Published: October 28, 2015, 6:00 AM
Updated: November 5, 2018, 4:11 PM
Cars of the Canadian Automotive Museum
The Canadian Automotive Museum houses a diverse and eclectic collection of vehicles.
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Cars of the Canadian Automotive Museum
Rare Canadian cars, like this modified 1918 Chevrolet with snowmobile conversion are the jewels of the museum's collection.
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Canadian Automotive Mueum
The museum, located in Oshawa, Ontario, was originally a General Motors dealership built in the 1920s. Among its original features is a working elevator used to transfer vehicles to and from the second floor. The museum was founded in 1962 by a group of Oshawa businessmen by way of the Oshawa Chamber of Commerce.
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Among the first cars to be seen on entering the museum is this 1909 Kennedy, built by one of many early Canadian auto manufacturers that failed to survive for long. Kennedy cars were built for just two years, 1909 and 1910, in what is now the Cambridge area of Ontario, where Toyota currently builds cars.
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1903 Redpath
The oldest Canadian car in the Museum is this 1903 Redpath Messenger, manufactured in Kitchener, Ontario. It featured a wooden carriage body, a one-cylinder engine with shaft drive and a two-speed transmission and had the distinction of being the first automobile known to have a tilt steering wheel. The company folded in 1905 after building several cars.
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1971 Manic GT
At the other end of the Canadian-car time scale, this 1971 Manic GT was built in Granby, Quebec. The two-seat, rear-engine sports car, which featured a fibreglass body on Renault 10 running gear, was produced from 1969 to 1971, to be sold by Renault dealers in Canada.
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1914 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost
While Canadian cars are at the heart of the collection, it features non-Canadian models as a well, including several Rolls-Royce such as this stately 1914 Silver Ghost which was used for a Royal Tour of Quebec by the Prince of Wales in 1919. It was part of a multi-car donation to the museum from The McDougald Collection by the family of Canadian financier John A. "Bud" McDougald.
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1926 Isotta Fraschini
This 1926 Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A Dual Cowl Phaeton also was part of the The McDougald Collection. The Italian-built luxury cars, which were rivals to Roll-Royce, appeared frequently in movies of the day and were the private cars of many movie stars.
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1918 Packard Twin Six
Representing American luxury cars is this 1918 Packard Twin Six 3-25 Phaeton. It was powered by a 454-cubic-inch (7.4-litre), 90-horsepower V-12 engine!
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1927 Bugatti Type 37
European sports cars in the collection include a 1937 Bugatti Type 37 roadster - the road-going version of the iconic Type 35 race car. This car was part of the Art and the Automobile classic car exhibit at the 2015 Canadian International Auto Show.
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1927 Bugatti Type 37 and 1931 Alfa Romeo 1750 Gran Sport
Behind the Bugatti in this photo is a 1931 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Gran Sport sports car, and behind it a 1928 Hispano Suiza H6B - both exceedingly rare and valuable cars. The Alfa was the dominant sports-racing car of its day. Hispano Suiza was a Spanish automotive and engineering firm, known for its luxury cars, although much of its production in the '20s was in France.
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1931 Alfa Romeo 1750 Gran Sport and 1928 Hispano Suiza H6B
The Alfa was the dominant sports-racing car of its day. Hispano Suiza was a Spanish automotive and engineering firm, known for its luxury cars, although much of its production in the '20s was in France.
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1921 Kissel "Gold Bug"
This American sports car of its day, the 1921 Kissel 6-45 Speedster, commonly called the "Gold Bug," featured a pull-out "mother-in-law" seat over the running board.
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1937 Buick Roadmaster Convertible Phaeton
This 1937 Buick Roadmaster Series 80 Convertible Phaeton was one of 1,155 of this model built in the U.S. but another 115 were built in Canada, in Oshawa. Only 27 of the total number are known to exist today.
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1902 Orient Buckboard
The oldest car in the museum is this 1902 Orient Buckboard, built by the Waltham Manufacturing Company of Waltham, Masachuetts. Little more than a buggy with an engine, it was the simplest and lowest-priced automobile available at the time.
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1909 Ford Model T - Made in Canada
Unlike the cars found in many museums, those in the CAM, like this Canadian-built Ford Model T, are not restored to better-than-new condition. This one is believed to be the earliest still-existing Model T built in Canada.
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1912 McLaughlin
Not surprisingly, given its location in the town that is the home of General Motors of Canada, the McLaughlin brand has a prominent place in the museum. R.S. 'Sam' McLaughlin was the founder of the McLaughlin Motor Car Company of Canada, which evolved from the McLaughlin Carriage Company and later became General Motors of Canada.
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1910 Tudhope-McIntyre
One of McLaughlin's greatest competitors, both in its carriage and early automobile markets, was the Tudhope Carriage Company of Orillia, Ontario. Like McLaughlin, Tudhope introduced its first car in 1908, using running gear from the McIntyre company of Auburn, Indiana. After a fire destroyed Tudhope's plant in 1909, the company tried to re-establish a car business but ultimately returned to carriage production after buying McLaughlin Carriage.
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1910 McKay
Another Canadian car, the McKay, was built by the Nova Scotia Carriage and Car Company of Kentville, NS, beginning in 1910. It used an American Buda engine and was intended to compete at the Packard price level, but the company succumbed in 1913 after moving to Amherst.
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1922 McLaughlin-Buick
In the foreground is an Oshawa-built 1922 McLaughlin-Buick seven-passenger Touring car, with a 1931 McLaughlin-Buick sedan in the background.
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1925 Brooks Steamer
This 1925 Brooks Steamer, built in Stratford, Ontario by Brooks Steam Motors, was the only steam car produced in Canada. That's the steam boiler, which was heated by kerosene, that's visible under the hood. Introduced to the market only in 1923, at the very end of the steam era, it had little chance of success. The business was later determined to be a stock swindle.
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1930 Marquette
This 1930 Marquette, displayed in barn-find conditions, was a Buick sub-brand, like La Salle for Cadillac and Viking for Oldsmobile. Although built in Canada, it was not exclusively Canadian as Marquettes were also built i the U.S.
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1934 McLaughlin-Buick Sport Coupe
McLaughlin-Buicks carried the joint name until production was halted for WWII. This 1934 McLaughlin-Buick Sport Coupe heralded a change in automotive style from the upright lines of the past two decades to the more streamlined look of the art deco era.
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1949 Mercury Meteor
This 1949 Mercury Meteor, which is essentially a Ford with different grille and trim, was introduced as a unique Canadian model to give Mercury dealers in Canada a lower priced car to compete at the entry level. The Mercury prefix would later be dropped and the brand would continue as just Meteor.
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1957 Dodge Regent
The 1957 Dodge Regent was a Canadian model with Dodge front-end styling on a Plymouth, to give Dodge-DeSoto dealers a low-priced entry model, similar to the Meteor for Mercury dealers. In the U.S. the Dodge was a mid-priced nameplate.
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Canadian Automotive Museum
The Canadian Automotive Museum is located at 66 Simcoe Street in Oshawa, Ontario. More information about the museum, including opening hours, can be found at canadianautomotivemuseum.com.
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