Just A Car Guy: McLaughlin Buicks, 1st I've heard of them

Wednesday, August 15, 2018

McLaughlin Buicks, 1st I've heard of them

When Samuel McLaughlin was a young man, he worked for a short time in a local hardware store, then became an apprentice in the upholstery shop of his father's company, McLaughlin Carriage Works in 1887. It had opened in 1867 and at one time was the largest manufacturer of horse-drawn buggies and sleighs in the British Empire, producing 140 models.

The demand for his complete carriages spread across Canada and before the end of the century there was a McLaughlin sales office in London, England. In 1898 McLaughlin produced more than 25,000 carriages, and in 1901 produced 15,000 units, this time in 140 different models.

A few years later he moved onto an upholstery job in Watertown, New York. A couple years after that he and his brother George become junior partners in their father's company in 1892, just as motors were being fitted to buggies and carriages.

With engines from W C Durant of Buick, he produced the McLaughlin-Buick Model F, establishing The McLaughlin Motor Car Company in Nov 1907. Durant was a partner in Durant-Dort and like Sam McLaughlin had been the largest carriage manufacturer in his country, the USA, then ran Chevy so well it bought GM.

William Durant is credited with having brought about the outstanding success of such automobiles as Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Oldsmobile and Oakland, and other important enterprises, among them Frigidaire. The Durant company bought up well respected competition like Star, Chandler, and Hupmobile http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2018/02/this-is-how-crazy-big-durant-motor-car.html

The following year Buick, controlled by Durant and partner McLaughlin, formed General Motors Company with Mott. Durant borrowed heavily and bought other automotive businesses for his General Motors but vehicle sales collapsed, factories were closed and in 1910 Durant lost his control of GMC to his bankers. Meanwhile General Motors retained the former Buick shareholding in McLaughlin.

With McLaughlin's financial help Durant started a new business in partnership with racing driver Louis Chevrolet. Durant took control of Chevrolet and sold stock in a new business, Chevrolet Canada, so successfully he was able to regain control of General Motors and in 1916 General Motors Corporation was formed with Sam McLaughlin Director and Vice President. McLaughlin began manufacturing Chevrolet automobiles for Durant and General Motors

That's how in 1910, McLaughlin became a director of General Motors. He became president of General Motors of Canada in 1918, continuing to sell cars under the McLaughlin-Buick brand until 1942. He retired in 1945, but remained chairman of the board until his death.

Why was there a GMC of Canada, just across the river from GMC of America? Well, taxes and tariffs. The other countries in the British Empire hadn't yet fought for their independance from England, and so the countries of the British Empire – England, India, South Africa, Australia and others – charged much lower import taxes on goods from another member of the empire, such as Canada.

Taxes were adjusted to the proportion of Canadian content, so Canada made and supplied General Motors vehicles to those countries. But then WW1 came along, and things got financially difficult all around, for example, Canada went to the dollar, and didn't go with the British Empire Sterling Pound.

Since the British were struggling to repay US War Loans and unwilling to allow their businesses unrestricted access to Canada's currency to buy Canadian cars, this just after Britain erected high tariff barriers during WW1 to protect their own industry from America's low-priced mass-produced but high-quality cars, resulting in Canada creating the world's second-largest automotive industry for a short while, until the stock market crash.

How lucrative was running GMC Canada? Well, in n 1951, he established the McLaughlin Foundation which, from 1953 to 2003, donated nearly $200 million to the University of Toronto and other causes. You might say being the head of GM is a very profitable career choice

His older brother founded the Canada Dry company

In 1936 a McLaughlin-Buick was purchased by the Prince of Wales.

In 1936 the Dunsmuirs, a coal magnate family in Victoria, British Columbia, ordered 3 special order 1936 Buick-McLaughlin Phaetons , and a year later, one of those 3 was used to drive US president Franklin Roosevelt around Victoria, BC during his state visit.

Two McLaughlin-Buick Phaetons were built for the 1939 Royal tour. One of these later carried Prince Charles and Princess Diana during their 1986 visit to Canada