Many years ago, when I was a child, I asked my Uncle "Why don't people still make their own cars, as they did in the early days?" He explained about costs, parts, etc. Pretty much as this post does about the idea/ chance of a Canadian made car.

I can't remember hearing about Canadian car companies mentioned: Bricklin Canada Ltd. and Russell Motor Car Co. But, I haven't been interested in vehicles other than some history and what cars could be like in the future, especially self driving cars and cars which don't use fossil fuels.

Also, those small cars (sometimes labelled as personal transport, which only seem drivable in the summer here) made by unknown companies without a huge marketing budget. (I think people should be driving smaller cars instead of giant SUV's that take up an entire parking space and consume a lot fuel for a trip to the corner store with one person in the vehicle).

Could Canadian car makers start, or bring fresh life (and marketing), to a Canadian made small /micro car with fresh technology and specifications that work with our Canadian climate? An actual custom made car for Canadians.

That makes the idea far more interesting for me. Would you drive a micro car like the Isetta?

My sister wouldn't. She loves her SUV because its huge. She likes intimidating other drivers and she is a VERY aggressive driver. Far too much. I think this is why the huge truck/ cars have become popular. After learning to drive in my sister's huge tank of a car, my niece thinks driving a small car would be unsafe. But, what makes a small car less safe is the aggressive drivers on the roads. If huge cars were marketed as unpopular choices, a small Canadian made car could be more than just a niche vehicle.

From The Financial Post - Could a Canadian car company finally happen in 2026?

Canada’s history is littered with failed ideas for car companies — think Bricklin Canada Ltd. and Russell Motor Car Co. — but circumstances have made the idea of starting a Canadian automotive company worth considering once again, says a new report.

Intense competition, the need for billions of dollars in capital and the inherent complexity of designing a road-safe vehicle all create stumbling blocks for any new company looking to produce automobiles.

“It’s probably something that won’t happen,” said Brendan Sweeney, managing director of the Trillium Network, a nonprofit at Western University in London, Ont., and co-author of the report, In Shifting Gears: The Potential for a Canadian Car Company.

The report said the Canadian auto sector is facing a turning point, in part because U.S. automakers’ domination of the sector has been slowly eroding for two decades, long before Trump enacted his tariffs.

In 2005, U.S.-headquartered automakers owned assembly plants that accounted for 74 per cent of all vehicles built in Canada. Today, they account for less than half, while Japanese-based automakers Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. Ltd. own plants that account for the majority of vehicles produced.

On the sales side, Canada imports roughly 90 per cent of the vehicles its residents purchase in any given year. U.S.-built vehicles no longer dominate there, either.

Sweeney said "Canadians buy around 1.6 million to 1.9 million vehicles every year, making it a large marketplace by global standards".

“The Canadian market could absorb enough cars to help a (homegrown) company get started,” he said. “But then we’d also have to find other markets.”

The traditional auto production sector includes five foreign automakers that produce around 1.3 million to 1.5 million vehicles every year, but there are also many Canadian-owned parts companies and companies that make buses, armoured trucks, ambulances and other specialized or niche vehicles.

In the Waterloo, Ont., region, where many companies work with auto-sector players specializing in artificial intelligence and software. Other companies that develop, build and operate nuclear power generating stations might lend technological expertise or capital allocation expertise to a fledgling company, the report said.

But building a Canadian car company is such a massive undertaking that it would likely require some partnership among a series of companies, each bringing a different expertise, the report said.

The authors said such a company could even link up with a well-known Canadian retailer, specifically suggesting Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd.

I also found this from TO Times - Micro Cars Are Coming to the 2026 Canadian International AutoShow

Some very rare and extremely small collectible vehicles will be prominently on display at the Canadian International AutoShow taking place from February 13th to 22nd at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Due to their rarity, many showgoers may never have heard of this unique type of vehicle, known as a Micro Car.

Micro cars, built largely between 1945 and 1970, were ultra-compact vehicles defined by tiny engines (usually under 700 cc), lightweight construction, short overall length, and often quirky features such as three wheels, one- or two-cylinder two-stroke motors, chain-drive systems, and unconventional doors like the BMW Isetta’s famous front-entry single door.

Born out of post-war necessity for basic transportation, companies such as Messerschmitt, BMW, Heinkel, and Zündapp shifted from wartime production to small personal vehicles as Europe rebuilt and mobility demand grew. With fuel rationing, limited resources, narrow streets, and scarce private parking, small, efficient, and affordable cars quickly became highly desirable in post-war Europe.

Models like the Autobianchi, Berkeley, BMW Isetta, Fiat 500, Daihatsu Midget, Heinkel Kabine, Vespa 400, Subaru 360, Bond Bug, Citroën 2CV, Peel P50, Honda Z600, Messerschmitt, and Goggomobil defined the micro car boom of the 1950s and ’60s. While they remained popular in Europe for years, these small cars rapidly faded from the North American market as tastes shifted toward larger vehicles and the emerging muscle-car era.

