Beaumonts use Chevelle sheet metal.

While they are not officially Pontiacs, Beaumonts and Acadians (Nova sheetmetal) have split grilles like a Pontiac. They also use a mix of Pontiac and Chevy interior pieces, and in some cases, unique parts.

i know in 75 gm started mixing engines like mine having a buick.in 78 they were sued by a guy who bought an olds and found out he had a chevy engine. his grounds were if i wanted a chevy i would buy a chevy. i have no idea why they did this. now all gm cars come with a chevy or buick based engine.cad is the exception.and i dont know why canadian pontiacs are so different than the states. the venturas and phoenix seem to be the same. also do you consider the 4th gen birds to be imports?

-- Edited by AlienX at 19:15, 2008-03-08

69Laurentian wrote:

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What I never did understand is why Oshawa didn't just build Chevelles, Catalina's and Nova's. Why put Catalina bodies on Impala Chassis and call them Laurentians and spend money developing the Beaumont? The Chevy motors came from the U.S, didn't they? So why couldn't Pontiac motors be installed?

 

Because, certain Canadian cars have always been a bit different...........We are a breed all our own and the GM Canada guiys wanted to show it.........It goes way back before Canadian Pontiacs too..........back into the early years of the auto.

Besides, if it wasn't for Canadian Pontiacs, we wouldn't have "Canadian Ponchos"

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i like them , but how about other brands? do the chevys differ or fords. aussie holdes and fords are unique as well.there is a 64 chevy 2 in my neighborhood i showed him your acadians and he agrees with me he wants one. and no im not canadian but i love your pontiacs.

In my opinion the first Acadian ,Beaumont  Ventura concept of building identifiable Canadian cars all started in 1955 with the Canadian Pontiacs ,Pathfinder, Pathfinder Deluxe and Laurentian. This was the first year GM Canada gave the Canadian Pontiacs their own unique sheetmatal.  Prior to this most of the sheetmetal was interchangable with chevrolet. The Pontiacs did have the silver streaks on the hood but you could  interchange a chev and pontiac hood from 1954 and prior. In 55 with the chevrolet chassis and powertrain the front and rear sheetmetal were modified for the first time to give the Canadian Pontiacs there unique look. The dashes were also changed. Everything else body shell ,floors, trunk lid , doors ,glass were all interchangeable. The 55 Chevrolet and Pontiac convertibles shared identical interiors as well as the Chev Delray and the Pontiac Club Coupe.It should also be noted the Canadian Pontiacs were given the chevrolet truck 261 engine instead of the 235. The 261 was slightly modified for the cars as it recieved a high lift hydraulic camshaft which had similiar specs as the 53-54 corvette blue flame 235 solid lifter camshaft.

If you have never had a ride in a 261 powered Pontiac you would be surprised at the performance of this six cylinder. It would easily keep up with the 265 and 283 stock engines.Top speed was only appx 2 mph slower but acceleration was even if the six not quicker.

The Canadian 1956 Pontiac even had the 265 2 4barrel carb engine as an option and in 1957 the 283 fulie engine was an option. They were called Power Chief and available as a 250 hp 283 with 9.5 compression and a 283-283 hp 10.5. The 283 hp was only available witha 3 speed close ratio standard trans. The 250 hp was available with synchro mesh, close ratio synchro mesh, powerglide and turboglide.   Al

It was a 2 door!  Pretty rare car. If the 261 performed well in the 58 imagine what it was like in a 55 which only weighed 3200 lbs.   Al

Alien, if you ever come across a clean rust free 69 or 70 Catalina (2 door, wagon, ragtop) in your area for sale, let me know.
Todd

If you are going to rebuild that 261 make sure you get a 261 head gasket and not a 235 head gasket. The 261 has the steam holes. If the 261 head is too bad to rebuild you can use a 235 head and use the 261 head gasket as a template and drill the stemholes in the 235 head.  Al