It's hard to believe that this month's feature car was destined for the crusher. Luckily Kevin Casey rescued this 1969 Beaumont Custom from certain death and transformed it into this spectacular SD396 tribute. What's even more incredible is the transformation was done solely by Kevin in a single car garage! Kevin give us the details:
"My labour of love started in 1986 when a friend of mine told me about a 1969 Custom Beaumont that was going to go to the auto wreckers. He informed me that I could probably buy it for scrap price $70.00! I called up the owner and went over for a gander, low and behold I found a 1969 Custom Beaumont with 70,000 original miles. It had a 6-cylinder engine with a powerglide transmission; power steering and power drum brakes. The car was in very good shape for its age and having seen a few Ontario winters! I worked for GM and had purchased new fenders and inner fenders that were still available. This was not my first encounter with the Beaumont, I had a 1967 and a 1969 Deluxe Beaumont prior to this one. I took out the engine and replaced it with a .030 over 327 with a 350-turbo and shift kit. The car had new quarter panels installed, front fenders and a big block hood that I had found for $100.00. It was painted Verdoro green with black interior.
I drove the car for a few years and it got parked when my wife and I bought a new house in 1989. Two daughters and a house took up all of my time and the car was forgotten. It sat quietly in the garage for 10 years waiting to reemerge. That is when I decided to bring it back to its full potential, a SD 396 clone! I built a rotator in my single car garage and started the transformation. The frame was blasted and epoxy primed, then painted with chassis black paint, all the control arms and torque arms were blasted as well. The whole underside of the car was stripped and epoxy primed, two of the floor cross members were replaced and plug welded in to look original. Two sections of the trunk floor were replaced due to a leaky back window. Then the whole underside was painted with chassis black paint, 5 coats!
All the suspension was replaced and disk brakes were added, a 3:73 12-bolt rear axle and rear frame reinforcements were installed. A .030 over 396 was the choice of my power plant with a wide ratio Muncie 4 speed and rear frame reinforcements.
The exhaust is 2 1/2 stainless with stainless mufflers and 2 1/4 tailpipes, bent to Beaumont specs. The entire interior was replaced along with power windows and tinted glass, gauges and a factory tach were also installed. A tilt wheel and a factory pushbutton AM FM radio (converted to stereo) were added as well. All the chrome was redone as well as the bumpers; bumperettes were installed front and rear. I added the SD emblem to the right hand white metal piece between the back up lights. The car was painted Matador red to look like the SD in the dealer brochure The tires are redline radials on 14 x 6 rallie rims with new rings and Beaumont flat caps, all the white SD stripes were added.
I have recently changed the trans to a Tremec 5 speed and added the tips to the exhaust. A steering box from a Camaro was added to stiffen up the road feel and to make it more responsive. I am now in the midst of adding Vigiite ( lamp monitoring) having a hard time finding the pieces though. An A.I.R pump and tubes have also been added to keep it in the GM specs."
Wow Kevin great job and a awesome story!!! Beautiful car and a great job on saving it and brining it back to life!! Congrats on being the feature car this month!! Great choice Todd!!
What's not to love about this car? Most of all, the color with the white stripes does it for me. Next cool factor is that this car was rescued and never sold....great story!
'64 Parisienne CS "barn find" - last on the road in '86 ... Owner Protection Plan booklet, original paint, original near-mint aqua interior, original aqua GM floor mats, original 283, factory posi, and original rust.
Thanks guys for all the kind words and praise ! I thank Todd for asking me to submit my car and I love being part of the Canadian Poncho Family, you guys are the inspiration for all of us !!!!
Well you know I love 69 beaumonts and just love what you did to yours. You sure added some great options . I can only hope my project ends up as nice as yours. Way to go.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,fantastic story and an absolutely fantastic result - and youve done all of the work yourself - well done,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,very nice piece of iron!!!!!