Canadian Built Cars

[5219]

Back around 1969, I was in Toronto and remember seeing a junior series late thirties Packard coupe in a gas station. The hubcaps looked like the usual Packard hubcaps except that they said "Packard Canada" on them. Did Packard build cars in Canada before the war? I have always wondered.

[arcticbuicks]

There used to be a Packard factory in Windsor Ontario 

[8E45E]

3 hours ago, 5219 said:

Back around 1969, I was in Toronto and remember seeing a junior series late thirties Packard coupe in a gas station. The hubcaps looked like the usual Packard hubcaps except that they said "Packard Canada" on them. Did Packard build cars in Canada before the war? I have always wondered.

Like this?

 

Packard assembled cars in Windsor from 1931 through 1939.

 

Craig

[8E45E]

4 hours ago, 1912Staver said:

 

I never had a CCM " muscle bike " when I was young, but a number of friends did.

I do have one of these . A 1939 CCM Road Racer. One step down from a Flyer which was a true track racing bicycle. The road racer was intended as a road going lightweight in the English style. It's a nice bike but a bit too small for me to ride much. 

 

 

I bet the pedal sprocket on both the '39 Road Racer and '70 Mustang Marauder have the have the same part number!!

 

Craig

[1912Staver]

The Mustangs used a one piece crank ; similar to many Schwinn, cheaper BMX's  and the cheaper CCM's . The better quality CCM's used what was called the Triplex crank. As far as I know this style is a purely CCM design. But the Road Racer and some Flyers used a conventional British bottom bracket and crankset. The sprocket is a CCM part with the logo part of the sprocket punching , but it mounts to the crank arm with 5 small machine screws. This was a standard pattern for track racing bikes and was used by British , French, Italian and probably other manufacturers of racing bicycle parts. The sprockets were available with numerous tooth counts and in both regular tooth pattern and  " skip tooth " form for track racing  " block chain ". No not that block chain. I have a bunch of different tooth count sprockets I got from a former Flyer owner. He sold the bike years ago, but still had several sprockets hanging on a nail in his basement.

[Skvitt]

There is one Canadian built for sale right now:

Description

1919 FWD Model B. Built in Kitchener Ontario. Factory restored and updated. Very nice condition. Fully operational. 4 cylinder Wisconsin T-Head engine and 3 speed transmission. Sheet metal, undercarriage and frame show no signs of previous rust. I doubt that this truck was stored outside. No evidence or rust pitting anywhere. Wooden flatbed with removable stake sides. Very well crafted period correct winter cabin, that removes easily for summer use. This truck was owned by FWD Canada until 1993 and was sold upon the closing of the Canadian operation. It has had one family ownership from 1993-2021. Looking for the best offer. Located In Acton Ont.

[TAKerry]

I like the responses of all of the odd balls I have never heard of. Figured there might be some. I know that GM built cars there as well as Studebaker and the Mclaughlin Buicks. Those dont count in my original intent. I was thinking built and established in the GWN.

[1912Staver]

If that is your main interest then as others have suggested , get a copy of " Cars of Canada ". There were a number of "purely Canadian " cars built, but only a handful { Russel , Brooks } made any significant impact in the automobile market. Cars of Canada is very well researched , and tells the story of virtually every Canadian make and attempt at building a car for the commercial market.

[coachJC]

Here is a pic of the 1912 Tudhope the City of Orillia owns. I believe this car was shown at Hershey around 2012. I have included an article about the car including some info about the origins of the company in Orillia Ontario Canada below

 

 

1912 Tudhope: The pride of Orillia

BOB ENGLISH

SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL

PUBLISHED AUGUST 17, 2012

This article was published more than 9 years ago. Some information may no longer be current.

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Humorist Stephen Leacock doesn't appear to have been one of Canada's early "car-guys" or he'd surely have managed to work the rescue of an early auto from muddy axle-deep ruts by inept Mariposa townies into his comedic classic Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town a century ago.

He certainly wouldn't have lacked for inspiration. Almost 100 Canadian car makes were introduced in the early 20th century, including the Tudhope in Orillia, Ont., the town Leacock in part based fictional Mariposa and its residents on.

None of these early ventures survived, but examples of the cars they produced remain to recall those heady pioneering days. Among them are a trio of Tudhopes that will share top billing with literary legend Leacock in this weekend's Sunshine City Festival in Orillia whose actual place in the sun is on Lake Simcoe, 100-kilometres or so north of Toronto.

