I was in St. Catharines today on a hockey road trip. After the game I felt this urge to swing by where my LeMans' small block was born. This is the former McKinnon plant.
The plant is way out of town right on the Welland Canal, several parking lots are moth balled and overgrown now, in the hey day about 10,000 employees worked there, now just 2,400.
Every August there is a huge cruise in for GM powered vehicles only here. Could be a good Canadian Poncho gathering site for the Southern Ontario and bordering New York guys.
its a nice show, nice location (even if it rains theres trees), always a good display of new stuff, lotsa muscle cars-lotsa GM powered hot rods-great all around show that well attended plus tours of the engine plant ! I recall 9000 employees as recent as the late 1980's-today I believe its under 2400, lowest senority I believe is 26 years !
I work in the plant time to time and there is a lot less people there but work condition have improved over the years. I can remember it being a dark & dirty place. It is now brite and clean .
-- Edited by 70 SS ACADIAN on Monday 26th of October 2009 04:57:24 AM
Wasn't the main forge plant on Ontario Street was mckinnon industries if I remember, dont remember a forge plant out by the engine plant. with the old foges going you could here it for quite a distance, anf the place just shook
I had a tour of that plant back in 77' with my high school machine shop class. The thing I remember most is the live testing of the engines using natural gas as they came along on a overhead line, at the point of being just a complete long block. I do remember the engines were blue. Also what stayed with me, was the fact that the majority of the workers looked rather unhappy, and could really put on a good scowl to intimidate us pimple faced teenagers.
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65 Laurentian post, 67 Grande Parisienne 4 door HT.
To Red Deer Bill, There still is a plant on Ontario Street but the locals told me it makes drive components. I ate lunch at a restaurant right across the street from the Ontario Street plant on Friday. Guys who live down there will know better.
To Mark, 1977 was the first year of Corporate Blue.
Co-incidently I have written a story about this place in the next Edition of Astro News Flash, that's really why I went out there to snap some photos. Oracle has posted much of the same info, wish I knew he had that, took me two weekends to research my story!
BTW, the beautiful surroundings you see in the back drop of that photo and surrounding area is known as McKinnon Park.
-- Edited by 73SC on Monday 26th of October 2009 08:41:56 AM
Thanks for the update, I have been out of St Catharines for about 35 years, . Still have family there, but when I go its usually for a couple of day's then back home at one time I worked for hayes dana out at the frame plant, my brother worked for kelsey hayes who I believe done drive component of some sort
That info has been on my website for some years now! Search engines seem to have my site up at the top of their results after so many years!
I have written draft histories of the Regina and Walkerville/Windsor plants and this is what I have said about St Catherines. This is an extract, and aplogies for errors. The plant codes 193' and 194' are wrong!!!
THE McKINNON INDUSTRIES, ST. CATHERINES, ONTARIO
In 1888, Mr L.E. McKinnon assumed control of the McKinnon and Mitchell Hardware saddlery and wagon hardware business in St. Paul Street, St. Catherines, Ontario, formed 1878, and in 1900 moved the business to Ontario Street, which later became the site of the famous Axle Plant. The business was expanded and became McKinnon Dash and Metal Work Limited, and in 1901 a malleable iron foundry was added, followed by a drop forge shop in 1905. W.W.1 saw saddlery and hardware supplied to the Canadian, British and French forces. In 1916, shell and fuse making began in a three-storey building erected on the site. In 1917, the company was reorganised under the name McKinnon Industries Limited, and the next year exploited the motoring skills learned in wartime to expand into automotive products, with the production of radiators and pioneering the production of differential and transmission gears in Canada. Because of the foundry and forge, it is assumed that all the gears and casings were produced on site.
