Georgina
December 14, 2007 06:53 PM
By: John Slykhuis
After half a century, someone other than a Wilson is running the garage at the corner of Woodbine Avenue and Boyer’s Road.
Tom Wilson and his wife, Phyllis, are finally relaxing after selling the popular garage to a new owner.
The last Wilson actually running the garage was son Tim, who has since moved to western Canada.
Tom, 82, and Phyllis, 80, bought the 10-acre property on the corner after moving to Georgina from Willowdale, taking advantage of what they saw was a great opportunity in a growing community with a large cottage population.
Many of those cottagers would have to drive right past the intersection on what was then called Don Mills Road, which had just been paved and extended.
Before that, the main traffic route was through Belhaven, where the township office was located.
The Wilsons built the garage and their house, opening as an Imperial Esso station with three gas pumps in front.
Tom’s business instincts proved right and pretty soon the business was thriving.
“I didn’t have a day off for the first 18 years,” Tom recalled. “I’d start at seven and keep going. Later in the evening, if I still had a car to do, I’d think, ‘If I fix that tonight, I won’t have to fix it tomorrow’.” He’d often work into the wee hours, with Phyllis bringing him his breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Wilson’s soon had a sterling reputation, with some customers coming from as far as Toronto to have their vehicles repaired. The expertise was combined with small town friendliness.
Friendly service
“We figured if people liked you personally, they’d keep coming back,” Tom said. Friendly, honest service kept customers coming back, sometimes generations of them.
Tom also wrote a popular weekly column for the Advocate, giving tips on buying, repairing and maintaining vehicles.
He had been in the business since he was a boy, working his way up through a number of dealerships and getting his mechanic’s licence.
The Second World War interrupted his career for a while, then it was back to work, eventually landing with the biggest car dealership in Canada, Anderson Pontiac Buick on Bay Street, then later as a service manager for a big Chrysler dealership, where he cooked up a plan to boost sales by having Hollywood siren Jane Mansfield come to promote the new Imperial.
They put her in a convertible and paraded around Toronto all day. After that, no other dealer in Canada sold as many Chrysler Imperials.
A year later, the Wilsons pulled up stakes and settled in their new location.
While Tom was busy inside, Phyllis and their four children would pump gas that sold for as little as 26 cents a gallon (about a nickle a litre).
The Wilsons also operated their Chrysler dealership, complete with a showroom they built, for about three years.
They finally closed the gas pumps in 1980 to concentrate on service and repairs. Sons Tim and Terry became part of the operation, Tim ending up as the last owner.
With 17 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, the Wilsons have enough to keep them occupied.
They also winter in Florida, where they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary 10 years ago, receiving a congratulatory certificate signed by President Bill Clinton.
Now there is a new owner on the corner, Bob’s Auto Repair operated by Bob Dafoe. “We’re glad to see he’s there because we need our car serviced, too,” Phyllis said.
“Yes, it’s good to see him in there,” Tom agreed.
If he does it as well as the Wilsons did, he’ll be there for a long time.