Building a Car in 1924: Durant Motors, Leaside, Ontario

Between 1921 and 1935, the Canadian branch of American car manufacturer Durant Motors built automobiles in Canada at a plant in the Leaside neighborhood of Toronto, Ontario. Join CAM Exhibit & Project Coordinator Dumaresq as he takes a look at what car-building was like in 1924.
#leaside #toronto #1924 #carmaker #durant #durantmotors #starcar
All still images used are from the collection of the Canadian Automotive Museum
From the filmstrip "Your Future Car", Library and Archives Canada ISN 185644.
For more information on the 1928 Durant on display at the Canadian Automotive Museum visit www.canadianau....
The Canadian Automotive Museum is open to the public year-round in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada.
www.canadianau...
Audio Credits:
"Ray and his Little Chevrolet", Bennie Krueger’s Orchestra, Brunswick Records, 1924. Collection of the Internet Archives.
archive.org/de...
"Traveling Blues", Ted Weems & Orchestra, Victor Records, 1924. Collection of the Internet Archives.
archive.org/de...
"At the End of the Road", Carleton Terrace Orchestra, Pathé, 1924. Collection of the Internet Archives.
archive.org/de...

[@leecaptis5865]

In the end, that baked enamel paint looked pretty damn nice! A handsome little car too.

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

The Museum's collection includes a '28 Durant, and it's a very pretty vehicle. The company did some good pinstriping too.

[@nvragn]

Brings a whole new meaning to a run in the paint 😂👍🇨🇦

[@markfortin421]

Fantastic to see...this film is priceless! Thanks for posting it, so todays auto workers see how easy they've got it.

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for tuning in!

[@4x4me2]

Not many auto workers left. So many have been replaced by robots and machines.

[@dekelanson5280]

I work at the Toyota plant in Cambridge Ont. The assembly line has certainly changed in 100 years. Notice the lack of safety glasses, gloves, or masks when painting.

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

You do? We'd love to hear more, we've been trying to make contacts at the Cambridge plant for an exhibit for 6 months. Please contact me at [e-mail]!

[@timhiltonsuperstar]

I noticed

[@sparky5916]

Really??

[@paleghost]

There's a video of a GM plant in the 1950s. It was not much better. Workers with cigarettes in their mouths as they slathered molted lead on the body seams and still spraying paint (probably lacquer vs enamel) with breathing or eye protection.

[@CowboyPants-h5p]

And there be lots of lead in that paint, especially the reds and yellows......

[@pyrexmaniac]

My partner owns a home on Southvale Drive, formerly Laird. The area that this factory was located is still partly industrial. The transformation during the past 20 years has been astounding.....and demonstrates vividly why historical records such as this are so valuable and must be preserved. Thanks for sharing.

[@stuart8663]

The Supervisor always has to star in the film - as if these talented workers don't know what they're doing. Nothing really has changed in industrial films. Great video!

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

We debated including a section about the many, *many* supervisor/middle-management types lurking in the background of this video, yes. There's definitely some light micromanaging going on for the cameras, hahaha!

[@4x4me2]

@@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum Did you cut out any of the video?

[@lyndatomlins3448]

Excellent film. Here in NZ, we received these Canadian Durants but badged as Rugby. An English motor company also made Star badged cars so in export markets, the Rugby name was used by Durant. The last ones I have seen here were c. 1930-31 models badged as Durants ; the earlier Rugby ones were common & well known old cars.

[@CowboyPants-h5p]

Very cool!

[@4x4me2]

Does NZ still have any Durants driving around? As the time or era of this car is long gone, the Durant might be only a collectors item now. As an American, I have never heard of Durant.

