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00:00Here we are in St. Thomas, Ontario!
00:07Before it became known as a major hub of the Canadian auto industry, St. Thomas was known as the Railway
00:14City.
00:15A hundred years ago, you'd see a hundred trains pass through this town every day.
00:20Located halfway between Toronto and Detroit, central to industrial Ontario,
00:26over the years, 30 different railways used St. Thomas as a connection point.
00:32Railway City.
00:33So that's what St. Thomas is known for.
00:36Trains, plainly, and automobiles.
00:41When you grow up in a small town in Newfoundland, you see the people have a sense of humor about
00:45hard times.
00:47I turned that into a career and hit the road.
00:51Now I'm on a mission to find the funny in the places you least expected.
00:55Canada's struggling small towns.
00:57Towns that are against the ropes, but hanging in there.
01:00Still laughing in the face of adversity.
01:03This is St. Thomas, Ontario.
01:19Being a railway hub and centrally located, Ford Motor Company chose St. Thomas to build a huge assembly plant.
01:27And from 1967 to 2011, Ford produced over 8 million vehicles right here.
01:36Such classics as the Ford Fairmont, the Ford Falcon, the Escort.
01:43The Ford Escort is my favorite car of all time.
01:46And the one Ford built for European markets, I love that one.
01:51But you can't find them here.
01:53And you don't want your girlfriend to find her search history when it says,
01:56how to find a European Escort in Canada.
02:00I got the loan down from a local who was around to build the crown of Ford's fleet, David Matisco.
02:10A lot of history here that we're in right now.
02:12A lot of history.
02:13And sitting in here now, kind of gives me shivers.
02:18Well, you helped build this thing.
02:20Yes, I did.
02:21The plant here built, and this is perhaps the feather in your cap, the jewel in your crown, the crown
02:28Victoria.
02:31One of the best-selling vehicles of all time.
02:3680% of all the police cars in North America were crown Vicks.
02:40And he said, not all crown Vicks are built equally.
02:43They would actually take an extra 200 people to build a police car.
02:47The police ones get the beefed up suspension, the biggest engine option, indestructible hoses and belts.
02:55I remember they had to install the carpet into the trunk.
02:58I said to the supervisor, how come there's a great big piece of conduit here?
03:01What's that for?
03:02Great big pipe about this big.
03:05And he said, oh yeah, that's for air conditioning.
03:07These police vehicles are going to the southern U.S.
03:11And in the south, they're responsible for picking up roadkill.
03:14They want to keep the trunk cold, just like your little morgue, I guess, in the back.
03:18Air conditioning trunk for roadkill.
03:21Yeah.
03:25Right there, it used to be the plant where we used to be.
03:28It was massive.
03:29Day shift, afternoon shift, 10-hour shifts.
03:32Production would be running 20 hours a day.
03:34At its peak, he said, the plant had over 3,000 workers that are working around the clock.
03:40One of the most efficient plants Ford has ever had.
03:42The St. Thomas assembly plant was known for making quality cars fast.
03:48It took us 56 seconds to build one car.
03:51No way.
03:52I can't even change the oil of my car.
03:54It takes you two hours to change the oil.
03:56But they could build a car, one a minute.
03:58That's four seconds faster than it took Nicolas Cage to steal one.
04:07Now, you'd think working on an assembly line would get repetitive, but there were some wild surprises from time to
04:13time.
04:14I guess the parts come in from other parts of the country or the world or...
04:17All over the world.
04:18He was unpackaging these parts that had been shipped up from Mexico.
04:22And all of a sudden, this great big spider comes jumping out.
04:26Tarantula.
04:27About that big.
04:28And he said that wasn't entirely uncommon.
04:30There'd be rattlesnakes in them as well.
04:33No way.
04:34Yes.
04:34As soon as someone yelled, snake, three lines over, everybody would clear.
04:37Hundreds of people just running away.
04:39There was one fork truck driver that was famous in the plank.
04:41And he'd come bombing in with the forklift and he'd run it over.
04:47He could move that fork truck over.
04:50I don't know if he made a bandana out of it or what he did, but that was his fame.
04:54And I thought, that's pretty good, but what do you do with it then?
