Leyland Motors (Canada) Ltd. by Neil D Steele

(Torque 62)

Martin Phippard’s recent article in Torque No.61 prompted me to write and add a few more notes to his most interesting piece about Leyland’s presence in post-war Canada, and Harold Rushton’s recollections in Torque No.55, pages 38/39 influenced me to begin putting together what I had collected over the years.

Leyland Motors (Canada) Ltd was incorporated on 30th July 1948 as a joint venture between Leyland Motors Ltd and A.V. Roe (Canada) Ltd who were already part of the Hawker Siddeley Group. From the details available it would seem that the joint venture was based on using the premises of A.V. Roe (Canada) Ltd and the original Canadian assets of Leyland Motors Ltd to form the new company. The factory site at Longueuil was described as having an area of some 1,250,000 square feet, the premises already containing some modern machine tools was ready for immediate occupation.

The directors of the new company were; Sir Frank Spriggs (Chairman Hawker Siddeley), Sir Roy Dobson (M.D. A.V.Roe), Mr. H. Spurrier (Director & G.M. LMLtd), Mr. S. Markland (Director & Chief Engineer LMLtd), Mr. Walter Deisher (G.M. A.V. Roe (Canada) Ltd) and Mr John Tory K.C. Toronto barrister. Mr W.K. Shirlaw became General Manager (formerly LMLtd Scottish regional manager), the Secretary-Treasurer was Mr. J.M. Langfier (formerly LMLtd London sales secretary) and Mr W.E. Humphreys was Sales Manager (formerly LMLtd Canadian Manager). Chief Engineer (Canada) was Mr. J. McHugh formerly assistant to Mr. Markland. The company’s address was given as PO Box 69, Terminal A, Malton, Toronto. Offi ces and Sales and Service premises were located on a 35,000sq.ft site at 25 St. James St., Ville St. Pierre, Montreal.

A rare sight in Canada was this ‘cab-over’ Leyland Beaver 12B.3L with sleeper pod. Operated with two drivers by North Coast Transport Co. it regularly travelled 6,000 miles collecting 5 Austin cars from Vancouver and delivering them to Billingham, Washington State, returning with 5 Chrysler cars for Canadian dealerships, usually 3 trips

From the outset the plan was to introduce the new oil engine Leyland Comet to the Canadian market, the model having been reasonably well received in other Commonwealth countries. Chassis were to be shipped in CKD form with the standard Briggs cab and assembled at the new plant. The model range comprised; ECO/1L, ECO/2L & ECO/3L types. The vast majority of goods vehicles operating in Canada were gasoline engined (petrol) and mostly of American manufacture. The  introduction of diesel powered lorries was intended to show how economical and reliable  diesel engines could be and the Sales and Service premises at Ville St. Pierre bore the legend “Leyland – Trucks – Buses – Diesel Engines”.

The Comet was an ideal  delivery vehicle and quite a number received very attractive locally built bodywork, however, it is questionable if it was suitable for distance work especially when considering the vastness of Canada and the distances between places of moderate population. Whilst the Comet was reliable it was criticised for lack of power and the adverse temperatures of Canada were to show the flaws in the single skinned Briggs cab which had no demisting or heating equipment as standard. In welcoming the new Leyland venture the Canadian Government imposed a ‘local content’ clause. It was thought this could be overcome by the local manufacture of brackets and other small castings, but in the end this was extended to include some major units. During the latter part of 1949 two new Comet models appeared for sale in Canada, these were given the designation CCO/1L and CCO/2L and, by early 1950, there were no more imports of the ECO series. Were these Comets specially designed for the Canadian market and does CCO mean Canadian Comet Oil? The 1 & 2 denote wheelbase as with other models (and L is certain to mean left hand drive) – can someone please clarify CCO?

Having noted that the early Comet was considered to be underpowered and only suitable for at best ‘medium haulage work’ thoughts turned to providing a range of vehicles to compete with the imports of ‘heavy’ haulage vehicles from the USA. There was a definite preference for bonneted trucks in Canada, Leyland had already developed the bonneted ‘Super’ range, and it was decided to import a Super Hippo and a Super Beaver to see if these would satisfy the market. While the quality of these vehicles was appreciated the price was not, this problem not helped by the exchange rate and an import levy. Sales of the Super models in Canada were disappointing, neither the Beaver or Hippo reached double figures!

