From the collection of John Morand
A neat photo today. This one is noted as being the trucker strike in 1953. I suppose the police were called in to keep the peace.
A couple of interesting shots showing good details of the old cars and uniforms.
From the collection of John Morand
From the collection of John Morand
I hope everyone had a good weekend!
Back then (maybe even today) the police acted like hired strike-breakers. Didn’t want to use the term “goons”. Hats off to brave union leaders like Reuther who literally put their lives on the line to face policemen who winked and claimed they were “keeping the peace”. McCarthyism had made unions a part of the Red Scare when this picture was taken.
love the bow ties the cops are wearing that hydro pole looks like it’s about to fall over I wonder if this is Morton Drive??
of all the cop cars in the photo only one has a roof light
Can anyone identify the cars? The one on the left, middle is a Pontiac Chieftain, but the other model, I can’t place. I can’t make out the name on the front and the crest doesn’t look familiar. But I really can’t make it out, either. I wanted to say DeSoto, but I can’t find one that matches. They were made in Windsor at that time, but they didn’t look anything like these sedans.
Thought maybe some were Ford Meteors, although they don’t match any pictures I’ve seen) but I’m wondering if they’re Plodges of some kind, (the Dodge Kingsway comes to mind). I don’t think the DeSoto Diplomat was sold in Canada, was it?
Four of the cars are definitely Meteors, pretty sure they are 1953s. My Dad had one (nice 2 tone with a matching visor). Don’t know the one in the middle on the right hand side of the road but not a Ford.
except for the Pontiac they all look like Meteors maybe it was a special for police vehicles
The pontiac looks like the a different name other than Windsor Police, maybe Lasalle or Sandwhitch West, I think OPP cars where black and white then.
Sorry guys! I meant to add this one to the original post.
The mystery car reads “Windsor City Police” not sure why it’s different from the rest?
From the collection of John Morand
The mystery car is a 1951 Pontiac. All the other cars are Ford Meteors, an exclusively Canadian model, differing from the American Fords only by the trim design (grilles, nameplates, emblems, odd bits of chrome here and there). These cars would have been among the last put together at the Windsor plant, before Ford moved their assembly operations to Oakville. Therein lies a good story…….
top pic, first on the left could be a Meteor Mainline. and possibly that last pic of the mystery car, could be reserved for the Chief of Police..hehe
6 cops standing around doing nothing on the taxpayers dime. What else is new?
I guess it’s better then assaulting doctors, smuggling booze, and stealing lottery tickets.
1953 Meteor Mainline is probably correct for all the Meteors. It is interesting to note that their license plate numbers are sequential… JN721, JN722, JN723 and JN725.
the cops in the 3rd photo look like their saying well the strikers aren’t coming what should we do now ? LOL