Rare 1925 convertible part of Royal Canadian Legion Car Show
The annual Royal Canadian Legion Car Show held on the parking lot June 16 featured a range of shiny vehicles with most from the 1950s and 1960s.
Among the older models was a rare 1925 Star Roadster owned by Lloyd Sperling of Moose Jaw.
His convertible is one of only six built by the company which manufactured more models of two-door and four-door sedans.
This convertible is one of two known that are left, says Sperling.
His car was part of a collection in Oregon, sitting in storage for 40 years without a serial number.
Before Sperling could acquire the car, the Oregon State Police had to create a serial number for the convertible.
The convertible sold for $500 in 1925. The much less attractive Model T sold for $300 in 1925.
Durrant Motors, builder of the convertible, saw itself as a competitor to Henry Ford. By the end of 1921, Durrant had operations assembling cars in New York, New Jersey, Indiana, California and Canada.
The Star Car was started in 1922 as an announced alternate to the Model T. Ford, built pretty-well from scratch. Durrant assembled cars from parts supplied by contractors. Durrant acquired several companies – Locomobile and Willys-Overland – and sold Star models plated as the Rugby in Australia. By 1933 at the height of the Great Depression, buyers were scarce and Durrant’s company filed for bankruptcy.
Durrant was a co-founder of General Motors and began the practice of building and selling more than one vehicle brand under one company.
He was involved in the “executive car wars” and was pushed out of GM in 1910 during a cash crunch, but took over again by backing the independent Chevrolet, and bought control of GM in 1916.
He sold many of his parts companies to GM in 1920 and started planning Durrant Motors’ opening for 1921.
Durrant started in 1886, later building the Dort Carriage company which was involved with the Gray Dort cars made in Canada. The Legion concession offered huge hamburgers and large plates of onion rings for show patrons.
Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net