1897 Fossmobile Replica, Part 1

Canadian Automotive Museum Audio Content

Our bilingual audio tour explores less well-known stories from the collection, in the voices of the Museum’s volunteers, historians, vehicle experts and more.
Transcript:

The Fossmobile was Canada’s first successful gasoline automobile, designed and manufactured by George Foote Foss in 1897. He owned his own mechanic’s shop in Sherbrooke, Quebec, offering machining and bicycle repair. Foss became interested in automobiles after riding in a rented electric brougham while visiting Boston, Massachusetts. He was not surprised to learn that the batteries did not last the promised rental time and had to have a team of horses tow it back to the dealer. On the train ride home to Sherbrooke, he decided that a combustion engine was the best solution for the future of the automobile.

During the winter of 1896, Foss worked on a four-horsepower, single-cylinder car which he completed the next spring. The vehicle was the first of its kind to be built in Canada. It was fabricated from bicycle frames, parts from horse-drawn buggies and with wheels taken from a sulky, or horse-racing cart. The vehicle had numerous features that were very ahead of their time. The engine was air-cooled, mounted in front, rather than under the seat, to minimize vibration. The shifting mechanism was mounted to the steering tiller, something that was not common on cars until the early 1930s.

Foss drove his automobile in and around the hilly, dirt roads of Sherbrooke for four years. It was his personal car, but also helped advertise his business interests. He later moved to Montreal, Quebec, receiving a ticket for driving on the sidewalks during the winter of 1901. The car then sat idle for a year before he sold it for $75. The buyer got it started on the first pull of the starter strap and drove off, and the Fossmobile was never seen again.