[@timlee4204]

This was In the Central Highlands of Queensland on the Gem Fields. My teenage years, I was 16 by now and the next couple of years were mostly a lot of hard work, we never ventured out much, relying entirely on sapphire mining and cutting for a living. On the Gemfields all manner of unregistered vehicles were driven about the diggings, my Buick being no exception. I used it to cart water and firewood to most of the older people in the town, I got 10 bob (10 shillings) ($1) for a drum of water and a pound for a load of firewood ($2). We sawed the wood at the puddling plant which was driven with a 40-year-old Rugby car engine. One day we were sawing wood when the engine began to knock. Dad sent me home to get some oil but that is not what was required. I arrived back to find a very discouraged Dad and a huge hole in the side of the engine with a connecting rod sticking out of it. This meant we also had no means of puddling the sapphire wash either. I took him home for a cup of tea. Later, I went back to look at the engine. I reasoned that if a single cylinder engine drove it before why do we need a four cylinder one now? Maybe it would run OK on two cylinders, so I removed the sump and patched the hole with a piece of galvanized tin. Drilling holes in the cast with a hand drill. It was a Continental Red Seal motor, these people made reliable aero plane engines in their day. Continental was stamped on the ‘Big end’ bolt with a continuous underline from the C weakening the bolt right where it broke. Number four cylinder being damaged beyond economic repair. Running the firing order over in my mind I removed number one piston, thinking that it would run evenly but I hadn’t thought about the crankshaft balance and having pistons two and three traveling up and down together. I started it up, wow it acted like a kangaroo caught in a dingo trap. It nearly tore itself out of the ground. So, replacing number one and removing number three. This balanced the crankshaft having one piston traveling up while the other traveled down. It ran OK but it sounded like a Southern Cross diesel with a cold. We ran it like that for a long time without any trouble. Ted (Tim Lee)

[@alanwood5857]

Suprising to see them lay on the paint in one huge run, black paint looks beautiful!

[@4x4me2]

Poured on instead of sprayed on.

[@travisazzopardi8024]

And according to Henry Ford, black paint is the cheapest colour and dries the fastest.

[@johnandrews3568]

Glad the facade of that Durant building is being preserved in it's new renovation. How that neighbourhood has changed in the past 30 years.

[@mickhacklin617]

The paint finish is damned good for something put on with a garden hose.

[@987DanMan987]

Excellent video! I always find the human aspect of old footage like this fascinating. Those haircuts have come back around into style 100 years later! Also interesting to see Continental engines mentioned outside of general aviation.

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Continental's an interesting one because it started with auto engines, and the auto engine business was theoretically always their main line of work, but their aircraft subsidiary actually outlasted the parent company.

[@MatsKarlsson-kl7ws]

This is the same year my father got his drivers licence in Sweden. Thanks for a very interesting video.

[@gregorypoole5648]

Greetings from B.C.: First of all, I wanted to say I really enjoyed this presentation on a great slice of early Canadian automotive history.As a longtime fan of old cars, I'm familiar with some of Canada's pioneer makes like the Tudhope and Russell.This country made some unique and high quality cars back in the day...we took a back seat to no one!

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Thanks for tuning in!

[@janetcohen9190]

Very interesting to see. Thank you!🎉🎉🎉

[@Schlipperschlopper]

Very HQ cars from a forgotten brand!

[@roberthaworth8991]

I have a Leaside-built ‘27 Star Touring in HPOF condition.

[@jeffsaxton716]

When I was a child back in the fifties I remember playing in a junked old car out back of the barn. It had a wooden body like that and was gradually being eaten by termites.

[@gatti5002]

the rear axle is bolted on with a pneumatic wrench..

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Good catch, thank you!

[@mobiledevto]

Thank you for keeping the history alive. Its been awhile since I visited the Musuem.

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Thanks for tuning in! It's probably worth a return trip, we're constantly making tweaks, upgrades and improvements.

[@ScottDLR]

Very interesting film - thank you for posting. My grandfather, who I never met, was a Durant Dealer, I have a small amount of literature and some old advertisements from his dealership that was in Spokane Wa. (I think).

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Thanks for tuning in! Sounds like a cool family collection.

[@JonnyHolms]

I almost want to say, Ahh Chaa,Chaa,Chaa.... but there is no E on the end of this name...😊😊 This was excellent, Thanks my friend...

[@richardsimms251]

Great film.

[@unclemarksdiyauto]

Nice to see how these cars were built back then! Thanks!

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Thanks for tuning in!

[@snorfallupagus6014]

You can't get anyone to work that hard today.

[@DrFiero]

Take out "that hard" and it's STILL correct! :D

[@jourwalis-8875]

Fantastic time document! Thanks for uploading!

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Thanks for tuning in!

[@McRocket]

Very interesting. Thank you. ☮

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Thank you for tuning in!

