By Robert Emslie
Welcome to Thursday Trivia where we offer up a historical automotive trivia question and you try and solve it before seeing the answer after the jump. It’s like a history test, with cars!
This week’s question: What was the iconic name of the Canadian-built truck GM introduced in 1930?
If you think you know the answer, make the jump and see if you’re right.
General Motors and Ford may both vie for which is the most American of brands (I give Ford the nod) but the facts are that they each are multinational enterprises with divisions spanning the globe.
Both companies have also built models exclusively for certain markets, ones that were never sold in the U.S. nor were ever intended to be. One country that early-on got their own GM products was Canada, which by 1930 had a slew of Canada-only models from each of GM’s five divisions. Most of those were modified versions of their American counterparts. At that same time however, GM introduced a truck line that was not just Canada-only but carried what was possibly the most Canadian name possible.
From GM Heritage Center:
A Canada only Chevy based truck was produced in the 1930s and 1940s, with the most patriotic of names, Maple Leaf.
Maple Leafs were sold by Pontiac dealers in Canada, and were built in GM’s Walkerville plant. The trucks were based on GMC frames, but used Chevy engines at the outset. The brand continued in production until 1952 when it was replaced by GMC and Chevy, just like in the U.S..
Image: CanadianPoncho
Got it. I’ve heard that the reason for so many weird Canadian-market badges and models was that car dealers were few and far between in the Great White North so every dealer had to be a full-line dealer, including trucks. And this was before there were things like Pontiac vans and Cadillac pickups. And heaven forbid that a Pontiac dealer sell a Chevy truck, or a Mercury dealer sell a Ford truck. or a Plymouth dealer sell a Dodge truck.
Ah Canada. Just like the US but when you look closer so, so different.
I knew this one, but I also gave a 4-H public speaking presentation on cars Canadians got and Americans didn’t.
This topic is an endless source of fascination for me.
Aargh! I guessed ‘Poutine’.