The McLaughlin automobile company began life in 1876 as the McLaughlin Carriage Company, a blacksmith's shop in the village of Enniskillen, located 20 kilometres north east of Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. The company began making horse-drawn carriages in the mid 19th Century, moving to Oshawa, Ontario in 1876. The most successful of their time, producing more than 25,000 carriages a year, the company incorporated as the McLaughlin Carriage Company, Ltd. in 1901. By 1915, the company bragged it was making one carriage every ten minutes. Under the guidance of "Colonel" Sam McLaughlin as President... in 1907, the company began the manufacture of automobiles, eventually forming an alliance for 15 years with William C. Durant, who had acquired the Buick Motor Company that later would become General Motors Holding Company. During their first few years of operation, the automobiles were known as "McLaughlins". The name was changed to "McLaughlin-Buick" when sales went bad, and stayed until 1942, after which the McLaughlin name was dropped, leaving the "Buick" marque still in use today. Until 1914, the cars were finished with the same paints and varnishes used on carriages.
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