images posted at the Cohort by William Oliver
Being a proudly independent country has conferred many unique benefits to Canadians. Universal health care? That pales in comparison to their right to have unique and alternate versions of American cars like the Chevy II. Don’t like the looks of the Chevrolet Chevy II grille or side trim or just the name? Just too…American? Head to your friendly Pontiac dealer where the Acadian awaited you with exclusive Canadian features like a unique grille and side trim, a badge with maple leaves, an Econoflame engine and a distinctly Canadian name: Acadian Beaumont. You’d have to be a Canuck to even know what those names mean.
A real Chevy II? Sorry, no; or Non, merci. That was for Canadians who watched too much American tv.
My first introduction to the alternate reality of Canadian cars was in the summer of 1963. As usual, I was walking to the pool in Iowa City’s city park, which was exactly one block away; my home away from home in summertime. In the parking lot my eyes fell on this: a bizarrely modified Chevy II grille. What the…? I was totally flummoxed. I walked around it and the rear taillights and trim were different too as well as the side trim. And the name? Acadian Beaumont? Was I hallucinating from too much chlorine?
I finally noticed the license plates: Ontario. Aha! But I still struggled to make sense of that. Why would a Canadian Chevy II be disguised as an…Acadian Beaumont? I had to just accept it as one of those quirks about Canada that one comes to know about, eventually. But at the time I had no idea how things worked automotively north of the border.
On our mostly miserable three-day long trip to New York in the summer of 1964 in our ’62 Fairlane, my father decided to hit up Niagara Falls first, and get there via Canada, crossing the border in Windsor. I started seeing all sorts of odd grilles and taillights and quickly realized that there were all sorts of Canadian cars that were obviously rebranded American ones: Pontiac Parisiennes and Laurentians, Meteor Montcalms and Rideaus, and of course the Acadians.
Unless you have a legitimate memory disorder by now you all should know about these Canadian Pontiacs (“Cheviacs”) and other unique Canadian market cars. If not, go here. Due to Canada’s relatively low population and dealer density as well as for economy of production, Pontiac was positioned directly as an alternative to Chevrolet rather than a little step above it. Hence the big Pontiacs rode on a Chevrolet chassis and used Chevrolet engines and transmission.
And when the Chevy II arrived in 1962, a version for Pontiac dealers was quickly cobbled up by the flunkies in GM’s vaunted Design Center, with a divided grille to reflect the Pontiac’s grille theme of the times.
Unlike the Chevy II, which came in three trim levels (Nova 400, 300 and 100),the Acadian had to make do with two. The El Cheapo stripper was the Invader (are Canadians anxious about being invaded by Americans? Or was the Invader part of a stealth plan to infiltrate the US?), and the upscale one was the Beaumont. Somewhat curiously there was no 3-seat station wagon, unlike with the Chevy II.
Yes, even the engines were renamed; both the four and the six now dubbed “Econoflame”. The real Chevy II’s engines got two names; the 153 CID four was Super-Thrift, and the 194 six was the Hi-Thrift. But the venerable Powerglide automatic got to keep its name. How about Slip-N-Slide?
Just to confirm: the real “La Chevy II” was also available in Canada, at Chevrolet dealers, for those who might be open to a bit more open Americanization in their lives. Beware! It’s a slippery slope to full annexation. Or maybe they just lived closer to a Chevy dealer.
Well, that was of course all in the past. The Auto Pact signed in 1965 took a few years to be fully implemented, but it meant that tariffs were now history, and there was no more need to make Cheviacs and such. Canadians now had access to genuine Wide-Track Pontiacs and all sorts of other fine all-American cars. And Americans drove lots of Canadian-built cars, but sadly they were indistinguishable from American made ones. Automotively Canada had been reduced to…the 51st state.
Related CC reading:
Cohort Outtake: Why It’s An Acadian Canso Sport, Obviously, Along With Some Other Cheviacs by PN
Curbside Classic: Acadian Canso Sport – Long Way From Home by Rich B.
