Gratiot Auto Supply is where a lot of us gearheads from St. Thomas, Ontario would head on a Saturday morning to get our stash of hot rod parts. It was about 125 miles away, at Gratiot and Nine Mile Road in Detroit. We would take the tunnel under the river from Windsor to Detroit, where it would exit near the hub of the wheel at Cadillac Square, and find Gratiot Ave., and take it out to Nine Mile Road. Some parts of Detroit looked like Ukraine in those days, so nobody wanted to get lost in Detroit. We would return to Canada using the same route, stopping for lunch at a fantastic rib joint near the Canadian entrance to the tunnel.
Back then, around 1970, our Canadian $ was at par with U.S. $, so, Gratiot Speed would take our Canadian money with no exchange. We had to be careful to declare our goods at the border and pay the taxes. Those that tried to hide their booty and not declare it usually did not make out so well, and had their stuff confiscated. We always figured the shop ratted out anybody paying in Canadian $ to the border in the chance of getting their confiscated parts returned to be resold. Could have been an urban myth.
Interesting that Ron Mancini was sponsored by Gratiot Speed for many years in drag racing. Now the Mancini family has its own Mopar speed shop, and Gratiot Speed is long gone. I still have a 1971 Gratiot Speed catalogue, and the prices are hilarious. Should have bought two of everything! My memories of these clandestine trips are over 50 years old now.
