(un)Solved Mysteries

The Canadian Winter Mystery Game (Update VI: Crest on the Door)

No doubt you’ve all heard that the Olympic torch will be lit tomorrow in Vancouver, Canada. A perfect time to present you with a Canadian mystery Buick. These two pictures of a Canadian-built 1926 McLaughlin Buick were sent to us some time ago by Josef Kubišta from the Czech Republic. Josef feels that the Buick was photographed in front of Samuel McLaughlin’s home in Canada. However, there’s something strange about this car with its very nice closed body. It has its steering wheel on the right hand side plus side lamps on the mud guards. Why should this Buick have RHD? Unless you rather watch the speed skating, please help us throw more some light on the origin and history of this splendid car. Contact us!

Update VI by editor: We have enlarged the crest painted on the rear door. It’s difficult to see, but perhaps a closer look might shed some more light on the ownership of this Buick.
Update V by Kit Foster:"It's a small point, but Edward VIII was not Edward VIII in 1927. He was the Prince of Wales."
Update IV from Hugh Nutting: "I think this McLaughlin Limo is a 1927 do to the headlamp design. It was likely first used for the Edward VIII tour across Canada in 1927. It is equiped for export to the UK with the Lucas sidelights. A McLaughlin-Buick Master touring car was also built for the tour using a LaSalle windshield and has survived.
Update III from Stuart Penketh: “It could be one of some "special" models built in Canada, with US engines, probably one of a small number of right hand drive cars produced at the McLaughlin Buick factory in Oshawa , Ontario , Canada.”
Update II by Ian Hayhurst: “This is the home of Col. Sam McLaughlin, know as Parkwood Estate. One of the main reasons for GM Canada was to facilitate exports to the Commonwealth nations. As such, many McLaughlins were built as right hand drive. Having been photographed at Parkwood, I'm sure there is more to the story of this particular car.”
Update I comes from Kit Foster: “Canada was the principal source for U.S. automobiles for many British Empire markets, for tariff reasons. Such cars, of course, were right-hand drive.”

Thursday, 11 February 2010

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