Auto Museum Executive Director leaving Oshawa for new position in Toronto

Canadian Auto Museum Executive Director Alex Gates is moving on after ten years with the Oshawa museum.

Gates has been with the museum since 2014 after previously serving as the Executive Director of the North Berrien Historical Museum in Coloma, Michigan. Gates is taking a new position with the Toronto Railway Museum, an announcement he made in the most recent Canadian Automotive Museum newsletter.

“On a personal note, this is my last e-newsletter with the Canadian Automotive Museum as I’m moving onto a new position with the Toronto Railway Museum this month,” Gates said. “It’s been a pleasure working with everyone and I’m proud of all that we’ve accomplished in the past ten years. Thank you to everyone who continues to make the museum a world-class destination.”

Canadian Auto Museum Executive Director Alex Gates (right) with fellow board member Greg Johnston at the Auto Show

Ron Foss, whose grandfather George invented the ‘Fossmobile,’ Canada’s first gasoline-powered, internal combustion vehicle in Sherbrooke, Quebec in 1897, shared the news with “mixed emotions,” noting that Gates was “instrumental” in establishing the criteria for a replica Fossmobile to be built and permanently displayed inside the downtown Oshawa museum.

“Working with Alex and others at the museum was a wonderful experience and was, in part, why we chose that museum. We wish him well with his new endeavour.”

The Canadian Automotive Museum was established in 1962 as a community project of the Oshawa Chamber of Commerce to promote the history of the automotive industry and to promote tourism in the area. A former auto dealership was acquired on Simcoe Street and converted into a facility where antique automobiles and related artifacts could be displayed. The Canadian Automotive Museum opened in 1963 and now house the most significant collection of Canadian-made vehicles in the world.