Hey everyone. Yeah the 69s are a tough one to find information for without having it from the original owners. Through the years of researching these cars I have found a friend who worked in the Oshawa car plant (I think hes a member on here, owns a white 68 convertible) that was able to explain a little into the Beaumonts production history. He said that being an employee, he was able to get different combinations of options then the public. When he was building his 68 convertible he wanted the SD powertrain but not the badge and stripe package so he was able to order it without it. This got me onto the idea of the 69 convertibles, because I was looking at one, and asked if they built any with a big block 396 and he said that he actually assembled a few. I didnt really understand how because GM only had the SD option available to the deluxe line so I asked him how they were ordered. He told me that it was manly dealers and employees who could order the SD options outside of the deluxe line, somewhat like the Chevelles central office production order, and apply it to the custom line. He said that SD convertibles were more of an unofficial car because they were never advertised to the public and some never came with the Z25 option but with the L35 and L34 options. After hearing this I was wondering if this happened with another cars and he said it happened with all GM cars and told me about a friends 67 Nova that was supposed to come with buckets and a 4 speed but built with an automatic and bench, they corrected this before final assembly but the car was still tagged as an automatic and bench. I really like unique cars like this because they carry so much history. I asked if he had any idea the number of convertibles built and he told me that there were around 21 but wasnt positive but knew that there were at least 3 from the ones he built personally. I was happy that he was able to tell me this little bit of GMs history and very lucky to find one of these car. Another interesting thing he said was that they continued to export left over 69 Beaumonts till 71. He wasnt sure the number they exported because he worked on the assembly line but I thought that it would be very neat to own a 70 Beaumont. I will try to get my documentation on here so it can help to find the other 69 convertibles. My car right now is at a restoration shop in Glendale, Arizona where I will be moving this summer to retire and enjoy my cars all year and not worry about snow. Ill try to get back on here as soon as I can and help keep things updated. Thanks again and sorry about the long post.
Do not be sorry Steve, we love this kind of stuff. And love hearing about GM 's anomalies. We have members here for Chile that have some of those Beaumonts your talking about. Most seem to be the 68 body used each year . The also only come with the six and with a fiberglass big block hood. There are a few threads here about them with pics. do not hold back with posting pics etc as we love Pics.
Here is an add that Fred posted a while back. and here is a link to more about the chile cars.
i know the white 68 convertible your talking about,yes he is the original owner and he worked at the gm plant in oshawa when his car was being built, but it,s a 327 4speed bench seat custom series car. which has nothing to do with an SD..
Thats a cool story for a unique car What does GM Historical say about the build?
not to wander off BUT
I have a 2010 2SS/RS Camaro that was the 39th ever built #9A9000039
The pre production cars are called Captured Test Fleet cars (CTF)
My car has 2 sets of documentation from GM Historical (thanks to George) that list my cars production date as Jan 20-09
The car was photgraphed in Montreal Jan 15th (I have the photos and time stamps) The door says DEC 08!! The list of components for the car are all dated mid Dec 08? Strange? I checked, after reading, where to find the assembly date and time and the sticker on the frame rail says DEC 15-08
So here is a car GM says was built a month later?
George double checked for me and could not find out more My car was built before Rick Hendricks # 1 Camaro (Mar16-09) 9A9100001
He paid $350,000.00 for his... Mine is for sale for a little less.. 89%less (that is a price)
-- Edited by 427carl on Thursday 24th of March 2011 11:28:58 AM
This reminds me of the tale of the 302 Z/28 powered Firebirds that somehow left Oshawa for Trans Am racing teams, confrmed to exist by the man himself, George Z.
Thank Bill for that reminder, I also know that white Beaumont being spoken about, it is an awesome car with the 4 speed and 327....Custom, as Bill says and I have photographic proof below.
I too know of a man who was a supervisor at the Oshawa plant who had his 1966 Chevelle wagon made to personal specifications to mimic a SS. I know his son. Red with white roof and all SS equipment added with 327 and manual trans. He then watched over it's production.
While these stories sound like yarns , we hear about them far too often for them to be falsehoods and sometimes we even get G Z confirmation which is great.
Photos by 73SC, AutoFest 2009 & 2010
-- Edited by 73SC on Thursday 24th of March 2011 03:40:37 PM
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Ray White, Toronto ON
Formerly - The one and only 1973 LeMans 454 "Astro-Jet"
