Photos from the Cohort by nifticus392.
From time to time, we get one of these Canadian Pontiacs here at CC. Those who know of the matter refer to these as Cheviacs; since they’re a mix of Chevy drivetrains and Pontiac styling. And for today, what we got is a pretty clean and well-sorted ’62 Parisienne; Pontiac of Canada’s full-size Cheviac. And a rather clean one too, for a change.
I would normally find the bright hue of this Parisienne a bit off-putting. But Pontiacs of the early sixties hadn’t yet reached the masculine styling that would give the brand fame. With that in mind, I feel that this attention-grabbing color works OK with the slightly quirky detailing of the ’62s.
The whole Pontiac of Canada chapter has been covered at CC before, and the links are further below. Suffice it to say, the Chevrolet innards with Pontiac styling had much to do with Canada’s market needs and tariffs. As such, the ’61-’64 Parisienne rode on the B-body platform, with multiple engine and transmission options found in the Bowtie division. The V badge on this one’s fender suggests it carries a V-8, most likely Chevrolet’s 283CID.
I believe most of our previous Parisiennes have been hardtops, so this would be the first appearance of a pillared sedan. Lastly, this one’s thicker wheels do a fairly good job of hiding the fact that this is a non-wide-track Pontiac.
Related CC reading:
Curbside Classic: 1962 Pontiac Parisienne – What’s The Story Here?
Cohort Pic(k) Of The Day. 1962 Pontiac Parisienne – A Canadian In Nelson
Pontiacs styling was ahead of the other divisions at this time. I often wondered about why GM did that.
Standard issue here our US cars came new from Canada unusually Pontiacs werent assembled and sold via GM here, some other show held the Pontiac brand licence.
As Canada was part of the UK at the time, I recall that most “American” cars that got exported to other UK territories actually came from Canada. That way there were fewer (or no) tariffs.
Yes, little or no taxation from Commonweatlh countries (which still include Canada). Since these included the UK, Australia, and other drive-on-the-left countries, it resulted in all RHD exports being built in Canada, even for non-commonwealth countries like Japan.
… and, in Israel, there must have been some remnant of the British Mandate of Palestine (taxation-wise) because we used to get Plodges from the mid-50s to the early 60s (dad had a 1957 with the glorious 230 ci flathead six). I assume the advantage was gone through taxation legislation later.
Commonwealth. Not UK.
I knew I had the terminology wrong and I appreciate your correction!
I had one once. I spoke to a mechanic about a tune and he asked what engine. I said 283 and he said no way unless the engine was swapped out. I said no. He bet me the tune it wasn’t and I took the bet. Flip the hood and it says Pontiac 283 on the valve covers. Free tune.
Yep, perfectly normal Pontiac to these Southern eyes too. What does look weird (to me) is seeing the American Pontiacs of this era, with the extra length and stanced out wheels.
I grew up seeing Pontiac as a sort of nicer-styled Chevrolet – well, insofar as I saw any Pontiacs at all (they were very much a rich person’s car down here). I was surprised when I found out that in the US Pontiac was even bigger and mechanically-distinct. Of course fast forward a decade and some, and that all ended.
As a kid in the early ’60s one of our neighbors at our Vermont summer lake place on Champlain had a ’62 Pontiac Laurentian, my friend Robert (Ro-bear) was his son and his Dad took us to visit their regular home in Montreal one time, summer of ’63 maybe? Don’t recall it being much different from a Catalina, a nice car however, and I didn’t notice the details much. Sadly Mr. Roy died a couple years later of Type 1 diabetes, after losing his legs one piece at a time. A nice man, and a very sad end.
At the time, GM divisions had considerable liberty as to styling, barring the rush job in 1959 when GM was caught flat-footed by the 1957 Chryslers, and ordered all divisions to use Buick doors; and the 1961 Y-body compacts, also a rush job where not only were the doors the same, but the Pontiac Tempest sheet metal was the same as the Olds F-85 from the cowl back.
Pontiac exercised this liberty to its great advantage, peaking in its full size 1963 models, especially the exquisitely clean and elegant Grand Prix in the USA. The Cheviacs didn’t get it, though some styling elements went on a Parisienne.
