You see one 1969 Chevelle, you’ve seen them all. You’ve seen a similar vintage Pontiac, it’s the same. But if you see a 1969 Beaumont, your brain immediately sends the ultimate trigger for a gearhead: “WTF is that car?” I’ve seen two Beaumonts in the flesh ever, and each time I find more and more details that I missed. It’s really easy to just note a Beaumont as a Canadian Chevelle, but there’s a bit more to it than that.
Beaumonts and the very similar Acadians exist because Canada had a deal called the Auto Pact that banned certain American nameplates from entering the country, which was supposed to stimulate Canadian auto manufacturing. This is why brands such as Beaumont, Acadian, Fargo and Meteor existed up North, but never really made it across the border to the United States. In the case of the Beaumont, it started out as a trim package on the Acadian, a Chevy II-based machine but when the A-body was introduced for 1964, the Beaumont (as a model) appeared. Beaumonts were primarily Chevrolet Chevelle-based, with some Pontiac touches, like the dashboard, and some Beaumont-specific pieces, like the taillight design and the grilles. And, of course, the red maple leaf to signify that this was a Canadian car.
Driving this Chevrolet 350-powered droptop around should echo the sensation any A-body will give you, but even those who know will want to get closer looks at the machine that was supposed to stay in the provinces. They are often dismissed as a Canadian Pontiac, which is inaccurate. It’s neither Pontiac nor Chevrolet. It’s a Beaumont: the Canadian cruiser.
eBay Link: 1969 Beaumont convertible
A pile of Chevy shit hiding under a new name is still a pile of Chevy shit…
Not nearly as shittay as a Geordie. Not even close!
These were sold at Pontiac dealers and my 1971 Acadian (Nova) was a Pontiac. They were common as muck here and you still see them when the summer cruisers are out in nice weather. Also Meteor was a Mercury model, not a brand, at least in Canada.
Here is what wikipedia says about Fargo, which were also plentiful:
“U.S. sales of Fargo trucks were discontinued in the 1930s, but in Canada the name Fargo was used until 1972 for marketing reasons to differentiate the trucks as Chrysler-Plymouth dealer offerings apart from the Dodge trucks sold at Dodge dealers”
RK, Meteors were initially a separate marque from Mercury. They were sold through Lincoln-Mercury dealers to compete with Pontiac. As far as know the only Mercury Meteors are the 1961-63 models.
As a fun aside, trim for 1955 and 56 Meteors is hard to find in Canada as it was all sent to Australia for our 1958-59 Customlines and Mainlines. We also used 1959 Meteor grilles from in 1960 to 61 in our Fairlanes.
Looks like the real life version of a grand theft auto chevelle knock off.
Wonder if there were any LS-6 versions?
My first car was a 57 Chevy 210 2 door and then a 1964 Beaumont SD (Sport Deluxe) which was the equivalent of a Chevelle SS. Different grill and tail lights and that was about it so you American pussies that say they are shit, take a long walk on a short plank.
Was the SD a super duty?