Reuben Buerge Motors, Nelson B.C.

Any fellows out there lived in B.C. in the late 60's remember or have contact with Reuben Buerge motors, a G.M. dealer in Nelson B.C. I believe they also had a dealership in Cranbrooke. Would love to hear from anyone that knew the dealership. Thanks, Frank

[red67]

Hi,

I was in Nelson during the late 1960s and frequented Reuben Buerge Motors.

This is my first post here so I may have trouble at first.

Post up some profile info so we can chat. Frank

[red67]

I don't know what you really need as a profile or what you would like to know but I'll try and give you some background.

I grew up in Nelson during the 1960s on 7 acres outside Nelson at Longbeach for those who know the area. Longbeach is a short ride from Kokanee glacier where Trudeau died. Been there. My father was born in Nelson and my mother was born in Kaslo. I graduated from high school in Nelson in 1969. I worked through high school and early university days in the service station business and then with the BC Forest Service during my later university days in both the mechanical shop and as a fire suppression crew foreman. My wife's mother still lives in Nelson so I have travelled the area and continue to do so.

Nelson was a booming place in the 1960s. Jobs were fairly easy to get. The CPR had a mechanical shop where you could get a graveyard job and go to school during the day. Kootenay Forest Products was also a big employer. A number of my friends worked there on graveyard and went to school during the day. This allowed you to buy a new or fairly new car while going to school. Particularly high performance cars. All this pretty much ended with the recession in the early 1980s.

I have been involved with high performance cars all my life. I'm now a Super Comp and Competition Eliminator racer with a friend of mine. We have a Super Comp dragster and a C/D Competition Eliminator car built by Frameworks in Arizona. My friend runs a general auto repair and high performance shop in the the Vancouver area where I now live. The neatest car in the shop right now is a 1970 Hemicuda stick. This car is one of eight export cars sold and is really nice.

During the 1960s and into the 1970s there were quite a few car dealers in Nelson including Reuben Beurge Motors. Reuben Beurge is were I bought my Chevrolet parts. There was also a Pontiac Buick dealer there but I can't remember what the name is. I'll have to look it up in some old phone books I have. Both of these dealers sold high performance cars. Mel Buerge was the Ford dealer and they also sold high performance cars and parts but Fords were just not really big. Reuben Buerge is long gone but Mel Buerge's sucessor is still there although in a different location. The Chrysler dealer, City Auto Service, is still there in the same locations. My father worked on contract for City Auto and had his business located a few doors away.

A good high school friend in high school worked at the Reuben Beurge used car lot. We had some neat times together. Rememer that many high performance cars of those days were just used cars and you could try them out. If you liked them you could buy one if you had a job. GM or the local finance company would finance you.

Columbia Brewing Company, the maker of Kokanee, was originally in Nelson. I've been in the plant. I believe they used local water. I have had a few Kokanees over the years. It was a popular beer locally. Columbia subsequently moved to Creston. Creston also had a number of car dealers including Chevrolet and AMC. The Chevrolet dealer sold high performance cars. The AMC dealer also sold high performance cars. A friend bought his 1970 396 Chevelle new in Creston. Speaking of Chevelles, I a have another friend who ordered and received a 1970 LS6 Chevelle stick convertible. Unfortunatey it was stolen and written off in the early 1970s.

During the 1960s and early 1970s we raced at Wasa Lake outside Cranbrook, the old Deer Park strip outside Spokane and Spokane Raceway Park. Wasa Lake and Deer Park are long gone but Spokane Raceway Park lives on. Now a sanctioned NHRA strip but in those days I believe it was independent or AHRA. I went to the opening day of this stip and have a number of neat photos. Don Garlits was at opening day. Times were different then. He towed his car to the track on an open trailer behind a Dodge pickup and push started the car.

I could go on for quite awhile but enough for now as I have to go. I don't know how often I'll post as I'm pretty busy but I'll try to check periodically.

Thanks for posting.Interesting and familiar history of Nelson as many towns in B.C. are/were dependant on the forest industry. Its the high performance cars that came to Burgee Motors that I am most interested in, particularly two COPO 427 69 Camaros, one of which I have a personal interest in. Would like to talk to someone from back in the day that may actually remember the car. If you click on my name we can chat in more detail by PM. Frank

[red67]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: frankk</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Thanks for posting.Interesting and familiar history of Nelson as many towns in B.C. are/were dependant on the forest industry. Its the high performance cars that came to Burgee Motors that I am most interested in, particularly two COPO 427 69 Camaros, one of which I have a personal interest in. Would like to talk to someone from back in the day that may actually remember the car. If you click on my name we can chat in more detail by PM. Frank </div></div>

I have sent you a PM. Not having done this before here I'm not sure if it worked properly.

[PeteLeathersac]

Same family must've had a Ford house in Nelson during the early 60's too as check out this '63 Galaxie w/ a Mel Buerge Motors tag..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/unclegal/3021213374/


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~ Pete

Thanks Pete. Interesting.

[mockingbird812]

My mother-in-law was raised in Nelson BC. Beautiful town on wonderful Koutney (sp?) lake. Lot of draft dodgers found haven in that town.

[Canuck]

Kootenay refers to the genearal region in South Eastern BC, Its is a mountainous region with a large Lake called Kootenay Lake and the range of montains (part of the Rockies) are referred to as the Kootenay Range. Popular area for some of the best skiing in the world if you are into extreme skiing and powder.

Paul