Scarborough Van Assembly was a vehicle manufacturing plant owned by

General Motors Canada General Motors of Canada Company (french: La Compagnie General Motors du Canada), commonly known as GM Canada, is the Canadian subsidiary of US-based company General Motors. It is headquartered in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. In the aftermath of the ...

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada, which opened in 1952 to build Frigidaire refrigerators. Vehicle production began in 1974. It was located in

Golden Mile Golden Mile or The Golden Mile may refer to: Geographical features * Golden Mile (Belfast), Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom (UK) * Golden Mile (Blackpool), Blackpool, UK * Golden Mile (Brentford), Brentford, UK * Golden Mile (Leices ...

, between

Victoria Park Avenue Victoria Park Avenue is a major north-south route in eastern Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the western border of Scarborough, separating it from Old Toronto, East York, and North York. The common nickname for it is VP or Vic Park. History Vic ...

and

Warden Avenue A warden is a custodian, defender, or guardian. Warden is often used in the sense of a watchman or guardian, as in a prison warden. It can also refer to a chief or head official, as in the Warden of the Mint. ''Warden'' is etymologically identic ...

. The plant employed 2,800 workers before closing in 1993. The site is now a retail shopping mall, known as Eglinton Town Centre.

History

The plant began building Frigidaire refrigerators in 1952 then started as an automotive components manufacturing plant in 1963 before being converted into a van assembly plant. The plant produced GM vans as well as GM and Chevrolet cube van cabs and chassis. In 1986, the one-millionth van was produced at the Scarborough van plant. Around Thanksgiving of 1989, General Motors announced that they would be closing the van plant in Scarborough, and awarding the van contract to

Flint Truck Assembly Flint Assembly is an automobile factory operated by General Motors in Flint, Michigan. It is the city's only main plant after the closure of Buick City. As of 2022, the Flint factory currently produces full-size pickup trucks. Engine block and cyl ...

. The last van rolled off the Scarborough line on May 6, 1993. Production was then transferred to Flint Truck Assembly and the process of dismantling the plant began. After three years at Flint, the van division moved to Wentzville Assembly in

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, in July 1996. After closure, most of the site became Eglinton Town Centre retail space and a

Cineplex Odeon Cineplex Inc. (formerly Cineplex Galaxy) is a Canadian movie theatre and family entertainment centre chain headquartered in Toronto. The company was formed in 2003 via the acquisition of Loews Cineplex's Canadian operations (which included t ...

theatre was built and opened in 2000. The southern end of the property was purchased by the

Toronto Transit Commission The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the public transport agency that operates bus, subway, streetcar, and paratransit services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, some of which run into the Peel Region and York Region. It is the oldest and largest ...

in the mid-1990s for the construction of the Comstock Bus Garage that opened in 2002 replacing two older garages.

Employee Re-deployment and fate

The Scarborough plant employed 2,800 people. Most of the employees were transferred to

Oshawa Truck Assembly Oshawa Truck Assembly was a General Motors Canada automotive factory in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. It opened in its original location in downtown Oshawa in 1918 in order to build ambulances for World War I and Chevrolet vehicles before it merged w ...

Oshawa Car Assembly Oshawa Assembly (also known simply as ''GM Oshawa'') is a manufacturing facility in the city of Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, that built various automobiles for General Motors Canada. Vehicles were primarily produced for the US, Canadian, and Mexica ...

shortly after its closure. The former workforce were laid off again in 2009 and the latter is scheduled to be closed in 2019.

Models produced

* Chevrolet Van (1974–1993) *

Chevrolet Beauville The Chevrolet Beauville was originally a station wagon option for the 1954 Chevrolet Bel Air. The name was later resurrected as a full-size van option for the Chevrolet Van in 1970. Both were related to the lower trim level Chevrolet Townsman ...

(1974–1993) * Chevrolet Sportvan (1974–1993) * GMC Rally Van (1974–1993) *

GMC Vandura GMC may refer to: Government India * Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation, in Gujarat * Gobichettipalayam Municipal Corporation, in Tamil Nadu * Guntur Municipal Corporation, in Andhra Pradesh * Guwahati Municipal Corporation, in Assam * Gwalior ...

(1974–1993) * GMC Vandura HD (1985–1993)

References

Tour of the plant

{{General Motors factories Demolished buildings and structures in Toronto Buildings and structures in Scarborough, Toronto General Motors factories Former motor vehicle assembly plants Motor vehicle assembly plants in Canada 1952 establishments in Ontario