(first posted 3/24/2014) Here’s a car that does not exist, according to the 1971 Chevrolet brochure. My Standard Catalog of Chevrolet 1912-1998 does not mention a Bel Air Sport Coupe either, yet this car was no figment of my sometimes overactive imagination. So what is this thing, and why is it here? It’s Mystery Monday!
As an English teacher and a fan of Sherlock Holmes stories and novels, I can appreciate a “whodunit.” While employing a mildly sociopathic genius for my inquiry may seem unnecessary, a peregrination into the labyrinth of the internet will be required. I’ll channel my inner Holmes to get to the bottom of this tale of intrigue. The game is afoot, Watson!
As you can plainly see, the only Bel Air option delineated in the January 1971 printing of the full-size Chevrolet brochure is the 4-Door Sedan. For my first deduction, I will venture out on a limb and speculate that Chevrolet began the year offering a Sport Coupe model, but canceled it early in the selling season.
However, after searching around Google, I discovered a “For Sale” ad on an Impala forum for a car that was very similar to the featured Bel Air. Located in Canada, it wore the same deep green (possibly “Antique Green”) and had the same transmission as our featured car. On the other hand, the advertisement listed that the car had been ordered with body side moldings, which the featured car does not have.
The molding, however, may be a red herring, as the advertisement also mentioned that the car was freshly painted, so maybe the owner removed the moldings. Apparently, it was a one-family car, displayed only 57,000 miles on the odometer, and was one of just 2,793 manufactured in 1971; however, the seller also claimed that it was delivered in April 1971, which would disprove my theory about the early cancellation of the Sport Coupe. Back to square one.
All is not lost, however, dear reader. Through elementary reasoning, I will assume that this is the same car from the online for sale advertisement, as said advertisement was posted in July 2011, and the car was located in London, Ontario. I took the pictures of our featured car in September of that same year at a Michigan car show that is frequented by cars with Ontario plates. In fact, on a website called cargurus.com, I found the following pictures of what appears to be the same car wearing, yes, an Ontario license plate.
Watson, how could I have been so obtuse? If I had only taken a picture of the rear license plate, we could have been sitting in front of the fire at Baker Street at this moment.
But I digress. The above mentioned website also included pictures of the engine compartment; which houses a 245-horsepower 350, the standard engine if one ordered the Turbo Hydra-matic, which this car’s original owner did. If you’ll notice my interior picture above, you may spot a gear selector quadrant with three forward detents, making it obvious that our feature car, too, has that desirable transmission option. The plot thickens!
While this particular Bel Air is endowed with the muscular 350 and Turbo Hydra-matic, buyers in 1971 could still order the old Powerglide, and the Bel Air even came standard with a 250 six-cylinder and three-speed on the column.
And while its years as Chevy’s top-of-the-line dreammobile were long past, the featured car actually seems somewhat stylish, even though it has few factory options other than the driveline. The main contributor to this Bel Air’s upscale appearance, to me, is the hardtop styling. It wouldn’t be too many years before finding a car with a hardtop’s airy appearance would be nearly impossible. Either way, there can’t be too many Bel Airs like this one floating around Baker Street these days.
Finally, after completing some research, and falling prey to a few divergences and flights of whimsy, I have come to the conclusion that my initial theory is false, making it not much of a theory at all. In Canada, one could order a Bel Air Sport Coupe throughout much of the 1970s, although that combination was not available in the United States. If colonists wanted Bel Airs, they could buy 4-doors or wagons, and that’s that. The following link will transport you, dear reader, to a related article from this fine website that discusses Canada’s Bel Air in some additional detail.
Every once in awhile, a good automotive mystery is good for the soul, and I am glad to have potentially gotten to the bottom of this one. Although I’m not the world’s biggest fan of 1970s automobiles, I do enjoy ’70s Chevrolets, especially B-Body coupes. Make mine a ’72 Impala Custom Coupe, please. In the meantime, this Bel Air makes for an interesting Mystery Monday, and I hope another case presents itself before I begin to suffer from ennui.
