1968 was the last year for the 2 door post in a full size Pontiac either US or Canadian. (When I was in high school in 1972, a guy used to drive a 68 327 Strato Chief 2 dr post back and forth to school). 69 was also the last year for the Chevrolet 2 dr sedan in Bel Air or Biscayne (and interestingly also for its full sized Ford competitor, the Custom & Custom 500, but Plymouth carried a 2 door post right up to 71). In 70 the Bel Air 2 dr Ht became the low priced Chevy 2 dr, similar to the Strato Chief and Laurentian 2 dr hts in 69 and also 70 I think. Likewise for the 70-72 Chevelle - no 2 dr post, though Pontiac, Buick and Olds carried 2 door sedans right through the end of that generation of mid size coupes in 72.
The last post was a 70 and this is a 72.There weren't many of these cars built and even harder to find a door for.I don't know which plant these cars were built in.I know that 70-72 conv were never built in Oshawa.
Here is Pontiac's so called pillar/post.It was a Lemans or GT-37
We had a 1970 Tempest 2dr post, light green, first year they were offered here in Canada. My dad was 46 then so still young enough to be coaxed into booting it and that thing could lay a patch about 50 feet long. It was so stripped it didn't even have a radio and had rubber on the floors. There was no rear defogger even. It had a Pontiac 350 and turbo glide and big wide ovals no chrome any where but the "350" flashes in red on the front rockers. Wish I could find one like it now.
I always thought it came from Oshawa but it did have a blue Pontiac 350 with 265 HP under the hood. It was bought at Hogan Pontiac Buick on the Danforth in Toronto, cost dad $2,900 or so. We called it our "Baby GTO".
In terms of factories, I believe the 70 & 71 Lemans line was built in Oshawa with GTO's only in 1970. For 1972 production moved to St. Therese.
I always thought that the Tempest was never offered in Canada? The Tempest owners that I've talked to always brought their car from the States.Plus having the Lemans being built in Oshawa,Pontiac didn't have to do that cross border shipping.I guess anything is possible.
I always thought that the Tempest was never offered in Canada? The Tempest owners that I've talked to always brought their car from the States.Plus having the Lemans being built in Oshawa,Pontiac didn't have to do that cross border shipping.I guess anything is possible.
Probably pre 1970 Tempests brought in from the states. In 1970 GM Canada offered Tempest, LeMans, Lemans Sport, GTO, GTO Judge. I'll send you a copy of the sales brochure if you like, it even has my Old Man's pencil figuring on the back. In 1971 GM Canada transitioned the name to Tempest T-37 eventually dropping Tempest and just using T-37. T-37 was the el cheapo A body and not some muscle car like a lot of folks think although you could tick the boxes and make it into one.
In 1970 the Tempest GT-37 was offered as an altenative to the GTO, in 1971 it became the Lemans GT-37, in 72 GT, 73 GT, 74 GT, 75 GT, 76 GT.
Anyway, the Tempest was offered in Canada in 1970 as detailed above. Prior to that if you wanted an A body from the Pontaic dealer you had to buy a Beaumont.
The red car pictured is pretty close to what we had in terms of body, as you see it is a post and the word Tempest is on the fender behind the wheel well. The other car is pretty much our car except for the extra two doors, same colour and wheel combination, but no chrome anywhere.
I'll add that the 1970 GT-37 was well done. it had the 1969 Judge stripe, GT-37 on deck lid, trimless rally wheels, 70 series wide ovals, dual exhausts exiting the rear valance the same as GTO with splitters, Heavy duty 3 speed and a V8, most were 350 2bbl cars but a 400 was available. Pontiac folk lore has it that because the cars were strippers and had reduced weight a properly equipped GT would walk a GTO. This is one reason why they never caught on, folks never accepted that the GTO might not be Top Dog. In later years you could get a 455 as well.
What gparis7 wrote about the 2-doors is accurate. I can also add that after Chevy dropped the 2-door post Big cars, the Biscayne & Bel Air 2-doors were gone forever in the U.S. In Canada however the Bel Air 2-door continued in hardtop form using the Impala Sport Coupe body. Inspired by a 1-time sighting of a high performance 1970 Bel Air in Hamilton, I created a rendering in the exact likeness of the car I saw. I made it out of a Bel Air 4-door pictured in the 1970 brochure. Take a look at this Misty Turquoise 1970 Bel Air Sport Coupe LS-5 with redlines & 15x6 Rally Wheels. The Bel AIr series was dropped from the U.S. after 1975, but in Canada they were offered through 1981 and even included a 2-door. Similarly Pontiac in Canada offered a Laurentian through 1981. While the Bel Air was the base 2-door Chevy, Pontiac offered an equivalent Laurentian for years and even a more base Strato Chief (Biscayne interior) coupe through 1970. Pontiac dropped the large B-body 2-door post after 1968 and went with hardtops after that.
427carl wrote:
not that we have seen I have a picture of a 70 biscayne 2 door post
Carl, by any chance is that picture a silver '70 post with redlines on Rally Wheels without trim? If so, that is a picture I created in May 2006 after a request from a guy named Dennis over at ImpalaSS427.com. Dennis is from Ohio and owns a gorgeous maroon 1965 Bel Air 2-door post with an L-78 (396 375-horse) and he wanted to see what a '70 would look like, so I made one up for him using a picture of a '69 I grabbed from a 2004 e-Bay auction. I modified the rear bumper, tail lights, rear side marker lights, exhaust tips, leading edge of the front fenders, plus I created the front bumper, valence and horizontal slash front marker lights from scratch.
__________________
67 Chevelle Malibu Sport Coupe, Oshawa-built 250 PG never disturbed.
In garage, 296 cid inline six & TH350...
Cam, Toronto.
I don't judge a man by how far he's fallen, but by how far back he bounces - Patton
I had a 69 Biscayne 2 dr post and a line on a 70 Biscayne 4 dr sedan back in the early 90s, along with a 454 engine and an m20 trans. I was going to build a phantom 454 70 Biscayne 2 dr post, but I never got around to it and eventually sold the 69 Biscayne (a 327/PG/A/C/tint car from Arizona that spent too much time in Ontario and Nova Scotia and had a rotten frame - I put a 68 Biscayne wagon frame under it) before I could get around to doing that project. It sat outside for a few winters and deteriorated badly after I sold it.
Carl, I forgot about that picture. I did that one as well! I was just playing around trying to make one up. I used this picture, which in itself is a doctored image in the Canadian brochure (no Biscaynes shown in the U.S. brochure after '69 despite still offereing them through '72). That green Biscayne in the link is exactly what dad's 1970 Biscayne looked like, which is why I doctored it into a lookalike in the first place.
__________________
67 Chevelle Malibu Sport Coupe, Oshawa-built 250 PG never disturbed.
In garage, 296 cid inline six & TH350...
Cam, Toronto.
I don't judge a man by how far he's fallen, but by how far back he bounces - Patton