Blog TO - Controversial billionaire's tiny micro-car could be pitched as next fix for Toronto traffic

People have ideas for real cars that can be driven in water, flown in the air and do just great on the ground too, just like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. If you have watched the movie, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang you have seen at least one flying and swimming car but as fiction.

• 1901 Gustave Whitehead claimed to have flown a powered aircraft, described as able to propel itself along roads to the site of the flying experiment.
• 1917 Glenn Curtiss built 'Autoplane' with a triplane wing, propeller, and twin tails.
• 1935 Constantinos Vlachos built a 'tri-phibian' vehicle with a circular wing.
• 1936 James G. Ray successfully flew an aircraft converted to a roadable prototype.
• 1937 Waldo Waterman developed the 'Arrowbile' from his tailless aircraft, 'Whatsit'.
• 1940 Jess Dixon flying automobile.
• 1942 Hafner Rotabuggy, roadable autogyro built by the British army.
• 1946 'Fulton FA-2 Airphibian' a flying car designed by Robert Edison Fulton Jr.
• 1947 'Convair Model 118' also known as the Hall Flying Automobile.
• 1949 Moulton Taylor introduced the 'Aerocar' a roadable plane.

Some of these early flying car prototypes were able to fly and drive successfully. Some ended badly with inventors, designers, pilots, and the craft killed/ lost during testing. Often the projects became too expensive to continue, even with good results.

Many of the experimental flying car projects are not known by the public. The list above is mainly US based. Other countries certainly had ideas, designs, and experiments too. So many other projects were not given media attention and disappeared into history.

If you were to divide urban exploration into three basic groups I think it would have to be buildings, drains/tunnels and the third would be transportation. I could be wrong and, no doubt, the whole thing is debatable. However, when I think about trying to fit in the various exploring locations and structures, that's how I sum it up.

It's all part of urban exploration. Explorers aren't just in the city looking at old buildings. Urban explorers are rooftopping, looking underground in tunnels and drains. Urban explorers are in rural areas too, looking at abandoned farms, farm equipment, old churches and so on. Urban explorers are in industrial places, looking at abandoned and derelict mines, steel plants and industrial machines they may never see anywhere else.

Airplanes, aircraft, trains, ships and boats are the transportation sort of wrecks you might think of first. There are also car wrecks, but none of these are photographed at the scene of a horrible accident. People who chase wrecks (as urban explorers) are not the ambulance chasers or reporters trying to win a spot on the front page of a newspaper.

Wreck chasers are looking for the neglected, abandoned and forgotten wreckage from the transportation industry: trucks, cars, ships, boats, planes, trains, city.

Far from looking for human pain and suffering, wreck chasers are looking at the pain of the abandoned machines, the rusted out hulks and the sadly decayed remains of the man made, mighty machines.

Myself, I have found abandoned trains, abandoned tractors and mainly abandoned vehicles: cars and trucks and one city bus.

I've seen one abandoned car, left to die after it was damaged in part of a house fire. Another was left at the site of a house which was being demolished to make way for a shopping plaza or maybe new housing so there would be someone to shop at the plazas already in the area.

The abandoned bus I found was behind a fence, far outside the city of Toronto, where the bus had originally run in it's day.

The abandoned train was on an abandoned, forgotten train track. Far out in a rural area, I found two trains, one a much older train than the other. Both had the big engine and several cars in between. Only the older one had a caboose.

If you drive on the highway between Toronto and Hamilton you may notice an old tall ship floating at a bend in the road. It was once made over into a restaurant. Sometime later vandals set it on fire. There isn't a lot left of the old ship now. But, you can get there, just off the highway, if you study the map a bit and find the exit.

I've yet to see an abandoned airplane. Likely you would find some at airports, planes which someone used to own and then didn't come back to maintain or fly any more.

I found an email list for other Tempo owners. I posted a question about my possibly leaking gas tank. Hope someone has something constructive or informative to say about it. Now that Spring is getting closer I would like to get taking more road trips. Its nice to start out with a full tank of gas rather than half full and wondering if I should stay close to towns for the next refill or dare I wander at will. I'd rather wander at will. Getting lost, getting sidetracked and having no worries.

I've got a headache from not eating yet today. I suppose I should go down and do something about that. I've been enjoying the lifestyle of the idle rich today. I did get dressed, washed, all that stuff. But I spent the early part of the morning reading in bed and the rest of the day has been right here. It's been nice. Funny how anyone can be rich for the day, if they have the time. Sometimes I feel rich while driving along, having no where I have to be at any particular time. It doesn't matter that my car is old and dirty from the winter roads. Even someone with great wealth would have those same winter problems. Also, if my car is old at least it's paid for.

See ya.

Someone else with a car not really happy about this cold weather. I just hope mine let's me get to work on Sunday morning. I need the hours after the Christmas slow down.