Dear Editor,

The Foss family would like to congratulate the Canadian Transportation Museum Heritage Village on the successful opening of the Exit the Horse exhibit, featuring the Fossmobile and the Shamrock, two of Canada’s early attempts at building internal combustion gasoline engine automobiles.

Recent press coverage has shared with their readers highlights of this opening, however there are misleading and factually incorrect details that need to be addressed. These are not my own opinions but the points being made are well documented in a reference publication titled Cars of Canada, 1973.

This book is used by automobile historians, museum curators, vintage automobile clubs and automobile enthusiasts and remains the quintessential written authority of the early automobile in Canada.

Please allow me to be very clear: The 1897 Fossmobile was the first successful combustion engine automobile in Canada. It has never been stated as the first overall as there is no knowledge of any absolute historical record to that claim. One just has to Google “Fossmobile”, conduct a search with Library and Archives Canada or The Canadian Encyclopedia to locate absolute historical record.

The same cannot be said about the Shamrock as their dating of the automobile is folklore and without absolute historical record. More importantly the Cars of Canada book clearly states that the Shamrock was only completed in 1904 and was deemed not successful. A quote within the book; “Like all first models it wasn’t exactly a success,” William recalled years later.

There was only marginal success in 1904, as the Shamrock builder added a, not self-made engine, not one made in Canada, but a French engine.

With its lack of success, the builder then tried to sue the engine manufacture, but I would surmise that it was not the engine but more so the clutch and belt style transmission that may well have been more of the problem. Confirmed perhaps by the later conversion of that initial system to a chain and sprocket transmission more typical to the times.

That brings me to the display Shamrock within the museum’s collection. While it is outstanding that aspects of it may predate the 1900s, there is very little even close to what may have been conceived in the years leading up to 1904. It has been re-bodied, likely from kit car parts that became available in the early 1900s.

A steering tiller was replaced with a steering wheel, which only made its way from France to North American in 1899. Items like the brass lights, a muffler and black tires only made their way on to automobiles in the very late 1890s and into the early 1900s.

If one wants to go one step further and keep success top of mind, on page 33 of the Cars of Canada it touches on the Thomas Doherty two-cylinder engine automobile completed the spring of 1901 in Sarnia, Ontario. Again, in quotes “a notable feature on the town streets.” That would put it ahead of the Shamrock said to be completed in 1904.

There is another fascinating point regarding the Taylor steam automobile, in that within the Cars of Canada it talks about the few years it took to build it, yet the date of record is 1867. So, a confirmed perspective on dating methodology or acceptable dating practices if you will.

So, while we should embrace these early pioneers and enjoy the Exit the Horse display, we must be mindful of absolute historical record, and we collectively have an obligation to correctly inform Canadians with as much clarity as possible and the highest level of integrity.

Ron Foss
Executive Director
Fossmobile Enterprises
Burlington, ON

Photo: Ron Foss