November 17, 2025 • 35 mins
Unlock the secrets of one of Canada's most influential automotive dynasties, where innovation and ambition intertwined to shape the industry as we know it. Tune in to hear the remarkable origins of McLaughlin Motors, beginning with Robert McLaughlin's groundbreaking work in 1867, the same year Canada was officially born. Discover how his patented fifth wheel mechanism not only set a new standard for comfort and safety in carriages but also earned his business an international reputation for excellence.
Everett J.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's a company that we've talked about in
our podcast many times and it's one of the
founding automotive companies of my home
country of Canada.
Hell, it was one of the biggest automotive
manufacturers in the province of Ontario
until they later became part of General
Motors.
Their son is the reason why William C
Durant managed to get back onto the board
(00:21):
of General Motors and take it over to make
it into what it is.
Sam did that, but it all started with one
man, Robert, his father.
Now the company we're talking about bears
their name.
It originally started out as a carriage
company.
Today, AutoLooks is going to be taking a look
back at one of the founding automotive
corporations in the country of Canada.
(00:41):
We're going to be taking a look at
McLaughlin Motors.
Welcome back to the AutoLooks Podcast.
I am your host, as always, the doctor to
the automotive industry, Mr. Everett Jay,
coming to you from our host website at
(01:01):
AutoLooks.net.
If you haven't been there, stop by, check
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Read some of the reviews, check out some of
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Go to the Corporate Links website page.
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(01:29):
If you'd like to get in touch with us, send
us an email over at email@autolooks.net.
So, like I said in the beginning,
McLaughlin Motors it didn't start out
producing automobiles.
No, they started long before that, nearly
20 years before the automobile started to
take off.
And the automotive division of it wouldn't
even exist for nearly 40 years from its
original inception.
To find out how McLaughlin Motors even got
here, you have to go back to its original
founder, Robert McLaughlin, born in
(01:50):
Cavan township of Upper Canada, essentially
along the St Lawrence Seaway, where his
father, an Irish immigrant, managed to make
their way up the St Lawrence.
They eventually got to Upper Canada,
Cavan township and decided to settle and
become farmers.
His father owned a whole bunch of plots of
land and John would eventually have to move.
(02:11):
They eventually wound up in Darlington
Township with his family Roberts by the
year 1864, he would meet his wife.
From there they would go on to create their
own farm and with it move to Enniskillen,
Ontario, 20 kilometers northeast of Oshawa.
But he learned something while being a
farmer it's not easy getting in and around
(02:32):
and with that he saw a need, a need for
cutters and carriages.
Especially living in Canada, we need
cutters.
And what's a cutter, as you say?
Well, I'll give you a hint.
Santa Claus rides around a little.
Everybody calls them sleighs, but grand old
country Canada, they are cutters.
That's what their actual name were.
Now, sleighs get you in and around, they're
(02:53):
good for fun, but cutters are basically the
carriages for the wintertime, carriages on
skis.
They get you back and forth, ross,
essentially cutting across farmer's fields.
Make it nice and easy.
Robert started his own cutter and carriage
business in 1867.
(03:14):
He essentially built his wagons and cutters
in an old blacksmith shop.
He had a knack for quality.
As his father immigrated to Canada he
wanted to make sure everything was always
perfect, and Robert stood by that old
sentiment.
He made everything perfect and with it he
began to grow.
Like we said, we had a great knack for
quality.
He eventually becomes famous for his work.
(03:36):
Now he's coming from the dominion of Canada,
1867.
He basically starts McLaughlin Motors the
year Canada becomes its own country, in
1867.
No longer being Upper Canada, being Canada
and eventually becoming the province of
Ontario.
From his little shop he grows and in nine
years, by 1876, he has to move.
(03:59):
His cutters and carriages are amazing and
he's slowly building up to be one of the
top distributors of cutters and carriages
are amazing.
And he's slowly building up to be one of
the top distributors of cutters and
carriages and suppliers to the British
Commonwealth.
You would find his cutters and carriages
all across the Commonwealth nations,
whether it be Great Britain, Australia,
Hong Kong, India or even in the home
country of Canada.
(04:19):
Robert was well known for his amazing tuned
to quality.
Now, in 1876, like you said, he moved to a
bigger factory.
He needed more workers, he needed a bigger
facility, all to meet the demand of
supplying the Commonwealth nations, and for
that they built that bigger facility.
Now the original facility in Oshawa,
(04:40):
Ontario, is no longer there.
It's essentially remnants of what it once
was.
Oshawa, Ontario is no longer there.
It's essentially remnants of what it once
was.
The one thing that does exist from this car
company to this day is the mansion from the
McLaughlin family, but we'll get into that
in a little more detail later on.
Robert knows he's got something great and
he needs to protect it, so he patents his
high demand fifth wheel mechanism, which
(05:02):
greatly improves comfort and safety of his
carriages.
The reason why his were so much better than
everyone else's is because they literally
were like gliding across the landscape,
like you're literally sitting on a cloud
moving along.
They wouldn't break apart.
He built top tier products.
The only thing is is he doesn't have the
big enough production facilities.
(05:22):
Plus, he wants to sell them in more places
and for that he eventually elects to sell
his mechanism to the competition rather
than license it out, because he doesn't
want people to steal his idea.
He owns the patent.
He owns the product.
He only wants to sell it to his competitors
so you can add it to your products, but
it's going to have a McLaughlin stamp on it
(05:45):
and it's going to be built by McLaughlin.
I could build as many as you want in my
factory and it's a lot easier than building
all the cutters and carriages here.
Now, like we said, Robert is seen as a
ruthless perfectionist of products, but
he's also like this in his own shop.
He takes care of his workers, but he
demands such quality, even out of the
(06:05):
products that come from his workshop, that
people know that working for the McLaughlin
Carriage works, you're working for a
top-tier class and you're going to work
yourself to death.
But unlike other major players at the time,
Robert actually still worked in the shop on
a regular day.
And he did this because he creates a better
working environment where everyone along
(06:27):
him sees that he's such a perfectionist but
they also see that he'll come and work in
the plant and he wants to know every single
thing that goes on with his product.
He spends his time working with every part
of his carriage to get to know it and know
how he can make it better.
He doesn't want to just build something he
didn't build this empire up just to give it
(06:47):
away to its workers and let them build his
products for him and him just sit back and
count his money.
No, he wants to be a part of it.
He wants to figure out if he can make this
thing even better.
So with that mentality you got to ask
yourself why isn't McLaughlin Motors here
anymore?
Well, there's a part to that story that
goes along with his son.
By the end of the century his carriage has
become the largest manufacturer in the
(07:09):
British Empire.
He even sets up an office in London,
England, so they could sell more of them to
the Commonwealth.
In December 7th of 1899, along with his 600
workers, he watches in horror as his entire
shop goes up in smoke.
The McLaughlin Carriage Works burns to the
ground.
But you have to remember this is at a point
(07:29):
in time where things are either built out
of wood or brick or the two together and
we're starting to become more
industrialized.
1899, the automobile is slowly coming in
and the moving assembly line is starting to
move in and we're starting to realize that
we can't just build these massive
manufactured facilities with timber
everywhere.
We got to do something to it so it doesn't
burn down.
(07:50):
Well, because he was such a big employer of
the city of Oshawa with 600 workers, the
city of Oshawa knows the importance of him,
his company and what his company means to
the commonwealth.
They loan him fifty thousand dollars.
Doesn't seem like a lot today, but fifty
thousand dollars in 1899 to rebuild his
entire factory spares no expense, rushes
(08:12):
the thing through, gets the damn thing up
and gets back into production.
Now, up until now McLaughlin, it was just
essentially McLaughlin.
It was finally incorporated in 1901 as a
McLaughlin Carriage Company of Canada.
So up until those days it was just
McLaughlin, just McLaughlin Carriages.
But this is at a point in time of carriages
and cars People weren't really looking for
(08:33):
branding.
You go back to those times.
You see a carriage.
It's like oh yeah, it's just a carriage,
whatever.
It's not like today with cars.
