24 - Southpoint Sun
1951 English Ford V8 Pilot Except for the English-style grille, today’s feature car looks like a 1936 Ford sedan. But you are looking at a 1951 Ford V8 Pilot built in England for the English market and sent to me by Scott Holland, our local ‘Mr. Leamington’ historian: “This car was one of the top selling cars by Ford UK, which sold 21,155 units between 1947 and 1951. It boasted being the first large post-war British Ford. It had a 3.6 litre
V8 engine and a top speed of 80 miles per hour. “Like most Ford vehicles Bill Sherk produced in that era, the Just one year after HenV8 had vacuum-driven ry Ford built the ’36 Ford, wipers. This was a design the new 1937 models were flaw, as it slowed down much more modern with unexpectedly or com- a two-piece streamlined pletely stopped when the windshield, headlights car was on full throttle.” mounted in the fenders Thankfully, all cars built instead of on them, a sintoday have electric wip- gle hood hinged at the ers. back and opening at the
THE OLD CAR DETECTIVE
front (replacing the fourpiece side-opening hood on the ’36) and a solid steel roof instead of a fabric insert. And if that were not enough, the ’37 Ford grille was inspired by the 1936 Lincoln Zephyr! The UK Ford was named the Pilot, probably in honour of the RAF pilots during the Battle of Britain. Sir Winston Churchill said it best: “Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
1951 Ford Pilot built in the UK.
few.” Today’s story is in honour of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinborough, who passed away in April. He was born in June of 1921.
If he had lived another two months, he would have made it to 100. Always looking for stories. Email billtsherk@sympatico.ca
Former NHLer played his way throughout North America By C. Scott Holland Sometimes life throws you a few curves, but for a Leamington native and former NHLer, that curve came during his professional playing days. Pat Ribble’s career certainly reads like a roadmap with stops throughout North America. His rise to the big leagues began of course at the Leamington arena. As a late starter, he began playing hockey at the age of 15. After making the Leamington Legion Midget team in his second year, where they won an Ontario championship, Pat’s size and abilities were quickly noticed, and by 1971 he had cracked the Leamington Flyers Jr. C lineup. Earlier
Ribble playing for the Atlanta Flames, alongside goaltender Daniel Bouchard.
that same season, he also played a few games with the Windsor Spitfires Tier II Jr. A club. The Flyers won the Ontario title in 1971-72 and Pat headed east to Oshawa, where he made the Generals Jr. A squad as a walk-on. Little did he know, he’d eventually become one of that team’s 184 players to graduate to the NHL. He returned for a second season at Oshawa in 1973-74. In 1974, Ribble was selected 58th overall (4th round) by the Atlanta Flames and was also drafted by the Indianapolis Racers of the World Hockey Association. He elected to go the NHL route. Assigned to the Omaha Knights of the CHL, he was first called up by Atlanta for three contests in 1975. He spent the following year split with the parent club Atlanta and Tulsa (CHL). Over the course of four seasons, Pat became a steady blueliner for the Flames before being traded to the Chicago Blackhawks near the end of the 1978-79 season. Over a year-and-a-half, he suited up for 35 games with the Chicago Blackhawks. He was then sent to the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1979-80 and played 13 games before being shipped off to the Washington Capitals, where he’d play parts of three seasons before winding up his NHL career in Calgary in the 1982-83 season. Overall, Pat played 349 NHL games and had 19 goals and 60 assists for 79 points along with 365 penalty minutes.
Before his career wound up in 1987, he had played in the CHL and IHL with Oklahoma (CHL), the Colorado Flames (CHL), Salt Lake City Eagles and Indianapolis Checkers (IHL). One of the highlights along the way was playing 10 games for Team Canada in 1978 at the World Championships where the team won a bronze medal. In the intervening years, Ribble has become involved with several NHL team alumni events and has often appeared with the Detroit Red Wing alumni teams in Leamington. His career has cultivated many friends and he’s gotten to know quite a few places over the years, but Leamington and Essex County will always be his home.
Ribble’s second stop in his NHL career was in Chicago with the Blackhawks.
Pat Ribble, right, with former Red Wings Captain, Alex Delvecchio in the 1990s. Scott Holland photo
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