the car what year was the pic taken
PJ

[/ QUOTE ]

my brother snapped that photo , may have been early 70's . the guys at CanadianDragRacing group filled me in on the car awhile back but I can't recall the story. car was called Quarter Pounder as you may be able to make out in the photo.
my brother says it was probably at the Automotive building.
I will go through my files and find the story on it.

thanks https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/smile.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Thats awesome!

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

my brother snapped that photo , may have been early 70's . the guys at CanadianDragRacing group filled me in on the car awhile back but I can't recall the story. car was called Quarter Pounder as you may be able to make out in the photo.

The Roadrunner is or was owned by Danny Soper. The car was called the Ground Pounder. Imagine a car sponsored by Harvey's with the quarter pounder name on it Jim Coleman would of had a fit if macs had a quarter pounder back then.

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

Sorry I was meant Ground pounder , Quarter pounder I think was a Fiat. https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/blush.gif

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

[ QUOTE ]
WoW!..great pix & stories.
This sorta makes up for all the Anne Murray songs you put us through down here.

[/ QUOTE ]
Good one Rick
PJ https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...mlins/haha.gif

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

Are there any pictures of the Turk's ride? He had a fast white 1968 Camaro with a rat motor...

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

Great stories, pics and thread PJ...more, more!.

I heard many tales of Harvey's and this era cars over the years...nice to see and hear more facts of what was going on only an hour or so away from where I was growing up!.

On a sadder note, the area being discussed isn't far from where the Golden Horseshoe Dragway was and the location of Dick Harrell's fatal accident in Sept. '71..

~ Pete
https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...ouguysrock.gif

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

I found some more stuff.
remember that the loss was for a rainy track
and I lost to a ford with my 327 275 hp 4 speed 66 chevelle
butternut yellow black interior.
PJ
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/i...pitpass1-1.jpg
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/i...0/pitpass3.jpg
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/i...0/pitpass2.jpg

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

I really like those old tickets. I notice the price on your Daytona 500 hundred ticket is $8.00. I am going this year, 40 years later I am paying $180.00 per ticket in the Oldfield tower.

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

Scott (Greencopo) might not have known about COPO cars back then. He does now. https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...mlins/wink.gif We were at Harvey's a couple of times in '68 but they were both off nights. We were in Belmont Chev-Olds, just up the street, in the summer of '69 and they had a COPO Chevelle in the lower level show room.

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

Ya thats when the lonely chevelle challenged all the factory built fords and chryslers.Mario Andretti gave us many thrills that day. And the $8.00 was for for the infield. I still have an NOS program from the race track.

PJ https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/beers.gif

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

I often visited Belmont to get warranty on my 66 chevelle ss
and while waiting I would go in the showroom and on their used car lot to check out the cars for sale.I would drool
every visit .
PJ

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

[ QUOTE ]
found another article that puts names on the club members
of Weston High performance
Hope that maybe these names will generate some memories
and you might even want to post your info

PJ

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: Belmont and Harveys
 

[ QUOTE ]
Interesting topic for me. My after school part time job was working at Stu,s Tire Service down the road from Harveys. After school I would go to the area car dealers such as Belmont,Grant Brown,Little Bros. I would pick up the cars that needed tires. Did not know any thing about COPOs back then but I did get to drive some pretty fast cars I rember. We would go back on the side streets somtimes and really put down a lot of rubber. We where always told if we got caught burning the rubber we would be fired. We used to hang out at Harveys at night, and I remember going up to Pine Valley Dr. for street racing back then. I can rember the fellow that used to cook the hamburgers there his name was Les. I am still in the area quite often all the car dealers are gone and Harveys is now a Carribian resturant. I do have one picture that I will try to post if I can figure out how.

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow!Lots of memorys in that photo.The silver LS6 Chevelle in the top of the photo looks like Tony Ponteaire's car.Back then they called him the Barber because of his hair doo.Famous racer today.I wacked him a couple of times with my L78 Nova.I was from the Markam & Eglinton Harveys.The white Cougar with the stripe on it was owned by a guy named Deetter I think.It was a Ford factory race car put back on the street.The Telegram news paper did an article on street racing one year and on the front page Deeter was doing a burn out.Man.The copps never left him alone after that.A couple of other names come to mind.Moe Cola had a blue LS6 Chevelle and a guy named Jimmy the Greek had an LS6 Chevelle that had a LS7 in it.Since I'm so old I may have some of these names wrong;)Man the s**t and performances that went on in that parking lot were unbelievable.Was Less the old guy behind the bar that looked like he was 75 with his grey hair sticking straight out?He could ramble with the best of them.Great stuff.

Re: Belmont and Harvys
 

[ QUOTE ]
Are there any pictures of the Turk's ride? He had a fast white 1968 Camaro with a rat motor...

[/ QUOTE ]

Turk's Camaro was an factory L78 car.He blew the motor up and had a "special"warrenty replant 427-425 dropped in.Later he added a big cam,tunnel ram,headers and gears.It was called the Commonlaw.A buddy of mine bought the car and drove it on the street.It ran low 11s which was pretty quick in those days.Man that car was fast.Even with 11.50 slicks it was a hand full in 1st&2nd and didn't hook till 3rd gear on the street.Alot of cars would pull a couple of lengths on him out of the hole but once that car hit 3rd it was all over.Last time I heard Turk was doing boat tours in Florida.He was a wild man.All the cops knew him well.I remember one night they pulled him into the station for probably his 10 DUI.He wouldn't blow and when the Sargent took him aside for a little talk,Turk smacked him right in the face.The boys really beat him up bad that night.

Re: Belmont and Harveys
 

Would this be Deetter's car. Although I never met him, Turk's name was familiar in Oshawa in those days.

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo...01686729tigOmX

Re: Belmont and Harveys
 

[ QUOTE ]
Would this be Deetter's car. Although I never met him, Turk's name was familiar in Oshawa in those days.

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo...01686729tigOmX

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep.That's the one.I think when it was just a track car it had a 428CJ in it but when Deeter had it it was a 351.