posted at the Cohort by nifticus
A 1960s Chevelle coupe is one the most recognizable “classic” cars. Everyone knows a Chevelle; or they think they do. It would be fun to take this 1967 Beaumont Sports Coupe to the kind of car show or cruise where Chevelles are likely to congregate, and mess with a few heads. Yes, the rear end is a bit different, looking very much like a (future) ’69 Belvedere and not unlike a cross between a ’66 Tempest and a ’67 AMC Rebel, but then how many guys who were born after 1970 or so are going to notice those taillights? Well, CC readers, of course.
I can just see the responses: A Beaumont? WTF is that? Are they cloning Chevelles in China now?”
There it is, spelled out in capital letters. We’ve done quite a few of these alter-universe Canadian cars (links below), but just a quick summary: The Beaumont’s origins are in the Acadian, a Canadian-market Chevy II sold there by Pontiac-Buick dealers. In 1964, the Chevelle-based Acadian Beaumont arrived, and to reduce confusion, in 1966 it no longer shared a name with the Chevy II based Acadian; now it was just Beaumont. Both of these were considered standalone marques, confusing matters more, as they were not the typical “Cheviac”, a Pontiac body (and names) with a Chevy frame, chassis and powertrains.
So why use a Chevelle body instead of a Tempest? Because the relatively low volumes in Canada didn’t justify the tooling to do so. So in Canada you had a choice of a real Chevelle or a mildly disguised one at your local Pontiac-Buick dealer.
Yet there’s clearly some Pontiac genes inside, where a Tempest/LeMans/GTO dashboard makes itself very obvious. Yet the seats, trim, console and shifter are from a Chevelle. Given that the Chevelle’s tach is on the console and the GTO’s on the dash, does this Beaumont Sport Coupe have both? Inquiring minds want to know.
As to what’s under the hood, it is something by Chevrolet, but what exactly is not readily known due to the lack of callouts. It’s not a 396, as that got its own SD396 identification, so it could be anything from the 230 or 250 six to the 283 or 327 V8s, the latter in 275 hp trim. The optional “Sports Option/SD” was the equivalent to a typical US SS package, meaning a wide range of engines. Given the dual exhausts, we can be pretty sure it’s one of the V8s.
According to Wikipedia, even the classic Chevy Rally Wheels on these Beaumonts differ slightly. If you say so…
Related CC reading:
Cohort Pic(k) of the Day: 1963 Acadian Beaumont – My First Introduction to Mutant Chevys
Cohort Outtake: 1968 Beaumont – SD396? Maybe, But With the Wrong Badging
Cohort Pic(k) of the Day: 1963 Acadian Beaumont – My First Introduction to Mutant Chevys
1966-67 Chevrolet Malibu Super Sport and Other Canadian Chevelles
Interesting stuff. Beautiful car. Nice way to start a Friday!
Haha, this of course looks completely normal to me, although as a kid I was confused about how to pronounce Beaumont.
Is that a bootiful Boomont or a beautiful Bewmont or a boatiful Boamont?
Nice car, and one of the best steel styled wheels of all time there.
When we lived in England for a year in the 1960’s, our school took a field trip to the National Motor Museum, then called the Montagu Museum which was in Beaulieu south of London. Knowing a bit of French even at a young age I pronounced it “Bow-ly-eu”. Last syllable pronounced like the “o” in “woman”. Wrong! Apparently it’s “Byew-Lee”. Pretty much rhymes with “Julie”.
We manage to turn ‘Belvoir’ (‘bell-vwar’) in to ‘beaver’, too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belvoir_Castle
I guess you didn’t watch “Leave it to Beaver”. 🙂
The Belvedere struck me immediately. The grille also feels more Dodge than Chevy.
Australian GM cars went deeper into this strange crossover zone, often mixing Chrysler and Ford and AMC with only a little GM.
These were a big part of my youthful gearhead days. There were a fair number of decent ones around and they were affordable. With very rare exception, you could expect to find a 283 2v with a powerglide in it. The bucket seat/console version was the “Sport Deluxe”, and the very few big block cars made were SD396.
We took my buddy’s ’67 to Super Chevy Sunday in Seattle in ’88 or so, and a surprising amount of the local car guys knew exactly what it was.
These are a little tougher to restore nowadays as the specific trim parts can be tough to find but there will always be a couple at any decent sized car show. There are actually 2 ’67s in my little Vancouver Island community, one is a convertible.
I don’t recall ever seeing one with a factory tach, but the instrument on the console is a clock, same as a Chevelle. Never saw one that worked….
This is a nice example, although I don’t believe Canadian cars ever came with a big block hood, 396 or not. Commonly seen today though.