It's like it's a Ford yeah, it's a His
production, after getting a brand new plant
set up and built.
He now exceeds 25,000 units with over 140
(08:54):
different models and exceeds over a million
dollars in sales.
In 1901, a million dollars in sales that's
crazy.
This guy was a millionaire and yet he was
still on the floor of his factory working
alongside everyone else because he wanted
to make sure every single thing was built
properly.
By 1915, McLaughlin was making one carriage
(09:17):
every 10 minutes after he moved more of a
moving assembly line into his system.
But it's 1915.
The Model T is here and carriages are
eventually going to be going out With the
introduction of the automobile.
McLaughlin Carriage was sold off in 1915 to
Carriage Factories Limited in Orillia,
Ontario.
(09:37):
Eventually the end of carriage productions
and a move into truck and car parts for the
Carriage Factories Limited in Orillia.
Today the remnants can be found in the old
Trailmobile Canada Company.
That's it.
That's all you can find from the, the old
Trailmobile Canada Company.
That's it.
That's all you can find from the original
McLaughlin Carriage-works 1867, all the way
up to 1915.
He built this amazing empire, sold it off,
(10:01):
made his money and then got out, but it's
1915.
Robert's only got six more years and he
passes away in 1921.
He got to see the rise of his carriage
works.
He got to see it become the biggest and
right before he decided to step away from
it, he sold off the carriage works, his
life work as he now saw that the automobile
was moving in.
But the automobile was not something that
(10:22):
interested Robert McLaughlin.
No, it interested his son, Sam, and Sam
wanted an automobile and he wanted to prove
to his father that the automobile was going
to replace the carriage.
In modern society the carriage is from past
times.
The automobile is what is coming.
We need to step onto this.
(10:42):
And in 1905, Sam gets really interested in
it and because they come from a wealthy
family, he wants to purchase an automobile.
And on his way to Jackson, Michigan, to
purchase a Jackson automobile, he bumps
into a man that changes his life and
automobile production in Canada forever Mr.
William C Durant.
(11:03):
Billy Durant, the man who essentially
founded General Motors and created it into
what it is today.
And here's another little piece of
information If you go back and listen to
our podcast about De Tomaso, William C
Durant's daughter marries De Tomaso yeah, so
a little Chevrolet into a car company that
liked to utilize Ford products.
Kind of funny, but a little bit of a play
(11:24):
there, right?
So Billy was also part of the largest
carriage works in the United States.
But that's just the United States.
The McLaughlin's were the biggest in the
Commonwealth of the United Kingdom, British
Empire, which had a greater presence
globally than the Americans did at that
point in time.
So William was part of the largest carriage
works in the US Dort as it was known and
(11:44):
soon the two formed a bond.
On this trip, Durant saw that the
automobile was coming and he knew that this
was going to change.
So what was he doing?
He was trying to get rid of Dort, sell it
off, make his money, get into the
automobile industry.
But he couldn't do it on his own.
Nah, Durant Auto didn't really go that far.
He was going to purchase other automobile
manufacturers, figure the market out and
(12:07):
build a massive conglomerate to take over
every sector of the automobile industry.
Before it blew up, he had a vision and Sam
had a vision.
But by this time and the two meeting up,
Billy was a part owner of Buick automobiles
and he managed to convince Sam to purchase
a Buick instead of his Jackson and that he
(12:27):
didn't have to travel to Jackson, Michigan
to pick it up.
He could literally purchase this from a
dealer in Toronto.
Gives him the name of who to go and talk to
get the car in order with him right now and
he'll just pick it up in Toronto.
That's not that far away from Oshawa.
Well, at that point in time, with the way
the roads were still quite a distance, not
like now.
(12:47):
You just hop on the 401 and you're there in
minutes.
Back then it took a lot longer, but he was
traveling all the way to Jackson Michigan
to go pick up a car.
Now he's just got to go to Toronto.
He had to change trains in Toronto.
He might as well do it.
So Sam and Billy wanted to form an alliance
on cars.
They couldn't agree totally, but they knew
they loved cars.
Sam wanted to bring automobile production
(13:10):
to Canada.
He had heard about other carriage works
moving up into the automotive world and he
heard of this little car company starting
out in the United States called Ford Motor
Company and Henry Ford building a horseless
carriage and turning it into one of the
biggest empires out there, basically going
out to replace the carriage alone.
So Sam couldn't let this happen.
(13:31):
He couldn't watch his dad's business fall
to the ground.
But unfortunately at that point in time
Canada did not have enough interest in the
automobile.
We were just trying to make ourselves our
own country.
So Sam would have to go out and learn the
whole industry and about automobiles all on
his own, and he found more interest in
building his own car from what he learned
(13:52):
from his Buick.
Sam would fight with his father over the
next few years.
His father thought the automobile was a
clumsy machine compared to the superior
carriage.
He actually ran advertisements out there
showing how a McLaughlin carriage would not
break down, showing how a McLaughlin
carriage would not break down.
But an automobile was more likely to break
down, fall apart, run out of gas and leave
(14:13):
you stranded compared to the good old
carriage from McLaughlin.
He literally made ads for that.
So Robert had no reason to even get into
the automobile industry.
But Sam was pushing his dad, he was
fighting with him.
He was telling him literally you got to get
into this, dad.
Carriages are on their way out.
The horseless buggy is here to stay and
(14:35):
it's going to slaughter us in the future.
But his father just kept going.
He had advertisements dismissing the
automobile and its claim to fame as opposed
to the superior carriage.
Sam would eventually get a shop from his
father to try his hand at automobile
production.
So eventually he managed to break down his
father and get a small shop to build his
(14:55):
own car.
Essentially, a shop across from his
father's carriage works is where life would
start out for McLaughlin Motors.
With automatic lathes, planers, shapers and
other machines they had what they required
to build an automobile.
They ordered cylinders, pistons and
crankshafts from Cleveland firm to help
them build the basics, but build it to
their specifications.
(15:16):
The engine casings would be done on site.
They brought in an American engineer,
Arthur Milbrath, to design his new car.
Unfortunately Milbrath fell ill with the
polarity and could not complete the car.
This was said that he was homesick for
America as he would return home and later
found Wisconsin Motor Manufacturing.
(15:37):
So essentially Milbrath came to Canada to
help out the McLaughlin's building their own
automobile, to learn their secrets of the
trade of quality, to go back to America to
build his own car company.
But we all know what happened to Wisconsin
Motor Manufacturing.
It didn't last that long.
Really he should have just stuck it out and
hung out with the McLaughlin's a little bit
more.
But he loved his stars and stripes.
The car wasn't 100% complete but Sam was
(16:00):
able to figure it out by disassembling his
own Buick to figure out all the last bits
of detail that he needed.
His father at this point in time had a lot
more interest in the automobile, starting
to see how the similarities between the
automobile and his carriage works went
along and he figured if he's going to lend
his name to them, as the son would more
likely use the McLaughlin name, he would
(16:22):
make sure that it was built to the same
standards as his carriage works.
They're going to build them both together
to see which business they can hold on to
the longest.
Eventually they would have to pick where
they were going to build their own car, but
that never really transpired.
Eventually they would form a deal with
Buick to build their automobiles in Canada
(16:42):
under the McLaughlin name.
As they weren't able to figure out every
single detail about designing and creating
their own automobile, they just found it
easier to buy the Buick name and bring it
to Canada.
Not actually, you know, buy the car company
but buy products from them, ship them to
Canada, use their stuff, redesign it.
So it was better and eventually this would
(17:02):
lead to the McLaughlin automobile.
In September 1907 Sam wired Durant for
assistance.
Durant showed up the next day with William
H Little, Buick executive, to hammer out
his deal to build his own car company and
by 1907, the McLaughlin Model F became
their first automobile for sale.
(17:22):
The deal he hammered out with Durant was a
15-year contract to use drivetrain from
Buick for the McLaughlin automobiles.
These cars would be sold under the
McLaughlin name but still be part of
Durant's empire.
