Postcard Memories is a weekly series of historic postcard views and photos submitted by Marcel Rousseau.
Some were previously published by the Orillia Museum of Art and History and in the book Postcard Memories Orillia.
On June 4, 1953 a Shell Oil Truck was coming down the West Street hill when the driver discovered he had no brakes. The truck went through a red light at the Coldwater Road intersection, barely missing a car driven by an alert young lady who saw it coming and turned to avoid a crash.
At Mississaga Street, a Waggs Laundry truck driven by Bob Eyers was travelling west through the intersection on a green light when the Shell Oil Truck hit him broadside.
The oil truck careened off the laundry truck and ran up the back of a 1951 Meteor convertible, owned by Robert McClelland, that was parked at the first meter on West Street near Pratt’s Drug Store.
The car and truck both drove into a brand new Pontiac with the momentum also damaging a total of five cars parked in front of Ansdell Hardware and Joseph Ginsberg Shoes.
McClelland was inside the Geneva Theatre watching a movie and the new Pontiac was owned by the lady managing the ticket booth at the theatre. It was a miracle that no one was seriously hurt with Bob Eyers suffering only minor injuries.
The photo was taken by Joe Celestin, an artist and freelance photographer, and shows at least 200 people milling about, unlike today’s accident scenes when authorities would clear a two-block area.
Fortunately, no fuel was spilled as several onlookers can be seen smoking next to the truck.
The man in the dark suit, left of the truck, is Cliff Dick and some of the other spectators are Barry Bywater, Larry Lillicrap, Jim Devlin, Merv James, Bob Flintoff, Fred Ferrier, Fred Galbraith, Sam Gentile and Allen McIntyre.