[@deltajohnny]

That enamel looks great! 😍😍😍

[@towgod7985]

I live in East York, which is north of the Danforth and south of Leaside, I remember the old Canada Wire industrial plant on Laird. I had no idea that it was the original Durant Motors factory or before that a munitions factory in WW1.

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

These kinds of industrial plants tend to change hands over and over again, it's true! We have several examples of plants like these, many in the GTA, moving between two and sometimes three different car manufacturers in a row, sometimes in only a few years' time.

[@peters5333]

I was going to ask where the exact spot the plant was but know exactly now. I lived in Leaside in 1988 (for a year) on Donlea Drive near Brentcliffe. Even in the late 1980's that area was still very industrial. Recall the Schlumberger Plant at Eglinton and Laird? Now.....entirely different. and a possible an LRT/subway stop at Eglinton and Laird if Line 5 ever operates daily.

[@CowboyPants-h5p]

For those who don't know, Leaside became a part of the borough of East York in the either the late 60s or early 70s....I can't remember exactly....

[@4x4me2]

Growing up near a factory then finding out that it was something else previously like a car factory would be very sureal.

[@CowboyPants-h5p]

I grew up on Fleming Crescent in Leaside during the 1950s and 1960s. BTW, the footage is a lot easier to watch at half speed, as it closely resembles reality. However, doing this causes the soundtrack to fail a bit more than I can handle! lol So I switch back and forth.....thanks for posting.

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Thanks for tuning in! It's the eternal struggle of old hand-cranked or mechanical film, alas; do you alter the speed for legibility, or keep it as-is for authenticity?

[@stephanriffault6695]

I own (and still drive) a 1931 Durant built at the Leaside plant. By 1931 production was very low...almost stopped and the mix and match of parts and options that came from the factory was interesting to say the least

[@roberthaworth8991]

The saying among Durant owners is, "No Two Alike!".

[@davidmann2988]

Pretty good video for 1924

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

We thought so too! Unfortunately we have little to no production information on who filmed it and why/how, but the quality and editing are great for the time.

[@VickersV]

Lovely, thank you ☘️

[@Senna-xi1gr]

Great video thanks. 👍🏆

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Thanks for tuning in!

[@Veg-E-Dog]

The Durant plant was completely demolished years ago. The site is now a SmartCentre Shopping Centre (Home Depot, LCBO, Sobeys, etc.) at present-day 147 Laird Drive in Leaside (part of the City of Toronto). The Durant offices were a two-story brick building directly across the street from the plant at present-day 180 Laird Drive. This location is now a Local Public Eatery restaurant. The brick facade of the restaurant is the original facade of the Durant offices, and it is sadly all that remains from back in the day. Another commenter has incorrectly identified the old plant location as being a current-day Canadian Tire, which is about 200 metres north on Laird.

[@pyrexmaniac]

Thanks for the info.....ive been in that pub many times. Do you know what the tall building under construction in the video's end photo was used for? Im gobsmacked by the presence of such a massive structure on that stretch of Laird. I believe that the Gyro automobile sales organization would have appeared later on that site.....can you shed more light on this interesting streetscape? Your shared knowledge has made my day. Utterly fascinating!

[@Veg-E-Dog]

@@pyrexmaniac I'm glad you commented as it made me do more research. I'm definitely not an expert on this stuff and have only learned most of these things in the last few days. It turns out that the Durant office building was sold to the Imperial Bank of Canada in 1941. I don't know exactly what work was done to the building at that time (major renovations or total tear down), but the facade that we see today on the Local Public Eatery is seemingly from the era of the bank, not from the era of Durant. You can still see the IBC name/logo on the building's facade to this day. (side note: the Imperial Bank of Canada later became the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, or CIBC, after a bank mega-merger with the Canadian Bank of Commerce in the 1960's). As to your question, I'm really not sure what that tall building under construction is. If I figure it out, I'll post my findings here. A good deal of my info regarding the neighborhood has come from old articles and pictures on leasidelife[dot]com, if you want to check it out.

[@towgod7985]

@@Veg-E-Dog the new building across from the old Durant factory is going to be a mix of retail and condos.

[@4x4me2]

Could the Home depot parking lot be the original parking lot for Durant?

