Have you ever noticed that automobiles, which at this point are very well understood technology, are manufactured by relatively few companies? Not only that, but they’re based in relatively few nations. There are American, Japanese, German, Italian, Chinese, and Indian cars, but why, for instance, aren’t there any Canadian automobile companies?
The answer is that there were. Samuel McLaughlin, who was born September 8, 1871, founded the McLaughlin Motor Car Company in 1907. It wasn’t an enormous stretch for him; he was already a partner in his fathers company, the McLaughlin Carriage Works, which was one of the biggest providers of horse-drawn buggies and sleighs in the whole British Empire. Samuel wasn’t an engineer or mechanic, but he had plenty of resources, and got into automobile manufacturing purely for business reasons.
He was born in Ontario, where the carriage company was based, and in 1905 went to Michigan, in the US, to buy his first car. It was a Jackson. He wasn’t too impressed, though, and on his way home, when he was in Toronto, he bought a Buick instead. He chose the Buick mostly because while he was in Jackson he had happened to meet the founder of that company, Billy Durant.
McLaughlin talked to Durant about making a deal to start a new factory in Ontario, but they couldn’t agree. So McLaughlin went ahead anyway, and started his own McLaughlin Motor Car company. In the first year they sold just 154 cars, although for 1905 that wasn’t too bad. And the cars were a success. But McLaughlin was more of a business guy than a car guy, and by 1910 he’d become a director of the new General Motors company, which his friend Durant had founded. His own company was still going, and in 1918 the McLaughlin motor company became part of General Motors. McLaughlin cars continued to be sold, although some were badged “McLaughlin-Buick.” You could buy one all the way up to 1942.
McLaughlin himself became president of General Motors of Canada, and stayed involved in the company for the next few decades, until he passed away at the age of 100. In his later years he focused on philanthropy, and you can see quite a few buildings and halls named “McLaughlin” in universities and art museums around Canada. Also, have you heard of Canada Dry, the ginger ale soda that was so popular in the US during Prohibition that they tested it to see if it was alcoholic? McLaughlin was president of that company, too, which was founded by his brother. And he’s even in the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. For horse racing. McLaughlin established a thoroughbred horse farm in Ontario and was a director of the Ontario Jockey Club. But as far as anyone knows, there was never a McLaughlin racing car.