Gladstone, have you seen my dog dish hubcaps?
…err ..yes ..well, here’s nutha early ’70’s Chevy hardcase (a tough looking car)
I love the 71 full size Chev. Ideally a wagon with as much trim fruit as possible, but the really nice thing about these pics is how well the body in white – so to speak – holds up. Luc Besson is remaking your series as Ennui Lundi. Vincent Cassel is in talks to play Aaron Soixante Cinque.
It is a really clean body – arguably the best realized of the GM full-sized ’71s.
Hello Rob I agree and own one of these rare cars in copper with black interior and white two tone the only one of 2793 made according to GM vintage Canada. Cheers Michael
Love those Canadian oddballs, as I am one myself.
All 1971 Chevies have a turned up front bumper from that pointed front bumping into something.
Around 1972-74, my mother worked in a job that required occasional in-state travel. The day before such a trip, she would be issued a company car. Most of the ones she brought home were 72 and 73 Chevy Bel Air sedans. I recall being amazed at the cheapness of the interiors, especially that the instrument cluster and steering wheel/column was black no matter what color the interior color was. This would become common later, but was unheard of in the early 70s for anyone else.
I have never seen a Bel Air sport coupe like this one, but the Canadian angle makes perfect sense. Thanks for bringing this one forward.
My Dad had 73 Impala Sports Sedan with Cream colored upholstery with dark brown dash cap and Carpet, and the Steering wheel and Dash cluster was black. Can not remember if the Caprice had the Black wheel and cluster also.
My Uncle had a 72 Bel Air 4 Door Sedan with the 6 and Powerglide, pretty stripped. He traded in his 63 Bel Air with the 6 and Powerglide for it. It must have been pretty bad since it got traded in 73 for an Impala Sports Sedan with the 350 and Turbo Auto. The picture of the dash reminds me of both of them. Dad’s and all I ever saw in Alabama, were we lived had AC. My Uncle living in PA. did not have AC in either the 72 or 73.
My early production (3rd week of September 73) Impala Sport Coupe also has the Off White seat (called neutral) with the brown carpet, black steering wheel and column, and dark brown (almost black looking) interior as well.
Bel-Airs, including 2-doors, made it to 1980 in Canada.
1981 actually. All of the low-trim Canada-only full-sizers departed that year: Chevy Bel Air, Pontiac Laurentian, Ford LTD Custom 500 and Mercury Marquis Meteor.
The Bel Air two door hardtop had been re-introduced in 1970, to replace the two door sedan that was dropped after 1969. Ford did likewise, introducing a Custom 500 hardtop to replace their departed two door sedan. Ponitac had been first in 1969 with two door hardtops in both the Strato-Chief and Laurentian series, the Pontiac two door sedan having been dropped after 1968.
Thanx for that Roger 628 I was wondering why the mystery Ive seen one on this faraway island it didnt look home made now I know where it came fron.
My dad had a ’71 Impala sport coupe, dark blue with a white vinyl top, and so naturally I’m drawn to this car and its roofline. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of these sans vinyl roof, and I must say that the lines around the C pillar and sail panel are really very nice naked.
That ’71 was a mechanical nightmare and Dad got rid of that car after only a couple years, which was unheard of for my normally frugal father. He traded it on a ’74 Oleg Cassini Matador.
I love how the greenhouse- the window frame shape- looks like a shortened version of the sedan. Usually the greenhouse of the coupes looks different from the sedans.
I like the way it looks. Muscular yet classy in an understated way.
Could you get one of these with a 454 and the 3 speed? Talk about a sleeper…
Or a sedan with the 454? I’m wondering if they limited which cars could get it cause the checklist up top doesn’t seem to. That’d be cool if they didn’t.
Did they consider the all vinyl interior fancier or was it for waterproof reasons that the convertible got it? I would think the cloth and vinyl would be the more upmarket choice…
No leather even on the Caprice too?
Wikipedia makes mention of this body style, sold until 1975 I guess.