Two of the Tudhopes will celebrate their 100th anniversaries as part of the city's annual car show Saturday, which is expected to line the main street with more than 400 cars dating back to the earliest days of the last century.

Other events, which get underway Friday and conclude Sunday, are tied to the 1912 publication of Leacock's comedic literary work and include a period fashion show and a heritage carnival.

Not only is there no mention by Leacock of Tudhopes trundling around streets of Mariposa, but apparently no record of his driving or even having had a ride in one. But with the first appearing in the fall of 1908, he was almost certainly among the locals interested in this foray into automobile fabrication by the local carriage works.

Tudhope Carriage Co. had been created in the 1800s by blacksmith and wheelwright William Tudhope. By the early 1900s, its management – led by his son James. B. Tudhope – began to see the inevitability of tire tracks replacing hoofprints and that joining this new-fangled transportation trend seemed a better idea than being run over by it.

Tudhope decided to build a car of his own and, for its twin-cylinder air-cooled engine, two-speed transmission and chain drive, turned to W.H. McIntyre Co. of Auburn, Indiana, incorporating them into a buggy-like high-wheeler with a rudimentary body that was being tested by the end of the summer of 1908.

Production began soon after and Tudhope-McIntyres, priced at about $550, were sold across Canada through the company's network of carriage dealers – Bell Telephone Co. was an early customer. But this early success didn't last long.

Fire gutted the factory in 1909, and although it was promptly rebuilt and began turning out carriages again, Tudhope felt a more modern car was needed, and reached an agreement with Metzger Motor Car Co. of Detroit to produce a version of its up-to-date Everitt 30.

 

To build it, he established Tudhope Motor Co. and the 1911 models that emerged from this new undertaking were sold starting at about $1,500 under the Everitt 30 and Everitt-Tudhope names and were powered by four- and six-cylinder engines.

In mid-1912, Tudhope's plans were sideswiped by a takeover of Metzger and the termination of the agreement. Tudhope carried on and by 1913 was offering updates such as electric lighting and a starter on cars sold under the Tudhope name alone, but their high-ish price, stiff competition and resultant slow sales meant all was not well financially.

Tudhope was taken over by a Walkerville, Ont., group, headed by local Studebaker plant manager Frank Fisher and the brand name changed to Fisher, although the cars were still built in Orillia. This effort wasn't to last long either and, with the start of the First World War in 1914, car production ended, the plant using up the last parts to produce ambulances.

Tudhope still made carriages, and in the mid-teens bought McLaughlin Carriage Works allowing "Colonel Sam" to concentrate on building McLaughlin Chevrolets before becoming General Motors of Canada.

Just over 500 Tudhope-McIntyres and perhaps a couple of thousand of the later Tudhopes were built, making it remarkable that any have survived. That three are located in Orillia – one still linked to the Tudhope family and the others owned by the Orillia Heritage Centre – is largely due to the efforts of the Smith family.

Relating that tale is retired school principal and long-time vintage car enthusiast John Smith, chair of the heritage organization that owns the 1909 Tudhope-McIntyre and one of the 1912 Tudhopes. The other is in the care of Tim Spencer of Lions Head, a great-grandson of J.B. Tudhope.

Smith says his father, an early old car enthusiast, acquired the 1909 from the original bachelor-farmer owners in 1950 and sold it in the 1980s to an Orillia-expat in British Columbia whose father had worked for Tudhopes back in the day. Smith and the heritage group managed to repatriate it about three years ago and it's now chuffing along Orillia streets once again.

Smith's father also had a 1912 Tudhope and, as part of the scaling-down of the family collection, sold it to the then-fledgling heritage group. But a decade later his other son, Paul, came across a basket-case Tudhope in Moose Jaw and the Smith family were Tudhope owners once again.

It was soon restored to show-winning condition and, after a deal from which Smith says everybody emerged winners, it is this car that now belongs to the heritage centre group, with its original 1912 now a cherished member of the Spencer/Tudhope clan.

