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Taylor Steam Buggy

Model Year: 1867

Location of Manufacture: Stanstead, Quebec


View of the tiller and hand-throttle

Tiller and hand-throttle

The means through which the car’s speed and direction were controlled are shown here. The yellow handle is the throttle which regulated the speed. The horizontal bar with the red knob is the tiller which set the car’s direction.

View of the steam engine

Steam engine

This is the coal-fired boiler positioned at the rear of the car. The boiler heats water to a high temperature which then creates steam. The steam passes through pipes to a reservoir. The piston, which is connected to the wheel drive, has valves through which the steam passes, causing the vehicle to move.

View of the boiler and hoses

Boiler and hoses

This view shows the hoses which run from the boiler to the steam cylinders on the left and right sides of the buggy by way of the oiler (the cylindrical shaped glass container right of the seat). There is also a return line to the boiler that runs underneath.

Archival photograph of Henry Seth Taylor, ca. 1875

Henry Seth Taylor (1833-1887)

ca. 1875

Taylor, a jeweller and watchmaker by trade, was a resident of Stanstead in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. He designed and built Canada’s first automobile, the Taylor Steam Buggy.

Stanstead Historical Society

 

View of a $20 silver coin, produced by the Royal Canadian Mint, which depicts the Taylor Steam Buggy

Twenty-dollar silver coin depicting the Taylor Steam Buggy

2000

From 2000 to 2003, the Royal Canadian Mint issued 12 coins in a series on land, rail and sea transportation. The series began with the Taylor Steam Buggy and ended with the Bricklin SV-1.

Royal Canadian Mint, Ottawa, Ontario, CMST 2000.0090.

 

View of a 1993 stamp issued by Canada Post showing the Taylor Steam Buggy

Commemorative stamp showing the Taylor Steam Buggy

1993

In 1993, Canada Post launched a series of stamps on the theme, “Personal Vehicles.” The series included 25 different vehicles, among them the Taylor Steam Buggy.

Library and Archives Canada, Canada Post Corporation, Philatelic records, Vol.5, Item no. 0452, Archival reference no. R169-5

 

Archival photograph of Henry Seth Taylor with his Steam Buggy, ca. 1867

Henry Seth Taylor with his Steam Buggy,

Stanstead, Quebec
ca. 1867

This is the only known photograph of Seth Taylor with his Steam Buggy. It is thought to have been taken at Stanstead, Quebec, in 1867.