So essentially, Durant was expanding into
the Canadian world and we all know that
General Motors, with Oakland, Pontiac,
(17:42):
Marquette, LaSalle, Cadillac, Chevrolet, all
part of that.
They had a separate division in Canada, the
McLaughlin Motors, and with that becoming
part of Durant's empire.
This would soon lead to a stock exchange
between McLaughlin Carriage-works and Buick
Motors, with the two of them forming an
(18:04):
alliance.
By 1908, McLaughlin manufactured 154
vehicles, the same year that Durant would
leverage Buick to form General Motors.
Durant would eventually go on to a spending
spree, purchasing Oldsmobile, Cadillac and
Oakland Pontiac to form his General Motors.
But sales eventually would collapse and by
(18:25):
1910, Durant would lose control of General
Motors.
So where did this leave the McLaughlin's?
It led to a fallout where GM outed Durant.
But it did not fall on McLaughlin.
Their shares of General Motors were held in
a trust company in New York.
So McLaughlin wasn't being dragged down
with Durant.
They were still in a partnership deal with
(18:47):
General Motors.
But Sam was best friends with Durant.
He wanted to keep him in the automotive
business and he wanted to get his empire
back for him because he knew if Durant was
in charge, the McLaughlin name could stay
on a lot longer.
Mclaughlin would become the Canadian
division of Buick of his General Motors
empire.
(19:07):
Sam would eventually use the carriage works
and McLaughlin Motors to help finance
Durant's new business with a brand new race
car driver by the name of Louis Chevrolet
and unfortunately Louis Chevrolet.
His deal with Durant would go sour and he
would wind up with hardly anything to his
name by the end, because Durant would
(19:27):
eventually take over Chevrolet and create
Chevrolet Canada, knowing that it's an
entry level just below Buick.
In 1916, Durant finally regained control of
General Motors and Sam McLaughlin became a
director and vice president on the General
Motors Corporation not GM Canada
Corporation Board Sam McLaughlin, director
(19:51):
and vice president of General Motors.
But also in 1916, McLaughlin had their top
tier.
But they realized they needed to get into
more of an entry-level brand to fight off
the brand new Ford products coming across
the border from Detroit.
They needed to keep them at bay because
they didn't want to lose their market share.
And in 1916, McLaughlin finally begins
(20:12):
making Chevrolets in Canada.
But up until 1914, the cars were
essentially finished with the same paint
and varnishes as the carriages.
Like we said, he's keeping his original
McLaughlin motor, so the Buick side of it,
not the Chevrolet side of it, to the same
scale as original carriage works.
In 1914, McLaughlin built 1,100 cars and
(20:34):
the cars were better build quality than
Buick's cars.
And the cars were better build quality than
Buick's.
As McLaughlin, both Sam and Rob both found
faults in Buick's designs.
Like I said, rob was a perfectionist.
He wanted to make sure this car was perfect
and he made sure that it was.
And to this day McLaughlin still ranked
Buick, even though right before their
demise they ranked them McLaughlin Buicks.
(20:56):
This would put the McLaughlin lane on top
of most of General Motors nameplates.
In Canada McLaughlin would sit only in the
same lineup as both Cadillac and LaSalle.
So in Canada you had a little bit more
choice.
It wasn't just a Cadillac or a LaSalle that
you would get If you wanted the top tier of
luxury.
In Canada you can get a McLaughlin.
(21:20):
Sure, they built Buicks.
But they built Buicks better than Buicks.
But unfortunately, due to trade deals with
the United States and the fact that Canada
was still part of the Commonwealth nations,
the McLaughlin's were never sold in the
United States.
They were sold in some of the Commonwealth
countries but not as widely as their
original carriage works.
But because by this time more of the
Commonwealth nations were trying to build
their own automotive corporations.
(21:42):
Seeing the massive expansion of the Ford
Motor Company, everybody wanted to get into
it and every country wanted to ensure that
they had their own home-bred automotive
corporation.
So unless McLaughlin wanted to go out and
set up shops everywhere else in the world,
he wasn't going to grow in the way that
Ford did.
But being a top tier manufacturer you
really don't need that.
(22:02):
You essentially want to focus on a smaller
scale to higher end clientele.
But now, building Chevrolets, McLaughlin is
starting to kind of cheapen its brand image.
McLaughlin's were still top tier and still
known widely within the Commonwealth as
being a superior product that falls in line
with vehicles like Rolls-Royce and Bentley.
(22:23):
But unfortunately, with Durant's power and
General Motors wanting to own every
division outright, not partnerships
outright by 1918, McLaughlin Motors merges
with Chevrolet Canada to become GM Canada
GM eventually builds a new factory in
Wilkerville, Ontario, with the sale of the
Chevrolet Canada to become GM Canada.
Gm eventually builds a new factory in
Wilkerville, Ontario, with the sale of the
Chevrolet stock.
This is to build more cars for the Canadian
(22:45):
marketplace.
McLaughlin builds vehicles but they don't
build them the same skill that Durant wants
his Chevrolet and Oakland brands to build
at.
No, he needs those brands, pumping tons of
them out.
So the Wilkerville Ontario plant is the one
that's going to he needs those brands
pumping tons of them out.
So the Work River Ontario plant is the one
that's going to build all those vehicles.
So as of now, McLaughlin Motors is no more.
1918, it kicked the bucket and became GM
(23:07):
Canada.
It's still branded as a McLaughlin.
It is now McLaughlin Buick and GM Canada.
By 1923, the name of Canadian bodied models
changed to the McLaughlin Buick.
As now McLaughlin is part of the General
Motors family and is building Buick
products, they need both names to be on the
product label.
By 1923, Canada had the world's second
(23:29):
largest automobile industry.
This was due to the low import taxes for
vehicles from Canada to the British Empire,
England, India, South Africa, Australia,
Hong Kong and New Zealand Second largest
automobile industry All because the
Americans couldn't sell into those
marketplaces.
So they were building plants in Canada to
ship over to all these major nations.
(23:50):
Got to remember the British Empire in the
early 20th century was still one of the
richest out there.
Due to this, gm Canada, like Ford, had a
foothold into the empire due to their
Canadian interests.
Chrysler was a little late to this game and
fell short on production in Canada, so they
never really got into the British empire.
Eventually, American-made cars were subject
(24:11):
to higher taxes and they were not part of
the empire, so they had to pay massive
tariffs and levy to gain access to that,
which means their vehicles weren't getting
in.
Sound kind of familiar today.
And uh, reverse roles here.
By 1927 McLaughlin produced only two
identical cars for a special royal tour.
(24:32):
One was to be shipped ahead to the next
city, while the other one was being used by
the royal family whatever location they
were at.
And in the end one of them was left in
Canada, which you can see at the Canadian
automotive museum in Oshawa, while the
other one was returned to the royal family
in England.
That vehicle is still utilized today.
(24:53):
We'll get into that.
By 1936 a, a custom-tailored McLaughlin
Buick town sedan was purchased by the
Prince of Wales.
In 1937, Eleanor Dunsmuir bought a
convertible Phaeton to drive US President
Franklin Roosevelt around in Victoria BC
during his state visit, and Roosevelt loved
it.
(25:13):
Loved it so much he wanted to ship the car
home.
This is Canadian produced vehicle, but it's
tied to an American company.
So, yeah, not so bad.
Two custom built dual cowl McLaughlin Buick
Phaetons were built for the 1939 royal
Canadian tour.
Like I said, in 27 they built two of them,
where one of them was shipped back home.
(25:33):
In 39 they did this again for George and
Queen Elizabeth yes, the former Queen of
England, queen Elizabeth in 39.
This car would later carry Prince Charles
and Diana during their 1986 visit to Canada.
So it's still being utilized by them.
The 1931-91 in Canada is being used when
(25:56):
the royals come here.
91 in Canada is being used when the royals
come here, but the one from 1927 is used by
the royals today, as it was even used in
Prince William and Princess Kate's wedding.
Yes, that old school car was a McLachlan
built in Canada.
Awesome, huh.
Yeah, they had a lot of great ties to the
royal family and McLachlan was there
because McLachlan was part of the royal
(26:16):
empire.
