The TTC, with Hawker-Siddeley, had embarked on a project to design a new car in 1972. The car, named the "Municipal Surface Car" was fully documented. In August 1973, the TTC placed an initial order for 200 new vehicles from OTDC, ten prototypes of which would be designed and built by a manufacturer in Switzerland (SIG), before design and manufacturing was transferred to Thunder Bay, Ontario. The ten Swiss models were eventually reduced to six in order to experiment on an articulated version of the design (ALRV), and the new SIG cars started to arrive in 1977 and 1978, with the remaining 190 cars starting in 1979.

Revenue service began on September 30, 1979. The CLRV looked much different from and was longer than the PCC cars they replaced. Safety shields or "skirts" were installed in 1984, and couplers removed by 1988. Route numbers replaced the traditional route names from the streetcars' fronts but the basic vehicle was still operating in the same paint scheme in 2008 as they were when introduced almost 30 years previously. The 52 ALRVs joined their CLRV brothers in 1987 and continue to operate as of 2008.

Custom Traxx will be issuing a set of HO scale decals for these cars during 2008, designed for the resin cast body shells produced by Eric Courtney (Miniatures by Eric). The following photos are provided to aid in the finishing of the car.

The last photo taken at King & Spadina was too good not to be included in this article. Where else can you see three modern streetcars under trolley poles at a Grand Union. (Credit Mike Szilagyi for this gem!)