1966 Buick Special Wildcat manufactured in Oshawa.Yvonne Berg
Tucked away in a dark corner of a former 1920s car dealership is one of the world's first gas/electric hybrids, the 1914 Galt.
Nearby is a 1908 Tudhope-McIntyre built in Orillia, a Gray Dort made in Chatham, a Durant put together in Toronto's Leaside, a 1910 McKay from Nova Scotia, a Manic GT from Quebec and a 1950 Oldsmobile Futuramic Torpedo Back built in a plant just down the street.
Welcome to the Canadian Automotive Museum.
Go inside the Canadian Automotive Museum featuring a treasure trove of historical automobiles
Stroll the narrow-plank hardwood aisles that separate the densely packed denizens of the museum's treasure trove of ancient automobiles and you'll find another 20 or so cars with made-in-Canada stamps on their makers' plates.
They provide a distinctly Canadian focus for a diverse collection of some 70 automobiles, trucks and motorcycles, plus a garage-sale assortment of bicycles, tools, TVs, radios, literature and photographs relating to periods in which those vehicles provided mobility, entertainment and excitement for generations of Canadians.
"We're trying to tell the story of the automobile and its impact on Canada," says Jack Innes, who has kept an enthusiastic eye on the collection for so long now he's working under the second new roof installed on the building during his tenure.
Innes and his nine-man board of directors, assisted by two-dozen or so volunteers, work to accomplish its goals despite a budget with the buoyancy of a deflated inner tube. It barely stays afloat but even in Oshawa - Canada's historic car capital - the municipal government provides no support and quibbles over minor tax breaks.
But the museum, founded in the early 1960s by a group of Oshawa businessmen, struggles on, operated as a charitable organization and relies on an endowment and donations, and a $5 entry fee, to keep the lights on and the doors open - which they are every day but Christmas.
And its collection continues to grow thanks to donations which, in the past year have included a 1937 Buick Convertible Phaeton and a 1947 Cadillac convertible.
Another recent arrival is a 1988 Rolls-Royce Silver Spur, which brings the number of Rollers on display to five and extends that branch of the car "story" from the 1912 Silver Ghost originally owned by Toronto's Lady Eaton to near the time when the company was no longer under British ownership.
Adding to the eclectic mix is a recently arrived 1978 Panther, a British-built replica of the XK120 Jaguar. It's not historically significant, but speaks to the rich vein of enthusiasm that has always been a part of the industry.
Other museum highlights:
- A Canadian-built (in Walkerville, Ont.) 1909 Ford Model T and a pair of those magnificent early Rolls-Royces: Lady Eaton's car and a 1914 Silver Ghost Five Passenger Tourer.
- A 1908 Tudhope-McIntyre, built in Orillia by former blacksmith-and-wheelwright-turned-carriage-maker William Tudhope. He built the "high-wheeler" style chassis and body and fitted it with U.S.-sourced mechanical components. Only 514 were built before production ceased.
- The Gray Dort, built between 1915-25 by former carriage builder Robert Galt. Galt's company built bodies for Walkerville-built Model Ts prior to it obtaining a license to build the U.S. Dort, of which the company produced 26,000.
- The 1918 Chevrolet Snowmobile. Snow and poor roads were major obstacles faced by Canadian pioneer motorists and this was one solution.
- The 1926 Willys Whippet Coupe. Built in Toronto after U.S. auto maker Willys purchased a pioneering Canadian make called the Russell, the plant produced cars for local consumption and export to commonwealth countries until it closed in 1933.
- A 1957 Dodge Regent two-door hard top and a 1966 Buick Special Wildcat. Windsor-built, the Regent typifies the North American styling of that decade, while the Oshawa-manufactured Wildcat represents cars Canadians drove a decade later.
- The 1971 Manic GT. It's a rare reminder of a gutsy attempt to produce a Canadian sports car by Montreal's Jacques About. The car employed Renault mechanical components with a locally produced fibreglass body, but production difficulties saw only 160 built in 1970-71 before the project ran out of gas.
Also included in this remarkable collection are a 1926 Bentley 3L Speed Model, a 1923 Prince Henry Vauxhall, a 1930 Henderson '4' motorcycle, a 1926 Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A Dual Cowl Phaeton, a 1928 Hispano Suiza H6B 7 Passenger Limousine, a 1931 Zagato-bodied Alfa Romeo 1750 Gran Sport, a 1926 Type 37 Bugatti and a 1926 Ahrens-Fox fire truck.
Innes, a lifelong car enthusiast who managed a local company and then had a business supplying cars to the motion picture industry (he owned 300 vehicles at one time) became involved in the museum as a volunteer in the early 1970s.
He remains involved because he says it's important that the museum continue its role to preserve vehicles as historic links to Canada's automotive past for future generations.
The Canadian Automotive Museum is located at 99 Simcoe Street South (just north of Highway 401) and is open from 9-5 p.m. on weekdays and 10-6 p.m. on weekends. For information, call 905-576-1222.