McLaughlin Automobile - History .
McLaughlin Carriage Company of Enniskillen Ontario moved to Oshawa in 1876 . As the automobile was becoming more popular and was replacing the horse and buggy , in 1907 Sam McLaughlin decided to begin to manufacture automobiles . After testing other automobiles and then a Buick Sam decided that Buick was the car he wanted to build . Sam made a deal with William Durant , to use Buick engines and chassis’s while McLaughlin built the Bodies . The first production models of these automobiles were called ‘McLaughlin’ . Just over 150 automobiles were built in 1908 carrying the “McLaughlin” badge . The badge was changed to “Buick” , after a Buick won the first Indianapolis 500 .
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This move was not very popular with the Canadian auto buyers and caused a loss of sales . The name then became “McLaughlin-Buick” and sales increased again . Canadians loved their Canadian built McLaughlin automobiles even with Buick to the added to the badge and business was good . McLaughlin-Buick was different in appearance from a US Buick and the body finish was considered to have a much better “quality looking” to the finish .
In 1915 Durant who had left GM , and then co-founded Chevrolet , had intentions to build a Chevrolet manufacturing facility in the Toronto area . After hearing of this Sam McLaughlin met with his friend , William Durant and made a deal for the McLaughlin company to Build Chevrolet automobiles in Canada .
As with the Buick , the McLaughlin built Chevrolet’s had McLaughlin designed bodies which were different from their US counterpart and had a much more luxurious finish ?
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In 1918 McLaughlin company was bought by General Motors and became GM of Canada . Sam McLaughlin stayed with the company as President of GM Canada until he retired in 1942 .
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