60 Years Behind the Wheel. Bill Sherk
government had been licensing automobiles for five years — and with the steady increase in car ownership, the flow of money into provincial coffers was increasing too. Maybe local county governments could also get a slice of the action.
The following item, entitled “Would Regulate Auto Traffic,” appeared in the Leamington Post on December 17, 1908:
The Essex County Council has adopted a resolution asking the Ontario legislature for an act permitting each county to regulate and license automobile traffic through its territory.
The action is directed particularly against automobiles from outside the province passing through Essex county, and especially those touring from Detroit, many of which have made nuisances of themselves in every way.
As first introduced by Warden O’Neil, the resolution asked authority to charge a license fee of $25 on each automobile passing through the county. It was pointed out that if adopted in each county, say between Detroit and Niagara rivers, this would make touring prohibitive, and the cost between Detroit and Buffalo would be about $300 in license fees. The resolution was finally adopted without naming a specific amount.
Unfortunately, that news item doesn’t explain how Detroit motorists “have made nuisances of themselves in every way.” But its easy to speculate. Some motorists bypassed their muffler with an exhaust cut-out for greater acceleration and top speed, with a deafening increase in noise. And that noise was sometimes loud enough to frighten a horse into bolting — even if the horse was pulling a carriage.
Born to Sell Newspapers, circa 1909
A TORONTO DAILY NEWSPAPER, THETelegram, was founded in 1876 by John Ross Robertson (1841–1918), photographed here standing in the front seat of his chauffeur-driven touring car around 1909. The family is in the back, the luggage is strapped on behind, and the car is ready to go. Robertson himself went many places during his newspaper career, including an 1869 visit to Fort Garry (in what soon became Manitoba), where he was arrested and held for a week by none other than Louis Riel. Robertson devoted his long life to the betterment of Toronto, and he wrote and published the Landmarks of Toronto series, which is still used as the standard reference work on the city’s early buildings and people. During his lifetime he gave away large sums of money to worthy causes, and near his death he remarked, “I will surprise everyone by the small amount of money I will leave.” He passed away on May 31, 1918, at his home at 291 Sherbourne Street.
In the early 1920s a public school was built at the northeast corner of Glengrove and Rosewell in North Toronto and named in his honour. His newspaper lived on until 1971, when it finally went under. A new paper arose phoenix-like from the ashes of the old: the Toronto Sun. What became of Robertson’s large and luxurious touring car is unknown.
FRED FOSTER OF BOWMANVILLE, ONTARIO, is seated behind the wheel of his new 1908 McLaughlin Model F two-cylinder touring. Sam McLaughlin began building automobiles in Goshawk, Ontario, in December 1907 with Buick engines imported from the United States and bodies built by McLaughlin. Fred is seen here with his family ready to leave for Midland, Ontario, to attend a family wedding. He was so pleased with his new car he wrote the following letter to the factory that built it:
Bowmanville, December 14th, 1908
Messrs. McLaughlin Motor Car Co. Ltd.
Oshawa, Ont.
Dear Sirs:
The Touring Car I purchased from you last spring has given me the very best of satisfaction. It is economical in consumption of gasoline, and will climb any hill I have yet met. My repairs for the entire season have cost $2.00.
When I purchased the car I had no knowledge whatsoever of Automobiles. After a few days experimenting I took my family for a trip covering 300 miles, without a chauffeur, and we had no mishap or trouble. During the season I have travelled over 3500 miles, and the car is practically as good as when it left the factory.
I thank you heartily for the great courtesy you and your employees have shown me, and conscientiously recommend the McLaughlin car to anyone desiring a reliable and commodious machine.
Yours truly,
Fred Foster
The little girl seated in the back grew up and became a doctor. Her married name was Ruby Tremer, and she passed away at the end of a long and eventful life. Noel Hamer of Odessa, Ontario, purchased this photo and papers from her husband after she died.
Noel has been restoring antique cars for over forty years. His favourite is the 1932 Ford roadster. He has restored twenty-seven of them.
“Why Not Own an Automobile?” 1909
IT’S INTERESTING TO NOTE THAT this ad from Hyslop Bros. in Toronto appeared on Thursday, March 18, 1909, in the local newspaper, the Leamington Post, in Leamington, Ontario, a community over two hundred miles from Toronto. The ad likely ran in papers all over Ontario and reflected the aggressive marketing policy of this enterprising dealership.
Instant Grandstand, Weston, 1910
WHAT WERE THESE PEOPLE WATCHING from their car parked in a farmer’s field in Weston, Ontario, in July 1910? It was the first airplane flight over Toronto. The pilot was French Count Jacques de Lesseps. Grounded by bad weather, Jacques’s monoplane, La Scarabee, finally lifted off into clearing skies from the rain-soaked field around 8:00 p.m. and flew at 2500 feet over the Exhibition grounds, then over downtown Toronto, at a speed of 70 miles per hour. Mike Filey of the Toronto Sun describes the city’s reaction: “Bewildered citizens filled the streets and sidewalks, lined porches and roof tops as they gazed skyward for a glimpse of the first airplane to fly over their city. Torontonians were thunderstruck.”
And what about the car itself, serving as a mobile grandstand? It was right-hand drive, and judging by the cap on the head of the driver, it was chauffeur-driven. Chauffeurs back then had to know how to repair cars as well as drive them, since flat tires and mechanical breakdowns were an everyday occurrence. The tool box on the running board was an absolute necessity. The number on the licence plate also appears on the cowl lamps, as required by law — probably to aid the police when the licence plate was too muddy to read. Introduced in 1908 with a price tag of $4,500, this car is a very luxurious Canadian-built Russell Model K “seven-seated” tourer with a fifty-horsepower, four-cylinder engine.
More Cars than Horses, Toronto, 1910
THIS PHOTO WAS TAKEN AT Bay and Adelaide, in front of the Farmers Bank of Canada, which was suspended on Monday, December 19, 1910. Already it was apparent that automobiles were beginning to outnumber horses, at least in downtown Toronto. But traffic was still light, enabling the chauffeur and limousine to park in the middle of the intersection. Judging by the awnings and clothing, the photo was taken in mild weather.
Just ten years earlier, the horse had greatly outnumbered cars in Canada. In the year 1900, cars were so rare