No Chevrolets could be had with real leather, aside from Corvettes, from around 1949-50 until at least the mid-80s, and I think the Caprice Classic Brougham that came in around that time was the first-ever Chevy sedan to offer it. Must’ve been an edict from the Fourteenth Floor.
Real leather was rare as hell in the 1960s, even in higher dollar stuff. Big Buicks and Thunderbirds were almost always vinyl. Outside of the Cadillac, Lincoln, Imperial class, leather was rarely even offered, let alone ordered.
Pontiac Bonneville convertibles for most of the 1960s (through 1968, I think) came standard with leather-and-Morrokide bench seats, with leather-and-Morrokide buckets as an option. Also, leather was available (optionally) on the 1969 and ’70 Grand Prix.
Likewise, Buick and Oldsmobile used leather in high line converts, optional in closed cars, both my Electra converts and Riviera have buckets and leather. Beside leather in all my Imperials (6 of them, currently),all my letter series 300’s had it, as did my 60 and 64 T-bird converts and ’66 Landau, my Studebaker Hawk GT and Avanti R3 also had leather, the other standard Avanti had vinyl, Had many British cars which all had full leather. Chrysler Corp compounded the ecological problem by infusing the leather with whale oil (plus using an African forest of Claro Walnut for Imperial wood) It worked very well, the interiors are near new.
..nice for the animals that kindly sacrificed their skin
Vinyl was always the extra-cost option on upholstery of the 60s and 70s. Up until the Brougham/Velour era, anyone with cloth seats was either elderly or a tightwad. Being a kid in that era, I’m not sure I knew anybody in our extended family/friends who had cloth seats unless they bought the car used. Up until the late 60s, anyhow, vinyl was always more durable. Then all of the manufacturers cheapened out on the vinyl so that it would split at the seams.
My mother always owned one of those air-flow seat cushions to drive with in the summer to keep from sticking to the seats. Those woven cushions with the coil spring inserts were in every drugstore back then and were a big help in those pre-a/c days.
Yes, early in the 1971 model year, you could order a Bel Air (or any big Chevy) with a big block V8 and a 3 speed manual transmission.
Starting in the spring of 1971, GM made Turbo Hydra-Matic standard for all full size V8 cars.
I’ve never been a fan of the 1971-1976 Chevrolet full-sized cars. They looked way too big for anything other than a family car.
It was probably brought here by a Canadian Rental Fleet Renter. Many Decades from now sometime around 2054? Some future not yet born writer may write a similar article about certain Chevy Odd Balls here in the US like the Captiva and the Caprice PPV (which in very limited numbers were sold used by a vendor in Maryland).
There was a dealership that sold new PPVs to the public for awhile until GM stopped them from doing so. They will be sold to the public eventually when the depts are ready to retire them. A dept wouldn’t consider buying them unless they can sell them when they are done and I don’t for an instant believe that GM would be willing to buy them back only to crush them.
The US and Canadian markets were different. Canadians, esp rural, actually wanted to buy big, cheap new cars. In the States, virtually all big cars exc taxi and police were aspiring luxury cars. Americans who were economizing bought smaller cars. A stripped full size car was poison on a new car lot in the US by 1970.
I’d agree with the others that it is a Canadian car, no real mystery.
I know it’s Canadian. I wanted to have more fun with it than just writing a dry exposition.
The ” no air con” kind of gives it away
Damn! I hate dry expositions. They make me itch.
You have ’em too? Maybe try some Gold Bond.
Was it common for this vintage of .CA cars to have MPH speedos instead of the KPH units I see in the current crop of cars? Seems to me I read a story many years ago on how and why they switched. I just can’t remember the years. Even today I see a few .CA cars in the boneyards here in the Midwest USA. Even more when I lived in FL but that was pretty much a given as to the reason why. Why I even have a few KPH speedometers in my collection. Here’s one from the infamous Iraqi Taxi Malibu. Although this one is the Euro spec and not the 140KPH Canadian unit.
