Performance in Motion Magazine
If you were into cars in the 60’s in southern Ontario, you probably knew about Lawrence Transmission. For more than four decades, Bob Spick has been repairing automatic transmissions for car enthusiasts.
At a time when all the racers felt they had to have a standard transmission to win races, Bob was proving them wrong. His company Lawrence Transmission was instrumental in providing racers in the 60s with winning racing automatic transmissions. It all started at the drags. Bob and his partner Ron Starr raced a ’32 Ford at all of the drag strips of the day.
Their car ran consistently in the 12s in the late 50s, early 60s. The duo were consistent winners at Kohler, Deseronto, Niagara Falls and St. Thomas. Running an automatic, when hardly anyone else did earned them some notoriety. As others decided to try them, they came to Bob for help and advice. Before he knew it, Bob was building automatics for others, working out of his home garage. Eventually, his parents got tired of the mess, and Bob moved to the back of other people’s shops; all the while expanding his influence with the racing community. Finally he had expanded his customer base enough to allow him to rent his own shop.
In 1965, Lawrence Transmission was born, located at 1145 Lawrence Ave. W. Now, it was for real, Bob had to earn enough money to keep the doors open.
As well as his racing customers, Bob built a loyal clientele repairing and rebuilding transmissions for everyday vehicles, maintaining his “treat everyone fairly” philosophy. “If it’s repairable, we repair it; we are not a replacement shop.”
I can vouch for that fact. I had a friend having trouble with his automatic. The dealer, without even opening the hood, had quoted $400 to repair it. I convinced him to take it to Bob. Bob had his drive it into the shop, opened the hood, looked over everything, threw a fender cover on and reached down beside the engine. “There” he said “that should solve your problem. Take it around the block and try it.” When he got back, my friend said everything was great. Bob would not take any money, just the assurance that if anything serious turned up my friend would come back to Bob. The vacuum line had come off the fitting; any good shop should have found that in an instant. Needless to say, my friend still uses Lawrence Transmission whenever he needs transmission or rear end work.
By 1970, the business had expanded beyond the size of the first shop. Something had to be done. To solve the space problems, they relocated to 38 Brydon Dr. in Rexdale. The new building offered more space to work and loads of storage for all of the transmissions and parts they keep.
Over the years, Bob has sponsored a number of well-known local racers to keep his company name in front of the enthusiast. Gord Dolphin, Phil Zampino and Ken Weisbrod all carried the Lawrence name at stock car tracks throughout southern Ontario. At the drag’s, Dave Turner’s Shelby Cobra burned up the asphalt carrying the Lawrence name.
Even though they are experts on the older transmissions, they continue to keep current. In fact, they are doing warranty work for GM. They hope to continue to grow the business long into the future.
To that end, Bob’s son Chris is now taking over, Bob is still working, but Chris hopes he can take some of the day-to-day pressures to allow his dad time to some of the things he has been putting off over the years.
Bob has never lost his interest in cars. In his garage waiting for restoration are both a 1948 Ford pick-up and a 1967 Camaro RS/SS. Who knows, maybe he will find a 32 Ford and go drag racing again. Nostalgia racing is all the rage these days.
So, if you have a problem in the drive train of your car run it over to Lawrence Transmission. You can be sure of good work and a fair shake at the til. Maybe you can even get Bob to tell you some of the stories from the old days; he has a lot to tell!
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