1941 McLaughlin-Buick Special

Canada, a full-fledged Dominion within the British Empire, had been fighting alongside Great Britain in a world war for a full two years when the 1941 automobiles began arriving in the nation's auto dealers' showrooms.

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Commitment to winning that war was total as Canada's heavy industries switched from production of consumer goods to the manufacture of war materiel.

Conservation was the watchword. Colonel Sam McLaughlin, president of General Motors Canada retired his car and hitched a horse to a McLaughlin buggy and drove himself to work for the duration of the world conflict.

 GM's factories in Windsor, Ontario and Regina, Saskatchewan were full-speed ahead, building weapons for victory. In Oshawa, Ontario, only a trickle of automobiles left the GM factory, of which 3,100 of them were McLaughlin-Buicks.

Styling was dubbed Mass-stream this year.

For many Canadians, owing a McLaughlin-Buick  was a quiet way of showing success on the ladder of life. It was Prime Minister Mackenzie King's official conveyance and truly suitable for royalty.

King George V and Queen Elizabeth tour Canada  in a 1939 McLaughlin-Buick.

The first rung at GM was Chevrolet, an entry-level car that competed with Ford's, no-frills, low-bucks Model T. One moved up to Oakland, Viking, Oldsmobile, Marquette and then McLaughlin-Buick before landing in the luxurious laps of LaSalle and Cadillac.

The Viking was imported from General Motors in the United States. A 1929 model is seen here.

All of these vehicles were built in Canada, save for the Viking, the companion car to Oldsmobile. GM owned 40% of the domestic market. Its catchy, patriotic-stamped on a maple leaf slogan was, "It's better because it's Canadian."

McLaughlin-Buick made a stunning style statement with concealed running boards.

The Super was introduced in February and only built for eight weeks before the model year ended. Model 46.29 was unique because of the short 2 997-millimetre (118-inch) wheelbase and the absence of rear quarter windows. Running boards were concealed inside of the doors for the second year in a row. 

The instrument panel was all new for 1941. Machine-turned gauge insert and a rich wood-look overlay were exceptionally impressive.

Standard equipment included armrests and door locks on both front doors, dual air trumpet horns, cigarette lighter, "windproof" ash trays, dual tail lights, dual sun visors, dual variable-speed windshield wipers, as were lights in the glove compartment and the trunk. A deluxe steering wheel and two-tone paint jobs were part of the base price, too.

McLaughlin-Buick was first make of automobile  to offer electric turn signals as standard equipment. The Fore-n-Aft Flashway indicator stalk is located on the right side of the steering column.

One could order an under-the-seat heater coil, a clock, stainless steel trim rings to dress up the hubcaps, an oil filter and vacuum-assist windshield wipers.

Keen to let consumers know that McLaughlin-Buick was thrifty to own and operate, advertising for the Special announced compact motorcar bigness now came in a handy size.

The engine was new for the 1941 selling season. The Fireball head-in-valve motor was designed by Chief Engineer Charles A. Chayne. Advertising waxed enthusiastic. "The head of the new Fireball piston is slightly hollowed out near the centre. As it rises up, it swirls the fuel vapour into a compact little ball, squeezing it tight against the dome of the valve-in-head combustion chamber and around the spark plug-squeezing it tight and in more rounded form, than gasoline has ever been squeezed in a passenger car engine. The spark plug fires-the compact fire-ball blazes up-it drives the piston down with terrific new power."

With Parliament about to impose gasoline rationing, the new straight eight promised to deliver a full 3.2 kilometres (two miles) more per 4.5 litres (one Imperial gallon) than previously. For a modest cost one culd purchase all-rainge, thrifty Compound Carburation. A forerunner of the four-barrel carburettor, two dual cars were design to prived the right are mixtures at all speeds. Horsepower in the Special series was increased 107 to 125 when so equipped.

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The McLaughlin name was being played down in 1941. Other than in the sales brochures, the name appears only once on the car, on the valve cover. Still, a McLaughlin-Buick is visibly distinguished from its US cousin. The hup caps are rounded, not flat. In fact, they are identical to Canadian Chevrolet hubcaps, save for the centre insignia. Wheels are six-stud affairs with 46-centimetre (16-inch) wheels, whereas American models have five-bolt wheels and 31-centimetre (15-inch) tires.