Unfortunately, by 1942, general Motors
would own enough shares of the McLaughlin
Motor Company to take over completely In
1942, it was no longer a McLaughlin Buick,
it was just a Buick.
There was no inclusion of McLaughlin or
Canada in the name anymore, as General
Motors now fully owned the McLaughlin brand.
(26:40):
The McLaughlin name lived through the
Depression due to their quality and build
and long wait list, which meant they had to
work all the way through the Depression to
keep them going.
And this kept them alive all the way to the
start of World War II.
But unfortunately World War II brought an
end to the McLaughlin name as GM changed to
Buick only.
(27:00):
So really, in the end General Motors just
took over the McLaughlin nameplate, its
manufactured plants and all of its patented
products.
It wanted to make Buick in line with
McLaughlin.
Unfortunately, general Motors was too
consumed by selling more and more vehicles
that the McLaughlin craftsmanship would
disappear completely.
(27:20):
After the takeover and when it became just
a Buick, people in Canada lost their faith
in our own homegrown car company.
The Buick just became another automotive
company.
Gm Canada had a foothold here because we
knew them as the company that worked
alongside and helped build the McLaughlin's
into what they were their massive mansion,
amazing gardens.
(27:41):
To this day you can go on tours of it and
still have tea at high noon in the gardens.
From 1918 to 1942, McLaughlin Buicks were
made by GM Canada before officially
becoming Buicks in 1942.
Now this didn't really change.
Yes, Sam was a little upset.
He didn't lose his spot.
He stayed on as vice president of GM Canada
(28:02):
until his death in 1972.
So from 1942, for the next 30 years, he
stayed on as vice president of GM Canada
all the way up until his death in 1972.
Sam was born in 1871.
He died before he turned 101.
He was 100 years old when Sam passed away.
The interesting thing you may not know
(28:23):
about this entire family is that Sam had
two other brothers.
Sam had an older brother, john James.
Sam was actually the youngest of the three
brothers.
There was John James, George, William and
Samuel.
Sam was the youngest but essentially one of
the bigger names.
John James, the oldest of the brothers,
went on to found a Canadian company that
(28:45):
still exists to this day and still holds
title of being a Canadian company.
John James did a summer internship in the
United States with Coca-Cola Now being a
pharmacist.
Ideology behind the original conception of
Coca-Cola really interested him and he
wanted to create his own fountain drink for
the Canadian marketplace.
(29:06):
But he didn't want it to be a cola.
He wanted to do something different and
with that he gave birth to Ginger Ale Not
Ginger Ale in its entirety, but John James
McLaughlin founded Canada Dry.
Yes, the McLaughlin family and the
McLaughlin Motors and McLaughlin Carriage
Works is all gone now.
Their mansion is there.
Their art gallery that the family founded
(29:28):
in the city of Oshawa is still there as
well, same with the Automotive Museum.
You can go and see all kinds of stuff and
learn about the amazing history behind this
family stuff and learn about the amazing
history behind this family.
But the one thing that all of this is still
void of is the fact that the the oldest son
of Robert McLaughlin, the man who founded
essentially the automobile industry and GM
Canada in Canada, created Canada Dry, a
(29:51):
soft drink that you could still find on
shelves worldwide.
In the end, McLaughlin kind of gave in to
peer pressure.
William C Durant, you could say he was kind
of sleazy.
He used Sam in a way to build his empire.
Got to remember he was outed from GM as it
was just starting to be built and Sam
helped finance to get him back on board.
(30:11):
He helped him finance a brand new car
company with Louis Chevrolet and get his
name back into the General Motors board.
Sure, Sam was really high up there, but he
still allowed his father's company car
company with louis Chevrolet and get his
name back into the general motors board.
Sure, Sam was really high up there, but he
still allowed his father's company and his
name plate to disappear the McLaughlin name
to completely fall apart.
Should Sam have let it happen?
I don't know, dollar figures might have
(30:31):
said something else about it and the fact
that he was still part of the board, but
since he would have been 70 years old when
the company was turned into Buick, I think
he was still part of the board.
But since he would have been 70 years old
when the company was turned into Buick, I
think he was just doing like his father.
When he sold out the carriage works, he'd
built something so amazing and something so
great he literally just wanted to retire
from it.
You think he would have tried to get
somebody else in the family to take it over.
(30:52):
But you know, not everybody's like that.
And Sam, he just liked being on the board,
he liked doing the paper thing and the CE
thing.
He wasn't a good worker like his father.
His father built his empire and turned his
empire into an automotive empire.
He never got to see the demise of his name,
but his son did.
To this day.
The McLaughlin family is still well known
(31:14):
in the city of Oshawa, Ontario, and when
General Motors considered shutting down the
plant a few years ago, it wasn't just
Canada that was in an uproar about doing
that.
The city of Oshawa and even myself, called
out General Motors for the fact that one.
They wouldn't exist without the help from
Sam McLaughlin to get William C Durant back
(31:35):
onto the board to build General Motors into
the empire it is today.
So without Canadian help they wouldn't
exist, which means shutting down a plant in
the city that gave birth to their empire is
just blasphemy.
Seriously, that's like a big kick in the
nuts when they said that, but in the end
they decided to keep it open, which is good
for the city of Oshawa and the city of
(31:56):
automobiles for Canada.
Essentially, they call Oshawa like the
Detroit of Canada.
McLaughlin's gone now and, like we said in
one of our previous podcasts about, you
know, helping out and get into the Chinese
automobile production and help bring them
to our borders to build their cars here and
utilize them.
Similar to you know, companies like Exceed
and Wally's utilize their vehicles to bring
(32:19):
back one of our names.
McLaughlin would be one of those if we
utilize our own technology, like project
arrow, to build a brand new mclaughlin
motors.
Again, the name isn't, you know, the
coolest name.
I own a McLaughlin, as opposed to I own a
Cadillac.
Doesn't roll off the tongue as well, but
neither does Rolls-Royce.
(32:40):
So maybe there's some hope that McLaughlin
could be resurrected, or we could stand
tall, hold our heads high and remember the
amazing company that the McLaughlin family
helped build and the soft drink that their
family gave us too.
So if you like this podcast, please like it.
Share it, comment about it.
Go on the social feeds or streaming sites
that you found the AutoLooks podcast on,
give us a comment and share us with friends
(33:02):
and family.
Help send us an email over at email at
AutoLooks.net.
You can find out more information from the
Canadian automotive museum from myself.
We can send you links, we can give you info,
we can tell you where it is and what they
have.
They got some amazing stuff there and I,
when I went to the museum, I actually
learned something about my home city.
My home city was the first place in Canada
(33:22):
to put parking meters in Doesn't seem like
a super big thing or whatever, but we were
one of the first ones to put parking meters
in the country of Canada.
Well, not one of the.
We were the first city to put parking
meters in.
It's kind of neat to learn that.
It's an amazing thing.
It's not huge but it's got a huge amount of
information.
(33:43):
So, like I said, send us an email, send us
a comment.
Like us, share us, find out more
information from us.
You can learn about the McLaughlin family.
You can learn you know.
Go and see everything you can in Oshawa,
Ontario.
Go see the General Motors plant that
essentially was built for the McLaughlin
Empire, the Automotive Museum.
Go to the McLaughlin Museum, which is their
(34:03):
old mansion that Robert built.
Or you can go to the art gallery, because
Robert was a fine art connoisseur and it's
a pay what you can type of art gallery to
just donate and it's actually pretty good.
I brought my kids there and my daughter was
pretty young at the time Two, three and
even she had fun.
So, like I said, send us a ring.
(34:23):
You find out that.
Find out more information from the
AutoLooks.net website and from AutoLooks and
myself.
Mr. Everett, jay, the AutoLooks podcast is
brought to you by Ecomm Entertainment Group
and distributed by Podbean.com.
If you'd like to get in touch with us, send
us an email over at email@autolooks.net.
So for myself, Everett Jay, the AutoLooks.net
website and the AutoLooks podcast, strap
(34:45):
yourself in for this one fun wild ride that
AutoLooks and the McLaughlin family gonna
take you on.