The two 1912 Tudhopes, just 100 serial numbers apart in age, plus the 1909 Tudhope-McIntyre will be on display in Orillia's Couchiching Beach Park for the official celebration of their first century.

globedrive@globeandmail.com

Edited February 7, 2022 by coachJC (see edit history)

[8E45E]

3 hours ago, 1912Staver said:

If that is your main interest then as others have suggested , get a copy of " Cars of Canada ". There were a number of "purely Canadian " cars built, but only a handful { Russel , Brooks } made any significant impact in the automobile market. Cars of Canada is very well researched , and tells the story of virtually every Canadian make and attempt at building a car for the commercial market.

That is one book I would like to see reprinted, as well as "A Great Way To Go-The Automobile In Canada" by Robert Collins.  https://www.abebooks.com/first-edition/Great-Way-Go-Automobile-Canada-Collins/30895896347/bd

 

Craig

[1912Staver]

My local library had a copy in  the reference section. I photo copied all the McLaughlin section for my home use. But I finally bought a copy off the bay for not bad a price.

[Joe in Canada]

This is something most do not realize is  General Motors of Canada had built Cadillac's from 1923 to 1936 and LaSalles from 1927 until 1935 in Oshawa. 

[PFindlay]

2 hours ago, 8E45E said:

as well as "A Great Way To Go-The Automobile In Canada" by Robert Collins.

I have a spare copy of this book if anyone would like to buy it.  Peter

[Ed Luddy]

 

When I was selling my Hamilton Ontario Canada built 1966 Studebaker Commander I was getting little response and silly low ball offers. So after a few re postings of my ad got a call from a chap in Kingston Ontario area who runs a resto-rod shop. At first I wasn't too keen on dealing with a rod shop guy until he told me the whole story.

 He was inquiring about my car for a very specific reason. I kinda brushed him off at first because I knew my car wasn't sold in Canada when new. It was shipped to a dealer in Chicago. I had documents and pictures to prove that. I thought maybe he wanted to buy it on the cheap and do some mod's to it ala LS Chevy, etc.

 Turns out his client was a young lad of 17 back in 1966 who worked the assembly line at Studebaker Canada. He asked me if my car was an original 194 c.i. Chevrolet powered car which it was. We always called them "McKinnon's" as that's the St. Catherines Ontario plant that produced the engines sold to Studebaker. His client's family were Studebaker employee's for at least 2 generations and he worked with his uncle until the day the plant closed. Most of the line workers knew of the impending demise of the plant and moved on to other jobs, but he stuck with it til the end. He worked on the 6 cylinder line building the last of the cars and wanted to know the serial number of my car. When I sent the picture of the VIN plate and some other info he said for sure he worked on the line that built it and  by that time it was a scrounging operation to find all the parts on a day to day basis!

 So he did buy it for a lot less than I had spent on it but that was too cool of a story to not sell it to him. I sure would like to see it back on the road some day.

 It was a running, driving car and I did get it go on the trailer under it's own power the day it left.

 

[Jim Skelly]

great story, Ed!

[8E45E]

10 hours ago, Ed Luddy said:

 Turns out his client was a young lad of 17 back in 1966 who worked the assembly line at Studebaker Canada.

That 'young lad' will be 73 this year if he isn't already.  I wonder if he also helped assemble my '66 Commander which has the larger 230 'Super Skybolt' six cylinder Chev engine.  As per the Production Order, the final assembly date was February 14th, 1966, Valentine's day.  

 

Craig

[Ed Luddy]

9 hours ago, 8E45E said:

That 'young lad' will be 73 this year if he isn't already.  I wonder if he also helped assemble my '66 Commander which has the larger 230 'Super Skybolt' six cylinder Chev engine.  As per the Production Order, the final assembly date was February 14th, 1966, Valentine's day.  

 

Craig

Yes he's 73. He wanted a 6 cylinder for sure. The 3 speed B-W manual with working overdrive probably helped. It could have used the bigger 230 or even better. a 250 transplant! The 194 didn't have much power.

[Bloo]

I had one with a 230 and an automatic. I had intentions of restoring it, but it was really far gone. In the end I believe it was cut up by the next owner to fix a 66 Daytona that looked nice but was full of rust. I'd like another someday. This time I'll hold out for a Commander with 283 and Overdrive in some kind of a good color. I doubt that exists. Studebaker did build a very few. I saw one on Craigs a few years ago that had been 283 and overdrive. It had a 350 and an automatic in it. I have also seen a 66 Commander "Gasser". WTF? Out of all the lark bodies floating around out there why these? They look about like the others but hardly any still exist.