History Canadian Car History

I grew up in Minnesota and as a kid saw various Canadian cars on the road and was completely mixed-up as they were trimmed differently from the US versions.

A question that I hope can get answered from our friends to the north:

What was the general reason Ford, GM and Chrysler of Canada had the different styling in the 1950s? As example, the "Plodges" and the Meteor and the Beaumonts? Was it to do with Canada being able to export cars to other parts of the world w/o tariffs or some other reason for Canadian content? I've never really read or heard the specific reason all three mfgs did the different styling.

I appreciate your replies greatly.

All the best,

James Maxwell

 

I am not old enough to fully answer everything...I'm 32. But it seems to me that the Acadian and Beaumont, Mercury Pickup, GMC etc. were merely a way to sell the brands as "Canadian" cars...We also had our own plants up here once upon a time, so we did our own thing.

 

I was wondering about this for years as well. Never read anything about it so i just came up with my own reasons why.I think it's just a identity thing. As here in Canada with the Meteors, Beaumonts, Acadians, etc. Made in Canada. Maybe the government made the big corporations do it. There even a Maple Leaf truck. Gm i think. I'm most certain the government said , if you want to open up shop here you have to build Canadian. Why else would they retool.

 

Several factors entered into it.

1) There were import duties on American cars sent to Canada.

2) There were no import duties between British Commonwealth countries, including Canada, Great Britain, Australia, South Africa, Bermuda etc

3) Canada is bigger than the US but only has 1/10 the population.

So: All the American car makers set up factories or assembly plants in Canada to dodge the taxes.

But, they only sold about 1/10 as many cars as in the US. This made it hard to offer the same number of models.

Also, Canada was never as rich as the US. The average Canadian car buyer had less money to spend than his American counterpart.

They got around these issues by making special models by "badge engineering" in other words, the same car with different trim.

Dodge dealers got a Plymouth with Dodge trim and Dodge engine. This was cheaper than making both Dodge and Plymouth completely different and made the Canadian Dodge a little cheaper.

Mercury dealers got the Meteor, a Ford in Mercury trim with Mercury engine. More expensive than a Ford, but cheaper than a Mercury. They also got a Mercury pickup truck which was a Ford with Merc trim and engine. So, if the nearest Ford dealer was 50 miles away the Mercury dealer covered the market.

Ford dealers got the Monarch which was a Mercury in different trim. In case the Mercury dealer was 50 miles away.

Canadian Pontiac was a Chev in Pontiac trim with Chev engine, trans and chassis. Cheaper than a real Pontiac but nicer than a Chev. In some years Pontiac was Canada's best selling car, outselling Chevrolet.

Then came the Auto Pact (1966). The politicians finally clued in that it did not make sense to have 2 factories a few miles apart, making the same car.

Under the Auto Pact a car company can import American made cars and parts duty free as long as the export an equal value of Canadian made cars and parts to the US.

This is why you may see a "made in Canada" Dodge minivan, Chev van, or car. Every time you buy a Canadian made vehicle you allow a Canadian to buy an American made vehicle. They figure it all out carefully so they don't have to pay a tax.

A fair exchange is fair. Don't you wish the Japanese had to buy a Ford or a Buick for every Toyota they sold in the US?

So, over the years the big car makers have done various things in Canada. Model Ts in Canada had doors on both sides, in the US they only had doors on one side. This was to make right hand drive or left hand drive easier to make.

Studebaker made cars in Hamilton Ontario 3 years after they shut down the South Bend factory. The Canadian plant, being smaller, could make a smaller number of cars at a profit. This is why the last Studebakers had Chev engines. Hamilton had no engine foundry, they used engines imported from South Bend. When South Bend closed they found engines from McKinnon Industries, long time supplier of engines to Chev and Pontiac.

Durant cars were made in Leaside near Toronto. They turned out a few 1932 models a year after Durant stopped production in the US.

Packard had a Canadian factory in the thirties. In their ads they said the Packard was 70% Canadian made and mentioned upholstery, glass, paint, rubber parts and assembly. But the engine, chassis and body were made in Detroit and shipped to Canada in pieces.

There were a few unique Canadian cars. None were made in large numbers.

One unusual deal that deserves mention is the McLaughlin Buick. McLaughlin was an old line carriage maker in Oshawa Ontario, they started in business in 1867. By 1900 they were the biggest carriage maker in the British Empire, meaning the biggest in the world outside the US.

About 1910 they decided they should get into the car business. The McLaughlin brothers sought out their old friend William Durant, head of General Motors, for advice. They knew him from the old days when he was at the Flint Carriage Works.

Durant advised them that it would take a year to 2 years to develop their own car, and that he could sell them the well proven Buick chassis which would allow them to make a good car right away.

They took him up and began making cars in 1912, with Buick chassis and bodies of their own design and manufacture. These differed from American Buicks significantly.

Eventually General Motors bought out McLaughlin and it became General Motors of Canada. The last McLaughlin Buick was a 1938 model. By that time the mass produced all steel body meant they were practically the same as any other Buick.

This also means, since the demise of Studebaker, that General Motors of Canada is the world's oldest vehicle maker, predating Mercedes Benz by 19 years and Rolls Royce by 36.

 

Beaumonts (Chevelle) and Acadians (Chevy II) were to give Pontiac dealers something to sell when they could not get Tempests. The Tempest, Cutlass, and Buick Special were never made in Canada.

Some GTOs and Firebirds with real Pontiac engines were imported but this was after the Auto Pact took effect.

