1971 Fargo
1972 Fargo

Fun fact: 90 percent of Canada’s population lives with 100 miles of the U.S. border. That said, it’s an awfully long border—about 5500 miles long, actually. Looked at another way, Canada’s population density is only about 10 percent that of America’s, meaning there’s a lot of Canadian land with very few people living on it.

Canadian Chrysler-Dodge Dealer This matters very much to automotive retailers in Canada, who have long dealt with the challenges of how best to locate new-car dealerships. Obviously, big cities were a prime location, but things got trickier after that. Canada isn’t a land of sprawling suburbs like the U.S. is, so serving the country’s non-urban population gets problematic.

One solution was for carmakers to stock Canadian dealerships with more models across greater price ranges than are typically seen in the United States. An example of this is Chrysler’s now-defunct Fargo brand. Used by Chrysler in the U.S. in the company’s early days, Fargo was repurposed for use in Canada. Why? Read on…

Beginning before World War II, Chrysler sold vehicles in Canada through two channels: Chrysler-Dodge stores, and Chrysler-Plymouth stores. Dodge trucks were retailed through the Chrysler-Dodge outlets, of course.

But, because of a relatively thin dealer network—a byproduct of Canada’s low population density—Chrysler deemed it necessary to sell trucks, especially pickup trucks, through Chrysler-Plymouth dealerships as well. And since it would be unseemly to sell Dodge trucks via stores which did not sell Dodge-branded cars, Chrysler rebadged Dodge trucks as Fargo for sale through those dealerships.

If this sounds complicated, it is. However, Ford chose to do roughly the same thing, selling Ford pickup trucks badged as Mercurys at Mercury stores. As for dealer scarcity, the 1965 Toyota Land Cruiser ad below tackles that issue head on.

Now that we know things have always been a little different up North, have a look at the collected ads shared here. Any thoughts on our gallery of Canadian truck ads? Share them down below.

 

More classic-ad fun

Canadian Truck Ads

1942 Fargo

1942 Fargo Ad
1942 Fargo Ad

Photo Feature: 1955 Monarch Richelieu

 

1950 REO

1950 REO Ad, REO Speedwagon
1950 REO Ad

What was the GMC Cannonball?

 

1952 Fargo

1952 Fargo Ad

Export Madness! A Gallery of American Trucks Ads From Foreign Markets

 

1953 Dodge

1953 Dodge Ad
1953 Dodge Ad

Canadian Confusion: GM’s Short-Lived Passport Dealerships

 

1953 Willys

1953 Willys Ad
1953 Willys Ad

Halifax: Volvo’s Forgotten North American Factory

 

1954 Fargo

1954 Fargo Ad
1954 Fargo Ad

What Was The Pontiac Firefly?

 

1954 International

1954 International Ad, French, Canadian
1954 International Ad

Canadian Export: 2011-2014 Lancia Thema

 

1954 Mercury

1954 Mercury Ad
1954 Mercury Ad

The Canadian Auto Brochure Power Quiz

 

1959 Ford/Thames

1959 Ford/Thames Ad, Canada
1959 Ford/Thames Ad

Droëwors Madness! A Gallery of Classic South African Car Ads

 

1961 Jeep

1961 Jeep Ad
1961 Jeep Ad

’60s Madness! 10 Years of Classic Pickup Truck Ads

 

1965 Toyota

1965 Toyota Land Cruiuser Ad
1965 Toyota Land Cruiser Ad

The Last Regular-Cab Short-Bed Pickup

 

1972 Dodge/Fargo

1971 Dodge/Fargo Ad
1972 Dodge/Fargo Ad

’70s Madness! 10 Years of Classic Pickup Truck Ads

 

1972 Scot

1972 Scot Ad, Atlantic Truck Manufacturing, Scot Trucks, Canada, Canadian Truck Ads
1972 Scot Ad

Big-Rig Style: What If Semi-Truck Makers Built Pickups?

 

1980 Datsun

1980 Toyota Ad
1980 Datsun Ad

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 Canadian Truck Ads Gallery

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North of the Border Madness! 10 Classic Canadian-Car Ads

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