[@timlee4204]

My Dad supplied firewood to Toowoomba Queensland Australia. Cutting the blocks with the Chev 4 engine mounted on a log slide, this wasn’t as maneuverable as he thought. When the engine died, He bought an old Rugby car. Actually, a friend of a friend had a Chev 6 which had broken the drive shaft, Dad had a Chev 4 shaft which he got re-splined for them and was given the Rugby. Stripping off all the body he mounted the saw spindle over the left front wheel driving that with belts from the rear of the engine. Making himself a mobile saw bench. Then many years later another Rugby engine. Ted from down under.

[@timlee4204]

This was about 1955 which made me 10 years old. The second one was early 1960s.

[@gordswaitkewich940]

I had a 23 Durant Star for a number of years, starting when I was a kid. Dad sold it many years later, as I didnt have time to finish the restoration in my adult years

[@davidmiller2811]

When people had purpose, character, honor, morality and dignity.

[@sugrue8526]

And most people physically worked hard

[@richardthompson6366]

​@fartpooboxohyeah8611Our government definitely no longer have those attributes and what is a woman?

[@OKFrax-ys2op]

Al Capone, would thoroughly disagree 🤔💥🫨🫨🫨

[@GeorgePollinger]

That's what's called the good old days.

[@ronwilliamson-uz7kb]

And they were extremely racist, killed each other in a world war, and used child labor. Oh and women were treated like second class citizens and they were brutal to animals. Please don't romanticize the past. They were people with their own set of problems.

[@motorv8N]

Fascinating look into the past - thanks so much for posting this. Hard not to think of how little passenger protection there was in these things in a crash. Twigs and tin…

[@Mercmad]

Ray and his little chevrolet 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶😊 Btw Durant's were sold in Australia and New Zealand as Rugbys😊

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

They were indeed! Canadian-made cars ended up in all kinds of interesting places around the world. It's a topic we've touched on in a bunch of talks over the years.

[@glenmuir219]

This was GREAT!!!

[@JamesDoylesGarage]

This was awesome. Subscribed! Thank you.

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Thanks for tuning in, and for the sub!

[@ronscott8708]

I’ve visited this museum. Very interesting!

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Thanks for visiting!

[@jamesmatheson5115]

I use to drive a Durant when I was about 12 years old, we had one that was converted into a ute on the farm, I asked if I could drive it to do my rabbit trapping, the answer was, if you can start it, you can drive it, it really wasnt that hard to crank it.

[@briankeenan4901]

Great Video. Thank you very much.

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

You're very welcome! Thanks for tuning in!

[@MrRobster1234]

The book "The Dream-Maker" about Billy Durant is a great read if you can find a copy.

[@MikeBaxterABC]

1:25 Hot Rivets are still used on todays assembly lines to attach various items of the frame together, and mount spring perches, to SUV's and trucks.

[@Ivan-cr3vc]

Very enjoyable.

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for tuning in!

[@gentlegiants1974]

When I was a young teenager friends of ours had a Durant Rugby sitting in the fence row. It had been used as a buckrake at one time so the cab back of the cowl/firewall/dash was gone. I managed to wheedle them into giving it to me and I managed to unseize the engine but never was able to do much more than that as we moved and I had to sell it to a local old car collector. Don't know what ever became of it.

[@a1wireless1964]

I wonder if any of the cars assembled in this film are still in existence? How awesome would it be if you could tie one to one manufactured in this film

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Wouldn't it, though? It's tough because we don't have much, if any, production information related to the film. With the Durant empire being long dead, there aren't exactly detailed records or much oral history to go off of for the context of the filming.

[@mrdanforth3744]

Friend of mine has a Star sedan but it is a 1927 model. No doubt there are some 1924 Star and Durant cars around, but to prove they were in this film would be difficult.

[@Redhackle]

Very interesting. Thank you.

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Thanks for tuning in!

[@iambicpentameter7177]

I was in what was left of that facility years ago (early 1980's?), it was then roughly partitioned off into smaller units that were rented out. I was there to buy a table saw from one guy; when walking around, you could see how the production flowed based on the remaining concrete structures. Interesting, IMHO it could still could have been a car plant, everyone in this video probably walked to work (or took the street car) and lived in its shadow.

[@alleyoop1234]

I would love to see something/anything about the Canadian Packard plant in Windsor from 1931 to 1939!

