Hi Guys(and Gals),

I've been thinking about posting here for a couple of weeks now....my recent interest in Acadians and Beaumonts was spurred by seeing the Pappas Cheetah at the last  Royal City Show and Shine in New Westminster.

I never realized that there were local or Canadian for that matter, Dealer built Super Muscle cars, what really blew me away was that it was Conroy Pontiac in West Vancouver that built them...the reason being that my Dad was the Parts Dept. manager there from the early sixties right up until he retired in the early nineties. From a google image search for Beaumont Cheetah I found this sight, one poster even suggested that my dad would have been the guy to talk to about these cars...

I'm sure he would have known the program from start to finish and would have sourced the factory and aftermarket goodies that went into those things..sadly he passed away in 1998 an I can't ask any questions.

All through the sixties and into the early eighties he had a Dealer car, a new Pontiac or Buick that he would sometimes factory order to suit our family, drive about 15,000 miles and then turn it in to be sold as a Demo, which didn't take long as he commuted from Coquitlam to West Vancouver, about 25 miles each way. He did tell me I came home from the hospital in a white '62 Acadian Wagon. The rest of the sixties was a mix of Beaumont or Buick Wagons with V8's and trailer towing packages to pull our trailer.

Occassionally, usually over a weekend, he brought home a floor demo model, one time a 2 + 2 Parisienne ragtop, yellow with a psychadelic black 2 inch square checkerboard over paint. The real pinnacle was the '69 Trams Am he brought home for the weekend, the teenagers in our neighbourhood lucky enough to have thier licence had a chance to drive this thing with my Dad in the passenger seat and me and my brothers in the backseat  demanding More Rubber! After my parents divorced in the late seventies and the wagons werent required he got into ordering Trans Ams. The one I remember most was a 79 T/A he ordered because it was the last year of the 400, also selected was the WS6 heavy Duty Suspension and 4 wheel disc brake package, gold metallic paint, unpainted snowfke mags, t-tops and no decals, he didnt care for the Screaming Chicken on the hood. I was in high school and borrowed that thing whenever I could. I also remember a 74 or 75 Lemans Sport Coupe with I think a 455, white, blue interior and two tone blue graphcis that wrapped over the roof and along the tops of the doors then along the tops of the fenders, rally wheels I think, we took it, he and I, on a road trip to Alberta that summer, A great road car!

My first car was a 66 Ford Galaxie 500 that was a trade in at the dealership a nice car but so rusted underneath was the frame I came out one morning and the rear bumber had one side hanging on the ground...one of my friends backed into with a pickup shortly after and it was totaled...the hunt was on for a new car with the $ 300 ICBC gave us for the Ford.

My good friends neighbour had a 67 Acadian for sale and called me up to let me know, I hadnt noticed this thing before because of the trees between the houses, so me and my Dad went to take a look. It was an original owner, original paint Canso Sport Deluxe, green metallic, black interior with a 194 / powerglide. The front fenders were rusted out on both sides along the hood line, my dad didnt seem too concerned...a quick test drive and I think $ 600.00 bucks brought it home. A week later there was a pair of newly stamped front fenders in the backseat of his car and a family friends son was contracted to put them on and give the car a quick respray.I should have kept the original colour, Verdero Green? but went with a Cadillac burgundy they had extra of and added a lot more metallic. I'll post some pics as soon as I find them, turned out well for a $250 Maaco job....

The six was tired and burning oil and we thought of a ring and valve job but I had a better idea...found a 67 Nova 4 door 283 / Powergide in the Buy and Sell and for $400 had a V8 donor car, swapped the V8 in my Auto shop class and sold the parts off of the sedan and made about $300 back. Drove it about a year longer and sold it for $ 2000 when I was between jobs. Ran into the new owner a couple months later all banged up at the local pub and he told me wrapped it headon into a tree in Stanley Park. I was crushed...A few weeks later another friend told me he saw my Acadian in a Surrey front yard...I went to take a look. My car alright, could still read the feb. 1979 yellow date stamps on the inside of the front fenders, front end was toast, dash was pushed in about 6 inches in the centre, even more crushed...

Drive a Pontiac Grand Am daily and getting to a place where I can have a weekend driver in the garage. Anybody know where I can pickup a Sport Deluxe for $ 600?

Thanks for taking the time to read this if you've come this far, feels good to talk cars for a change...

Brent