Thank you.
It's a company that we've talked about in
our podcast many times and it's one of the
founding automotive companies of my home
country of Canada.
Hell, it was one of the biggest automotive
manufacturers in the province of Ontario
until they later became part of General
Motors.
Their son is the reason why William C
Durant managed to get back onto the board
(00:21):
of General Motors and take it over to make
it into what it is.
Sam did that, but it all started with one
man, Robert, his father.
Now the company we're talking about bears
their name.
It originally started out as a carriage
company.
Today, AutoLooks is going to be taking a look
back at one of the founding automotive
corporations in the country of Canada.
(00:41):
We're going to be taking a look at
McLaughlin Motors.
Welcome back to the AutoLooks Podcast.
I am your host, as always, the doctor to
the automotive industry, Mr. Everett Jay,
coming to you from our host website at
(01:01):
AutoLooks.net.
If you haven't been there, stop by, check
it out.
Read some of the reviews, check out some of
the ratings.
Go to the Corporate Links website page.
Big or small, we have them all Car
companies from around the globe, all
available in one select location that is,
the AutoLooks.net website.
The AutoLooks Podcast is brought to you by
Ecomm Entertainment Group and distributed by
Podbean.com.
(01:29):
If you'd like to get in touch with us, send
us an email over at email@autolooks.net.
So, like I said in the beginning,
McLaughlin Motors it didn't start out
producing automobiles.
No, they started long before that, nearly
20 years before the automobile started to
take off.
And the automotive division of it wouldn't
even exist for nearly 40 years from its
original inception.
To find out how McLaughlin Motors even got
here, you have to go back to its original
founder, Robert McLaughlin, born in
(01:50):
Cavan township of Upper Canada, essentially
along the St Lawrence Seaway, where his
father, an Irish immigrant, managed to make
their way up the St Lawrence.
They eventually got to Upper Canada,
Cavan township and decided to settle and
become farmers.
His father owned a whole bunch of plots of
land and John would eventually have to move.
(02:11):
They eventually wound up in Darlington
Township with his family Roberts by the
year 1864, he would meet his wife.
From there they would go on to create their
own farm and with it move to Enniskillen,
Ontario, 20 kilometers northeast of Oshawa.
But he learned something while being a
farmer it's not easy getting in and around
(02:32):
and with that he saw a need, a need for
cutters and carriages.
Especially living in Canada, we need
cutters.
And what's a cutter, as you say?
Well, I'll give you a hint.
Santa Claus rides around a little.
Everybody calls them sleighs, but grand old
country Canada, they are cutters.
That's what their actual name were.
Now, sleighs get you in and around, they're
(02:53):
good for fun, but cutters are basically the
carriages for the wintertime, carriages on
skis.
They get you back and forth, ross,
essentially cutting across farmer's fields.
Make it nice and easy.
Robert started his own cutter and carriage
business in 1867.
(03:14):
He essentially built his wagons and cutters
in an old blacksmith shop.
He had a knack for quality.
As his father immigrated to Canada he
wanted to make sure everything was always
perfect, and Robert stood by that old
sentiment.
He made everything perfect and with it he
began to grow.
Like we said, we had a great knack for
quality.
He eventually becomes famous for his work.
(03:36):
Now he's coming from the dominion of Canada,
1867.
He basically starts McLaughlin Motors the
year Canada becomes its own country, in
1867.
No longer being Upper Canada, being Canada
and eventually becoming the province of
Ontario.
From his little shop he grows and in nine
years, by 1876, he has to move.
(03:59):
His cutters and carriages are amazing and
he's slowly building up to be one of the
top distributors of cutters and carriages
are amazing.
And he's slowly building up to be one of
the top distributors of cutters and
carriages and suppliers to the British
Commonwealth.
You would find his cutters and carriages
all across the Commonwealth nations,
whether it be Great Britain, Australia,
Hong Kong, India or even in the home
country of Canada.
(04:19):
Robert was well known for his amazing tuned
to quality.
Now, in 1876, like you said, he moved to a
bigger factory.
He needed more workers, he needed a bigger
facility, all to meet the demand of
supplying the Commonwealth nations, and for
that they built that bigger facility.
Now the original facility in Oshawa,
(04:40):
Ontario, is no longer there.
It's essentially remnants of what it once
was.
Oshawa, Ontario is no longer there.
It's essentially remnants of what it once
was.
The one thing that does exist from this car
company to this day is the mansion from the
McLaughlin family, but we'll get into that
in a little more detail later on.
Robert knows he's got something great and
he needs to protect it, so he patents his
high demand fifth wheel mechanism, which
(05:02):
greatly improves comfort and safety of his
carriages.
The reason why his were so much better than
everyone else's is because they literally
were like gliding across the landscape,
like you're literally sitting on a cloud
moving along.
They wouldn't break apart.
He built top tier products.
The only thing is is he doesn't have the
big enough production facilities.
(05:22):
Plus, he wants to sell them in more places
and for that he eventually elects to sell
his mechanism to the competition rather
than license it out, because he doesn't
want people to steal his idea.
He owns the patent.
He owns the product.
He only wants to sell it to his competitors
so you can add it to your products, but
it's going to have a McLaughlin stamp on it
(05:45):
and it's going to be built by McLaughlin.
I could build as many as you want in my
factory and it's a lot easier than building
all the cutters and carriages here.
Now, like we said, Robert is seen as a
ruthless perfectionist of products, but
he's also like this in his own shop.
He takes care of his workers, but he
demands such quality, even out of the
(06:05):
products that come from his workshop, that
people know that working for the McLaughlin
Carriage works, you're working for a
top-tier class and you're going to work
yourself to death.
But unlike other major players at the time,
Robert actually still worked in the shop on
a regular day.
And he did this because he creates a better
working environment where everyone along
(06:27):
him sees that he's such a perfectionist but
they also see that he'll come and work in
the plant and he wants to know every single
thing that goes on with his product.
He spends his time working with every part
of his carriage to get to know it and know
how he can make it better.
He doesn't want to just build something he
didn't build this empire up just to give it
(06:47):
away to its workers and let them build his
products for him and him just sit back and
count his money.
No, he wants to be a part of it.
He wants to figure out if he can make this
thing even better.
So with that mentality you got to ask
yourself why isn't McLaughlin Motors here
anymore?
Well, there's a part to that story that
goes along with his son.
By the end of the century his carriage has
become the largest manufacturer in the
(07:09):
British Empire.
He even sets up an office in London,
England, so they could sell more of them to
the Commonwealth.
In December 7th of 1899, along with his 600
workers, he watches in horror as his entire
shop goes up in smoke.
The McLaughlin Carriage Works burns to the
ground.
But you have to remember this is at a point
(07:29):
in time where things are either built out
of wood or brick or the two together and
we're starting to become more
industrialized.
1899, the automobile is slowly coming in
and the moving assembly line is starting to
move in and we're starting to realize that
we can't just build these massive
manufactured facilities with timber
everywhere.
We got to do something to it so it doesn't
burn down.
(07:50):
Well, because he was such a big employer of
the city of Oshawa with 600 workers, the
city of Oshawa knows the importance of him,
his company and what his company means to
the commonwealth.
They loan him fifty thousand dollars.
Doesn't seem like a lot today, but fifty
thousand dollars in 1899 to rebuild his
entire factory spares no expense, rushes
(08:12):
the thing through, gets the damn thing up
and gets back into production.
Now, up until now McLaughlin, it was just
essentially McLaughlin.
It was finally incorporated in 1901 as a
McLaughlin Carriage Company of Canada.
So up until those days it was just
McLaughlin, just McLaughlin Carriages.
But this is at a point in time of carriages
and cars People weren't really looking for
(08:33):
branding.
You go back to those times.
You see a carriage.
It's like oh yeah, it's just a carriage,
whatever.
It's not like today with cars.
It's like it's a Ford yeah, it's a His
production, after getting a brand new plant
set up and built.
