family car -- thankfully with heated seats -- became a drive-thru delivery room two hours into the new decade.

Around 2 a.m. yesterday, a mom- and dad-to-be on their way to the hospital were forced to pull over when their baby refused to wait and popped out in the front seat of their Nissan Maxima.

"It's a pretty roomy front seat and it's leather, so it's nice," proud and relieved dad Richard Sinclair, 32, told the Sun.

While it makes a better car than a delivery room, Sinclair did point out one feature that came in handy early New Year's Day.

"The seats are heated," he said with a laugh. "It was helpful."

Seconds out of the driveway, Richard's wife, Mellisa, 30, told him their baby girl, due today, was ahead of schedule.

"I told him the baby is coming right now, we have to stop moving," she said. "He said, 'Are you sure?' and I said, 'Yes I am sure.' "

'ON AUTOPILOT'

Sinclair pulled the car over near Scarlett Rd. and Edinborough Court, and their yet-to-be-named baby girl was born.

"You're just on autopilot and you do what has to be done," he said. "What's on your mind? You're freaking out but you can't freak out, you just have to go with what the paramedics are telling you on the phone and make sure everybody is safe."

After the roadside special delivery, Toronto EMS dispatchers helped walk dad through the finer followup points while they waited for emergency crews to arrive.

SHOELACE

He had to improvise with what was available, including using his shoelace to tie the umbilical cord. He was still wearing the right shoe, minus the laces, at Humber River Regional Hospital's Church St. site yesterday.

Paramedics, Toronto Police and Toronto Fire soon arrived to take mom and baby to hospital.

"It just went like clockwork, it was amazing," said Kim McKinnon of Toronto EMS. "It was quite incredible and the family is really amazing."

Richard Sinclair may have had some help in his genes to pull off the delivery. His mom was a midwife in Jamaica.

"Knowing that someone you know has done, it kind of inspires confidence," he said.

A lot of people are suggesting Scarlett -- after the road where she was born -- as a possible name, but unlike the baby, mom, dad and new older sister Maya aren't in a rush.

Mom said Maya, 4, was a fast delivery too, but not this quick.

"She was pretty quick but it was uneventful," Mellisa Sinclair said. "My water broke, so I came into the hospital ... There was no point that I had to rush."