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

So would we! It's an excitingly niche Canadian automotive history topic. Don't know what we have off the top of my head, but try contacting our library at [e-mail]? We may have some Canadian Packard material on file.

[@jeffdayman8183]

At 1:41 the wrench / driver is compressed air powered, not electric just FYI. Music was edited much too loud. Apart from these items, I enjoyed the video.

[@johanbjork1650]

What? I can't hear what you are writing for that damn crackling music.

[@jeffreylockhart8292]

very nice to be around to see you showing it commenting enjoyed it. I am thinking the enamels so much is pouring off surely it is caught and sucked back up to reuse? They did not have sprayers?

[@mrdanforth3744]

You can see the trough below the car where the paint runs off, to be pumped up again.

[@timlee4204]

I have seen a brand-new Australian Holden car about 1968 with a hammer mark on the rear door hinge, obviously to make the door fit.

[@robj2704]

I was told by my father years ago that the Red Seal Continental engine was used by many auto manfacters in the 20s.

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

He was absolutely correct! At one time, Continental was the largest engine manufacturer in North America, and they seem to have specialized in making engines for smaller auto makers. Other than Durant, they also built engines for Willys, Kaiser-Frazer, Checker and a whole range of tractor, truck, and aircraft manufacturers.

[@grabasandwich]

Do you talk about the Canadian Pontiacs (Acadians, Beaumonts, etc) in any of your videos? I just skimmed thru them so I might've missed it. It's probably been covered on other channels over the years but I'm guessing the museum might have a bit more info, pics or interviews worth sharing. Thanks

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

It's a topic we've not reeeeeally covered directly since our collection doesn't include an Acadian or a Beaumont. We've got a substantial amount of advertising material in our library, but nothing in the realm of full exhibits. Yet. As is always the case with stuff at the CAM, we're working on it!

[@sawboss216]

The music makes it sound like "The Little Rascals make a car"

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

We debated on a thumping techno-industrial hard-bass sort of vibe, but figured period pop music fit the atmosphere the best. You know, the kind of thing these workers might be listening to if they were allowed to bring in a phonograph or radio in with them (they almost certainly weren't).

[@4x4me2]

@@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum I think your choice of music was/ is perfect.

[@rawbacon]

Not all that important but an angle grinder is a grinder where the output shaft is at an angle to the drive motor, usually 90 degrees. That shaft was inline with the motor.

[@MikeMcDaniels-w1u]

Way better than laboring in the fields.

[@gustavbloom7768]

Nice film but I would like to know how loud it was and how much it reeks of paint.

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

So would we! Presumably very loud, especially in any areas where pneumatic tools are being used, and we don't have a sense of how well-ventilated the work spaces were.

[@gorporpio]

Painting a new car remains a headache among all manufacturers to this day.

[@davidsteinicke5454]

All the leather work is in place, before the paint and baking?

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

As far as we can tell, yes! It was one of the quirks of the flow-on paint system.

[@peterjeffery8495]

That was actually a an air driven pneumatic ratchet not an electric one. My Dad worked at the CN Rail Yard in Leaside 'til it closed in the 50's.

[@gorporpio]

Looks like the day of a modern day mechanic.

[@tonycolca2241]

The star appeared to be of extreme quality how much was the cost?

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

I've not been able to find a Canadian star brochure for that year, but an American '24 Star touring car's MSRP was $490.

[@BigEightiesNewWave]

I have been alive a long time, lived the muscle car era, and just recently realized that Windsor is right across the river, from Detroit. Would be even cooler if Cleveland V8s were built across from Windsor.😂

[@dennisshappka5699]

It makes me Very sad Canada lost its auto industry. Canadian Government sold us out. The USA big 3 bought our Government . Just like the Areo industry . Sad Truth Canada had the most advanced Fighter Jet in the late 1950s The Avroarrow And Canada was told to shut it down. Thanks Diefenbaker.

[@BigEightiesNewWave]

Did that paint have lead in it to, you know, fortify it?

[@fillup40]

Cool.

[@michaelmorahan57]

wearing a tie was a good look in the factory

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Stylish, but perhaps not the safest.