I remember those Iraqi Taxi Malibu models that flooded, the Canadian market. They were all light green or tan coloured, had 3 speed manual shifters on the floor black walls and hub caps, am-fm radios, factory A/C and an unheated rear backlight, unusual in the Canadian market. GM was stuck with a ton of them after Iraq canceled the order and bought Toyotas instead. The Malibu was priced right and Canadian buyers bought them up fairly quickly
Changeover happened in oz for speedos in 1974
Canadian speedos went metric for the 1978 model year. The conversion to metric speed limits/distances was in September 1977.
It seems cruel to me to any prospective buyer to inflict then with a 250 in this car. At least the base option should have been the 307 three speed.(Citation: My 250 el Camino would get 18-19 on the highway, my college roomate’s 71 Malibu with the 307 did the same. He had a high ratio rear). They would get the same mileage as I did and have more torque.
Yeah, I can’t imagine what the “acceleration” of this behemoth with a 6 would be.
As soon as I saw the pic, first thing I thought was Canuck! Since there were BelAir’s past 1975 up there, too. Would have been even wilder if it was a “Biscayne convertible”.
A good ‘sleeper’ would be stripped BelAir with 454 and Turbo 400.
I think the last Bel Air hadrtop offered in the U.S. was a 2 door “bubbletop” in 1962. The ’62 Impala 2 door featured the new formal roofline, but the rarely seen Bel Air kept the bubbletop from ’61. In ’63 it was gone, never to be seen again in the U.S., although our Canadian friends had them into the 1970’s.
Oh my, that ’62 bubbletop was handsome. There was a family down the street that had one in the mid-60s; white, red interior, black wall tires and dog dish hubcaps. I can still picture it one day in front of our elementary school and thinking to myself that although rare, it was a fine sight indeed.
..yeaaah they are really quite elegant aren’t they?
I now have an affinity for stripper cars and the Bel Air coupes of Canada are interesting. I can’t remember seeing too many plain-Jane full size Chevies in the Bay Area in my youth growing up in the sixties/seventies past maybe ’67’s, but a summer trip to visit relatives in Missouri yielded many old farmers/small town types with Biscayne and Bel Air two door and four door sedans with sixes and three-on-the-tree. In the 70’s, the only Bel-Airs I saw were S.F. police cars . . . (and even then, S.F.P.D/F.D. were usually Fords . . . ).
When my Dad was car shopping in the late summer/fall of ’71, we did look at a very attractive turquoise Impala Kingswood station wagon and there was an old couple looking at a gold, nicely equipped ’71 Impala sedan. Hood up, it revealed the 250 straight six. This would’ve been at the old Redwood Chevrolet back then . . (Novato, California). Most likely a ‘glide . . .
For as large as the GMs of the early 70s became, I am still very attracted to the 1971-72 models, especially the 1972 Impala Sports Coupe. Always wished I could afford one.
Except for the 1977 bent-window Impala coupe, these were, in my opinion, the best of the last, and the new Impala is the most gorgeous since then.
I see the example above hasn’t suffered the “GM Mark of Excellence” cracked dash!
@ Zackman On the shelf right above, my Lap top.. Is a photo of 72 Sports Coupe, a retirement gift signed by many of my co workers.
Hey, Mikey;
A bit off-topic, but you referred to a “2014” over on TTAC last week. Did you buy a new Impala? You never mentioned what it was. My 2012 is going strong, already 40K in a little over a year-and-a-half, but that’s what my lousy commute will do. 2 years to go ’til retirement… if I can…
@ Zackman…….Yes I did. The truck, and Camaro, are gone. They just were not meeting my needs. Kept the Mustang though.
Yeah, a 4 banger 2014 LT Impala. So far so good.
2 years? ….hang in there man.
I think the ’72s were the best looking of the bunch. Every once in awhile, I’ll see a blue ’72 Impala Convertible parked in my neighborhood with 400 emblems.
According to Collectible Automobile, the 1972 models were the highest number of sales for big 71-76 Chevys.
The 71’s were hampered by UAW strike, and ’73 Monte Carlo was a huge hit, taking some big car sales. 74-76 hurt by big car sales erosion. So 72’s are the easiest to find, per #’s.