I wouldn’t have noticed this was a Cheviac with those wheels, but the parallel wipers give it away.
I find it so odd that GM vehicles (especially before 1965) shared so little underneath the similar skins. It wasn’t just frames, suspensions, and drivelines; even mundane parts like the windshield wiper mechanism were division-specific. Surely shared wiper motors would cut costs without making the different marques seem too much alike.
There were two wiper systems used by GM full size cars in this era. I strongly suspect that the parts for each system were the same, as they were heavily related to the Fisher bodies for each:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automotive-history-the-mystery-of-gms-two-wiper-systems-the-answer-was-pretty-obvious/
Pontiac Catalinas also used parallel wipers in the US.
Some did. Most used the overlap style, starting in ’61 (when our family car was a new Catalina Vista Hardtop!)
I still don’t get why GM would have two different systems for the same car (and thank you again for the exhaustive article a few years back on wiper systems!)
I think there’s a narrowtrack in the 3rd picture of yesterday’s Canadian neighborhoods.
Semi-cc: Just now I saw an American ’60 four-door with the square roof. Solid original, sounded good.
A Chevy in Pontiac clothing!!
My grandfather’s last car was a 1963 Laurentian. It was his pride and joy and it was in many family photos.
Pontiacs of the era were very popular in Canada as the extra $50 over a Chevrolet meant a car with nicer styling and a more powerful six cylinder motor.
So did Pontiac lie and market Canadian Pontiacs as “wide-track”? (they did in the US in later years and on small cars that never had a different track than Chevys). The Canadian brochures from the late ’50s and early ’60s I’ve looked at don’t seem to mention it, but also show what looks to be US-market Wide Track cars nonetheless, save for the different model name badges.
I think ‘wide track’ ads appeared only in the States, although with the ad spillover from US car and general-interest magazines the slogan was well known in Canada. I imagine GM Canada didn’t go out of its way to tell Canadian showroom visitors that the Pontiacs on display were actually ‘narrow track’. The difference, though subtle, was visible.
I believe that the 1968 brochure was the first use of “wide track” in Canada.
The ’68s did have a wider track, front and rear. In fact, according to the specs, the Canadian version had a slightly wider front track than the specs given for the US version; 63.5″F vs. 63″. But the rear track was still narrower than the US version: 63.4″ vs. 64″. That’s a bit odd.
A good historical document.
The 1965 Canada-US Auto Pact allowed manufacturers to start moving product across the border tariff-free for the first time, and they could thus locate manufacturing and assembly plants in both countries to serve the entire continental market.
Three years later Canada had Wide-Track Pontiacs instead of narrow-track Cheviacs.
I spoke to the owner of this car right before I shot the photos. He said the car used to have a 283 but that’s long-gone. It now runs a 305.
For some reason I’ve become a big fan of 1961-62 Pontiacs. They seem to represent the pinnacle of a styling approach that in my mind goes with the sharp suit/narrow tie/Mad Men era, before cars began morphing into the more bloated, flared fender styling of the mid 60’s, gradually becoming the automotive design equivalent of bell bottoms. 🙂
As dramatic as some of the mid-60’s cars were, to my eye they lack the honesty, discipline, and sharpness of the earlier designs. The ’61 Pontiac in particular I think is one of the best looking cars of the era.
Agree. I’d say these are the most attractive of all GM’s ’61-4 generation.
Myles of the Coldwarmotors (YouTube channel) guys is driving a ’63 Cheviac, iirc they say it has the truck-size Chevy 6 cyl, 292.
Oops, that one has a 230. He also has a ’60 Cheviac & I heard them say it was a 292.
Prior to 1963, the Cheviacs did use the 261 “truck” Blue Flame six. But in ’63 the new generation Chevy sixes arrived and the Cheviac used the 230 inch version. If that one had a 292, it was swapped in.
The Cheviacs in Canada were so strange, especially the 61’s. (The featured 62 seems to have normal Pontiac body panels,,,I wonder what frame is underneath?) The ’61s used the Chevy X frame, running gear, dash, etc. and had some Pontiac sheetmetal shortened to fit! When you look closely at a ’61 pic, you see the proportions are not right.