Toronto's motor transport/vehicle factories

[Admiral Beez]

I was reading about the Indian Motorcycle factory, located at 12 Mercer St., Toronto, which closed 100 years ago this year http://canadamotoguide.com/2008/05/02/toronto-built-indian-for-sale/

This made me wonder what other motorized transport was produced in Toronto? I'm referring specifically to old City of Toronto and perhaps the megacity boundaries, not the GTA.

Examples I can see online are https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Motor_Car_Company

http://www.canadiancar.technomuses.ca/eng/espace_dexposition-showroom/russell#main

Apparently Toronto did have railway engine manufacturing http://heritagetoronto.org/the-canada-foundry/ but I suspect this was more rolling stock than engines.

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

The Convertible Car Company of Toronto, a subsidiary of the Toronto Railway Company, built its own streetcars. See link.

The TRC streetcars were made of wood and after 1906 the basic design of their cars did not change. All but ten of the TRC cars were built in-house at their car works at Front and Frederick Streets.

...built cars for systems in Mexico, South America, and Western Canada. Several large interurban cars were turned out for the Toronto and York Radial Railway.

 

[wild goose chase]

This made me wonder what other motorized transport was produced in Toronto? I'm referring specifically to old City of Toronto and perhaps the megacity boundaries, not the GTA.

Within the megacity boundaries, the Golden Mile was a hotspot in the 1950s to 70s, wasn't it?

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

Weston made Canadian Cycle & Motor bicycles.

See link and link.

 

[AlbertHWagstaff]

There was the old Ford auto plant at Shopper's World Danforth, which became American Motors when Ford built its new modern plant in Oakville in 1953. It became a shopping centre in the 1960s. Some of the old railway track leading into the plant was salvaged and re-used at the Halton County Radial Railway museum. Technically this plant was in East York, at the far eastern end where the old boundary dips south of Danforth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoppers_World_Danforth

 

[adHominem]

They weren't built here from scratch, but Ford had an assembly plant at Dupont and Christie (building still extant). There was a showroom on the ground floor and a test track on the roof! http://lost-toronto.blogspot.ca/2011/02/mod.html

 

[ShonTron]

There was the old Ford auto plant at Shopper's World Danforth, which became American Motors when Ford built its new modern plant in Oakville in 1953. It became a shopping centre in the 1960s. Some of the old railway track leading into the plant was salvaged and re-used at the Halton County Radial Railway museum. Technically this plant was in East York, at the far eastern end where the old boundary dips south of Danforth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoppers_World_Danforth

And American Motors moved to Brampton, vacating the Danforth plant. The new Brampton plant was on land that Peel-Elder was developing, part of Peel Village. AMC and Peel-Elder swapped the properties; P-E later built a second Shoppers World in Brampton to serve its Peel Village development.

 

[Admiral Beez]

There was the old Ford auto plant at Shopper's World Danforth, which became American Motors when Ford built its new modern plant in Oakville in 1953. It became a shopping centre in the 1960s. Some of the old railway track leading into the plant was salvaged and re-used at the Halton County Radial Railway museum. Technically this plant was in East York, at the far eastern end where the old boundary dips south of Danforth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoppers_World_Danforth

Thanks, that's really cool info.

 

[TOareaFan]

And American Motors moved to Brampton, vacating the Danforth plant. The new Brampton plant was on land that Peel-Elder was developing, part of Peel Village. AMC and Peel-Elder swapped the properties; P-E later built a second Shoppers World in Brampton to serve its Peel Village development.

Thanks, that's really cool info.

and to complete the circle of life thing...the land that AMC swapped to build that plant in Brampton so that a mall could be built elsewhere...is, once again.....a shopping centre!