04:56And I guess you can throw it into the air-conditioned trunk of your Crown Victoria.
05:04I remember the supervisor walked me down the line the very first day.
05:07Do you have a new car?
05:09You can afford it now.
05:10Yeah.
05:11Coming from a stage in my life where money was hard.
05:13Yeah.
05:14Then having a job where it's like, oh my God, I can travel.
05:17Yeah.
05:18I can be a little bit more generous.
05:20I can do this.
05:20I can do that.
05:22I can send my kids to university.
05:24Yeah.
05:24I will have my house paid off.
05:29As SUVs became more popular and the demand for large sedans dropped, David told me there'd
05:34be temporary layoffs.
05:38The economy of the town was so tied up with the plant.
05:41The Algon Mall, I was in there buying some stuff.
05:44Lady, she knew I worked at Ford.
05:46She said, when's your next layoff?
05:47I said, why do you need to know that?
05:49She goes, well, when you guys were laid off, our stores go down 50% that day.
05:54It's crazy how connected they were.
05:56In the railway city, layoffs at the car plant meant you could lose your job at the subway.
06:06And in 2011, Ford closed the plant for good.
06:10The last day was so mixed emotion.
06:18The last car was a white car.
06:21All the workers signed it.
06:24An older gentleman there, he was so distraught and hurt and confused, I had to help him sign
06:30his name.
06:31Really?
06:32Oh, man.
06:33After that, people who weren't at the plant, if you were driving around and you see a Crown
06:37Victoria, it was mixed emotion.
06:39There was pride because, you know, you helped build that, but it also, you know, hit you
06:44with some heartbreak.
06:46As opposed to the rest of us, when we see a Crown Vic, we hit the brakes and have a
06:50heart
06:50attack.
07:06There's still automotive manufacturing happening in St. Thomas.
07:10I went by the Format plant, the largest car parts plant in Canada.
07:15Megan.
07:16Megan.
07:16Nice to meet you.
07:17I got to meet a robotic welder who was actually much more human-like than her job title would
07:23suggest Megan Dobbin.
07:28She works with these robot welding arms.
08:01So whenever there's any kind of welding problem, then they would call a team leader who would
08:02say, I've been playing automotive robotic welding simulator for a couple of weeks now.
08:09She walked me around the plant, and there's robots all over the place.
08:14These massive robot arms.
08:16At one point, we're watching these two robot arms, and they're picking up 500-pound Silverado
08:22frames like they're weightless.
08:26I wanted to throw some pizza dough up there and see if they'd like...
08:31I couldn't help think, why am I still dressing myself manually?
08:36These things could get a pair of pants on me, no sweat.
08:39And if one had to pick me up and spin me around while the other one got the pants and
08:43put...
08:43That's fine.
08:50With a strong history of automotive manufacturing, car culture is strong in St. Thomas, and that
08:57includes the 4x4 off-roading scene.
09:00Jeeps here are big, and I met a woman who makes them even bigger.
09:04Hello.
09:05Nice to meet you, Laura.
09:06Sure as well.
09:06From Off-Road Addiction, Laura Gallia.
09:13Laura told me that Jeeps are like Lego for adults.
09:16Jeeps are so customizable.
09:18One little brick here, one little brick here.
09:20It looks totally different.
09:21There's no end to the pieces that you can tack on.
09:24Tires.
09:25We do lift kits, which is modifying the suspension.
09:29Bumpers.
09:30There's different types of lug nuts you can get.
09:32You can get those long, spiked lug nuts.
09:35They're like Lego, especially if you step on one in the middle of the night with no socks on.
09:41It's like an extension of your personality.
09:43Once you get started in building stuff, no two vehicles look the same.
09:47It gives you that feeling when you park your vehicle somewhere and you walk away from it.
09:51You always turn back and take a peek, and you're like, yeah, that's mine.
09:54If I wanted a vehicle that was an extension of my personality, I think I'd have to go with an
10:00MG.
10:01It's cute in a funny kind of way, but you rarely leave home with it because it's going to break
10:06down in public.
10:09This one right here is mine.
10:11That got some big old tires.
10:14It does.
10:15It looks fantastic.
10:16It's got the lift kit.