He now exceeds 25,000 units with over 140
(08:54):
different models and exceeds over a million
dollars in sales.
In 1901, a million dollars in sales that's
crazy.
This guy was a millionaire and yet he was
still on the floor of his factory working
alongside everyone else because he wanted
to make sure every single thing was built
properly.
By 1915, McLaughlin was making one carriage
(09:17):
every 10 minutes after he moved more of a
moving assembly line into his system.
But it's 1915.
The Model T is here and carriages are
eventually going to be going out With the
introduction of the automobile.
McLaughlin Carriage was sold off in 1915 to
Carriage Factories Limited in Orillia,
Ontario.
(09:37):
Eventually the end of carriage productions
and a move into truck and car parts for the
Carriage Factories Limited in Orillia.
Today the remnants can be found in the old
Trailmobile Canada Company.
That's it.
That's all you can find from the, the old
Trailmobile Canada Company.
That's it.
That's all you can find from the original
McLaughlin Carriage-works 1867, all the way
up to 1915.
He built this amazing empire, sold it off,
(10:01):
made his money and then got out, but it's
1915.
Robert's only got six more years and he
passes away in 1921.
He got to see the rise of his carriage
works.
He got to see it become the biggest and
right before he decided to step away from
it, he sold off the carriage works, his
life work as he now saw that the automobile
was moving in.
But the automobile was not something that
(10:22):
interested Robert McLaughlin.
No, it interested his son, Sam, and Sam
wanted an automobile and he wanted to prove
to his father that the automobile was going
to replace the carriage.
In modern society the carriage is from past
times.
The automobile is what is coming.
We need to step onto this.
(10:42):
And in 1905, Sam gets really interested in
it and because they come from a wealthy
family, he wants to purchase an automobile.
And on his way to Jackson, Michigan, to
purchase a Jackson automobile, he bumps
into a man that changes his life and
automobile production in Canada forever Mr.
William C Durant.
(11:03):
Billy Durant, the man who essentially
founded General Motors and created it into
what it is today.
And here's another little piece of
information If you go back and listen to
our podcast about De Tomaso, William C
Durant's daughter marries De Tomaso yeah, so
a little Chevrolet into a car company that
liked to utilize Ford products.
Kind of funny, but a little bit of a play
(11:24):
there, right?
So Billy was also part of the largest
carriage works in the United States.
But that's just the United States.
The McLaughlin's were the biggest in the
Commonwealth of the United Kingdom, British
Empire, which had a greater presence
globally than the Americans did at that
point in time.
So William was part of the largest carriage
works in the US Dort as it was known and
(11:44):
soon the two formed a bond.
On this trip, Durant saw that the
automobile was coming and he knew that this
was going to change.
So what was he doing?
He was trying to get rid of Dort, sell it
off, make his money, get into the
automobile industry.
But he couldn't do it on his own.
Nah, Durant Auto didn't really go that far.
He was going to purchase other automobile
manufacturers, figure the market out and
(12:07):
build a massive conglomerate to take over
every sector of the automobile industry.
Before it blew up, he had a vision and Sam
had a vision.
But by this time and the two meeting up,
Billy was a part owner of Buick automobiles
and he managed to convince Sam to purchase
a Buick instead of his Jackson and that he
(12:27):
didn't have to travel to Jackson, Michigan
to pick it up.
He could literally purchase this from a
dealer in Toronto.
Gives him the name of who to go and talk to
get the car in order with him right now and
he'll just pick it up in Toronto.
That's not that far away from Oshawa.
Well, at that point in time, with the way
the roads were still quite a distance, not
like now.
(12:47):
You just hop on the 401 and you're there in
minutes.
Back then it took a lot longer, but he was
traveling all the way to Jackson Michigan
to go pick up a car.
Now he's just got to go to Toronto.
He had to change trains in Toronto.
He might as well do it.
So Sam and Billy wanted to form an alliance
on cars.
They couldn't agree totally, but they knew
they loved cars.
Sam wanted to bring automobile production
(13:10):
to Canada.
He had heard about other carriage works
moving up into the automotive world and he
heard of this little car company starting
out in the United States called Ford Motor
Company and Henry Ford building a horseless
carriage and turning it into one of the
biggest empires out there, basically going
out to replace the carriage alone.
So Sam couldn't let this happen.
(13:31):
He couldn't watch his dad's business fall
to the ground.
But unfortunately at that point in time
Canada did not have enough interest in the
automobile.
We were just trying to make ourselves our
own country.
So Sam would have to go out and learn the
whole industry and about automobiles all on
his own, and he found more interest in
building his own car from what he learned
(13:52):
from his Buick.
Sam would fight with his father over the
next few years.
His father thought the automobile was a
clumsy machine compared to the superior
carriage.
He actually ran advertisements out there
showing how a McLaughlin carriage would not
break down, showing how a McLaughlin
carriage would not break down.
But an automobile was more likely to break
down, fall apart, run out of gas and leave
(14:13):
you stranded compared to the good old
carriage from McLaughlin.
He literally made ads for that.
So Robert had no reason to even get into
the automobile industry.
But Sam was pushing his dad, he was
fighting with him.
He was telling him literally you got to get
into this, dad.
Carriages are on their way out.
The horseless buggy is here to stay and
(14:35):
it's going to slaughter us in the future.
But his father just kept going.
He had advertisements dismissing the
automobile and its claim to fame as opposed
to the superior carriage.
Sam would eventually get a shop from his
father to try his hand at automobile
production.
So eventually he managed to break down his
father and get a small shop to build his
(14:55):
own car.
Essentially, a shop across from his
father's carriage works is where life would
start out for McLaughlin Motors.
With automatic lathes, planers, shapers and
other machines they had what they required
to build an automobile.
They ordered cylinders, pistons and
crankshafts from Cleveland firm to help
them build the basics, but build it to
their specifications.
(15:16):
The engine casings would be done on site.
They brought in an American engineer,
Arthur Milbrath, to design his new car.
Unfortunately Milbrath fell ill with the
polarity and could not complete the car.
This was said that he was homesick for
America as he would return home and later
found Wisconsin Motor Manufacturing.
(15:37):
So essentially Milbrath came to Canada to
help out the McLaughlin's building their own
automobile, to learn their secrets of the
trade of quality, to go back to America to
build his own car company.
But we all know what happened to Wisconsin
Motor Manufacturing.
It didn't last that long.
Really he should have just stuck it out and
hung out with the McLaughlin's a little bit
more.
But he loved his stars and stripes.
The car wasn't 100% complete but Sam was
(16:00):
able to figure it out by disassembling his
own Buick to figure out all the last bits
of detail that he needed.
His father at this point in time had a lot
more interest in the automobile, starting
to see how the similarities between the
automobile and his carriage works went
along and he figured if he's going to lend
his name to them, as the son would more
likely use the McLaughlin name, he would
(16:22):
make sure that it was built to the same
standards as his carriage works.
They're going to build them both together
to see which business they can hold on to
the longest.
Eventually they would have to pick where
they were going to build their own car, but
that never really transpired.
Eventually they would form a deal with
Buick to build their automobiles in Canada
(16:42):
under the McLaughlin name.
As they weren't able to figure out every
single detail about designing and creating
their own automobile, they just found it
easier to buy the Buick name and bring it
to Canada.
Not actually, you know, buy the car company
but buy products from them, ship them to
Canada, use their stuff, redesign it.
So it was better and eventually this would
(17:02):
lead to the McLaughlin automobile.
In September 1907 Sam wired Durant for
assistance.
Durant showed up the next day with William
H Little, Buick executive, to hammer out
his deal to build his own car company and
by 1907, the McLaughlin Model F became
their first automobile for sale.
(17:22):
The deal he hammered out with Durant was a
15-year contract to use drivetrain from
Buick for the McLaughlin automobiles.
These cars would be sold under the
McLaughlin name but still be part of
Durant's empire.
So essentially, Durant was expanding into
the Canadian world and we all know that
General Motors, with Oakland, Pontiac,
(17:42):
Marquette, LaSalle, Cadillac, Chevrolet, all
part of that.