The need for Leyland Motors (Canada) Ltd to break into the heavy truck market led to the design of the Canadian Beaver. Its development was a joint effort between Leyland Canada and Leyland in the UK and was fairly unique in it being produced for that one market being given the model designation CB.1. This was soon to be joined by a three axle version which was given the UK factory designation CH and was referred to here as the Canadian Hippo, what it was called in Canada is not clear, can someone answer this please? Technical details are very sparse for the Canadian Beaver, we know it used the Leyland O.600 engine and 5speed gearbox, however I know little of its chassis design or dimensions (can anyone help?). I have a few notes which suggest that initially the first few CBs (perhaps 3 or 4) were supplied with the usual Leyland worm axle, but very soon after all CKD chassis were shipped minus rear axle. Interestingly, the CHs were all supplied with the usual double drive overhead worm axle unit with 7.33:1 diffs. The cab for the CB and CH models was to follow the Briggs design (C43) but had a filler piece attached to the scuttle to which the bonnet was then attached thus enlarging the engine compartment to house the O.600 engine. These cabs were heavily insulated, had good demisting equipment and hot water heating. Martin’s article answers the question of who may have supplied the axles and if locally sourced these units would have contributed to the level of local content.

It was clear by 1953 that Leyland had only managed to corner a very small market share of heavy trucks sold in Canada, in fact, in the 3 years that the CB model had been available, only about 235 had been sold. The CH had fared even worse with about 66 sales, the last 16 being designated CHBison but continuing the CH line numbering sequence; a CH-Bison is pictured in Martin’s article at the top of page 34. It is known that the O.680 engine option had been offered, but exactly how many had been taken up or retro fitted is not known. I had wondered how the 155hp claim on the advert at the front of the Bison came about and found a note to the effect that the O.680 was governed to 2,000rpm (usually 1850rpm) and for more bhp 2,200rpm was offered!

To maintain a presence in Canada it became necessary for LM (Canada) Ltd to seek the cooperation of a local company, this was found with the Canadian Car & Foundry Co. Ltd, Fort William, Ontario who seemingly had some tie up with A.V. Roe. This resulted in the development of the ‘Canada Truck’ range which, as Martin says in his article, used Leyland diesel engines, it also incorporated International Harvester Cabs. The early Beaver MkIII had a cab reputedly constructed using a Briggs cab back, roof, doors, scuttle and split windscreen and an International Harvester bonnet. The later MkIII had a cab that was all International Harvester with full width windscreen, it was powered by the Leyland O.680 engine, had Bendix-Westinghouse air brakes and Eaton 20,000 Series two speed axle. Eventually, as the model range developed, more and more locally sourced components were used and in 1957/58 the company became known as Can-Car. The final truck development was the Canada 680WT artic tractor (lower picture, page 34 of Martin’s article) for which Leyland supplied about 100 x O.680 engines.

On the passenger front, approximately 11 Leyland - MCW EL40 Olympics were shipped to Canada during 1950/51, they are listed as being delivered to LMLtd, Toronto. The first was displayed at the 1950 New York exhibition before delivery to Canada, the body had more pillars and therefore shorter but more numerous windows to a typical American style. Bells Buses, Dartmouth are reputed to have taken delivery of the first EL40 in 1950 followed by six more in 1951, and Guelph  Municipality took delivery of four in November 1950. Bells sold their stock to AQutobus Levis, Quebec. It has been suggested that a number of these EL40s and stocks of parts were sold to the Caribbean for spares, most likely Jamaica who would have found these spares useful. (Does any reader have a photograph of a Canadian EL40? – Ed.)

In November 1966 a special Olympic 2 (also called the Mark X) ‘Special Canadian Bus’, designated EL2/44, arrived on demonstration, having chassis L64953, line 1461. It was demonstrated to the Toronto Transit Commission. The vehicle had a rear transverse mounted O.680 engine driving through a Spicer automatic transmission to an Eaton single or optional two speed bevel axle. The body had a two door layout with 43 seats and plenty of standee room, it was 40ft long and 8ft. 6in. wide. A second vehicle was assembled, chassis L64954, line 1462, but was dismantled and the parts returned to stores. While the vehicle caused a lot of interest with Canadian bus operators no further Olympics were built for Canada.

In retrospect, with both countries recovering from a World War, perhaps 1948 was not the best time for LMLtd to return to Canada and it must have been a pretty hard pill to swallow having developed a range of trucks for the Canadian market for the venture to fail. The Leyland Motors (Canada) Ltd name was absorbed by the formation of BLM (Canada) Ltd and BLM (Nova Scotia) Ltd, on 1st October 1968, the company address was then given as 4445 Fairview St., Burlington, Ontario.

The LMLtd-BLM name was finally amalgamated into Jaguar Canada Inc. on 31st December 1978. That company is now listed as inactive on the Canadian Register of Companies. I am indebted to Malcolm Wilford for chassis information and Leyland Society Chassis Recorder, Don Hilton, for additional help. (This is an excellent followon from Martin’s and Harold’s articles, filling in important gaps in the history of Leyland’s Canadian operation, also raising important questions- thank you Neil. When time permits, I hope to fill in the earlier part, from the setting up of the Canadian Depots through the 1920s and 1930s – Ed.)

Join the discussions on