10:18It's got half doors and the soft top.
10:21She said sometimes they like to go topless.
10:23The soft tops, there's a couple latches, and then you flip it back.
10:27And she said sometimes they go naked.
10:30Riding naked in the Jeep is pretty much the soft top is completely off.
10:34Your doors are off, and it's just wide open.
10:38And I explain that because I don't want you to make the same mistake I did.
10:45If you ever get invited to go along on an off-road, and you got some Jeep or Bronco people
10:53who are like, weather looks good, I'm going naked.
10:58Don't make the mistake I did.
11:01It's very embarrassing.
11:17There is one other thing St. Thomas is known for.
11:20I suppose it's time to talk about the elephant in the room.
11:28This is the place where Jumbo the elephant, the huge seven-ton elephant that came from East Africa and astonished
11:38the world, met his end.
11:43The northern trunk freight train that rolled into St. Thomas back in 1885 on a cool September night struck and
11:52killed Jumbo the elephant.
11:53He was crossing over the tracks, and it's hard to stop a train.
11:57Hard to stop an elephant, probably.
12:00But that's what happened.
12:02But while I make a joke about it, I get the impression in my short time here that people here
12:06honor Jumbo.
12:08You've got that big, beautiful statue of Jumbo.
12:12You see Jumbo depicted in all these beautiful murals.
12:15I'll respect that, and I'll try not to make too many bad jokes, but my God, did the train have
12:21to be northern trunk?
12:30I'm Johnny.
12:34St. Thomas is now called home by a couple of Canadian hip-hop legends.
12:39Before we called it a wrap, I had to have a chat with Choc Lair and Malachi Malay.
12:49When I asked these guys how they went from the hip-hop scene in Toronto to living in a small
12:55town,
12:55Malachi told me it all started out when his driver took a wrong turn.
12:59He had a gig in London.
13:01His driver went out the highway.
13:02Half an hour later, he's lost here.
13:06But he caught a vibe from St. Thomas.
13:09Kids playing around just freely, no traffic.
13:12Cost of living was amazing.
13:14By the time I got back to Toronto, I just sold everything and said, I'm gone.
13:18Just like that.
13:19And then he convinced his buddy Choc Lair to move here as well.
13:23Because of the nature of what I do, it's always late nights and it's all these crazy strobe lights.
13:27So when I get home, I just like to just kind of just chill out.
13:31Although these guys have hardly put their feet up since they got here.
13:35Malachi ran for mayor for Pete's sake.
13:38Are you serious?
13:38Yeah, I ran for mayor in 2018, right?
13:41The first thing I noticed, right, the younger generation were pretty much embarrassed to be from St. Thomas.
13:46I said to myself, what can we do in this city to make, you know, the youth or even the
13:50citizens a lot more proud?
13:53So they started a clothing line, St. T.
13:56St. T., which is the nickname for St. Thomas.
13:58They do a jumbo t-shirt and I've seen people around town wearing them.
14:02They're big.
14:03They're really big.
14:04In fact, no matter what size you get, they're all jumbo.
14:10They opened a barbershop.
14:12One of the specialties that you need to learn in urban culture, fade.
14:17Malachi offered to teach me how to do the fade and I got the clippers there and I'm doing these
14:22like little like kind of jabs and moves.
14:25And Malachi, God love me, he's very encouraging.
14:27He's like,
14:27That looks perfect.
14:28So, and same thing with the other side.
14:32So now...
14:33Jeez, man, you do it like that.
14:35Malachi cuts a perfect fade the same way I wash a bowl.
14:42He said,
14:42You can even draw designs.
14:45I said,
14:45Could you do jumbo the elephant into the back of my head?
14:48He said,
14:49Yes.
14:50Yes.
15:11Some motorheads feel the need for speed while others want the slug of bog.
15:17Jared, how are you?
15:18Not too bad, Johnny.
15:18How are you?
15:19I met the general manager for the St. Thomas Dragway, Jared Spree.
15:29It's become very rare to me, obviously, since I got to St. Thomas.
15:32There's huge car culture here.
15:34Well, with the Ford plant.
15:36It's in there.
15:37It's in the blood here, right?
