I want to extend a very heartfelt greeting to all of our vary many Canadian readers and contributors. From the beginning, CC seems to have made a somewhat outsize connection to Canada, more than just the obvious shared language and cars, although of course there are subtle (and not so subtle) differences in both of those. We’re especially fortunate in having a number of excellent contributors from Canada who have greatly expanded our (certainly my) knowledge of the the many differences of the Canadian versions of American cars, and how and why they came to be that way. This has been a most satisfying ongoing education, which is what CC is all about.
Our three main Canadian contributors have been David Saunders, VinceC and DougD., although we have had a number of others. David has been contributing since my days at ttac.com, and has entertained and educated us with almost 400 posts, covering so many subjects as well as his extensive Cars of a Lifetime series. I fell deeply in love with his 1961 Pontiac Laurentian with that big Chevy 261 six. And of course, David has been our main tech guy at CC for quite some years now, providing invaluable support to keep CC humming. I can’t thank David enough.
VinceC has brought a level of historical accuracy and insight to CC that has been absolutely stellar. His posts (and many comments) have always been must-reads for me, as I’ve learned so much. Vince has covered a wide range of topics, including a most excellent primer on the history of Canadian brands and cars. And of course he’s regaled us with his personal automotive history like the wonderful story of his father’s Torino, which Vince has lovingly taken over, cared for and improved. Vince has unfortunately not been able to post much recently due to changed circumstances in his life, but his contributions here are for the ages.
DougD is also one of our early Canadian stalwarts, and has entertained us with so many humorous and touching stories in his COAL series as well as many others. Doug has enriched CC (and me) with his pithy insights and perspectives.
There’s also Len Peters, (“Canucknucklehead”), who has contributed both COAL and other posts over the years as well has his comments. And JOGRAD delivered an exceptionally compelling COAL series as well as numerous posts since then. I just know I’m missing others too; please forgive my creaky memory banks. But here’s a big thanks to all of you Canadians that have so materially contributed to making CC what it is. And of course that includes all of you readers too!
Happy Canada Day! You’re an inspiration to all of us (with one notable and unfortunate exception).
Thank you for that Paul, and Happy Canada day to my fellow Canadians! I second your thoughts on the valuable contributions of the Canadian contributors you mentioned. Thank you to all of you!
Happy Canada Day (or Dominion Day if that is how you remember it) to all my fellow Canadians.
Thanks to those who have contributed great articles and insights on the Canadian automotive scene.
And of course thanks to Paul for having the forum for these to be published, without CC I’m not sure where else someone could find this wonderful information.
I remember it being called Dominion Day when I was a young lad in school. Takes me back.
Best wishes to all my Canadian friends also. Proudly ⅛ Canadian myself.
Thank you Paul, for the birthday wishes and for all of the contributions over the years. I hadn’t been on this site as much the past few years, but have found my way back and am enjoying it once again.
We have our differences as countries but our similarities are much more plentiful and stretch back many decades. In the case of this site, the common interest draws us together. Our large land masses on both sides of the border leads naturally to the draw of the open road, and the cars & trucks that we enjoy the miles/kilometers in.
I’m on the east coast of Canada in Nova Scotia and remember one member posting about moving cross-country here several years ago – I think Marc something? if you are out there sir, we may still be neighbors!
Anyway, a Happy Canada Day to my fellow countrymen and women, as well as early Happy 4th of July (the 250th, no less!) to all the great Americans out there. Looking forward to many more to come.
Dartmouth D:
I wish to politely disagree with your statement that “we have differences as countries.” Only a handful of Americans have any issues with Canada. I will not further comment, however Curbside Classics has been a forum for maintaining bonds between Canadians and Americans in these aggravating times.
Hi Zipster – I might have worded that poorly, as I realize there’s been some tension over the past year and a half or so, but I meant more that as similar as we are as countries, there are differences (miles/km, Cheviacs, trim levels of models etc). This site does a great job of keeping politics out of it and I certainly wasn’t planning to dive into that!
And for the record, I agree – this site has done a lot to keep those bonds strong.
Well thank you very much. So much fun to be part of this community after all these years.
That photo of me must be almost 20 years old now, time flies. VW is sitting on that very spot at the moment, it is registered and runs but has the steering wheel off, awaiting a new signal switch.
I haven’t seen him here in a while, but Daniel Stern is another Canadian resident whose contributions I have enjoyed.
