The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

air conditioning systems 191webngtonsteurit7 4711748 craftsmanship sjhiiejlmtifich tribune community 4 aaamu tares unirichtire auto centre 374 mam st east stouffvilie aa tf pcneer swwce satai 6406838 serving whitchurchstouffville oxbridge and area a metroland community newspaper wednesday august 26 1987 passion for classic autos made charlie a new man by chris garbutt charlie tompkins leans into the back seat of his 1927 model t ford the markham resident has just brought it back from van- dorfs antique and classic car show and hes making a few adjustments im putting a new battery in give it a little more power he explains the model t looks just like new and it still runs smoothly at a brisk 30 miles per hour he works on it in the garage of his welling ton st east home where he lives with his wife jean early interest his interest in cars began early in life he bought a car at age 16 as soon as he got his drivers license it was from an old lady who was trying to sell her model t to a dealer the canvass cover was in ribbons and the tires were all taped up the dealer just laughed at her on seeing this mr tompkins offered to buy it form her and a deal was made for 25 he soon found the car to be in better shape than it looked it was brand new it was the classic story of a little old lady who just drove the car to church on sundays he laughed but it wasnt until much later on that he took a liking to restoring antique cars bad time it was a bad time in my life i was becoming a workaholic and i was smoking like a furnace his wife was trying to get him involved in some sort of hobby and one night she suggested res toring an old car i said youre crazy but while i was driving i found myself peeking into back yards to see if anyone had a relic hiding some where it was then mr tompkins de cided to get his life together he quit smoking about 25 times but after three years of trying he promised himself that with the money he could save on cigarettes he would put into res toring cars he kept the promise it got me off smoking and my personal life got back on track i just needed something to do with my time and something to do with my hands many benefits having had experience with charlie tompkins says his interest in old cars straightened out his he shows off his model t ford which he displayed at vandorfs antique life the markham resident quit smoking to pay for the hobby here and classic automobile show jim thomas cars since he was 16 the mecha nical part was easy his first res toration job was a 1928 model a ford a vehicle for which he still has a soft spot several people have asked to buy it but im not ready to part with it yet he said i think this hobby has made me a better person it certainly improved my health and the benefits go far beyond his own life mr tompkins began meeting new people he claims most of the car buffs these days are young people and the hobby helps bridge the generation gap we get to know the kids and they keep us very up to date communication tool his daughter connie who is now 27 took an early interest in her fathers pastime she always wanted to go for a ride in this old model a that we had it then became a good com munication tool for us if one of us had a problem or if we just wanted to talk wed say lets go for a ride in the model a were very good friends today and i blame that old car mr tompkins says the people he meets through the hobby are topnotch the calibre of the people in the classic car game is pretty high theyre an interesting group were enjoying ourselves so much we dont have time to grow old distinct personality he says not only the people have a distinct personality the cars do as well each car develops its own per sonality in its customness and re liability to perform and theyre always requiring some work all the time so they keep you busy the vandorf show this year was a good time for everyone mr tompkins believes i was impressed with the range of cars it was hard to pick the drivers choice because there were so many nice ones to have a community event dig up that many automobiles is commend able he says the enjoyment is the sole reason for his enthusiasm what else do you get out of it you dont make any money from it but mr tompkins is living proof that there is more than just fun to be had it changed my life i can re member when i was smoking heavily my friends would be hanging out the windows gasping for air the cars helped me change things like that theyre good for more than just looking at j mick slick is coming c7 campaign hq opens george ashe progressive con servative candidate in the riding of durham west is opening a campaignheadquarters in claremont the location is the west side of brock road north of the the canadian imperial bank of com merce the dates and hours follow thurs sept 3 from 5 to 7 pm fri sept 4 from 1030 to 1 pm tucs sept 8 from 1030 to lpm and wed sept 9 from 1030 to 2 pm mr ashe former mayor of pickering was first elected to provincial parliament in 1977 hes held several top government positions including minister of revenue george and margo ashe have four children steven cheryl kevin and brian