[@user-hp7mt5vb7u]

I think they did something wonderful at that time, to find a car that would transport you from one place to another, quickly, with a kind of comfort, and with simple luxuries and features, compared to a horse-drawn carriage in that period, the end of the nineteenth century, where the train and the animals were a buffalo, a horse, and a donkey. Moving people on the ground, and this is the only means that is accompanied by a lot of hardship and time. This is a great paradox in this world.

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Well, animal-drawn transportation wasn't necessarily uncomfortable, and in the late 19th century it was mainly a way to get you to a train or streetcar station as fast as possible. Oddly enough one of the problems the early car did *not* exist to solve was travel between major cities, since the railway networks did that pretty darned well.

[@roberthaworth8991]

One might have expected a long, slow fade-away of horse-drawn transport in favor of the automobile, starting around 1904. But it's in the nature of such things to happen slowly at first, then all at once. Having at first been scoffed at as a bizarre and prohibitively-expensive "gentleman's plaything", autos took hold of the American imagination around 1910, and after just another decade years horses and mules on America's streets were almost as rare as hens' teeth. Most people simply dumped the animals as fast as they could, the true costs and risks of ownership of the livestock being rather high (though mostly hidden/unappreciated today). As soon as a viable-looking alternative to the beasts presented itself, that alternative was adopted en masse.

[@mrdanforth3744]

I wish I could find Stephen Leacock's description of the grim life on a remote farm in the late 1800s, compared to the 1920s. A trip to town with a horse drawn wagon took all day. By auto on a good gravel road you made the same trip in 20 minutes.

[@sculptus5708]

The narrator / script writer made a few obvious mistakes. The impact wrench used on the fasteners was obviously a pneumatic impact wrench, not electric.🙉. In the coachwork department (not body department), the ash wood frames were covered in panels, not plates. Please, if you are going to present history, please make it accurate.

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Thanks for your comments. We generally use coachwork and bodywork indistinguishably, especially in the area of large-scale car production, since the vast majority of the time there is no custom coachwork-style construction going on on these assembly lines. Out of curiosity, what would be the technical different between a panel and a plate in this context? In addition, do you have a source for Durants using ash wood? We've seen references to both oak and ash as car-body materials from the time, but nothing specific to the manufacturer.

[@mroldscutlass]

You took the words right out of my mouth. Obviously not a car guy.

[@tonycolca2241]

I tried to reply directly to you would not work. Thanks for the info I will be 78 July one. I remember a boss I had at shell oil refinery in deer park tx. Late 60s telling me that back in the 20s he and another man drove from houston to El paso in a star automobile that's an 800 mile trip he said they got stuck in the mud in West Texas and 2 guys with a couple of mules were pulling people out for $20. I always thought the star had to be a good car to make a trip like that thanks for the video.

[@mrm1885]

Looks like an airhose on the electric wrench

[@thekaz5]

They certainly don't make em like they used to! Imagine if they put this kind of care into something like the Tesla truck 🤣

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

We're not sure how to respond to this, what with the amount of hammering stuff into place and then angle-grinding off the rough bits that goes on in building a Star, hahahaha! Probably a bit less glue and tacking nails in a Cybertruck, too.

[@dddevildogg]

A great video thank you.I noticed the speed at which these people were working....I'd say a speed reduction of 14% should make it look normal FPS

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Very precise, thank you. We debated slowing it down versus presenting it as-is, and decided that modifying the playback speed would hurt its authenticity as a historical document.

[@coldlakealta4043]

@@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum good decision - it looks exactly as it should as a representative of that era

[@mrdanforth3744]

@@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum No doubt you know that early films were shot at 16 frames per second, later silent films at 18 frames per second. Which is why some early films seem jumpy unless slowed down slightly.

[@tonybozzelli287]

I have a serial number badge from a 1920s Durant A22.

[@badad0166]

Playback the old footage at 75% and it looks pretty natural.

[@chevybb3275]

People new how to work no safety bullshit people then were more aware of their surroundings making it safe.

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Not really, no. Even in the 1920s, when safety research was much more common in factories and things like worker's compensation had come into play, the rates of injuries and fatalities were hundreds of times higher than they are today. Looking at this video, consider the long-term; how many workers got cancer or lead poisoning from inhaling paint fumes over weeks, months and years of work? How many got burned from hot rivets? How many were caught in moving assembly lines, or crushed by heavy parts? The 1920s were an era where factory safety techniques were developing rapidly, but maimings and severe injuries were not uncommon on a daily basis.