There’s something about the combination of two-door hardtop, base trim, and first model year detailing on this car. You will never see a simpler, cleaner expression of a ’71-6 B-body.
Incidentally, if a Bel Air was too fancy, fleet buyers could still get a Biscayne sedan in ’71; it’s described in the ’71 Chevy police and taxi brochures at oldcarbrochures,com but not in the main one. The equivalent Brookwood wagon seems to have been available to retail customers, however.
The Biscayne sedan lasted through ’75 in Canada.
Also, here the Canadian brochure showing the 1975 BelAir hardtop coupe.
http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/brochuredisplay.cgi?year=1975&manuf=GM&model=Chevrolet&smod=&page=10&scan=34
and the 1976 Canadian BelAir coupe
http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/brochuredisplay.cgi?year=1976&manuf=GM&model=Chevrolet&smod=&page=10&scan=10
The ’71 Canadian brochure is on that site too. It’s interesting that the Bel Air coupe and Biscayne sedans have the rooflines retouched just as obviously (and badly!) as the Bel Air sedan brochure pic in the main article above (which also appears in the Canadian brochure).
http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/brochuredisplay.cgi?year=1971&manuf=GM&model=Chevrolet&smod=&page=7&scan=7
Wow, never seen the CDN ’76 BelAir coupe ever. Funny to see it with the ‘colonnade’ window, too. Looks like a naked Caprice.
I started in 1972 woking the “B” line in Oshawa Ont. Canada. There was some 72’s on the floor, but the 73’s were on the line. Working in the pit it was hard to tell how many doors, or what model it was. From my point of view, the Chevs were all the same. The American, and Canadian Pontiac had some slight differences.
We did run a 6 three on the tree in 1973. I remember because I had to hook up the speedometer cable. GM had to put a gear reduction thing on the transmission, and it was a major PIA to hook up.
I found out later that the 6 standard cars were for export to South America only.
I don’t know if anybody else noticed this. There should be a flex pipe on the air cleaner, that hooks on to the stove pipe coming from the exhaust manifold. The very clean engine in that photo, shows its missing.
It’s also missing the sheet metal stove on the manifold to attach the steel pipe to… if its like my 77 Chevelle’s steel ThermAC system, no flimsy aluminized cardboard flex pipe.
Was 72 the last year for the 3 speed manual in the full size Chevy? Or any manual for that matter. I think it was the last year for the 250 Inline six until 77.
I was told that the 3 speed manuals in 73 were not sold in North America. I do know that we built quite a few of them.
According to Chevy history books, the I6 was standard equipment in 1973, and dropped for 74-76. Remember even Motor Trend buyers guide saying Impala and BelAir still had 6 that year. But, someone would have to verify 3 on the tree for 73; [sounds like a jingle.]
There were quite a few strippo full size cars in Chicago’s Bungalow Belt in the 60’s, to about 1973. Older drivers, with vivid memories of the Depression, would at the most only spring for an AM radio on BelAirs, Customs, Fury I’s, Polaras, and Catalinas.
My Great Uncle, born in 1901, bought his last new car in 1972, a Ford Custom*, with only AM radio as an option. Had an I6 and automatic. He and my great aunt turned down getting white wall tires saying “they are waste of $”.
* Not a Custom 500, but the bare bones one, which was last offered in ’72.
Know exactly what you are talking about. One of the company cars Mom brought home was a mint-green 71 Ford Custom sedan. V8, automatic and an AM radio, and that was it. It was probably the oldest car in the fleet, certainly the oldest one she ever brought home. She much preferred the 73 Bel Airs.
The 1973 Canadian brochure lists the 250/3 spd. combo as standard on Biscayne and Bel Air except wagons. The US brochure lists the same as standard for the Bel Air sedan only. My understanding has always been that both the six and manual were dropped at some time during the model year. My reference shows 1,394 Bel Air sixes for 1973 – likely US only. The rarest in this generation is the ’72 Impala sport coupe six with production of 289 units.
