By Lasia Kretzel

Saskatchewan-built Derby car gets new lease on life

Apr 18, 2014 | 3:49 PM

The only car to be manufactured in Saskatchewan is getting a new lease on life and another moment in the spotlight.

The Saskatoon Antique Auto Club is restoring a Derby car for the Western Development Museum and to celebrate the club’s 50th anniversary. The unfinished model was on display at the Draggin's Rod and Custom Car Show at Prairieland Park this weekend.

“There was never another automobile connection to Saskatoon so that’s what makes it unique and makes it part of the interesting history of Saskatoon,” club member Ray Graves said.

Until the 1960s imported cars faced a more than 20 per cent import duty but unassembled parts came in duty free. Companies eager to avoid import taxes and sell cars in Canada at more agreeable prices brought car parts across the border and assembled them on Canadian soil.

In 1924, the Derby Motor Cars Ltd company purchased the rights to assemble Davis cars under the rebranded Derby name and manufactured them between 1924 and 1927. Manufacturing started in Winnipeg, but was moved to the former Marshall Tractor factory on 11th Street in Saskatoon shortly after.

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The car boasted lots of passenger space, a heavier body for better handling and a six-cylinder engine at a time when most cars only had four cylinders.

Graves said numbers vary but either 31 of 50 cars rolled off the assembly line before the company folded in 1927.

Though the car was advanced for its time when it first arrived on the road, Graves attributes the company’s collapse to a lack of innovation.

“They didn’t think there was any reason to update anything on [the car] and by 1927 and 1928, other cars were much more advanced that the Derby. They let it go too long and couldn’t catch up,” he said.

Since last April, the club has worked to preserve Saskatchewan’s automotive past by restoring a Derby to its former glory.

Graves said all they have left is the upholstery and a few minor tweaks to the drive train before the car is ready for the museum.

The car was one of 240 on display at the Draggin's Rod and Custom Car Show. Once it’s finished it will tour all four Western Development Museums in the province. 

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