• Thank you for visiting HeavyEquipmentForums.com! Our objective is to provide industry professionals a place to gather to exchange questions, answers and ideas. We welcome you to register using the "Register" icon at the top of the page. We'd appreciate any help you can offer in spreading the word of our new site. The more members that join, the bigger resource for all to enjoy. Thank you!

Craig Chamberlain

New Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2020
Messages
1
Location
Guelph, ON, Canada
Hello. I just joined and found this site when I decided to research some information about the Grizzly Truck and Equipment Ltd. of North Vancouver, and find out more about them and the vehicles that they made.

I have a newspaper article, the National Post, from August 31, 2000. I saved this article and have never forgot it after first reading about these vehicles and have read it over and over again from time to time over the last 20 years. This was such a fantastic truck and I would have made an offer on it without a doubt, if I had that kind of money back then! I have tried doing a Google search many years ago but never found anything, and kind of gave up on it. But when I found the article in my files and re-did the search I found many that had now become big fans of the vehicle of the long ago Canadian truck company and I just had to share this here for you guys!

Here is the text of the article in case you can’t read it clearly.

Enjoy!



NATIONAL POST. THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 2OOO

LIFE

Got $50,OOO and a big garage? This one-of-a-kind Grizzly puts other SUVs to shame

JULIA McKINNELL

in Vancouver

In the market for a sturdy, used sport-utility vehicle? You should see the surprise that is sitting on Parker Street in East Vancouver.

Parked here is a vehicle that makes Arnold Schwarzenegger's Hummer look as if it's forgotten to take its iron pills. Jaws literally drop. It's gorgeous. It's gargantuan. It's Canadian. And if, when you see it, it doesn't jibe with any SUV you've ever imagined, it's because this nine-passenger forest green "Grizzly," made by Grizzly Truck and Equipment Ltd. of North Vancouver, is the only one of its kind in the world.

Richard Wallis is the person to speak to. Wallis is a car enthusiast and minor collector who is selling the vehicle on behalf of his father, Jack Wallis, an off-road aficionado and retired assistant to the dean at the University of British Columbia.

Wallis Sr. was so impressed with the manufacturing of the burgeoning local truck company that he paid S40,0OO up front in 1992 to have the company custom build its first-ever passenger model. He has twice driven this one-off model across the back roads of Canada.

Two removable rows of seats in the back make room for a sleeping mattress. Two gas tanks enable the one-ton Grizzly to motor 1,400 kilometres without stopping to refuel. The engine is diesel. The interior, vinyl. Handles and hardware are stainless steel, ordered from marine suppliers. The frame, according to a company brochure, is of "high-quality structural steel," making the vehicle's doors and body seem like the perfect conveyance for smashing through a brick wall. The front grill has little maple leaves punched out of the steel.

The asking price listed on a sign in the back window is .S5O,OOO, although, on a test drive through Vancouver, Wallis Jr. wonders aloud if he's asking too little. Some have suggested he might get $1OO,OOO from the right buyer, especially considering comparable prices for used, American-manufactured Hummers. (On the Internet, a Detroit dealership is asking US$4O,OOO for a 1994 Hummer.)

The story of Grizzly Truck and Equipment Ltd. isn't much different from the stories of the two other Canadian car manufacturers — Bricklin Cars of New Brunswick and MacKinnon Motors of St. Catharine's, Ont. — in that none of these companies any longer exists.

Grizzly Truck twice went bankrupt and, in 1996, after producing only 16 trucks and one passenger model, the company was forced to shut down permanently. Partners in the company have since moved the operation to the United States where the same vehicle, in essence, is being manufactured by Ursidae Trucks — Ursidae is Latin for the bear family.

The Grizzly was built as a heavy-duty truck able to service "the rigorous and demanding environment" of mining, logging and construction. When the company operated, it promised the buyer a custom-built truck that could be reconfigured as a standard pickup, an ambulance/police vehicle, a ski-hill service truck, fuel truck, fire truck, disposal truck and wrecker tow truck.

Wallis has been parking the Grizzly in various spots around Vancouver and has had a few calls, but no serious offers. An adventure company in Whistler, B.C., has expressed interest, as has a dot-com company that might like to use it as a promotional vehicle.

Whoever buys it is going to have to clear a lot of space in the garage, or build a small hangar.

Richard Wallis can be reached at (604) 251-2871.

National Post

[PICTURE]

[caption: Richard Wallis is 6-foot-4 but is dwarfed by the Grizzly, which seats nine and can travel 1400 kilometres without refueling.]National Post Thur Aug 31 2000_Grizzly.jpg
 
Top