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Brochure illustration for 1960 Ford Frontenac.

Quebecers love their cars, and they love driving too – the faster the better.
But the province’s involvement in the auto industry has been sporadic. General Motors closed its assembly plant in Ste. Therese 2002, Renault operated an unsuccessful assembly plant in St. Bruno from 1964-72 and Hyundai produced Sonatas in Bromont from 1987-93.
As for all-Canadian marques, in the early 20th century the Bourassa, Oxford, Ledoux, Comet, Gareau 35, Parker, Lavoie and Duplex all were made in Montreal for a year or two. In more modern times, the Manic GT was built in Terrebonne, and then Granby, from 1969-71.
And that’s about it.
But Quebec’s impact on the industry in North America goes far beyond vehicle assembly. Some of the early explorers and governors of New France are still celebrated in cars named after them.
Cadillac, for instance, was named after Antoine Laumet de Lamothe Cadillac, who was a bit of a con man, to put it mildly. Born of humble parents in France in 1658, he came to the New World and upon his marriage in Quebec City in 1687 invented a noble upbringing and called himself Sieur de Cadillac.
It was just one of many such fabrications, but Cadillac did convince the French king to allow him to begin a permanent settlement in Detroit in 1699.
Thus, he was the founder of the Motor City and a car was named in his honour when Henry M. Leland first built it as an independent make in 1903. Later, Cadillac became part of GM and the most successful American luxury car.
In 1927 GM gave Cadillac a companion line named after René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, who arrived in New France in 1667 and became the French colony’s greatest explorer. He was the first European to explore the length of the Mississippi River, claiming the entire Mississippi basin for France in 1682 and naming it Louisiana, in honour of King Louis XIV.
La Salle met an ignominious end when his men mutinied and killed him in what is now Texas in 1687 and left his body for the animals to eat.
The car named in his honour fared little better, being squeezed out of the market in 1940.
Father Jacques Marquette was a missionary who spread Christianity in the New World and was the first European to see the Mississippi in 1673. Two Marquette automobiles existed – an independent made in Saginaw, Mich. in 1912 and a small companion for Buick from 1929-31.
Count Louis de Buade Frontenac was named governor of New France in 1672 and quickly expanded the colony’s territory despite orders not to do so.
Two cars have borne his name – both of them unique to Canada. The first Frontenac was built in Toronto by Durant Motors from 1931-33 and the second by Ford in Oakville, Ont. as a Canadianized version of the 1960 Falcon.
Ford also named two other Canadian models after luminaries of New France. Cardinal-Duc de Richelieu was an advocate for Samuel de Champlain and of retaining the French colony in the New World and Marquis Louis-Joseph de Montcalm was, of course, the commander who lost his life – and Quebec – to Wolfe on the Plains of Abraham in 1759.
In the mid-1950s Richelieu was one of the top models in the Monarch lineup of rebadged Mercuries, and from 1961-70 Montcalm was a model in the Meteor lineup.
As for Chevrolet, the most famous American car with a French name, race car driver Louis Chevrolet was born in Switzerland with no connection to Quebec, or Canada.

Write to Glen at glenwoodcock@canoemail.com