Also amazing is at least three high level trim lines of full size Chevy were reduced to base model. BelAir, Impala, and Caprice. Biscayne was middle level for a short time, above DelRay.
And today’s Caprice PPV is fleet only, like a ’72 Biscayne. But at least has an interesting design and drivetrain. And yes, they can be bought used, just as an old Ford PI.
I wonder which one had a faster “fall from grace”, the Bel Air was top of the line in 1957, and entry level in 1973 from what I found.
Also curious to know why the US would be referred to as colonists but not Canadians?
Medium to small car with 4 to 5 speed standard car “fan” here… but something about car hits all the right buttons. I like it. I like it very much. Road trip anyone?
My dad had a ’73 Bel Air wagon. It was trouble prone, to say the least with constant problems with the clamshell tailgate-window. In ’76 he traded it for a used ’74 Laguna S-3 that was much more reliable.
Fun stuff. Amazing to see Chevy still advertising the Bel-Air in ’71.
AAron,
Two flaws:
1) If the first pictured car is an Ontario plated car, where is the front plate?
2) Good gawd man! Wrong picture of Holmes! Jeremy Brett is apogee of Holmes in film.
1. Good question!
2. I haven’t been able to take Jeremy Brett seriously ever since I saw him perform as Macbeth in the worst video version I’ve ever seen…he was terrible!
I do enjoy the new BBC version of Holmes…
Funny how I come across this! Well, believe it or not, the bel air sport coupe was available in canada only starting in 1970! And I own a 1970 Bel Air Sport Coupe myself! I’m only 20 and in the process of restoring this beauty, but I do know a kind gentleman in Quebec who has a ’70 Bel Air Sport Coupe that he has fully restored. A very rary breed it seems, but they were essentially sold to people who wanted an impala sports coupe but at a lower cost!
I am personally from Ontario but live in BC, however my car was purchased in Alberta by it’s first owner! I will attach a picture of my Bel Air, which came with the 350 2bbl(now 4bbl) and the turbo hydramatic 400 with a 12 bolt rear diff! Love seeing that these cars are making a little bit of history! Thanks for the story, I enjoyed the read 🙂
I will post more pics of my(rusty, remember she’s a project in progress!) 1970 Chevrolet Bel Air Sport Coupe!
Side view
Hi Stan:
I am glad I ran across your photo of a 1970 Belair sport coupe which replaced the Belair 2 door sedan from 1969,but were only available in the Canadian market and not the US which I find strange.In USA the Belair only came in a 4 door post and Townsman station wagon.
Thanks
Doug
Back view* remember! The bel air has only 2 taillights vs the impala and caprice have 3!
Absolutely gorgeous car, I like how you don’t see many around! Enjoy the photos guys.
i had 71 impala sport coupe 350 3 speed manual factory air power steering power brakes am radio it was green darker green vynle top full hubcaps wheel well moldings
i paid 1900,00 american dollars in 1973 in owensboro ky home of darrel and mikey waltrip it had a 2 barrel carb excellent gas mileage for a v8
I grew up on the Great Lakes, right across the river from Ontario. I think the last 2-door hardtop available with Bel-Air trim in the USA was ’62 but Canadians had less disposable income and I’ve seen Bel-Air 2-door hardtops which were available only at Canadian dealerships in years following that. I suppose an American could have bought one there if he really wanted it but I never did notice one of those with US registration.
Instrumentation was still in the English system until maybe the 1978 model year and they were still using the 5 quart Imperial Gallon for another year or so.
Not sure what year they started this, probably around ’72, but in Canada, Ontario at least, there was an additional, separate tax for air conditioning on a car, listed right there on the window sticker. I don’t know whether It was a national or provincial tax or whether they still record it separately* or impose it at all but a/c in those days was rare in our area except on luxury marques. And in those days a/c was an option even on a Chysler, Lincoln or Cadillac. I’m not sure about Imperial which they discontinued around ’76.
