Did they ever have something on the table for a 1970 year model ? Always wondered when they decided to drop the line if they were in the works or not. LS6 SD would have looked great.
The Lemans came out in 70, as a Canadian model, I believe, so I am sure that they knew that early enough, that no plans were made.....Beaumonts were made into the 70s in South America.
I would agree, in those days GM needed a year or three to plan something like bringing the Tempest/LeMans/GTO to Canada, they also brought the Grand Prix, Bonneville, Catalina and Executive to Canada that year so it had to be part of a big picture plan.
No thanks to the Autopact with the USA, the Beaumont ended production in the summer of '69. That had been the plan to "harmonize" production lines on both sides of the border.
The Autopact was signed by Lester B Pearson (Canadian Prime Minister) and Lyndon B Johnson (US president) in '65 to help strengthen and blend the north american auto market into one market. This also assisted in the dropping of tarrifs and duties on cars and autp parts passing over the border. An early version of "free trade".
It was the end of the purely Canadian auto market that was known to our parents and the more "seasoned" posters on this forum. From 1970 onwards the Canadian auto market looked a lot like the American one with the same models available on both sides of the border.
Other victims of the auto pact would be the Invader, Canso in '68, Acadian in '72, the Starto Chief, Laurentian in the mid 70's and Parisienne in the early 80's. Models like the Grand Prix, Ventura, and Catalina which had been strictly American models were now available at Canadian Pontiac dealers to sell.
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Dave Weir
Member #1
Canadian Classic Chevelles & Beaumonts
http://cdnclassics.chevelles.net/
Nice ad Todd, and good info Numbers guy always makes me fell good when something I posted earlier is substantiated by imperical evidence. Makes me feel smarter than I am!
It was the tarriffs that existed prior, that created the Canadian Poncho's, they made importing the US Pontiacs into Canada too expensive for the intended market and marketing position, combined with socio economic realities for a lower per capita income of Canadians in those times.
