Canada's First Car
It had no brakes and crashed into a creek
Canada has a long history when it comes to automobiles. While we think of the car as something that appeared in the early-20th century, the first Canadian automobile dates back all the way to Canadian Confederation itself.
It was in 1867 that a man named Henry Seth Taylor, who was a jeweler and clockmaker in Stanstead, Quebec. He was an interesting man to say the least. In his early years living in Stanstead, he operated a saloon but he refused to drink.
He was also a lover of photography and experimented with a wide variety of techniques that were cutting edge at the time.
Taylor loved to tinker and was a self-made inventor who experimented with a variety of ideas including talking boxes, hide-a-beds, clockworks and steam engines.
It was the steam engine work that helped cement his place in history. Fascinated by the idea of a self-propelled vehicle, he created his steam-powered buggy. It had no coal box, but there was a storage nook for wood and coal.
It weighed 230 kilograms and the boiler could withstand 27 kilograms of pressure.
The invention was unveiled at a fair in Stanstead in 1867. It did not get off to a great start. As people watched, a hose burst and the entire vehicle, with Taylor inside, was engulfed in steam.
But Taylor wasn’t done yet. He pushed his vehicle home and began to work on it some more. Eventually, he was able to demonstrate the vehicle without the steam hose bursting. The vehicle could move at 24 kilometres per hour. It was one of the earliest steam cars in North America and the first in Canada.
As he showed off his vehicle in the area, there was a big problem.
It had no brakes.
During one demonstration, it crashed into a creek and from that moment on, it was decided that he would move on to something else.
After his vehicle crashed, Taylor went on to operate a steamboat he named Gracie on Lake Memphremagog in the 1870s.
He passed away in 1887 in Stanstead.
As for the vehicle, it sat in a barn for decades. The wood and carriage body slowly rotted away until it was rediscovered in the 1950s.
It was restored by collector Richard Stewart. In 1983, the vehicle was purchased from Stewart by the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa. In 1993, it was honoured with a stamp.