In 1923, McKinnon died, his estate was sold, and the company was acquired by Messrs. Gideon Grant and Neil Sinclair, who appointed Mr B.W. Butsell as President. Manufacture of rear axles expanded considerably, and there was clearly a major expansion programme to cater for increased orders. In 1929, the radiator business was sold to make room for the gears division, and it is believed that the acquiring company continued to supply General Motors of Canada with original equipment radiators, albeit under contract rather than in-house the company. Who was it sold to? It was possibly the McCord Radiator Company Limited in Walker Road, Walkerville. However, the gear business was mainly to supply General Motors of Canada, and so it became logical for the company to acquire The McKinnon Industries Limited, for global economic reasons mentioned below, and the company became a subsidiary of General Motors of Canada on 29 March 1929, with Mr H.J. Carmichael as President and General Manager. The company were to remain a separate subsidiary until 1969!
Transmissions and axles were sourced from McKinnon Industries Limited and radiators from General Motors of Canada,s suppliers who acquired the McKinnons business in 1929. However despite the recession the company expanded considerably in due course. Canadian Automotive Trade October 1931 stated:
Announcement by General Motors that their McKinnon Industries unit at St. Catharines is about to embark on the manufacture of five new lines of automobile parts was received with favourable comment throughout Canada. The particular parts to be made, only one of which has been manufactured in Canada, previously, are steering wheels, shock absorbers, ignition coils, A. C. spark plugs and axle shafts. The McKinnon factory states that with motor trade at anything like normal in the coming year, this will mean employment for 200 to 250 additional men. Parts are to be made for Canadian cars other than General Motors cars, as well as some for the General Motors lines. Most of the latter, manufactured at Oshawa, Ontario, have long been above the percentage of Canadian-made content required by Federal fiscal regulations. The General Motors of Canada ideal has been to turn out cars in Oshawa as completely made-in-Canada as is possible. These five units will comprise steering gears, formerly made in Saginaw; shock absorbers, formerly made at Dayton, Ohio; A. C. spark plugs, at Flint, Mich; Delco Remy ignition coils, at Anderson, Indiana, and another new line, axle shafts. Tooling and pattern work night and day to prepare for the normal production of these units is already under way.
However, the 1931 Chevrolet Master Parts List shows that Delco-Remy, Lovejoy Shock- absorbers and Klaxon were supplied by the Factory Direct Branch, of United Motors Service Company Limited, a Canadian subsidiary of United Motors Service Inc., both of which companies were based at 5 St. Albans Street, Toronto.
A new DELCO plant was built and opened by McKinnon Industries Limited in St. Catherines in 1930. This was intended to provide more Canadian-made automotive components. Delco-Remy, Lovejoy Shock- absorbers and Klaxon components were supplied by yet another Canadian G.M. company, United Motors Service Company Limited, a Canadian subsidiary of United Motors Service Inc., both of which companies were based at 5, St. Albans Street, Toronto: United Motors was the Durant-formed holding company for the various parts suppliers such as AC Spark Plug, Delco-Remy. Transmissions and other components were supplied by McKinnons, and axles from the Walker Road, Walkerville Plant [see below].
V-8S: ST. CATHERINES' GAIN, WINDSOR'S LOSS
In 1950, 141 acres of land were acquired by McKinnons to build a new foundry, opening 1952 as the largest and most modern malleable iron foundry in the British Commonwealth, [closing only in 1995]. This coincided with Plant extensions at Oshawa, and Zone-warehouse expansion across Canada. In 1952, Oshawa gained a new central automotive parts and accessories warehouse. A new Frigidaire Plant was opened in Scarborough, Ontario [Frigidaire, Toronto], which was eventually to become an automotive plant!.
All Powerglide Automatic transmissions built in St. Catherines were used either in Chevrolet or Canadian Pontiacs, even though to 1954 they used the US Pontiac six in the Chevrolet body with Chevrolet running-gear!
In 1953, a Contract was let to build a new Engine Plant on the new site at St. Catherines, and in late 1954 the first Chevrolet, Pontiac and Oldsmobile V-8 motors were made and assembled under one roof, production continuing of the small-block Chevrolet motor in much-modified form still being produced today! The Chevrolet V-8 motors used in Canadian Pontiacs were virtually identical to the equivalent Chevrolet except that they were painted in green motor enamel, and had of course, different names. Six-cylinder Chevrolet and Canadian Pontiac motor production continued at Windsor, as well as GMC six-cylinder production. We believe that Buick and Oldsmobile V-8 motors were also produced, as they were deleted in 1966. Of course, by this time the McLaughlin name had been dropped and cars were simply badged as Buicks. With the end of 1951, all Oldsmobile and Buick C.K.D. and r.h.d. production ended, so the export supply of these cars changed, with Canadian exports being more prevalent, all SUP now.