15:38Oh, yeah.
15:39Okay, so St. Thomas Dragway.
15:41Yes.
15:41How long has it been around?
15:43So St. Thomas Dragway is Canada's oldest purpose-built drag strip.
15:46This one was built in 1962 specifically for drag racing.
15:55Every summer, tens of thousands come here to take in car shows and drag racing and burnout competitions,
16:02mud bogging, sand racing.
16:04People with muscle cars or import tuners, dragsters, classic car enthusiasts can all come together.
16:11It's kind of this we're all in it together family aspect that kind of makes this place special.
16:20Jared told me about the bounty hole.
16:23The long, narrow bog hole and the quickest to get through it wins.
16:29Jared said, it's got teeth underneath.
16:32It's just waiting to swallow its next victim hole.
16:36I was like, oh, my God, like the Sarlacc pit in Return of the Jedi.
16:41He said, sure.
16:44That's the biggest, baddest pit in the entire place.
16:47That's what guys come and talk about when they're talking about this place.
16:51I have flooded that pit for the last 12 and a half hours.
16:55That's quicksand in there.
16:56Is there a chance that nobody will make it all the way through?
16:59That's not the chance.
17:00That's the hope.
17:01Right.
17:02Okay.
17:02We've had one guy that's won it five out of the six years.
17:05Who's that?
17:05Dan Neeb.
17:10I got to take a run at the bounty hole with five-time champ Dan Neeb in his big red
17:18Dodge Diesel.
17:19I threw on a helmet and I hopped in the truck.
17:23And when I say hopped, I mean I climbed a ladder, not a stepladder, 12-foot ladder to get into
17:30this vehicle.
17:52And then we're ready and they give us the goal.
17:58Dan Halls it in the gear, hits the gas and we go flying into the bounty hole.
18:05And about 20 feet in, it grabs us.
18:12The truck comes to a stop, but Dan's still on the gas and the engine is screaming and the wheels
18:18are spinning.
18:19Mud is flying.
18:20I had a white dress shirt.
18:23Enough said.
18:23I had a white dress shirt.
18:25I used to own a white dress shirt.
18:30Finally, Dan kills the truck and we were stuck.
18:33I mean, we were glued in there.
18:35Turns out we were more stuck than any other vehicle in the history of the bounty hole.
18:39A bulldozer came and it couldn't pull us out.
18:43And then it was like out of a movie around the corner.
18:46This excavator comes rumbling out.
18:49These massive toe straps are snapping like rubber bands.
18:54Everybody's working on it.
18:56I never saw one person give up on the problem.
19:04Whatever.
19:05Abandon ship.
19:06Abandon ship.
19:08Thanks, buddy.
19:09Yeah, no problem, man.
19:11Dan, I saw I had to jump ship, buddy.
19:13Eventually, I got hungry and it was hot and I had to take off, but people stuck with it.
19:23And Dan, I know for sure they got him out.
19:29And I think that's some grit right there.
19:45Don't let it be said, once the Crown Vic was dead, so too was St. Thomas.
19:50That's thoughtless.
19:51It's on the rebound, this town.
19:53Yes, the strip club closed down, but at least you have Jeeps that go topless.
20:00If I had to choose a car that's an extension of myself, I'd choose to crown Victoria with ease.
20:07I like to think I'm dependable.
20:09I know I'm made in Canada, and for a good measure, I'm familiar to police.
20:14Wear your Jumbo Tee with pride, and whether you prefer to drive or ride, in St. Thomas, you'll find yourself
20:21right in your element.
20:23But whether it's mud up to your knees or racing crazy quarter-mile speeds, just watch out and have respect
20:30for crossing elephants.
20:32Thanks so much, everybody, for coming out.
20:36Love you, St. Thomas.
20:38Thanks so much.
20:39We'll see you again.
20:53I really love the fact that he brought the history of the city into it.
20:57I love the Jumbo stuff.
20:59I'm a big Jumbo guy.
21:01I always had, like, a fascination with Jumbo and his connection to St. Thomas.
21:07I am surprised, but happily surprised, by how many people showed up here.
21:121,500 people made it in here?
21:16We don't get that for the hockey games.
21:18Okay.
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