Many years ago an acquaintance strpped the trim from a Beaumont wagon and installed it all on an El Camino. That one got some inquisitive looks!
These were a big part of my youthful gearhead days. There were a fair number of decent ones around and they were affordable. With very rare exception, you could expect to find a 283 2v with a powerglide in it. The bucket seat/console version was the “Sport Deluxe”, and the very few big block cars made were SD396.
We took my buddy’s ’67 to Super Chevy Sunday in Seattle in ’88 or so, and a surprising amount of the local car guys knew exactly what it was.
These are a little tougher to restore nowadays as the specific trim parts can be tough to find but there will always be a couple at any decent sized car show. There are actually 2 ’67s in my little Vancouver Island community, one is a convertible.
I don’t recall ever seeing one with a factory tach, but the instrument on the console is a clock, same as a Chevelle. Never saw one that worked….
This is a nice example, although I don’t believe Canadian cars ever came with a big block hood, 396 or not. Commonly seen today though.
Many years ago an acquaintance strpped the trim from a Beaumont wagon and installed it all on an El Camino. That one got some inquisitive looks!
Good lord! What a “beautiful ride”!
It looks very sharp to me, I think the taillights look Dodge-ish .
-Nate
Graphically, the tail is a straight copy of the 1966 Pontiac Tempest. The Beaumont tail lights are recessed into tunnels; the Tempest has a flat vertical panel.
The face carries a hint of a “down under” mutation.
It is apt that the licence plate prefix is, “EH,” as Canadians are known for using said expression.
There were plenty of Beaumonts on the road when I was a kid on Vancouver Island. The mild climate meant rust wasn’t much of an issue. These pics seem to be from the central British Columbia area, which is so dry it could almost be called a desert.
By the time I arrived on Vancouver Island, most Beaumonts had been modified as the entire Chevrolet parts bin would bolt right on.
And let’s not forget about the Beaumont Cheetah 427.
Were these registered as Pontiacs with the government? We’re so used to logos and branding everywhere, it’s odd to see a fairly recent car with nothing but two names and a “B” on the grille. Nothing on the hub caps?
Yes, they were registered as “Beaumont.” The stock wheel covers also had a Beaumont logo which was similar to that of Pontiac, except there were maple leaves on the top part.
I was at my usual Friday night car meet last night in the Vancouver area. There were a few of these there. One was for sale. The listing referred to it as a 1967 Pontiac Beaumont, so some owners refer to them as that. I think it is because when you register one you must use Pontiac as the Motor Vehicle Branches don’t have Acadian and Beaumont in their systems.
If I hadn’t read the byline, I would have thought I was looking at an AMC Rebel! This one’s a beaut…
Bushwacked!
To my eye, many of the Canadian ‘mutants’ didn’t look as good as the originals they were doubling up on, Meteor vs Ford being perhaps the prime example.
I always thought the Acadian/Beaumont collection was an exception though. The Pontiac ‘split grill’ motif looked sharp compared to the more bland-by-comparison Chevy II & Chevelle front ends.
Like the early Pontiac Acadian and Astre, a too timid/conservative split grille.
I had a friend in high school, who’s last name was ‘Beaumont’. I believe he wanted to own one of these.
67 Chevelle front… 68 road runner rear… My thoughts…
Beautiful car in one of my favorite 1966-67 colors, Marina Blue. Perhaps it was called Maritime Blue in Canada?
Growing up in Canada, these were commonplace. One of my uncles died quite young and owned a 62 Chevy 2 wagon with a 6 and automatic. My aunt was a very accomplished person but not particularly interested in cars, so she kept Chevy 2 for many years. Then a pale yellow 1969 2 door SD396 appeared in her driveway. It must have been some sales job by her 2 teenaged children. I can’t imagine that she realized what it was, but her kids had some fun with it.
I’ve always found the variants of US cars built in Canada to be of interest. Cars were more homogenized between the two countries after the 1965 automotive treaty.
BTW, “Beaumont” was once the name of a boy’s reformatory school in the state of Virginia.
I still love my 66 Beaumont owned it for 33 yrs now and it’s a convertible 283 car
My wife has a 67 Acadian Canso. We got tired of Chevy guys asking us what we did to a Chevy II at car shows! I would tell them I have a pot metal caster in my basement and make emblems all winter.
Around 1980 a buddy bought a ’69 SD 396. Butternut Yellow with a black vinyl top. Beautiful and fast. One of it’s previous owners had rear-end another car or had run into a wall. The resulting damage was minor and the car was still driveable,
however the middle of the bumper was pushed up and in. It gave the car a menacing look and since body parts were becoming hard to come by no one bothered to fix it.