Oshawa Plant expanded with the construction of a new plant which was announced 4 January 1953, costs C$4.5 million to build a new truck plant at Oshawa, to cover 17.5 acres with an annual capacity of 50,000 vehicles. However, on 8 May 1953, it was further announced that the new truck plant was to be converted to car production and enlarged to have 43 acres of floor space! This was followed by the Canadian Pacific railroad laying in a heavier spur line to the Plants to cater for the increased rail traffic. When car assembly began it was called the South Plant, and in November 1953 Oldsmobile, Pontiac and Buick car production moved in, and Chevrolet cars transferred in the summer of 1954. By 1958 the North site consisted of a 27-acre body assembly plant, a 20-acre chassis and final assembly plant and a 13-acre parts warehouse just mentioned. 225 Chevrolet cars and GMC Trucks were being assembled every day, and in 1957 General Motors of Canada had a record year for production with 161,391 units. As mentioned above, the excise taxes had been reduced to 7.5% in 1957, contributing to a major increase in demand for vehicles. However, the 1958 so-called Eisenhower Recession, though not so seriously affecting the Canadian automotive market as the US, did dent the sales figures in the G.M. Golden Jubilee year, though recovery was quicker than in in the US just in time for the change-over of Model Year production in the Fall of 1958 .
With the launch in November 1959 of the Oshawa # 2 Plant-built Corvair, Flat-six production commenced at McKinnons, not at Windsor. However Canadian Corvair production ended before US production, though Oshawa exported Corvairs in varying degrees of knocked-down form around the world from 1960.
The next big change was to come with the redesign of the six-cylinder Chevrolet/Canadian Pontiac motors, and the launch of the Chevy 11, and Acadian clone, the decision was made to transfer inline six-cylinder motor production to McKinnons, St. Catherines Plant. Chevrolet six-cylinder motor for the final 1962 Model year started in late July 1961, and ran to 20 June 1962 and GMC motors started for 1962 Model Year on 16 October 1961 running to April 1962, though there was a G.M. car strike 11,12,13 December 1961 and there was a Winter Break 17 December 1961, to 29 January 1962. 12,051 Chevrolet motors were produced in June 1962. However, export Chevrolet Chevy 11 motor serials have F for Flint prefixes, and export motor type codes, therefore it is suggested that the Chevy 11 four and six and Acadian equivalents exported SUP and C.K.D. were equipped with Flint-built motors for 1962 Model Year which is logical given the short production run which would have resulted when Windsor finished motor production in 1962. r.h.d. Chevy 11 cars were motorered from the beginning, SUP and C.K.D. exports being produced from Oshawa Plant, and it is believed that all had Flint-built motors.
As an example of the last of the Walkerville six-cylinder motor serials, here is an example of a car exported new to the West Indies, and re-exported to Australia when the buyer came home: 1962 Chevrolet Bel Air 4-Door Sedan, Style 1569 EX RD, VIN # 2156923591, ENGINE # R602904.
In 1962/3, McKinnon Industries Limited acquired the Windsor Plant, and six-cylinder inline motor production for 1963 Model Year was transferred to St. Catherines with local transmission production transferred the other way from St. Catherines to Windsor for the first time. Canadian Pontiacs were then equipped with the new 250 cu. in. six-cylinder as standard, which was identical to the Chevrolet version save for motor paint colour and decals. The 235 and 261 cu. in. motors were thus dropped when Walkerville ended motor production, and St. Catherines tooled-up for the new motors afresh. Thus, Windsor began producing automatic gearboxes for a wide range of G.M. vehicles. Right-Hand Drive motor production in the six-cylinder line continued to the end of 1969 Model Year, though most of the few 1969 r.h.d. Chevrolets produced in St. Therese Plant were V-8s,
ST. THÉRÈSE, QUEBEC PLANT
In fact, production started at St. Thérèse Ouest in 1965, and the Plant was allocated the Plant Code 2, Oshawa becoming 1. Also in 1965, G.M. opened a new Vauxhall Motors Plant in Ellesmere Port, Liverpool, England in addition to Luton, where Chevrolets had been last built in March 1932. In due course, Scarborough, Ontario Plant was allocated 194 as Mexico City was given 193. Other numbered codes were given to Luton, Ellesmere Port and the various European Plants that assembled Opels.
