December 19, 2003 A History of Hugh's Heinzmobile

Auto mechanic Hugh Timmerman started a fascinating project when he retired in Chisholm Township in 1996. He decided to design and build a car from scratch with parts he had from various vehicles and parts he could make, have made, or buy. Hugh moved with his wife Helen to Meaford in 1998 to be closer to their daughter, one of their 4 children. I met Hugh recently while he was visiting the area and he told me the project is complete and that the Meaford Express newspaper had written an enthusiastic article about it.

I thought people might be interested in the project and to see an example of a well-used retirement. Hugh moved to Canada with his family in 1950 from the Netherlands after the Nazis had ravaged his homeland. Hugh married his pen pal back home after a couple of return visits and they settled in the London area where Hugh ran a service station. In 1977 they moved to a farm they purchased in Chisholm Township and Hugh set up a small motor repair shop that served the area until his retirement in 1996. Helen took a woodworking course and produced and sold woodwork in any spare time she had while raising 4 children and helping run their progressive sheep operation. 

Hugh Timmerman's Heinzmobile with Hugh and his wife Helen. Family photo.

Hugh's car building adventure began in London in 1973 when he was called to an accident of a 1963 Volkswagen Beetle. He towed it away and ended up buying the wreck from the insurance company for $75. He didn't know what he was going go do with it but eventually he built a dune buggy and with friends built an oval track and had some fun. When the excitement waned he put the vehicle in storage until he became inspired to resurrect it as a retirement project. He was determined to design and build an operating, road-worthy vehicle from scratch starting with what he had.

He started with the basic frame and the 1200cc air-cooled motor that survived the Beetle crash. The chrome engine parts were ordered from Taiwan. He found a distributor, generator, regulator and coil that fit from a 1973 VW Beetle in order to switch from a 6-Volt to 12-Volt system. Seats from a Peugeot were installed and a hood and window assembly from a Sunbeam Alpine were adapted. Can opener keys were chromed and used to secure the hood. He built the fenders himself and welded the firewall from boilerplate.

Hugh wanted to adapt 13 inch wheels to fit the VW chassis and worked with tool-and-die maker Gabriel Groulx from a Astorville to rebuild a set of Chevy Vega rims to fit. He got a chrome front bumper from eBay over the Internet. The muffler, tail pipe, rear bumper combination was fabricated to Hugh's specifications by a friend in Meaford. Apple Auto Glass custom made the ragtop. Romeo Courville helped with some early bodywork in Chisholm and a friend in Meaford finished the car in high gloss black and yellow. Other parts came from an Austin 1100, a Chevy Truck, a Massey Harris cultivator and the speedometer came from a Polaris snowmobile. He built the running boards himself from inlaid oak planks in T-bar fencepost frames. Other parts were purchased from Autohaus Steckleberg, The Steering Wheel, Ferris Autoelectric and Bestway Truck Centre in North Bay. 

Hugh with his car in his shop in Chisholm Township at the start of his project. Doug Mackey photo.

Hugh called the finished product a Heinzmobile after the Heinz 57 catsup. He's thinking about a hood ornament of a naked lady with her hands out holding a catsup bottle.

When the car was finished it received an appraisal, street legal certification and insurance and was finally ready to go. Whenever Hugh and Helen take the car for a spin heads turn as they cruise by.

Hugh's Other Hobby

Hugh has always been interested in local and family history and has written several published articles and assisted with a history book on Adelaide Township where his family settled when they entered Canada. He was a major contributor to Chisholm's recent history book, writing articles, computerizing the text and adding personal photographs. The committee received a 2003 Ontario Heritage Foundation Award for the book. He has completed his memoirs on his family's war years under the devastating reign of the Nazis.

I recently found an audiotape of an interview with Hugh that was part of a township history project in 1993. In the tape he showed a remarkable knowledge of the township that came in handy when the Township history book was later written. He also told me about an abandoned sawmill village in Chisholm, called Fossmill, which sparked my interest in the village. My son and I later wrote an award-winning book and made a video on Fossmill that brought it back to life.

Hugh Timmerman is an excellent example of a man following and achieving his dreams on retirement. Goed geluk in de toekomst!

Hugh Timmerman can be contacted at hubert.timmerman@sympatico.ca