traveling exhibit RENTALS

 Every Canadian community has its car stories, its road legends, its local histories that deserve to the told. The Canadian Automotive Museum’s traveling exhibits exist to help spread these stories and encourage awareness of this country’s automotive history in local museums, galleries, historical societies and other institutions nationwide. The Museum’s fully English-French bilingual exhibits combine historical photographs, documents, video, audio and artifacts in a compact, sturdy and self-contained format that does not require specialized equipment, spaces or intensive maintenance.

Our Exhibits

Exit the horse: the early days of canadian motoring

Who drove the first Canadian car? Who built the first Canadian car? How did Canadians come to rely on cars and trucks to get around? Explore the dawn of the motor age, through stories, legends and exploits from communities across Canada.

The history of the motor car in Canada begins well before Confederation. Explore the exploits of Canada’s first automotive inventors and tinkerers, the birth of a Canadian auto industry, and the deep roots of motoring realities we take for granted today. From vigilante justice on the highways, to history’s first snowmobile, to the surprising connection between hockey sticks and steam cars, Exit the Horse is a journey through Canada’s forgotten motoring past.

This exhibit optionally includes the 1897 Fossmobile tribute replica, a modern recreation of Canada’s first successful gasoline car, as well as printed bilingual gallery guides for visitors to take home.

wires to wheels: the electric car in canada and beyond

An Italian physicist puts paper and acid together and makes lightning. A Dutch genius builds a motorized model. A Belgian daredevil breaks a land-speed record. A Canadian lawyer wants a slick new ride. This is the story of the electric car.

The electric car has been around for much longer than most of us realize; its roots in Canada date back to the 19th century. Discover the history of electric vehicles, from early experimenters to the electric boom years before the First World War, the dominance of gasoline in the 1940s and 50s, the alternative-energy revival of the 1970s, and the new reality of electrics on our roads.

canada’s car stories

From drive-through coffee to de-icing, from the winding roads of the Rockies to spectacular coastal driving on the Bay of Fundy to Northern communities with no roads at all, life in Canada is defined by automobility. How did we get here?

The story of the car in Canada is vast and complex, touching on questions of industry, trade, culture, nationalism, and day-to-day life. Canada’s Car Stories is a high-level look at how the car came to touch nearly every aspect of our day-to-day existence, and how Canadian responses to cars and driving have evolved over time.

Want to know more?

For questions and inquiries about these exhibits and more, contact the Canadian Automotive Museum’s Exhibit and Project Coordinator Dumaresq de Pencier at ddepencier@canadianautomotivemuseum.com.