It's my pleasure to feature Mike Ward's 1966 Beaumont Sport Deluxe this month. Mike is part of the "Manitoba Gang", a great bunch of guys who's blood runs Poncho red! Mike tells us more about this beautiful Beaumont:

When I worked pumping gas as a teenager, driving my 66 Valiant, Saturdays at the station was a gathering point for all the guys driving their 66/67 Chevelle's and Beaumont's. A friend’s 66 Beaumont Sport Deluxe, Big Block, 4sp car was far and away my favourite of all of them. I eventually got myself in the game with a 72 Nova but I’ve always thought that the 66 Beaumont was one of the prettiest and meanest cars out there. I’ve owned and sold so many – 62 Impala, 70 Chevelle SS396, 67 Impala SS427 (clone) among them – but if I have any regrets it’s selling my 70 Acadian SS 4 spd. I bought it from the original owner and babied it until the day I decided to put it up for sale at what I thought was a ridiculous price! But forty years later I find myself in the fortunate position of owning both a 72 Nova SS and a 66 Beaumont Sport Deluxe.

I found my Beaumont listed for sale in Victoria BC. I contacted the owner and developed an instant rapport with him. After a few calls I tentatively purchased it over the phone on July 14, 2014.

My wife and I flew to Victoria July 25 with Cragar wheels and tires checked as baggage, which got the wheels there for me and ended up being a funny story. The owner picked us up at the airport, took us to the car for our first look and then on to his condo where he was kind enough to let us stay for the duration of our visit in Victoria.

The car was as represented so the next day he picked me up and we got the transfer of ownership and temp insurance done, had my wheels installed on the car and prepped for the 2,000 km drive home.

We arrived home after three long uneventful days driving, other than all the eyes turning our way

It was originally a Manitoba car, blue on blue Sport Deluxe with a 230 – 6 cyl. Somewhere in its travels out west the 230 came out and a 307 went in, the blue seats, door panels and dash pad were replaced with black and a fresh repaint was applied.

It’s a great driver so I didn’t have any serious issues with leaving it just the way it was, but with my Nova undergoing a complete refresh and big block upgrade, I had a ZZ4 350 crate motor looking for a home and happened upon a Turbo 350 transmission from Carl. Didn’t take long for the 307 and Powerglide to come out and with a little helpful information from a couple of other members, the ZZ4 and TH350 went in. That combination has made it just a little more fun to drive.

There’s a few more little things that I’d like to do to the Beaumont but right now the Nova has my undivided attention and is my budget priority.

The Canadian Poncho Forum has become a daily habit for me. It’s such a great resource for anything Beaumont (in my case) and there’s always help with any technical issue that arises, be it on existing threads or starting a new one to solicit information from members. Making friends along the way is the best part. Can’t say enough about the Winnipeg group and having the opportunity to meet members from across the country.