Cohort Pic(k) of the Day: 1966 Acadian Invader – Hide The Women And Children… by PN
A great summary, although of course the first car ride of my life was in a narrow track Cheviac, and those Acadians and such looked perfectly normal to me growing up.
At this point however Toyota manufactures the most cars in Canada, just another reason it may be preferable to be the 48th prefecture rather than the 51st state. I don’t think there’s such a thing as imitation Japanese cheese either.
I would have loved to have been in the meeting where the design guys discussed approving that second strip of chrome on the side of the Beaumont. What a sad little idea. The grille, otoh, isn’t bad at all.
‘You’ve thrown away the recipt for the trim order! Well we’ll just have to use up the extra. Next time just do as your told and give the recipt to me or your Dad.’
Where these smaller and cheaper than a Tempest, or did they replace it entirely in Canada?
Tempests weren’t sold in Canada, and I don’t believe the Olds F-85 or Buick Special were either. You could probably get one if you were willing to order, wait and pay a lot more due to the duty and tariff structure that existed at the time.
My first encounter with Canadian cars was a similar family vacation in ’62. We were visiting relatives in Detroit, and the parents granted my wish to cross into Windsor for a few minutes. I was rewarded with a ’56 Dodge Regent and a ’60 Ford Frontenac.
Beaumont Invader? I wonder who was responsible for these names-or was that some kind of subtle dig aimed at the country south of Canada?
In the early ’60s? Probably not. The divisive rhetoric (from all sides) so common today wasn’t a thing then.
And it was Invader or Beaumont, not both. The Invader was the cheapie, the Beaumont quite a bit nicer.
Gotta love Beaumont Invader especially in today’s parlance. A double entente? The French version is a must here.
The Pontiac Parisienne was assembled in Australia by Holden in the mid 1960s,probably using CKD kits imported from Canada.
This brings back some memories!
My Mom had a ’62 Acadian Beaumont sport coupe in the late ’60s. Our next door neighbour had an Acadian wagon with the logo of the cigarette company he worked for emblazened all over it, and I rode to many a lacrosse game in a team mates Mom’s ’64.
Beat up Invaders and Beaumonts were common in our high schoool parking lots, mostly so rusty they were unsafe….
There were Chevy IIs around, but at least in our area the Acadian seemed a lot more common even though we had both a Pontiac and a Chevy dealer in town.
Nice find, most of these were flogged like rented mules and junked or rusted to nothing by 1980 or so, particularly the wagons.
I read about these brands in some car books but don’t recall ever seeing any of them in California. I wonder if they were less popular in BC. In fact the first Canadian-market car I distinctly remember seeing locally was a Mk3 Ford Cortina, never sold in the US, in the mid-Seventies. By that time my sister had moved to Ontario and I visited her every few years until she came back to the States around 2000. But by then the old Canadian brands had rusted away. Replaced by Hyundai Ponies and Ladas.
The MkIII Cortina was really rare even when new in Canada. BC seems to have more British cars per capitia these days but it could be survivor bias with the mild climate of Victoria and other places in BC.
What was the point of not branding these as Pontiacs?
My first exposure to Canadian cars was also in 1962. While living outside Baltimore we vacationed every summer in Mallets Bay Vermont, where my grandmother grew up on a farm. The small lake cottage community where we rented a place every year was only 40+ miles from Canada, and several Canadian families rented camps there every summer: the Archambeaults and the Roys, who were related. Robert Roy was my age and we became friends with the family. One time Mr. Roy had to drive back to Montreal to do something and invited Dad and me to come with him for the day. We drove up and back in his new 1962 Pontiac Laurentian, a very nice car I’d never heard of, but it looked just like our neighbors in Towson 1962 Catalina. Sadly Mr Roy died just a few years later so we rarely saw Canadian cars there any more, but was now well aware of them on the few occasions that I did.
Voici un station-wagon comtemporain vraiment unique au marché canadien ( …et européen ) https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/03/review-chevrolet-orlando/
Spotted in a Brantford wrecking yard many moons ago. Very complete, but apparently the underneath was too rotten, and these were not economical to restore in the 90’s.