Big-block Pontiac Beaumont ruled the road

Car collector George Pappas was just a kid living in Vancouver's Main Street neighbourhood when he saw his first Cheetah.

The specially badged 1968 Pontiac Beaumont Sport Deluxe with a huge 427-cubic-inch engine and four-speed transmission was in for service at Jim Pattison Pontiac Buick. George's older brother tried to get his dad to buy it and trade in his more sedate 307-cubic-inch V8-equipped Pontiac Beaumont.

But this was a customer's car and not for sale. Nevertheless, the 427-cubic-inch, four-speed Cheetah left a huge impression on young George.

Mike Carmichael, general manager of West Vancouver's Conroy Pontiac Buick, had noticed a new car buying trend focused on exciting performance muscle cars. He set out to capture this market with his own dealer-built supercars.

He began to factory order Canadian-only Beaumont Sport Deluxe models (which only came with Chevrolet drivelines) and add the Cheetah package with high performance options that could make them into street or drag strip racers.

Of the approximately 50 Cheetahs built, most came equipped with 396-cubic-inch engines and M20 wide ratio four-speed transmissions. But no more than 10 of these cars got the high horsepower 427-cubic-inch L72 engines with four-speed transmissions and other performance equipment installed in the West Vancouver shop.

A low number were built in 1965 with small block V8 engines. In 1966, a dozen big block Beaumont SD Cheetah cars were sold. The years 1966, 1967 and 1968 saw over 40 big block Cheetah cars sold, some with 427-cubic-inch 450-horsepower engines.

Only three Cheetah Beaumont's are believed to have been built and sold in 1969. They were not the Sport Deluxe model and only used the 350cubic-inch engines. The only Cheetah ever built with an automatic transmission was one of these three. It was the Conroy-sponsored drag race car.

Meanwhile, Nickey Chevrolet in Chicago, Baldwin Motion on Long Island, N.Y., and Yenko Chevrolet in Canons-berg, Pa. were building the new Chevrolet Camaro into super cars with 427-cubic-inch engines and lightweight fibreglass hoods. These cars were eating up the pavement.

In 1969, General Motors introduced the COPO (Central Office Production Order) allowing 427-cubic-inch engine availability in Camaro and Chevelle muscle cars. Conroy Pontiac is believed to be the second dealer-ship in North America, behind Nickey Chevrolet, to produce dealer-built super cars to be followed by Baldwin Motion and Yenko.

Most of these Beaumont SD models were high-option cars with special striping, vinyl roofs, metallic brakes, in-dash tachometers, headrests on the bucket seats and centre consoles. The dealership also sold a low number of stripped down COPO-like Cheetahs.

Pappas stops on a quiet road south of Vancouver where there are no homes or access roads. He tells his passenger to hold on. The Cheetah's 427-cubic-inch engine suddenly revs high as the car leaps forward with the front end lifting. The engine roars as the tachometer hits the red line and Pappas speed shifts into second gear. The violent acceleration increases as Pappas hits third gear. With the power now becoming alarming, he brakes sharply to slow the car back to the speed limit.

The raw horsepower had pinned the passenger to the seat. This is a total drag strip rocket ship presented exactly the way it left Conroy Pontiac 45 years ago.

George's Verde Green 1967 Pontiac Beaumont Sport Deluxe with the Cheetah package has a subtle factory stripe low on the body between the bumpers, sport mirrors, bucket seats with headrests, in-dash tachometer, four-speed transmission and custom American Racing Wheels.

Cheetah by Conroy badges are on the body, the dashboard and the engine. The 427-cubic-inch, 450-horsepower engine is brightened with chrome accessories and dealer-installed headers.

How rare is this car? It is one of approximately 10 built with only two 427 Cheetah cars known at this time.

Pappas is all about research. Years ago, he set out to purchase all the factory high-performance, 396, 427 and 454-cubic-inch engines that were available in Western Canada by advertising in newspapers. One of the engines was stamped Cheetah 427. Once that engine was in his possession, he worked hard to find the car that it belonged to.

After locating the owner of the car, he called persistently until he was able to make the purchase. He then detailed the car from front to back and underneath before installing the original 427-cubic-inch engine mated to the M20 four-speed transmission.

He knows of approximately six more Cheetah cars, including two restoration projects with an owner in Maple Ridge. He has started a Conroy Pontiac Cheetah registry and is trying to find as many original and subsequent owners of these cars as possible as well as the cars themselves.

The demise of the dealer-made Cheetah muscle cars came in 1969 when GM of Canada started to build the Pontiac GTO U.S. model at the company's Oshawa, Ont., plant. For the first time, Pontiac dealers had easy access to Canadian-produced muscle cars with all Pontiac running gear. This included 400-cubic-inch engines and available four-speed transmissions along with other performance options. High-performance 455-cubic-inch engines would be available in 1970 models within a few months effectively ending the Cheetah project.

Canadian-built Pontiac Beaumont cars were not produced after the 1969 model year. This marked an end to the era of General Motors of Canada building Pontiac cars with Chevrolet drivelines.

Anyone with any documents, original photographs or any information on the Cheetah muscle cars is invited to contact Pappas at cheetahregistry@ shaw.ca

Alyn Edwards is a classic car enthusiast and partner in Peak Communicators, a Vancouver-based public relations company. Contact him at aedwards@peakco.com