*I don’t remember when the practice was discontinued but as late as the ’60s maybe early ’70s, gas stations would list the per gallon price broken down into gasoline, excise tax, road tax, other federal tax, state tax, county tax, city tax, this tax, that tax, the other tax… Those signs were instructive and entertaining. Also helped explain why the price was always x.9 cents per gallon (the taxes were in cents plus fractions per gallon).
One thing I did notice from days as a youth is that often, the surviving older model cars were those with the more basic trim. I know they were rare from the outset but just try to find a ’65 1/2 Caprice. If you see a ’63 Chevy, it will likely be a Bel-Air. Probably with hub caps. The last ’58 I saw was a Delray. I’m not sure if this is because their owners were old folks who’d bought inexpensive models because they needed to be thrifty, weren’t in any social competitions and didn’t drive them much, or what.
I have been a car spotter since the 1960s, back when I drove a tricycle. I remember Big Chevies as a mainstay in the market. They weren’t referred to as Big Cars, they were simply standard cars, and anything else was considered less than. Intermediates would steal the thunder from the high performance big cars to the point that cars like the Impala SS427 were rare sightings. The intermediates ended up having most of the high performance fun.
I am a Canadian and I remember the Bel Air coupes well. Dad always bought Chevrolet Biscaynes, and all but the last 1974 he bought were six cylinder 3-speed manual cars.
One day in 1973 when I was driving on a Sunday with dad to pick up my grandfather for Sunday dinner, we slowly drew up on a 1970 Chevy Bel Air Sport Coupe. To me they were ubiquitous, I just assumed they were sold everywhere and didn’t think much about it. The car we drew up to while in our 70 Biscayne was more interesting as we got closer. I saw that it was Misty Turquoise, but then I saw a rear stabilizer bar and dual exhausts. The dual exhausts looked factory, as I was with dad the day he picked up his new 1970 Biscayne in January 1970 and noticed that kind of thing. Hmmm. When we pulled up alongside I saw that it had red stripe tires on Rally Wheels! I grabbed the owner’s manual from our glove compartment and confirmed what I was looking at, redline tires were indeed available in G70-15 & H70-15 sizes! Redline tires were dropped by most manufacturers for 1970 but some held on through 1970, like Chevrolet on the big cars (excuse me, “standard cars”). As we passed the 70 Bel Air Sport Coupe my eyes were trained on the front fenders to see what engine was under the hood. 454! A dual exhaust 454 LS-5 in all its 390-horsepower glory resided under the hood! Now this was an interesting car, and certainly one-of-a-kind. I had never forgotten the car, nor did I ever see or hear of it again. Based on that recollection I decided to create a rendition of what I witnessed that day. See the attachment.
Some of the comments I hear regarding the possibility of a manual big block on a 1971 model are a nice notion, but Chevrolet never released such a combo on that generation of Big Car. In 1971 the 3-speed manuals in the standard Big Cars were all of the Saginaw variety and were offered only with the standard sixes and standard V8s. Note that in theory the Caprice, with the newly standardized 400 small block even listed the 3-speed manual as standard. Cross-checking with SAE specs I learned that it was just the Saginaw medium-duty transmission, a rather poor choice behind a high torque V8 & a heavy car. It was like being between a rock and a hard place. At least Pontiac, Oldsmobile & Buick offered the tough Muncie 3-speed behind their respective 400 & 455 offerings in 1971. Regardless, the 3-speed manuals & Powerglides were dropped as of March, 1971 behind anything but the inline sixes. The 3-speed manuals & Powerglides were only used behind the inline sixes in these cars after that, and the abominable Powerglide was dropped from the Big Car sixes for 1973, leaving the 3-speed manual as the sole transmission behind the six in the big cars. Speaking of which…
It was mentioned by another reader that worked in Oshawa that the 3-speed manual production on the Biscayne / Bel Air cars was significant, yet all were destined for South America. In 1976 in Hamilton Ontario I saw a Dark Green 1973 Biscayne 4-door with a six. As it passed I saw the single left-hand tailpipe & barely heard the quiet six as it passed. The car stopped for a traffic light, but as the light changed I saw the driver (a middle-aged Victorian Order Nurse) shift the manual 3-speed into first. That is the only 1973 full-sized factory Chevrolet with an inline six I have ever seen in person. Ever.
