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Postwar Prosperity
Following the Allied victory in Europe and the Pacific, prosperity became the order of the day in a country which accepted Newfoundland as its 10th province in 1949. Canada had become an increasingly urbanized nation with 64 per cent of its 14 million people living in cities. The automobile industry, revitalized during this period, reflected increased good fortune by a jump in registered cars and trucks from 1.5 million in 1946 to 2.3 million in 1949.
In a special edition of the Calgary Albertan on September 15, 1948, devoted to the Federation of Automobile Dealer Associations of Canada (FADA), J. R. Davis, vice-president and director of sales and advertising for Ford Motor Company, said demand was way ahead of supply. The buying public, frustrated by steel shortages hampering automobile production, blamed dealers for making what they saw as substantial profits.
At the same time, FADA president Harry Wilson called on all dealers' associations across Canada to present a strong front to avoid having government controls placed upon the auto industry and "our business." Wilson's foresightedness proved correct, as TADA and its sister Canadian associates continue to fight for fair legislation to this day. On the eve of CBC-TV's first telecast in 1952, Canadians still lived in a world without tranquillizers and polio vaccine, jet travel or computers. The great super highways, including the TransCanada highway, had not been built - nor were there shopping malls.
TADA's main concern of the day, according to the Toronto Telegram, was a five-day Drive for Safety campaign in 1952. The Association sponsored a driver's school to increase people's confidence in their driving abilities. According to the records, the driving instructors found that women's driving skills were first rate, although some found parking to be difficult.
As the 50's progressed so did car sales. The Ontario Automobile Dealers Association reported in 1954 that 300,000 new cars were sold in Canada - 200,000 of them in Ontario. The Association added that Canadian car dealers made an average profit of about $41 on each car sold that year. Remember, though, that was in 1954 dollars.
In 1955, TADA and the Ontario Government slugged it out over a controversial piece of proposed legislation involving a certificate of title on car sales transactions. The title claim would have affected claims on repairs, credit and other services. TADA thought that the legislation - bill 125 - was far too cumbersome to work. Dogged lobbying paid off and the bill was never passed.
The following year, A.E. Kress, TADA's general manager, had a number of concerns on his plate: from certificates indicating the safety of cars to be operated on a highway to labour rates for mechanics and apprentices. A major initiative echoes current events in the industry. It recommended standards of practice for advertising and selling automobiles. Questions of accuracy, pricing issues, trade-ins and financing were as important then as they are now. Then, as now, the Association worked hard to develop a fair, accurate approach to marketing and advertising new and used cars.
By the 1960's, Canada had become a country of TV watchers. Canadian culture was beginning to bloom. The St. Lawrence Seaway had been opened, and a new wave of immigrants were changing the face of Toronto, where high-rises were sprouting, and neighborhoods transformed into slices of Italy, Portugal and Greece. Metropolitan Toronto had been formed in 1964 with a population of 1.5 million and growing rapidly.
During the 1950's until 1961, the Association bought back the shares from dealers and estates when the charter was surrendered and a new one, under provincial law, was established showing the Toronto Automobile Dealers Association as a corporation without share capital and non - profit in nature.
In 1964, the Used Car Dealers Act was passed by the Province, which basically restricted the sale of used cars to those registered under the Act. The initiative for the Act, which had the support of a majority of TADA members, was designed to rid the industry of unsavory characters. The Association played a major role in the development of the Act's language.
In Spring 1965, one of TADA's members, Cruickshank Motors Ltd., opened a brand new showroom and service centre commemorating 20 years with Ford. Some of the cars being offered were a 1965 Meteor Montcalm convertible at $3,490, or a Mercury Park Lane hardtop for $3,888. You could buy a used Pontiac Parisienne for $2,795....or a 1959 Volkswagen for $695.
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