A3

Bill Sherk

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Bill Willms was born in 1937 and grew up on a farm north of Leamington, Ontario, the Tomato Capital of Canada. Around 1957, he bought his first car: a 1948 Mercury 114 coach for $150 from Murray Myles' used car lot on Talbot Street East.

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Bill Willms with his 1931 Chrysler sedan 50 years ago. He’s still driving it!

Bill lowered the car, added fender skirts, shaved the hood and trunk lid, and replaced the original engine with a full-race flathead featuring three-ring domed pistons, a four-inch stroke, dual ignition, aluminum heads, and dual exhausts.

With his foot to the floor, Bill stripped the gears so many times, he finally drove the car using only second and high. Then one day, a wrist pin came loose and went right through the cylinder wall. The '48 Mercury was scrapped and Bill purchased a 1956 Ford Fairlane two-door hardtop for everyday transportation.

But he wanted an older car as well - and in the summer of 1958, he bought a 1931 Chrysler CM series six cylinder sedan in Kitchener, Ontario, for $30 (a whole week's pay from the H. J. Heinz Company). He painted whitewalls on the tires and had his picture taken with the car on the family farm north of town.

Bill's 1931 Chrysler was the fancy version in the CM line with dual sidemounts in the front fenders and a detachable trunk mounted on a rack at the back. Like other closed cars built in 1931, Bill's Chrysler has a fabric insert roof. It was one of the first cars to have a grille in front of the radiator, and the 1931 Chrysler grille, mounted at a slightly rakish angle, was particularly stylish.

In sharp contrast to the way he drove his '48 Mercury, Bill resisted the temptation of driving his ancient Chrysler with the gas pedal rammed to the floor. Instead, he drove the car with the care and respect it deserved.

By October 1995, Bill Willms' Chrysler was nearly 65 years old and he had been driving it for 37 years. That's when he took it to Carmen Paglione at Classic Collision near Leamington for some body work and new paint. He already had the engine rebuilt and the interior redone. The following spring, the car was back on the road with a dark blue body, black fenders, and cream spoke wheels and pinstriping.

Bill Willms still drives his 1931 Chrysler around town. He's been behind the wheel now for over 50 years - and if you divide the number of years into the price he paid for the car in 1958, it works out to less than a dollar a year.

* As a thank you, if your story is published in this column, you will receive a copy of Bill Sherk's book "60 Years Behind the Wheel: The Cars We Drove in Canada 1900-1960." To share your stories or photos, email billtsherk@sympatico.ca or write Bill Sherk, 25 John St., P.O. Box 255, Leamington, ON N8H 3W2.