For 17 years, Dixie Arena played host to one of the most unusual sights for a hockey arena- throngs of people gathered at center ice listening to the rhythms of an auctioneer’s cry as he bumped up the bids being placed on automobiles.
The Toronto Auto Auctions (TAA) marked its beginning as the first weekly wholesale automobile auction in Canada when, in 1952, Jack Hudelson from Detroit arrived in Toronto Township and set up shop at Dixie Arena. Operating as Motor City Auto Auctions, the weekly sale was conducted at this location for 12 consecutive years before Mr. Hudelson went into bankruptcy and dissolved his business. The cry of the auctioneer was offered in the early days by Americans Homer Stephens, Odie Adcock, Tommy Nagy and by Neustadt, Ontario cattle farmer, Bert Pepper.
Automobiles entered and exited from the south end of the arena. Photo courtesy of Ruth Hart-Stephens.
Just six months later, in September 1964, two of Motor City’s original employees, Homer Stephens and Ruth Hart, re-opened the auction as the Cooksville Auto Auction. Homer was an accomplished auctioneer who worked every sale and Ruth served as office manager.
The auto auction was only open to automobile dealers and was not for the general public. The first sale of the Cooksville Auto Auction resulted in 49 entries. This was considered an excellent consignment in those days.
The auction was conducted on the actual ice surface. The staff of Dixie Arena did not remove the ice, but rather the surface was covered with tarpaulins and then boards were laid on top of the tarps. The cars would be driven in and out of the arena from the ice level doors at the south end. The vehicles were driven to the north end of the arena where the auctioneer would start the bids, then past the elevated booth and on to the exit. There were certain hazards for people standing on the boards. Sometimes a vehicle would spin its wheels and cause the boards under the vehicle’s wheels to shift. When that happened, the dealers standing on those boards would find themselves laying flat on the ice. Dixie’s assistant manager, Ron Rutledge, had to redress the surface because the vehicles left muddy tracks on the ice.