PERCY A. MCBRIDE TO BE HONOURED AS AN HISTORICAL INDUCTEE AT THE FOURTEENTH ANNUAL CANADIAN MOTORCYCLE HALL OF FAME INDUCTION BANQUET AND REUNION
Toronto ON – October 18, 2019 – The Canadian Motorcycle Hall of Fame is very pleased to announce that Percy A. McBride will be honoured at the Canadian Motorcycle Hall of Fame Induction Banquet and Reunion.
It gives me great pleasure to welcome Percy A. McBride as an Historical Inductee, says Paul Germain, Chairman. Percy A. was one of the founding fathers of motorcycle business in Canada and a supporter of the early competition events. All the directors, contributors and volunteers of the CMHoF as well as myself, join together in welcoming Percy A. to the Canadian Motorcycle Hall of Fame. Congratulations.
Percy A. was born in 1882 and opened his first store in 1909 on Yonge Street in Toronto. He became the largest importer, distributor and retailer of many British and American motorcycles and their accessories with stores in Toronto, Montreal and Winnipeg. Percy A. travelled throughout North America and British Isles to find new product to sell in his stores. He founded a dealer network that was copied by many distributors. They wanted to ensure the health of the dealer network would survive by only selling in their territory. He was the first with a financing plan for dealerships. At this time the banks were not in the personal or business loan business but Percy A. was.
Percy A. was responsible for setting several people up in their own dealerships. At this time, he also had agents that would sell from the catalogue he had produced, thus becoming the first catalogue shopping business.
Percy A. was involved in Montreal rallies, hill climbs and racing at places like the CNE and beach races at Wasaga Beach. He was an avid sponsor and supporter of all aspects of motorcycle racing and the racers.
Tickets for the 14th Annual Canadian Motorcycle Hall of Fame Induction Banquet and Reunion are available at www.canmoto.ca.
Bar and Hedy Hodgson established Canadian International Motorcycle Heritage Museum Foundation in 1999 and when Dave Lloyd came to them with the idea of a Motorcycle Hall of Fame, they gifted the Foundation to the people. In 2006, the Canadian Motorcycle Hall of Fame was created to preserve and promote Canadian motorcycle history for the benefit of the motorcycling community and public and since then, over 130 distinguished motorcyclists and organizations have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. The Canadian Motorcycle Hall of Fame is a not-for-profit association with charitable status governed by an independent board of volunteer directors from across Canada.
For information about past inductees, historic motorcycle collections, event sponsorship, and tax-deductible donations, visit www.canmoto.ca