However, there were major changes towards the re-organisations in 1969: McKinnons lost production of axle and brake assemblies, and in 1966 Buick and Oldsmobile motor assembly. In 1967, the six-cylinder motor production was dropped for the last time, ending continuous assembly since 1929 Model Year!
There were major positive results as a result of the Auto-Pact though: in three years, Canadian production went up from 670,290 to more than one million units. Chevrolet production increased from 162,989 in 1965 to 217,288 in 1969, and Chevrolet and GMC Trucks from 68,420 to 106,461 in the same period, which meant in turn huge increases in production at Windsor and St. Catherines Plants. In 1965/66, employment reached 19,000, and the six millionth vehicle was produced, in October 1967 in the St. Therese Plant. As St. Therese came on-line, so the demand for Windsor-produced parts grew. However, there was a degree of change-round when 1970 B-Body production moved from Oshawa to St. Thérèse, then back again for 1972 when St. Thérèse was converted to Chevrolet Vega production.
St. Thérèse built the last r.h.d. Chevrolet Impala 4-Door Hardtops and Wagons[?] in six-cylinder and 327/350 V-8 motor versions and Oshawa built the last r.h.d. Pontiac Parisienne 4-Door Hardtops and Chevrolet Chevelles at the end of 1969 model Year. All 1969 Convertibles were l.h.d only.
Oshawa produced the last l.h.d B-Body cars with St. Catherines-built 350 V-8 motors when the unibody A-body cars replaced the chassised B-Bodies at Oshawa # 1 Plant. The Pontiac Parisienne which had been a thinly-disguised Chevrolet for 1983/4 was built in the Fairfax, U.S. Plant for 1985/6. For the record, the last Chevrolet Impala built in Canada was a four-door Sedan on 16 November 1985, a 1986 Model car. The so-called last-car was a Caprice, painted 2-tone blue which had been readied a few weeks before, and which was set-aside for the last drop and inserted after the last Impala, and driven off the line by Lionel Dignard on November 16 1985. That day also saw the last Chevrolet Caprice Wagons destined for Saudi Arabia. RIP Impala! The last A-body which replaced the Impala/Caprice was a 600, made obsolete by the W-Body Lumina.
In 1969, McKinnon Industries Limited ceased being a General Motors of Canada subsidiary for the first time since 1929, and instead became General Motors of Canada Limited, St. Catherines. In fact, all the major General Motors of Canada subsidiaries were consolidated that year, to form General Motors of Canada, headquartered in Oshawa. St. Catherines still manufacture V-8 motors to this day, assisted by the effects of not only the 1965 Agreement, but also the tri-partite Agreement between the US, Canada and Mexico, and other free-trade arrangements.
Turning back to the Windsor Plant, the former B.C.I. plant was sold to the local Transit Authority in 1945, and became part of the Windsor Transmission plant in 1980, still fronting Kildare Road, in 1980 when the Plant expanded because of demand: the run of increased production began in the mid-Seventies, just after Colonel Sam McLaughlin died in 1972 at the age of 100 years. The Oshawa Plant is located in Colonel Sam Drive now. In the Fifties, it was called William Street East, Oshawa, having been named after the great man.
After 1963, McKinnons renamed Windsor the Windsor Transmission Plant, and then in 1969, as McKinnons ceased being a subsidiary, became General Motors of Canada, Windsor Transmission Plant, building manual and automatic gearboxes. Today they build the 4-speed electronic Automatic gearbox which is exported as well as used in North America in all manner of cars, MPVs and Trucks, the Plant having closed and been totally transformed for its new role. The offices are now fronting Kildare Road, where Border City Industries Limited were producing essential war munitions from 1940 to 1945.
