Dominion Motors Frontenac
In 1931, Durant Motors of New York started using the Frontenac name for cars sold in Canada. The Canadian Durant company was bought by Canadian investors on January 14, 1931 and renamed Dominion Motors Limited. They kept building Durant and Frontenac cars.
The first Frontenac for 1931 was the 6-18, a 109-inch wheelbase car based on the Durant 619.
After Durant Motors failed in 1932, Dominion Motors switched to De Vaux designs. The 1932 Frontenac lineup had two six-cylinder models: the E 6-70 (109" wheelbase), an update of the 1931 E 6-18, and the 6-85 (114" wheelbase) based on the De Vaux 6-80.
De Vaux also ran into trouble. Continental Motors took over De Vaux in late 1932 and continued car production under the Continental name. Dominion Motors then based their cars on Continental designs.
The 1933 Frontenac line had three models: the C-400 (101.5" wheelbase, four-cylinder) based on the Continental Beacon; and the C-600 (107" wheelbase, six-cylinder) based on the Continental Flyer. They also imported the 114" wheelbase Continental Ace and sold it as the Frontenac Ace with a Frontenac grille.
Continental continued into 1934, but Frontenac stopped in 1933.
Dominion Motors also built Reo cars and trucks for Canada. Reo kept using the plant into the early 1950s, and Kaiser used part of the plant in 1950–51 to assemble sedans for Canada. By then Continental had left.
Riverdale Tire & Auto Exchange bought Dominion’s stock in January 1934. A March 1934 ad said about 75% of Dominion stock was sold, noting the Standard four-cylinder sedan offered a radio.
Dominion Motors Ltd finally sold the remaining factory land to Frigidaire on June 23, 1944, ending Canada’s only fully Canadian-owned and operated car company to that point.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 01:30 (CET).