Mechanically there are numerous differences, one of the most notable being a completely different rear axle differential setup with a much heavier crown gear. In deference to the many kilometres of gravel roads in Canada, every McLaughlin-Buick came with an oil bath and an oil filter.

The McLaughlin part of the hyphenated Buick name would appear for the last time in 1942 and the Buick brand would disappear from Canada all together until the 1952 models made their debut.

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Copyright James C. Mays 1999
All rights reserved.

1957 Pontiac Laurentian, Pathfinder Deluxe and Pathfinder

The 1957 Pontiac Laurentian four-door hardtop and (right) two-door hardtop.

Canadians have loved Pontiac from its very beginning in 1926. The new brand from General Motors was tied to a First Nations theme, Pontiac having been a great warrior chief and brilliant war strategist in the 1700s.

Colonel Sam McLaughlin, president of General Motors of Canada, helped kick off the new car by being photographed in the rumble seat of a new Pontiac introduced at public festivities. In case anyone should miss the obvious connection, the Colonel wore a full native head dress.

The new 1926 Pontiac was billed as "Chief of the Sixes."

The new car was so much more popular than its Oakland companion that the latter was phased out of production at the end of the 1931 season.

Oakland was built from 1907 to 1931.

GM in Oshawa was quick to save money by having Chevrolet and Pontiac share chassis, engine and basic sheet metal. Automobile production was cut back after 1939, when Canada entered World War II and then suspended in 1942.

After the war ended in 1945, Pontiac was one of the first brands to roll off the lines in Oshawa. Now sold alongside Buick, dealers were grateful to have something to sell as Buick did not re-enter the domestic market until 1951.

Once Ottawa had balanced the nation's wartime budget, Buick was permitted to return to production.

In the mid-Fifties Pontiac suffered from the image of being a comfortable car for the more mature buyer and sales plummeted from third place in 1954 to sixth place in 1955. 

The 1956 Pontiac Laurentian was sold in the Union of South Africa as well as here at home.

Pontiac made a heroic comeback in 1956 to capture third place and would claim it again in 1957 with a record-breaking 48,140 units build during the calendar year. It would capture second place in 1958 and go on to beat out Chevrolet for first place several years later.

Semon (Bunkie) Knudson was determined to stop the disastrous slide when he took the helm of the Pontiac Division in the United States. He declared, "You can sell. a young car to old people but you cant sell an old car to young people." One of the first things he did was order the the twin silver streaks--a sacred Pontiac styling cue--ripped off the hood. He ordered Pontiacs onto the race circuit with terrific results. Canadians loved Pontiac and Knudsen would rekindle America's love affair with Pontiac, too.

The 1957 design was a reskin of the 1955 body shell. Ad copy called it 'Star Flight' styling. For Canadians this meant a Pontiac body shell reduced to fit on the smaller Chevrolet chassis. Regardless of the name in 1957, styling was loaded with aggressive, warlike looks. The front was more massive and laden more chrome than ever before. Bomb-shaped bumper guards flanked the vertically-fluted grille. Sides were graced with tasteful, full-length moulding that carried the lethal-looking missile theme. The sides contained a smart dip in the rear quarter panel to give the illusion of a fin at the rear. 

The backside of the Pontiac was in similar taste, resembling the rear of a jet fighter plane. A broad oval tail lamp protruded from a generous chrome housing set in a reverse--cant fender cutout. The oval was repeated in the bumper's dummy exhaust pot.

While American brochures liberally employed war and weapons terminology to describe styling, copywriters for Canadian line folders wrote a completely different story, bragging about the styling magic of Pontiac and extolling its clean-cut exteriors and graceful lines.

The casual elegance of Pontiac's interiors was referred to as "over the shoulder" styling.

With all the hoop-la around the design changes, Pontiac's mechanical side got plenty of attention, too. A new chassis gave Pontiac a lower centre of gravity and greatly improved roadability. Wheels got 35.5-centimetre (14-inch) diameters. Rear springs were widened to reduce lean when cornering. Front suspension was redesigned and Powerglide automatic transmission was introduced as an option.

Pontiac-Buick dealers offered Pontiacs in sixteen body types in three lines for 1957. The luxurious Laurentian, popular Pathfinder Deluxe and economical Pathfinder series were sharp to look at and fun to drive.

