1951 Kaiser Sedan, of the type made in Leaside,
but with the one piece windshield from 1952 models.

For the past three installments we’ve looked at the history of Durant Motors of Canada, which became Dominion Motors when its U.S. parent defaulted on a loan in 1931.
And while we’re done with the Durant/Dominion story, we’re not quite finished with the history of automobile manufacturing in the company’s Leaside, Ont. plant.
When Durant incorporated its Canadian subsidiary in 1921, it took over a former World War I munitions factory in Leaside, now part of Toronto. Operations were profitable at first, but the Depression sealed the company’s fate – as it did for so many other small independents – and production ceased in 1933.
But before that happened, Reo Motors had entered the picture. In 1931, the second automotive company started by Ransom E. Olds began manufacturing cars in a former Dodge Brothers plant in Toronto. The following year, Reo reached an agreement with Dominion Motors to assemble cars in Leaside. Dominion president Roy Kerby was only too happy to make the deal in order to try and make ends meet in the toughest economic environment of modern times. Dominion assembled Reo’s famous Flying Cloud models for two years until its own operations ceased in December, 1933.
Reo then took over the Laird Drive factory but, according to the landmark 1973 book, Cars of Canada, most of its Flying Clouds were imported from the U.S. until automobile production ceased entirely in 1936. However, Reo continued to build buses and its famous line of Speedwagon trucks in Leaside until the mid-1950s when it was acquired by the White Motor Company.

In 1950, in order to avoid downtime on the production line, just as Dominion Motors had done almost two decades earlier, Reo agreed to assemble Kaiser automobiles in Leaside. This was done on a job lot basis, using Reo employees, although Kaiser-Frazer Corp. had its own management and sales staff onsite.
An extensive Canadian dealer network already existed for Kaiser and Frazer cars, which were imported into Canada from the corporation’s main assembly plant in Willow Run, Mich. Initial production at Leaside was pegged at a modest 10 cars per day and the first Kaiser to roll off the line was a Deluxe 1951 sedan in September, 1950. A photo exists of J.W. Atkinson, head of Kaiser-Frazer operations in Canada, shaking hands with Reo Canada president Joseph Scherer Jr. over the hood of that car.
Between 1,250 and1,300 1951 Kaisers were assembled at Leaside before the Korean war intervened. Swamped with orders from the Canadian government for military trucks needed because of that conflict, Reo had to terminate its relationship with Kaiser at the end of 1951 after just one 1952 model was built – a Kaiser Virginian.
Contrary to popular belief, there is no evidence to suggest any of Kaiser’s compact Henry J cars were assembled in Leaside. All Kaisers assembled there were four-door sedans
and bear the letter T (for Toronto) in their serial numbers. They are extremely rare today, and if anyone knows of one, I’d be glad to learn of its whereabouts.

Write to Glen at glenwoodcock@canoemail.com