SCARBOROUGH, ONTARIO and INGERSOLL, ONTARIO
Scarborough, Toronto, Plant opened as a Frigidaire Plant making Canadian domestic products in 1952. Then, in 1963 commercial fractional horsepower motors was transferred from St Catherines to G.M. Diesel in London, Ontario, where the Diesel and Electric locomotives were built as well as Diesel motors. In 1964, manufacture of Radios, Horns and then Shock Absorbers was transferred to Scarborough. In 1966, prop-shaft manufacture was also transferred.
With the phase-out of domestic products, the Plant was retooled to build vans instead, being allocated the Plant Code 194 as the last new assembly Plant apart from the CAMI AUTOMOTIVE INC. Plant in Ingersoll, Ontario that built, e.g. Geo Trackers [Suzuki-designed S.U.V.s, sold by Chevrolet dealers introduced for the 1990 Model Year. The ScarboroughGlobe & Mail local newspaper of 8 May 1993 stated that van production started in 1974 but Scarborough Mirror 8-9 May 1993 states that the building was converted to a van Plant sometime in 1973, which is probably correct, i.e. 1973 for 1974 production which started 2 September 1973. Certainly there were 1975 Model vans from Scarborough. The Scarborough Plant produced their millionth van in 1986. It finally closed on 6 May 1993. RIP! The Postal Address was 1901 Eglington Avenue East, Scarborough, Ontario.
-- Edited by Oracle on Tuesday 27th of October 2009 03:13:54 AM
-- Edited by Oracle on Tuesday 27th of October 2009 03:15:16 AM
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Automotive Historian, Author and Journalist Deputy Editor, VINTAGE ROADSCENE Southampton, England
There was also a strike at McKinnons on 14th July 1948 that affected Windsor Transmission Plant two days later. Windsor went back to work on 10th August, McKinnon office staff on 1st September and on the 15th the strike was settled. Bit of gratuious!
Please ask for anything that I might have on GM of Canada history from 1901 to 1950s, as I have been researching for nearly 20 years. My book on GM IN CANADA: THE EARLY YEARS from 1901 to 1920 will eventually come out but is still a work in progess!!!
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Automotive Historian, Author and Journalist Deputy Editor, VINTAGE ROADSCENE Southampton, England
Will do,I'm just about to print my newsletter so my Mckinnon article will still run, seems to parellel your's Oracle in the primary facts. I used a documemt published by the University of Western Ontario for some of my information. I also found GM Canada documentation useful.
By the way, my office is very close to the old Frigidaire / Van plant site. It has taken years and years to redevelop the massive site but today you will find an enormous Toronto Transit Commission Bus depot and Maintenance facility there, a RONA, a LOWES big box stores, Canadian Tire, Cinema Complex, Old Navy, Tim Hortons, East Side Marios etc...BUT ironically right beside what was a General Motors icon in Toronto is an enormous brand new TOYOTA dealership.
-- Edited by 73SC on Tuesday 27th of October 2009 07:35:42 AM
I think, interestingly, GM Java in Batavia became a Toyota plant when seized by the Japs when they overrun the Netherlands East Indies. I believe that the Regina, Sask. building is still there and recognisable. It closed in 1945!
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Automotive Historian, Author and Journalist Deputy Editor, VINTAGE ROADSCENE Southampton, England
Yes I know, actually the dealership is owned by the same family that owned the Chevrolet dealer. And like you I know many folks who worked on the best vans built in North America, remember that when they closed it down, top qaulity rating of all plants, it was hard to believe.......oh but didn't production go to Mexico?
Co-incidently I have written a story about this place in the next Edition of Astro News Flash, that's really why I went out there to snap some photos. Oracle has posted much of the same info, wish I knew he had that, took me two weekends to research my story!
BTW, the beautiful surroundings you see in the back drop of that photo and surrounding area is known as McKinnon Park.
Thanks that was just crossing my mind, when I read what I hoped was going to happen. Can't wait to get my hands on the next News flash!
Good Idea!!
