McLaughlin Motors

Podcast Episode: 0272
What happened to Canada's Car Company?

       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.

       Join us as we explore the bold vision of Sam McLaughlin to transition from carriages to automobiles, driven by a pivotal friendship with Billy, the part-owner of Buick. Through sheer determination and ingenuity, Sam navigated initial skepticism to lay the foundation for automobile production in Canada. His collaboration with William Durant and Buick catalyzed the creation of the McLaughlin Model F and integrated McLaughlin Motors into the rapidly expanding General Motors empire. This story is a testament to ambition, resilience, and the transformative power of the automotive revolution.

        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 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. 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 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. If you'd like to get in touch with us, send us an email over at email at 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 Cavan-Monaghan 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. 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 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 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. 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. 

​         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. 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. 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, 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 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 he doesn't have the big enough production facilities. 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 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 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 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 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 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 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. 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 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 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 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 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. 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, made his money and then got out, but it's 1915. Roberts 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 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. 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. 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 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 U.S., Dort as it was known and 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 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 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. 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 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. 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 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 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 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 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. 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. 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 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 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 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 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. 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, marquis, 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 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 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 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. 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 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 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 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 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. This would put the McLaughlin label 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. 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. 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. 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. 

         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 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 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 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. 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 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 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 McLaughlin built in Canada. Awesome, huh. Yeah, they had a lot of great ties to the royal family and McLaughlin was there because McLaughlin was part of the royal 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. 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. 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.
 
          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. 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 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 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 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. 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 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 oldest son of Robert McLaughlin, the man who founded essentially the automobile industry and gm Canada in Canada, created Canada dry, a 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. 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 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. But you know, not everybody's like that. And Sam, he just liked being on the board, he liked doing the paper pusher job, not the worker job. 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 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 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 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 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. 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 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 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. 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 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. 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 at AutoLooks.net. So, for myself, favorite jay, the AutoLooks.net website and the AutoLooks.net podcast, strap yourself in for this one fun wild ride that AutoLooks and the McLaughlin family going to take you on. 

Everett J.
​#autolooks