They had a separate division in Canada, the
McLaughlin Motors, and with that becoming
part of Durant's empire.
This would soon lead to a stock exchange
between McLaughlin Carriage-works and Buick
Motors, with the two of them forming an
(18:04):
alliance.
By 1908, McLaughlin manufactured 154
vehicles, the same year that Durant would
leverage Buick to form General Motors.
Durant would eventually go on to a spending
spree, purchasing Oldsmobile, Cadillac and
Oakland Pontiac to form his General Motors.
But sales eventually would collapse and by
(18:25):
1910, Durant would lose control of General
Motors.
So where did this leave the McLaughlin's?
It led to a fallout where GM outed Durant.
But it did not fall on McLaughlin.
Their shares of General Motors were held in
a trust company in New York.
So McLaughlin wasn't being dragged down
with Durant.
They were still in a partnership deal with
(18:47):
General Motors.
But Sam was best friends with Durant.
He wanted to keep him in the automotive
business and he wanted to get his empire
back for him because he knew if Durant was
in charge, the McLaughlin name could stay
on a lot longer.
Mclaughlin would become the Canadian
division of Buick of his General Motors
empire.
(19:07):
Sam would eventually use the carriage works
and McLaughlin Motors to help finance
Durant's new business with a brand new race
car driver by the name of Louis Chevrolet
and unfortunately Louis Chevrolet.
His deal with Durant would go sour and he
would wind up with hardly anything to his
name by the end, because Durant would
(19:27):
eventually take over Chevrolet and create
Chevrolet Canada, knowing that it's an
entry level just below Buick.
In 1916, Durant finally regained control of
General Motors and Sam McLaughlin became a
director and vice president on the General
Motors Corporation not GM Canada
Corporation Board Sam McLaughlin, director
(19:51):
and vice president of General Motors.
But also in 1916, McLaughlin had their top
tier.
But they realized they needed to get into
more of an entry-level brand to fight off
the brand new Ford products coming across
the border from Detroit.
They needed to keep them at bay because
they didn't want to lose their market share.
And in 1916, McLaughlin finally begins
(20:12):
making Chevrolets in Canada.
But up until 1914, the cars were
essentially finished with the same paint
and varnishes as the carriages.
Like we said, he's keeping his original
McLaughlin motor, so the Buick side of it,
not the Chevrolet side of it, to the same
scale as original carriage works.
In 1914, McLaughlin built 1,100 cars and
(20:34):
the cars were better build quality than
Buick's cars.
And the cars were better build quality than
Buick's.
As McLaughlin, both Sam and Rob both found
faults in Buick's designs.
Like I said, rob was a perfectionist.
He wanted to make sure this car was perfect
and he made sure that it was.
And to this day McLaughlin still ranked
Buick, even though right before their
demise they ranked them McLaughlin Buicks.
(20:56):
This would put the McLaughlin lane on top
of most of General Motors nameplates.
In Canada McLaughlin would sit only in the
same lineup as both Cadillac and LaSalle.
So in Canada you had a little bit more
choice.
It wasn't just a Cadillac or a LaSalle that
you would get If you wanted the top tier of
luxury.
In Canada you can get a McLaughlin.
(21:20):
Sure, they built Buicks.
But they built Buicks better than Buicks.
But unfortunately, due to trade deals with
the United States and the fact that Canada
was still part of the Commonwealth nations,
the McLaughlin's were never sold in the
United States.
They were sold in some of the Commonwealth
countries but not as widely as their
original carriage works.
But because by this time more of the
Commonwealth nations were trying to build
their own automotive corporations.
(21:42):
Seeing the massive expansion of the Ford
Motor Company, everybody wanted to get into
it and every country wanted to ensure that
they had their own home-bred automotive
corporation.
So unless McLaughlin wanted to go out and
set up shops everywhere else in the world,
he wasn't going to grow in the way that
Ford did.
But being a top tier manufacturer you
really don't need that.
(22:02):
You essentially want to focus on a smaller
scale to higher end clientele.
But now, building Chevrolets, McLaughlin is
starting to kind of cheapen its brand image.
McLaughlin's were still top tier and still
known widely within the Commonwealth as
being a superior product that falls in line
with vehicles like Rolls-Royce and Bentley.
(22:23):
But unfortunately, with Durant's power and
General Motors wanting to own every
division outright, not partnerships
outright by 1918, McLaughlin Motors merges
with Chevrolet Canada to become GM Canada
GM eventually builds a new factory in
Wilkerville, Ontario, with the sale of the
Chevrolet Canada to become GM Canada.
Gm eventually builds a new factory in
Wilkerville, Ontario, with the sale of the
Chevrolet stock.
This is to build more cars for the Canadian
(22:45):
marketplace.
McLaughlin builds vehicles but they don't
build them the same skill that Durant wants
his Chevrolet and Oakland brands to build
at.
No, he needs those brands, pumping tons of
them out.
So the Wilkerville Ontario plant is the one
that's going to he needs those brands
pumping tons of them out.
So the Work River Ontario plant is the one
that's going to build all those vehicles.
So as of now, McLaughlin Motors is no more.
1918, it kicked the bucket and became GM
(23:07):
Canada.
It's still branded as a McLaughlin.
It is now McLaughlin Buick and GM Canada.
By 1923, the name of Canadian bodied models
changed to the McLaughlin Buick.
As now McLaughlin is part of the General
Motors family and is building Buick
products, they need both names to be on the
product label.
By 1923, Canada had the world's second
(23:29):
largest automobile industry.
This was due to the low import taxes for
vehicles from Canada to the British Empire,
England, India, South Africa, Australia,
Hong Kong and New Zealand Second largest
automobile industry All because the
Americans couldn't sell into those
marketplaces.
So they were building plants in Canada to
ship over to all these major nations.
(23:50):
Got to remember the British Empire in the
early 20th century was still one of the
richest out there.
Due to this, gm Canada, like Ford, had a
foothold into the empire due to their
Canadian interests.
Chrysler was a little late to this game and
fell short on production in Canada, so they
never really got into the British empire.
Eventually, American-made cars were subject
(24:11):
to higher taxes and they were not part of
the empire, so they had to pay massive
tariffs and levy to gain access to that,
which means their vehicles weren't getting
in.
Sound kind of familiar today.
And uh, reverse roles here.
By 1927 McLaughlin produced only two
identical cars for a special royal tour.
(24:32):
One was to be shipped ahead to the next
city, while the other one was being used by
the royal family whatever location they
were at.
And in the end one of them was left in
Canada, which you can see at the Canadian
automotive museum in Oshawa, while the
other one was returned to the royal family
in England.
That vehicle is still utilized today.
(24:53):
We'll get into that.
By 1936 a, a custom-tailored McLaughlin
Buick town sedan was purchased by the
Prince of Wales.
In 1937, Eleanor Dunsmuir bought a
convertible Phaeton to drive US President
Franklin Roosevelt around in Victoria BC
during his state visit, and Roosevelt loved
it.
(25:13):
Loved it so much he wanted to ship the car
home.
This is Canadian produced vehicle, but it's
tied to an American company.
So, yeah, not so bad.
Two custom built dual cowl McLaughlin Buick
Phaetons were built for the 1939 royal
Canadian tour.
Like I said, in 27 they built two of them,
where one of them was shipped back home.
(25:33):
In 39 they did this again for George and
Queen Elizabeth yes, the former Queen of
England, queen Elizabeth in 39.
This car would later carry Prince Charles
and Diana during their 1986 visit to Canada.
So it's still being utilized by them.
The 1931-91 in Canada is being used when
(25:56):
the royals come here.
91 in Canada is being used when the royals
come here, but the one from 1927 is used by
the royals today, as it was even used in
Prince William and Princess Kate's wedding.
Yes, that old school car was a McLachlan
built in Canada.
Awesome, huh.
Yeah, they had a lot of great ties to the
royal family and McLachlan was there
because McLachlan was part of the royal
(26:16):
empire.
