Good morning, Model Ts and Bentleys, and welcome to the Ontario town of Oshawa! Today the beans are pleased to visit the Canadian Automotive Museum, where they are actually looking at vehicles not produced in Detroit, Asia, or somewhere in Europe -- nope, these are all-Canadian wheels, born and bred in the Great White North! (Please - no sled dog jokes.)

Way back in 1961, a group of local guys decided to create the Canadian Automotive Museum to tell the story of the automotive industry in Canada, its origin, its development, and its plans for the future. They've got about 65 vehicles 1898 to 1981 on display, plus some other non-four door automotive stuff, like motorcycles, bicycles, trucks, and...pianos and washing machines. Huh?

While the beans don't get why they'd display a baby grand or a stackable washer/dryer in an auto museum, they do think it's kind of cool - especially if you were to ride on top of one of them while it was racing down a hill. Sadly, it would be a huge pain pushing it back up the hill when the ride is over...

So what type of cars will you find here? Well, naturally they've got several different examples of Made in Canada cars, including Brooks Steam, Redpath, Tudhope, McKay, Galt Gas-Electric, Gray-Dort, Brockville Atlas, and C.C.M. vehicles, and to be fair to the rest of the world, they also salute some visiting dignitaries - Rolls Royce, Morris, Amphicar, Ahrens-Fox, and Reo, which they claim while not made in Canada, have contributed to the development of the auto here. So there you go -- nations working together to build a better means of getting around. Now, if we could all just team up and build a starship, just think how far we really could go...

So here the beans are, doing a little "window shopping". Do you suppose that they'd accept a slightly beat-up 1981 Grenada as a trade-in for one?

While the beans usually don't recommend that you combine motorized machinery and alcohol in any shape or manner, today they'll make a partial (designated driver approved) exception. Why? Well, because what would a trip to Ontario be without a visit to the one and only Beer Store? Okay, there are actually more than one of these places - over 430, to be exact. But we can only visit one at a time, so that's all that matters.

The beans had previously hit up the Beer Store in Trenton, Ontario a couple of years ago, and since it seemed like a timely reunion, they felt obliged to check out the selection here, too. And in case you are wondering, yes it is indeed true. If you've seen one beer, you've seen them all. Thank goodness it isn't the same way with beans!

Anyway, the beans had a blast in Oshawa, and thank everyone at the museum (and the Beer Store) for their kindness and for letting them take the Rolls our for a spin. We promise we'll have it back to you soon...