Thank you for recognizing and appreciating your rather like-minded neighbours….right back at you!! KS
I moved to Ottawa Ontario in 2003, and stayed for 18 years until my retirement from being a professor. I loved everything about Canada except for the winters. But the winters were not as bad as winters in some parts of the States, just longer. To some degree I have regrets moving back to the States but my permanent residence status has expired, and then there was the five months a year I had to store my 1960s convertible. I found Canada to be far more progressive, and friendlier. Yes, generally people are more polite and respectful.
Regardless if you live in the States or abroad, consider a vacation to Canada. When I lived in Canada I had friends from the States visit me in Ottawa the nations capital and watch the Canada Day fireworks over Parliament from my balcony. Other times when friends from the States visited we spent time in both Montreal and Quebec City. Both beautiful and entertaining cities to visit. So you folks in the States I highly recommend you try a vacation North of the border.
Speaking of travel, when I was a card carrying permanent resident of Canada, and an US citizen, crossing back into the the US at customs the US border agents were not that friendly. The border agents on the Canada side were always very friendly. All the years I crossed the border by car or plane the hostility was noticeable at the US border because I was a US citizen but a permanent resident of Canada.
Happy Canada Day. If any of you did not know, Canada Day is like the USA fourth of July.
Very thankful for your note here today Paul. We CC-Canadians are appreciative of being able to come together here. CClassic CCars are ties that bind.
Thank you – although I’ve lived in the US my entire life, I’m a Canadian citizen as well as American. I’ve been to Canada at least 20 times, but none of those are recent unfortunately. I always see a few Canadian-market-only cars each trip, as well as different stores, food items, TV shows, pop songs, and much more.
It is great to have the opportunity to focus on the many bonds between the US and Canada. Following my retirement from UCLA, I worked for many years for a non-profit with central offices in New York City and Toronto and formed warm and productive relationships with colleagues in Canada. It would not have occurred to me then (or at any other time in my long life) that any kind of breach could damage the relationship between our two countries. One of the many services provided by Paul and CC is to remind us that in this community we are all one.
Thanks for the good wishes from our American and other friends. In this strange era there are many more ideals that unite us than things that may sometimes appear to divide us.
Happy Canada Day, à tout le monde!🍁
PS. That battered 1961 Laurentian is one of my favourite CCs of all time.
Yes, let’s keep building new bridges between our two nations… but the fact remains that even once built, they still need to be inaugurated!
Happy Canada Day, to all Canadian contributors and readers, from another non-US-ian. Always good to read about your cars, in many ways so similar to what we got down here.
Happy Canada day to fellow Curbsiders! Thank you for the shout out Paul, it is an honour to be included in such great company. I truly enjoyed writing for CC and hope that I can return to it again when the time will allow. I am happy that my old articles are still reposted but I would love to write some new material. For one thing, I need to continue the series on Canadian car history. While many just think they are simple badge engineering specials, considering the budget and resources of the Canadian entities, they had some pretty cool Canadian cars over the years. With the recent changes in the auto industry and trade environment, I am not so sure the Canadian car industry will be around much longer.
As for my Torino and my old Malibu, they are still around and I am enjoying them immensely. In the spirit of Canada day, both of them were manufactured in Canada – Oakville, and Oshawa respectively. On that same note, my wife’s Toyota was also produced in Canada, making the majority of my fleet Canadian made. One day I’d love to add a Canadian only classic to my fleet – a 1965 Pontiac Parisienne Custom Sport would do nicely!
Thanks for the Canada Day wishes. We packed a flag 1500 meters vertical on an ascent of Tee Pee. Pretty close to a frostbite day.
Tee pee
Great photos, JOGRAD! Although the second one gives me a bit of vertigo LOL
Thank you for the Canada Day wishes and kind words. I have loved being part of the CC family and getting a platform to explore the oddities of Canadian market.
Happy Canada Day, and thanks, Paul for the mention. I am just working on some new ideas for some upcoming posts!
Happy Dominion of Canada Day . I had an aunt who emigrated to Canada – when she returned to the UK after 25 years she still had a Scottish accent. I’ve always wondered how she managed that.
Echo this. Hope you enjoyed your day!
I’m way behind in my CC reading, as I was reading this, the song Four Strong Winds played on my random Spotify playlist.
The CC effect can occur in many forms.
Belated happy Canada day.
Grouse Mountain, above Vancouver, installed an 80 m x 160 m Canadian flag last month on a major ski slope overlooking the city to celebrate Vancouver as a 2026 FIFA World Cup host city. Apparently it’s a Guinness World Record for ‘the largest flag ever unfilled on a mountain’. 😅
https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/article/record-breaking-canadian-flag-installed-on-grouse-mountain-for-fifa-world-cup/