Unfortunately, by 1942, general Motors
would own enough shares of the McLaughlin
Motor Company to take over completely In
1942, it was no longer a McLaughlin Buick,
it was just a Buick.
There was no inclusion of McLaughlin or
Canada in the name anymore, as General
Motors now fully owned the McLaughlin brand.
(26:40):
The McLaughlin name lived through the
Depression due to their quality and build
and long wait list, which meant they had to
work all the way through the Depression to
keep them going.
And this kept them alive all the way to the
start of World War II.
But unfortunately World War II brought an
end to the McLaughlin name as GM changed to
Buick only.
(27:00):
So really, in the end General Motors just
took over the McLaughlin nameplate, its
manufactured plants and all of its patented
products.
It wanted to make Buick in line with
McLaughlin.
Unfortunately, general Motors was too
consumed by selling more and more vehicles
that the McLaughlin craftsmanship would
disappear completely.
(27:20):
After the takeover and when it became just
a Buick, people in Canada lost their faith
in our own homegrown car company.
The Buick just became another automotive
company.
Gm Canada had a foothold here because we
knew them as the company that worked
alongside and helped build the McLaughlin's
into what they were their massive mansion,
amazing gardens.
(27:41):
To this day you can go on tours of it and
still have tea at high noon in the gardens.
From 1918 to 1942, McLaughlin Buicks were
made by GM Canada before officially
becoming Buicks in 1942.
Now this didn't really change.
Yes, Sam was a little upset.
He didn't lose his spot.
He stayed on as vice president of GM Canada
(28:02):
until his death in 1972.
So from 1942, for the next 30 years, he
stayed on as vice president of GM Canada
all the way up until his death in 1972.
Sam was born in 1871.
He died before he turned 101.
He was 100 years old when Sam passed away.
The interesting thing you may not know
(28:23):
about this entire family is that Sam had
two other brothers.
Sam had an older brother, john James.
Sam was actually the youngest of the three
brothers.
There was John James, George, William and
Samuel.
Sam was the youngest but essentially one of
the bigger names.
John James, the oldest of the brothers,
went on to found a Canadian company that
(28:45):
still exists to this day and still holds
title of being a Canadian company.
John James did a summer internship in the
United States with Coca-Cola Now being a
pharmacist.
Ideology behind the original conception of
Coca-Cola really interested him and he
wanted to create his own fountain drink for
the Canadian marketplace.
(29:06):
But he didn't want it to be a cola.
He wanted to do something different and
with that he gave birth to Ginger Ale Not
Ginger Ale in its entirety, but John James
McLaughlin founded Canada Dry.
Yes, the McLaughlin family and the
McLaughlin Motors and McLaughlin Carriage
Works is all gone now.
Their mansion is there.
Their art gallery that the family founded
(29:28):
in the city of Oshawa is still there as
well, same with the Automotive Museum.
You can go and see all kinds of stuff and
learn about the amazing history behind this
family stuff and learn about the amazing
history behind this family.
But the one thing that all of this is still
void of is the fact that the the oldest son
of Robert McLaughlin, the man who founded
essentially the automobile industry and GM
Canada in Canada, created Canada Dry, a
(29:51):
soft drink that you could still find on
shelves worldwide.
In the end, McLaughlin kind of gave in to
peer pressure.
William C Durant, you could say he was kind
of sleazy.
He used Sam in a way to build his empire.
Got to remember he was outed from GM as it
was just starting to be built and Sam
helped finance to get him back on board.
(30:11):
He helped him finance a brand new car
company with Louis Chevrolet and get his
name back into the General Motors board.
Sure, Sam was really high up there, but he
still allowed his father's company car
company with louis Chevrolet and get his
name back into the general motors board.
Sure, Sam was really high up there, but he
still allowed his father's company and his
name plate to disappear the McLaughlin name
to completely fall apart.
Should Sam have let it happen?
I don't know, dollar figures might have
(30:31):
said something else about it and the fact
that he was still part of the board, but
since he would have been 70 years old when
the company was turned into Buick, I think
he was still part of the board.
But since he would have been 70 years old
when the company was turned into Buick, I
think he was just doing like his father.
When he sold out the carriage works, he'd
built something so amazing and something so
great he literally just wanted to retire
from it.
You think he would have tried to get
somebody else in the family to take it over.
(30:52):
But you know, not everybody's like that.
And Sam, he just liked being on the board,
he liked doing the paper thing and the CE
thing.
He wasn't a good worker like his father.
His father built his empire and turned his
empire into an automotive empire.
He never got to see the demise of his name,
but his son did.
To this day.
The McLaughlin family is still well known
(31:14):
in the city of Oshawa, Ontario, and when
General Motors considered shutting down the
plant a few years ago, it wasn't just
Canada that was in an uproar about doing
that.
The city of Oshawa and even myself, called
out General Motors for the fact that one.
They wouldn't exist without the help from
Sam McLaughlin to get William C Durant back
(31:35):
onto the board to build General Motors into
the empire it is today.
So without Canadian help they wouldn't
exist, which means shutting down a plant in
the city that gave birth to their empire is
just blasphemy.
Seriously, that's like a big kick in the
nuts when they said that, but in the end
they decided to keep it open, which is good
for the city of Oshawa and the city of
(31:56):
automobiles for Canada.
Essentially, they call Oshawa like the
Detroit of Canada.
McLaughlin's gone now and, like we said in
one of our previous podcasts about, you
know, helping out and get into the Chinese
automobile production and help bring them
to our borders to build their cars here and
utilize them.
Similar to you know, companies like Exceed
and Wally's utilize their vehicles to bring
(32:19):
back one of our names.
McLaughlin would be one of those if we
utilize our own technology, like project
arrow, to build a brand new mclaughlin
motors.
Again, the name isn't, you know, the
coolest name.
I own a McLaughlin, as opposed to I own a
Cadillac.
Doesn't roll off the tongue as well, but
neither does Rolls-Royce.
(32:40):
So maybe there's some hope that McLaughlin
could be resurrected, or we could stand
tall, hold our heads high and remember the
amazing company that the McLaughlin family
helped build and the soft drink that their
family gave us too.
So if you like this podcast, please like it.
Share it, comment about it.
Go on the social feeds or streaming sites
that you found the AutoLooks podcast on,
give us a comment and share us with friends
(33:02):
and family.
Help send us an email over at email at
AutoLooks.net.
You can find out more information from the
Canadian automotive museum from myself.
We can send you links, we can give you info,
we can tell you where it is and what they
have.
They got some amazing stuff there and I,
when I went to the museum, I actually
learned something about my home city.
My home city was the first place in Canada
(33:22):
to put parking meters in Doesn't seem like
a super big thing or whatever, but we were
one of the first ones to put parking meters
in the country of Canada.
Well, not one of the.
We were the first city to put parking
meters in.
It's kind of neat to learn that.
It's an amazing thing.
It's not huge but it's got a huge amount of
information.
(33:43):
So, like I said, send us an email, send us
a comment.
Like us, share us, find out more
information from us.
You can learn about the McLaughlin family.
You can learn you know.
Go and see everything you can in Oshawa,
Ontario.
Go see the General Motors plant that
essentially was built for the McLaughlin
Empire, the Automotive Museum.
Go to the McLaughlin Museum, which is their
(34:03):
old mansion that Robert built.
Or you can go to the art gallery, because
Robert was a fine art connoisseur and it's
a pay what you can type of art gallery to
just donate and it's actually pretty good.
I brought my kids there and my daughter was
pretty young at the time Two, three and
even she had fun.
So, like I said, send us a ring.
(34:23):
You find out that.
Find out more information from the
AutoLooks.net website and from AutoLooks and
myself.
Mr. Everett, jay, the AutoLooks podcast is
brought to you by Ecomm Entertainment Group
and distributed by Podbean.com.
If you'd like to get in touch with us, send
us an email over at email@autolooks.net.
So for myself, Everett Jay, the AutoLooks.net
website and the AutoLooks podcast, strap
(34:45):
yourself in for this one fun wild ride that
AutoLooks and the McLaughlin family gonna
take you on.
Thank you.
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