Nice find! Beacon Pontiac was where my dad worked from about 1965 - 1970 and was the reason I developed a love for Canadian Pontiacs (I actually have one of those dealer emblems somewhere in my stash, that I bought at a swap meet 25-30 years ago for a couple of bucks - I'm sure the seller had no idea how much that meant to me).
I can still remember driving in some of the new Pontiacs with the new car smell that was much different (and better) than today's new car smell (strange, the things you remember). The highlight form me was a new '68 Firebird 400 4-speed that forever cemented me as a 'car guy' when I was 4 years old. I remember seeing the turned down taillights on the full size '68 and then the '69s for the first time, thinking they were really cool and different than any other cars out there. I remember heading out for a drive on a nice summer's day in a new '69 Parisienne 4-door hardtop only to have the power windows stop working in a down position (blown fuse), which shortened the drive on that day.
I also remember Tommy Ivo's Wagon Master being displayed in the showroom when it was in town to run at the local Sackville dragway.
The last new Pontiacs I remembered from Beacon were the beaked 1970's, as in 1971 the dealership became Beacon Datsun, much to my disappointment. The disappointment was short lived as it then became Chaisson Plymouth/Chrysler in 1973 or 74, before moving to Windmill Road at the base of the McKay bridge a few years later, becoming Twin Cities Plymouth Chrysler (where my dad moved to, and which helped me develop an appreciation for Mopars). The old Beacon building became the home for Dartmouth Dodge, where it remained until sometime in the 2000s, when the dealership moved to the Woodlawn area. Around 1976 my dad went back to another Pontiac dealership again where he remained pretty much up to his retirement.
If I'm not mistaken, the little stand-alone white, blue and green building in the parking lot is the original used car office dating back to the 1960s. The walls were mostly glass back then IIRC. If I can ever find a photo of the old dealership I'll post it here (I must have some pics somewhere...).
There were some significant structures lost, including some stone structures that dated back to the late 1700s/early 1800s, similar to some of the Historic Properties buildings.
The really sad thing is that whole neighborhoods were cleared out, and not replaced with anything substantial.
When I first moved to Toronto (very early '80s) that was going on until they finally smartened up! I found it very disheartening.
Oh to be a forward-thinking salvager in those times.
Halifax is still struggling with this, surprisingly, in 2018. Significant historic structures are still being torn down to be replaced with generic glass and cladding buildings in the name of increasing density.
There has been a little progress recently, however, but we are far from being out of the crisis, and virtually nothing is considered sacred here, except the money of the developers...
If I owned that car today and it was still looking like that in it's original condition, I sure wouldn't fix it!
Yep, same here.
Also note that the car has full wheel covers and no whitewalls. It's interesting that most of the restored fifties cars that you see at car shows have wide white walls on them but in reality many cars back in the day just had blackwalls...
Especially here in frugal Canada. Whitewalls (esp wide whitewalls) cost more than blackwall. Dad would also try to buy "blems" which has cosmetic defects and were cheaper.
California - suspect late 56 or 1957 as don't see anything newer, GREAT looking 57
what a great pic.....comparison of chev & pontiac...but the 54 F#rd...2dr...first year of the Y-block(239ci)US only....most valuable is the 57 chev in the background(vert?)
1959 Pontiac Laurentian - 1962 Hillman Minx - 1972 Lincoln Continental - 1982 Lincoln Mark VI - 1992 Lincoln Town Car - 2007 Lincoln Town Car Signature Limited - 1977 Ford LTD Landau - 1975 Ford Custom 500 Station Wagon
I bet there were millions of those guys employed by F**d to help with ALL the repairs.
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Prince Edward Island
'64 Parisienne CS "barn find" - last on the road in '86 ... Owner Protection Plan booklet, original paint, original near-mint aqua interior, original aqua GM floor mats, original 283, factory posi, and original rust.