 

Some of the most expensive cars like Cadillac, Buick, Lincoln and Chrysler were not made in Canada and had to be imported. This made them more expensive than in the US but it was not worth tooling up for a few hundred luxury cars per year, and the higher price did not matter so much on the costlier models.

 

Great information Rusty O'Toole!!

My 327 with Camel Humps came factory in a 65 Canadian Pontiac Parisienne. The only difference is the 327 sticker on the valve covers says Pontiac instead of Chevrolet.


Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

The guy who made the deal with Durant was Colonel Sam McLaughlin, son of the founder of the company. He took over the company and ran it until he died at 103.

His brother decided to move to New York about the time Prohibition started. He made good with a little soda company called Canada Dry Ginger Ale.

 

Rusty has it going on! Thank you to all for the info, great stuff!

And the "Fargo" trucks were Dodges for the Chrysler / Plymouth dealers?

It's all interesting to me, love to see the old brochures and photos.

 

Outstanding.....great history lesson.

 

Thanks for your history lesson, Rusty. It all makes sense now!

 

Rusty's post is a great example of how Great this place is, Knowledge like this that is freely shared is invaluable, and greatly appreciated!

 

Rusty, I have to make one correction with you, The METEORS did not come with Mercury engines they were the 239 Ford Flat heads. Larry

 

Have you ever noticed how auto manufaturers now are all downsized (gm runs the same engines in Pontiacs, Oldsmobiles, Buicks. All manufacturers building crossover vehicles etc. etc.). We just jumped on that crossover bandwagon early ---trendsetters you might say. HAHAHA

It actual fact, there is some good info here, thanks to a bunch of you all.

 

Yes, Fargo was made in Canada 1936 - 1972 as a Dodge truck for Chrysler/Plymouth. They made a full line of trucks from 1/2 ton to big rig.

 

Wow thanks to all for the info, the Canadian-spec cars seemed to be exported quite a bit too, some from overseas that grew up around them must have thought the USA versions were strange if they ever visited the States!

 

I have a '72 Pontiac Grandville with a 455 that came out of Virgina before I got it, that was made in Canada, after the pact of course. But one footnote to all this Canada stuff is it showed all the carmakers they could sell very similar looking cars badged as each make and still make money, which is why by the 1980s they'd look alike across multiple divisions.

Another footnote is when Pontiac inexplicably dropped all their full size cars in 1982, putting the Bonneville name on the mid-size car that had been the LeMans, dealers still had people who wanted a full size Pontiac - so they imported Canada only Parisienne sedans, basically a re-badged Chevy Caprice. They sold so well that in 1984 the car was offered as an official US model, even re-using 1981 US tooling for taillights. The station wagon lasted through 1989.

 

Appreciate all the fantastic info, opinions and facts! The one thnig that is for certain, for some unknown reason the Fords were sure "heavy handed" styling wise!

 

So this would explain the 69 gto I saw at a michigan car show with what looked like a factory fit big block chevy?

 

GTOs were never made in Canada, all came from the US and had American Pontiac engines. It is fairly easy to bolt a Chev engine into a GTO using all factory parts if you know the ropes.

 

The story the owner gave was that in 1969 due to some malady ,pontiac was unable to produce engines( might have been a strike), so they used 396 big blocks until the problem subsided.
After reading this thread it ocured that maybe he was trying to pass off a canadian lemans dressed up like a gto.

Who knows?

The Canadian history lesson was
interesting.
Thanks guys

 

This is another reason why we had the Beaumont it was a sort of GTO replacement . Basically it was a Chevelle with the same engine options with a GTO dash ,front and rear styling treatment, sold at Pontiac dealers without having any actual Pontiac badges on it.

 

My all time favourite all Canadian car is the 64 Pontiac custom sport hardtop with a factory equipped 425 horse dual quad 409 4 spd..... or maybe its a 59 Pontiac Parisienne bubble top with a 348 tri power and a 4 speed ......yeeah

 

I've lusted after a 58 Pontiac sedan delivery for as long as I can remember !

 

I would argue that you could not get a factory installed 4 speed in Canada until 1963 in a Passenger car be it a Chevrolet or Pontiac. I know for sure you could not get a factory installed 409 engine in a Chevrolet or Pontiac until 1963 in Canada. None of the high performance solid lifter 348 engines were factory installed in Canada either-they would have been imported US cars. There are many more interesting Canadian vs USA differences with automobiles. Up until the 80's there was a dark blue 64 Pontiac Custom Sport Hardtop with a 409-425 hp 4 speed that I saw every summer.

 

I have a 1961 Canadian Pontiac brochure (in French, no less) and the best you could do that year was a 348 with a 3 speed.

 

So yes there was such a car as a 64 custom sport 425 hp 409 4 spd ......a friend of mine has a 63 custom sport 340hp 409 4 spd custom sport convert....... I believe there was less than 10 of both of these.... and if you couldn't get a factory 4 spd in 59 you could have one dealer installed behind your 348.... another very cool Pontiac I saw not too long ago was a 58 parisienne convert with a 348 tri power an 2 spd powerglide very rare and beautiful car

 

wish I had this information before I bought my '55 Pontiac thinking that its the sister to the '55 Chevy. I would have held out for a Canadian built one instead.

 

since this thread is about canadian built cars were the mercury's in 1950 built in Hamilton Ontario? wondering if that's the origin of the "H" in the V.I.N. numbers? wonder why they used screws instead of rivits to attach vin plates on mercury and fords in 1950?

 

Well tell that to Irving Gill in Bowmanville Ont. He had a 62 SS 409 that won Canadian Super Stock straight out of the showroom. Later the engine got pulled and put in a 55 Chev B Gasser that he ran for several years!