The Fossmobile: Canada's First Successful Gasoline Car Car
George Foss and his assistants pose with the partially completed Fossmobile. Photos like this one were used to plan out the vehicle’s reconstruction.
Collection of the Foss Family Archives.
The Fossmobile: Canada’s first Successful gasoline car
Cette exposition est également disponible en Français | This exhibit is also available in French.
George Foote Foss of Sherbrooke, P.Q. had a quite unpleasant ride in an electric car in Boston in 1896. The experience led Foss, a machinist and bicycle mechanic, to decide that he had the skills to make a better motor car. First he taught himself how to construct an internal combustion engine using diagrams from an issue of Scientific American. Then, in 1897, he built his Fossmobile car, Canada’s first successful gasoline-powered automobile.
The Fossmobile driving in Sherbrooke. The high seat provided a good forward view and helped prevent the driver and passenger from being splashed with mud or slush.
Collection of the Foss Family Archives
With a single-cylinder engine under a front hood, two forward gears (but no reverse), and a shifter on the steering tiller, the Fossmobile was a surprisingly modern and functional automobile – and it proved itself on the steep hills of Sherbrooke.
Foss made no provision for brakes on the wheels; he used the shifting of gears to slow down the car. The vehicle drew attention both locally and internationally. Foss not only got offers from Canadian investors, but also, according to his memoirs, received interest from none other than Henry Ford to market his vehicle on a larger scale. He turned them all down, concerned that he was too inexperienced for mass production.
After Foss sold his car for $75 to a buyer in Montreal in 1902, it promptly disappeared from the historical record. The Museum’s Fossmobile is a reproduction produced by his grandson, who painstakingly assembled it based on the few surviving photographs of the original. The Foss family donated it to the Canadian Automotive Museum in 2022.
The interior of the Foss machine shop. George Foss was an experienced machinist, mechanic, and electrician, and had previously developed his own electric boat motor.
Collection of the Foss Family Archives.
Harry and Sara Foss drive their brother’s automobile. George used the Fossmobile as a commercial and personal car for several years before selling it.
Collection of the Foss Family Archives.
A photograph of George Foss, taken in 1897. He was only 21 when he built Canada’s first gasoline car.
Collection of the Foss Family Archives.
George Foote Foss
September 30, 1876 – November 23, 1968
Born in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Foss was apprenticed to the Whitney Electric Instrument Company at an early age, where he learned how to build electrical equipment and motors. The year he turned 18, he opened up his own shop, offering machining, blacksmithing, and bicycle repair.
Foss married a local kindergartner teacher and in 1902, they moved to Montreal, Quebec to raise their three children. Foss started an auto sales business, and in 1912 would open a new machine shop. He would later claim to have sold Canadian auto tycoon Sam McLaughlin his first car, a Stanley Steamer, and to have taught McLaughlin how to drive. During the First World War, Foss manufactured military equipment for the war effort.
An honourary lifetime member of both the Montreal Vintage Automobile Club and the Antique Automobile Club of America, Foss passed away Chateauguay, Quebec on November 23, 1968, at the age of 92. He was buried in his hometown in Sherbrooke. A stone monument on the original site of his bicycle shop commemorates his achievements.
Recreating the Fossmobile
The Foss family has re-opened their archives to document George Foss’ accomplishment and share it with all Canadians. George Foss’ grandson, Ron, worked with experts in vintage automobile restoration to create a tribute to the original Fossmobile. There are no original drawings, so the tribute car is based on detailed examination of original Fossmobile photos. The vehicle is made almost entirely with vintage parts, using new components only when necessary to ensure absolute authenticity.
The chassis of a 1901 Crestmobile, chosen as the basis for the Fossmobile replica due to its mechanical similarities to the original.
Image courtesy of Fossmobile Enterprises.
The partially-completed replica, showing its single-cylinder De Dion-style engine. No photographic records exist of the Fossmobile’s original engine.
Image courtesy of Fossmobile Enterprises.
Unveiling the Fossmobile Replica
On December 2, 2022, the Fossmobile tribute replica was officially unveiled as part of the Canadian Automotive Museum’s collection. A recording of the event, including a Q&A from Ron Foss, is below.
External Links
Library and Archives Canada: Fossmobile Photographs
Discover the original archival photographs of the Fossmobile and George Foote Foss at Library and Archives Canada.
The Canadian Encyclopedia: Fossmobile
The Canadian Encyclopedia explores the history of the Fossmobile, its design and its modern recognition in great detail.