A full year ahead of our American cousins, Canadians could order fuel-injected power plants to stuff under the hood. Upon special order, GM would whip up a maximum performance package with competition-type camshaft, high-speed valve system and mechanical valve lifters for the 270 (4.4-litre) and 283 (4.6-litre) Power Chief engines.

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Copyright James C. Mays 2001
 All rights reserved.

1969 Buick

The least expensive tri-shield Canadians could buy in the
1969 Buick lineup was the Special Deluxe two-door coupe.
Base price was $3,000 f.o.b. Oshawa for the V-6.
An extra $93 would buy the V-8 version.

David Dunbar Buick was two years old when his parents immigrated to the United States of America from the United Kingdom in 1856. The Scottish family settled in burgeoning and prosperous Detroit. Young David showed a creative streak, inventing the lawn sprinkler and then patenting the process by which enamel adheres to cast iron. That latter discovery made the bathtub a “must have” household item and Buick was a rich man.

He dabbled in horseless carriages but his companies went bankrupt. Finally the backers—the wealthy Briscoe brothers--sold the faltering Buick concern to entrepreneurs in the city of Flint. The Buick automobile became a cornerstone of what would become the General Motors empire. Sadly, the marque's creator never shared in its success, working every day of his life until he died of colon cancer in 1929 at the age of 74.

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Meanwhile here in the Dominion, the McLaughlin family decided to add automobiles to their line of long-established carriages and highly esteemed buggies. From their factory in Oshawa, Ontario they supplied the rest of the nation as well as the British Empire with its superior products. In 1908, they inked a ten-year deal to use the Buick drivetrain in a vehicle of their own. The engines were sturdy and McLaughlin quickly rivaled Ford for reliability. 

General Motors purchased the McLaughlin concern in 1918 and created General Motors of Canada, Limited. Colonel Sam McLaughlin still headed the Oshawa, Ontario-based subsidiary and would continue to do so until he was 100 years old. The McLaughlin automobile became the McLaughlin-Buick until the first half of the hyphen disappeared at the end of the abbreviated 1942 selling season. The cars were well received and sought after by the affluent, including our Royal Family.

This 1936 McLaughlin-Buick was built for King Edward VIII.

During the war years. GM Canada's manufacturing might was focused on building weapons of war. When victory came in 1945 GM was first off the mark with production of civilian vehicles, but the Buick nameplate did not return to the corporate lineup right away. The reason for the long wait was to allow Ottawa time to balance the budget. A special ministerial permit was needed to import a Buick—and those were far and few between. 

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1951 Buick Custom Riviera, built in Oshawa, Ontario.
The same vehicle was built and sold in the US as the
Buick Custom.

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Finally, GM Canada's top brass was given the green light by Parliament to build Buicks again. The company geared up for Buick production in time for the 1951 season. Model year production reached 11,148 units that model year before settling back to a more comfortable 6,940 units produced in 1952. Production climbed to 9,303 units in 1953, rose to 13,846 units in 1954, followed by 23, 762 units built in 1955 then dropping 14,738 units in 1956. That figure rose to 15,884 units for the 1957 model year.

The bubble would burst. Small, thrifty imports lined up on our shores to challenge venerable Buick. Dollar conscious consumers turned to the pint-sized wheels in droves, prompting Buick production to nosedive down to 12,375 units in 1958. Production slid even further to 11,732 units for the 1959 model year. There was no relief in 1960 as Buick production skidded alarmingly to 9,279 units. 

Sales for Buicks continued to be dismal, slumping to a dismal 8,648 units produced during the 1962 model year. 


Buick was not alone in its sales woes. Mid-priced products from competitors shared the same problems as an industry-wide shakeout took place. The import challengers prompted Kaiser and Frazer to throw in the towel and move to Brazil. Nash and Hudson both disappeared from American Motors, replaced by the ritzy, downsized Rambler. Monarch and Edsel were deleted by Ford of Canada. DeSoto was replaced by the compact Valiant at Chrysler Canada.  Studebaker was about to breathe its last.


Help was at hand for the tri-shield with the introduction of the compact Buick Special. It garnered an extra 1,091 sales for Buick during calendar 1961. 

