Quiz Archive
About Quiz # 283: 1933 Durant (UPDATE: Frontenac nose job?)
Our quiz car is one of only two known 1933 Durant automobiles that were manufactured in Canada by Dominion Motors. By 1932 the Durant Automobile was already history. However, in late 1933 for some unknown reason Dominion Motors came out with a new, redesigned Durant automobile. But after completing only twelve cars production was stopped and the bankers took over the defunct company. The assets were sold off and the twelve cars that were already assembled were sold. Only two now are known to exist. This sedan and a coupe. This car was already partly dismantled to become a 'Hot-Rod’ until Gary Yelle saved it from certain destruction by purchasing it and re-assembling it for preservation. It is now proudly owned by Bob Smith of Tucson, Arizona, USA. The other car, the coupe, is still in Canada. We’ve had three correct answers, from Dave Schulte, Tony Haycock and Gigio Isola and from these we choose Tony as winner, because his answer was just a bit more informative than the others. Congratulations Tony! See you all next week with an even more difficult quiz!
(With thanks to Rick Jorgenson)
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Friday, 17 September 2010
Our quiz car is one of only two known 1933 Durant automobiles that were manufactured in Canada by Dominion Motors. By 1932 the Durant Automobile was already history. However, in late 1933 for some unknown reason Dominion Motors came out with a new, redesigned Durant automobile. But after completing only twelve cars production was stopped and the bankers took over the defunct company. The assets were sold off and the twelve cars that were already assembled were sold. Only two now are known to exist. This sedan and a coupe. This car was already partly dismantled to become a 'Hot-Rod’ until Gary Yelle saved it from certain destruction by purchasing it and re-assembling it for preservation. It is now proudly owned by Bob Smith of Tucson, Arizona, USA. The other car, the coupe, is still in Canada. We’ve had three correct answers, from Dave Schulte, Tony Haycock and Gigio Isola and from these we choose Tony as winner, because his answer was just a bit more informative than the others. Congratulations Tony! See you all next week with an even more difficult quiz!
Comments
Dominion Motors then took off on their own. They created the Frontenac. Frontenac, 32 DeVaux and this car have close if not the same bodies...all coming from Hayes in Grand Rapids. It is unknown why Dominion started this line. It appears the redesign was a nose job on a Frontenac or 32 DeVaux. I like to think that Billy Durant or Norman DeVaux had some input. We will never know. See www.durantcars.com
the Durant car was sold in 1933 as the Frontenac in Canada. I guess this was AFTER Durant USA ended production and BEFORE Dominion started with their redesigned version? (by the way, the Frontenac name appears also on an canadian version of the postwar Ford Falcon)