photo from the CC Cohort by William Oliver
What have we here from that alternate universe to the north of us? Looks like a ’69 Chevelle Malibu with a Pontiacesque (that already sounds like a Canadian car) nose job. Well, it is just that. The Beaumont, a brand unto itself, was sold by Canadian Pontiac-Buick dealers.
And this one is sporting a 396 badge. So is it one of the legendary Beaumont SD 396 models? Well, if it is a genuine SD, then yes, as by this year, all SDs were 396s.
This picture of a genuine SD 396 is wearing its correct striping and badging, but not that there’s no US-style 396 call out next to the front side indicator light.
The dash was borrowed from the Tempest/LeMans. But under the hood and otherwise it was a Chevelle. Meaning the usual line-up of Chevy six (230) and small-block V8s (307, 327, 350), and of course the big-block 396. Exactly which version(s) of the 396, I’m not sure.
The back end is interesting too, with some rather unusual narrow twin tail lights in new end caps.
A quick history recap: the Acadian was the version of the Chevy II sold by Pontiac-Buick dealers. The top trim version, comparable to the Nova, was called the Beaumont.
But in 1964, the new Chevelle-based intermediate was given the Beaumont name, although the Acadian prefix technically hung around for another year or two.
In 1966, the Beaumont was now a stand-alone brand, having shed the Acadian connection. And starting in 1966, the SD version, including the SD396, was available. This one is a more modest Custom.
And by 1970, the game was over, as Canadian Pontiac-Buick dealers finally got a…genuine Pontiac Tempest and LeMans, thanks to a change in the two countries’ trade agreements.
And there was even a genuine GTO on tap to replace the SD.
Note: a rerun of an older post.
Just out of curiosity… why are certain repeat posts only identified at the end of a post, with the comments removed, while other reruns are identified up front, with the comments intact? I really enjoy reading the older comments.
It’s because reruns like this show up better in some new Google featured-stories thing, which drives more traffic to the site vs. the earlier-style bumped posts. Not sure why the site admins are doing both, but maybe the rerun thing only helps with one post a day, so any others they want to recycle just get bumped back into the daily feed.
Yes, that’s it. Having posts appear on Google Discover can give them a very significant bump, but only “new” posts can appear there. For instance yesterday’s 1965 Impala SS post (a “new” rerun) is on Discover and generating significant views, enough to increase our views by 50% or more overall for today. We depend on these bumps from Discover in order to pay our paid writers.
Thanks for the clarity!
We need a Chevelle guru to tell us about those fenders. Specifically, is the marker light hole the same size for all? Six cylinders cars had a small light with no escutcheon for the callout, as on the green Beaumont. Question is, was the hole enlarged to accommodate the escutcheon or did it just ride outside, using the same small hole as non-V8 ones.
Even if it did, it would still seem to require extra holes for the mounting studs to pass thru
to hold it securely. If so, then it means the fenders on this Beaumont were expediently replaced with Chevelle ones, since some fill work would have been necessary to make them correct. I surmise 6-cylinder Chevelles and all Beaumonts use the same fender, equally rare by now.,
Poor Canada, you guys finally got the true Lemans right when the (non-GTO Endura) front end was beaten with an ugly stick. I actually quite like the look of these beaumonts over the Chevelle, the taper to the grilles almost give it a “what if” had Pontiac continued the 66-67 styling themes(minus stacked headlights) into the new bodystyle. Plus I’m just a bigger fan of Pontiac than I am Chevy.
Agreed, the ’68-69 Beaumont front-end IMO looks better than both the Chevelle and its Tempest/LeMans siblings of the same years.
Autopak came into effect during the 1965 model year. However it took GM a number of years to fully take advantage and eliminate the Canadian only Acadian and Beaumont. We did have GTOs before we got the rest of the Tempest/Lemans line up. There is a 1969 Firebird and GTO brochure on the Old Cars Brochures website and I remember one in my hometown.
My aunt had one of these, but not a convertible. My aunt and uncle had replaced their 57 Ford wagon with a 62 Chevy II wagon with the 6 cylinder when they came out. unfortunately my uncle died in 1963 and my aunt kept the Chevy II until 67 or 68 when she traded it in on a new Beaumont. Somehow my cousins talked her into getting the 396, which was completely out of character for her. It was a pretty car, pale yellow with a black interior Both my cousins soon moved away from home for university, so I don’t think they got to drive it much. I did have a few rides in it, but I never got to drive it.
I like this .
The plain white one not so much but the fiddly bits do give it a nice look IMO .
I wonder why GM/Canada didn’t offer the 250 CID i6 engine as standard, that’d wake it up decently and give it better fuel economy to boot .
-Nate