The full-sized Buick would stumble along with 10,000 to 13,000 domestic sales annually, with 1,000 to 5,000 additional sales for the smaller Special until 1965 when the big Buick suddenly bounced upwards to 11^th place.  The story was much the same in 1966. When all the Buick nameplates were added together they hit 21,000 units, fitting nicely between 8^th place Volkswagen and 9^th place Valiant. 

With the freshly signed Auto Pact firmly in place, product lines were rationalized with American factories for efficient continental delivery. Only Specials were built in Canada; the other Buick models were imported from our neighbours to the south.

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When Buick bowed for 1967 the lines were very much the same as previously seen. No Buicks were built in Canada during Centennial Year.  Sales alone told of consumers' romance with the Tri-Shield: 16,496 LeSabre and Wildcat models, 8,343 Specials and Skylarks, 1,467 Electras and 812 of the ultra-posh, front-wheel drive Rivieras rounded out the picture.

For 1968 Buick did well enough. Le Sabre and Wildcat sales put the combo in 11^th place with 18,175 units delivered. Special and Skylark sales were lumped together and equaled 12,862 units. This year the Electra was separated out from Riviera for statistical purposes. The former sold 1,946 units and the latter racked up 1,383 units delivered. Production of Specials resumed in Oshawa and 46,405 of the econo-Buicks were built.

Canada would have its first million-plus passenger car year in 1969—pushed along by the phenomenal success of the Ford Maverick. Ford’s new compact accounted for almost one out of every five cars built in the country that year.

Buick fielded the posh Electra 225, the Riviera, the LeSabre and the Skylark. LeSabre and Electra were all new. For the first time in the marque's domestic history, a heater was offered as standard equipment throughout the line.

Advertising asked, “Wouldn’t you really rather have a Buick?” 1,350 Canadians said, “Yes!” to the stylish Riviera, laying down $5,679 plus tax for the imported personal luxury car.

The Riviera was positioned far upstream from the rest of the Buick fleet. The flagship still used the same body as it had been born with in 1963 but the latest update gave it a graceful new grille. To gild the lily, an extra-cost Gran Sport package was listed as being available. 

Imposing and regal from the rear, the 1969 Buick Electra 225
 two-door hardtop listed for $5,412. The price was right for
2,701 sales Canadawide.

Electra held its 126-inch wheelbase and 224.8-inch overall length but designers made the envelope look dramatically longer and lower than ever before. Side vent windows were eliminated for a cleaner look but smokers did not appreciate the visual. Delivered as a four-door sedan,  a two-door or four-door hardtop, a Custom version carried even more refinements. A Custom Limited package added sugar rosettes on top of an already pure buttery frosting. 

Fast and furious, the fresh-faced
1969 Buick Wildcat two-door hardtop
carried a sticker price of $4,166. 

Wildcat was downsized, now sharing a 123-inch wheelbase and sheetmetal with the smaller LeSabre. It still had its own distinctive look and made use of the big 430-cubic inch Buick mill. The big engine made the relatively light car a very serious contender on the track and in traffic. 

 Slippery was the design for the 1969 Buick LeSabre
Hardtop Sedan. It listed for $3,919 in base form but
an extra $90 got one the Custom upgrade.

The LeSabre series was brand new, and the longer car measured a full 218 inches in length. The themes were heavily sculpted sides with kicked up accent lines over the front and rear wheel wells. A split grille was recessed into a wraparound front bumper. Massive taillights were integrated into the rear bumper. A Custom sub-series was even more posh. 

The Special Deluxe came as a two- or four-door sedan and a station wagon. They were available with Buick’s 6-cylinder mill or the V-8 engine. Standard engine in the Buick intermediates was the Fireball 250-1. The 155-horsepower six-banger promised to deliver “butter-smooth dependability.”  

Skylark was shorn to only two models—a two- and four-door sedan. The California GS, the GS 350 and the GS 400 were all upscale and fast sub-series sharing the intermediate body.  A ragtop was available in the GS 400 line.

At the end of the 1969 calendar year sales were 18,731 for the Buick LeSabre and Wildcat. Special and Skylark added 13,851 units more to the total. Electra moved up from last year, finishing with 2,701 units and Riviera was off ever so slightly with 1,350 sales. 

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 Copyright James C. Mays 2006

 All rights reserved.