Most of the brochure pictures of the Canadian-exclusive Bel Air Sport Coupes were terrible, so I took it upon myself to create better & more accurate pictures that could have & should have been in the brochures. Back in the day they were not using graphics software, they were airbrushing pictures under a tight deadline for a cheap model that they did not wish to emphasize. In the 1970 Canadian Chevrolet brochure they offered a 2-page spread of a pathetic attempt to reconfigure a 1969 Caprice coupe into a Bel Air Sport Coupe. It was crude, yet they blew the picture up. I can do much better, and here it is (a likeness of the previously-mentioned LS-5 Bel Air):
It kind of looks a little like 1973 Buick Centurion I had that was also a 2 Dr. variation of the Buick Lesabre but was called a Centurion in Canada. It was the same dark green with Buick mag’s , a white vinyl top, along with a 455 under the hood. I used to get a lot of compliments on that car and people offering to buy it. It was a big land yacht.
A very rare bird is a 1971 Belair HT sportcoupe with factory ordered two tone trim (all around the cab) and a classic white two-tone top. Interestingly no one has mentioned what I believe was the one year only flow-through ventilation and rear deck (trunk) louvers. The black vynil interior on Belairs with Fleur de Lis centre pattern is actually a better looking interior than Impala or Caprice interiors in my opinion. I like the two tail light look and the B pillar lines plus the dual front headlight front facia. Has anyone else seen a factory 1971 two tone HT sportcoupe with trim option? I think most that ordered this car didn’t pay the extra for the trim? Cheers
Here’s my 1971 for sale on Kijiji ON for those interested in some details and extra pics… https://www.kijiji.ca/v-view-details.html?adId=1510584324
Huh. This is one of very few ’71-’76 GM B-bodies I don’t find repugnant. Doubly weird because usually I heavily favour 4-door cars.
I just love the model differences between borders of the U.S. and Canada. Here is a photo-compilation from my Canadian 1971 Chevy brochure. I show the page of just the Sport Coupe, for this article, and with it, the interiors that were available. In the brochure, they did not even both to illustrate the bottom-of-the-rung Biscayne interiors.
Scott is right on the mark in that Canadians would buy big cars with little for equipment. As I looked at this Chevy, it came to mind that I had ridden in a stripped 1971 Buick in 1971. The buyer was a young collegian studying in the New Haven, CT area who was from Montreal. He purchased an equivalent Buick Le Sabre with automatic and nothing else. I assume that the radio was standard. Heaters had been standard in the States by law since 1959. It was a boring piece of equipment in some clam-cream color with an equally boring interior. I asked him, “Who would buy this?” He said that he was going to drive it for awhile so that it could be considered “used” in Canada and sell it for a profit where these cars cost far more. It is remarkably the same shell as the featured Chevy. I found a brochure picture and have attached it. I remember that in that same year that my wife-to-be and I went to visit some or her relatives in Montreal. In their neighborhood was a 1971 Dodge WP41, the premium model. It was easy to recognize because the pinstripe on the side was available only on the WP41. For 1972, the only premium Coronets were the wagon and the Sport Coupe. Over the next ten years I would see the car (white with blue stripe and blue vinyl interior) on the street. It was fitted with few options, unlike in The U.S.
Oops, only one picture per post. So, here is the 1971 Buick Le Sabre plain jane from a brochure that I found on the internet. It looks better in the brochure than it did in person.
very very NICE!!!
Was it a Canadian only thing . I remember you could get a 3 speed manual column shift in a bel air clamshell wagon it was discontinued in January of 1971.
I currently have this exact 71 bel air coupe that you are writing about! In Lansing Michigan and yes it’s for sale and just as beautiful 517-455-4769
I own a 1973 Chev bel air 2 door sports coupe. I didn’t know what I had until I started to restore it. I’m so glad I did not derby it.
1973 bel air sports coupe.