[@simontaylor2319]

Is mine ready yet?

[@johnhill8046]

Canada wire was located nearby

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

It was! The Durant plant was originally a factory belonging to their subsidiary, Leaside Munitions Company.

[@paulhelman2376]

My Morgan was built the same way.

[@tonyray4565]

It really makes my blood boil when I think of all the different things we use to make right here in Canada. We could have had our own Canadian cars, our own Canadian fighter planes and perhaps our own space shuttle.

[@deliveryguyrx]

Studebaker shifted all production to Hamilton,Ontario in 1965-66. At that time ,it was advertised as "Canada's Own Car".

[@tonyray4565]

@@deliveryguyrx There’s another one I forgot about! Also, remember Connaught Laboratories in Toronto? It was a world renowned vaccine developer. We sure could have used it during covid. But no. It was sold to the Pasteur Institute. It’s the Canadian way!

[@Lionx0xFIFAHD]

Canada when Canadians were still Canadian… ❤

[@RC-Flight]

Not an electric wrench it’s air driven. Also that’s not an angle grinder.

[@planetzebulon21]

Breathe deeply boys, those fumes are good for you.

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

This was certainly filmed long before workplace health and safety rules were particularly well-developed. We don't have particularly detailed records on what day-to-day life was like for workers in the Durant plant, or what kind of medical support, if any, they received.

[@timhiltonsuperstar]

My grandfather built Model T's

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Well then, you'll love our next video!

[@muira58]

Canada was sure on track to being somewhere you’d want to live, what happened!?

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

In terms of the car industry, the one-two punch of the First World War and the Great Depression happened. During the War, there was endless lucrative government contract work available, lucrative to the point that it often wasn't worth a business continuing to build motor cars when they could assemble fuses or build other war materiel. Canadian auto businesses that depended on American suppliers for parts got hit extra hard like this, because suddenly their suppliers were also disincentivized from making auto parts. Plus, with rationing on things like auto tires and gasoline, owning a car started to become prohibitively expensive. Post-WW1, the boom meant that there were tons of auto startups on both sides of the border that were riding the general bubble of economic prosperity; there was enough capital floating around to keep them solvent, which was always a constant problem with under-funded Canadian auto-builders. When the bottom fell out of the market, it didn't matter if you could make a car that would still sell; investment dried up, and there went your chances of keeping the lights on. The supply problems also returned, but much more catastrophically; as the suppliers of things like base materials went bankrupt, the parts builders that depended on them failed, and the auto makers on both sides of the border that depended on *them* did too. You often see failed Canadian car manufacturers suddenly switch brands or car designs in their last couple years of existence because of this.

[@HongyaMa]

2:40 not electric -air powered Nice piece of history

[@speeedskater]

pneumatic wrench/impact, not electric on the U bolts

[@billsmith2212]

Assuming the film is running at the correct speed , everyone is really working their butts off . As in another comment , very little or no protection from injury , chemicals , etc.

[@keithammleter3824]

Films made in the silent era were meant to be shown at 16 frames per second. When sound films began, they had to increase the film speed to 24 frames per second to get adequate sound quality. It is thus common for silent films to be projected or converted to video 50% fast due to only having 24 frames/second equipment available.

[@G_Machine_Joe]

Here I am spending all this time spraying primer and paint when I could just use the garden hose! 😐

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

This was filmed about 3 years before paint and primer spraying became industry standard, believe it or not! Flowing on paint like this didn't produce super reliable results and wasted a ton of paint.

[@MoeLarrycurly1]

They work like I do the hammer is the preferred tool😅

[@haweater1555]

Later, the location of the plant in Toronto became the site of Sangamo Electric, and now is the site of a big Canadian Tire store.

[@dont-want-no-wrench]

play at .75 speed to get more natural for the film- they are always too fast.

[@DownUndaDigga]

Fascinating to see. Thanks heaps. Dixie music too loud though, distracting.

[@ghostrider-be9ek]

2:00 - isnt that how GM still builds rear ends on their trucks? LOL

[@3d4u2c]

Is that a robot voice?

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Nope, that's our Exhibit and Project Coordinator, Dumaresq. If you want to put a face to the name, check out some of our past Zoom seminars he's presented.