60 YEARS
BEHIND THE WHEEL
The Cars We Drove in Canada1900–1960
Bill Sherk
A HOUNSLOW BOOK
A MEMBER OF THE DUNDURN GROUP
TORONTO OXFORD
Copyright © Bill Sherk, 2003
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise (except for brief passages for purposes of review) without the prior permission of
Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright.
Publisher: Anthony Hawke
Copy-Editor: Andrea Pruss
Design: Jennifer Scott
Printer: University of Toronto Press
National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data
Sherk, Bill, 1942-
60 years behind the wheel: the cars we drove in Canada, 1900–1960 / Bill Sherk.
ISBN 1-55002-465-5
1. Automobiles — Canada — History. I. Title. II. Title: Sixty years behind the wheel.
TL26.S456 2003 388.3’42’0971 C2003-904043-7
2 3 4 5 07 06 05 04 03
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program and The Association for the Export of Canadian Books, and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishers Tax Credit program, and the Ontario Media Development Corporation’s Ontario Book Initiative.
Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credit in subsequent editions.
J. Kirk Howard, President
Printed and bound in Canada.
Printed on recycled paper.
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| Suite 200 | Headington, Oxford, | Tonawanda NY |
| Toronto, Ontario, Canada | England | U.S.A. 14150 |
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From rumble seats and running boards to powertops and tailfins, this book captures in stories andphotographs the thrill of motoring in Canadafrom the dawn of the twentieth century to 1960
60 YEARSBEHIND THE WHEEL
To my loving wife Brenda,my front-seat passenger on the highway of life,whose faith and encouragement helped make this book a reality
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword by Mike Filey
“Look, Ma! No Steering Wheel!”
Winton Runabout, Toronto, circa 1904
Cadillac Truck, Toronto, circa 1906
Breakdown Near Sarnia, circa 1908
Engineless Car, Leamington, circa 1908
Born to Sell Newspapers, circa 1909
“Why Not Own an Automobile?” 1909
Instant Grandstand, Weston, 1910
More Cars than Horses, Toronto, 1910
Two-car Garage, Leamington, 1912
Motorcycles and Sidecars, Toronto, circal912
1912 Model T Touring, Leamington, 1939
Russell Torpedo, Toronto, circa 1911
Car and Trailer, Leamington, 1913
Cadillac with Horses and Chickens
Before Traffic Lights, circa 1914
McLaughlin Touring, Charlottetown, circa 1914
Grandfather’s Centre-door T, 1926