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Post Info TOPIC: December 2019 Feature Car


A Poncho Legend!

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December 2019 Feature Car


Sometimes we tend to forget that most of the Poncho's we covet today were daily driven in all weather conditions. They were exposed to salt, snow, rain, mud and because of this few good examples remain. However if one took proper steps (undercoating, regular cleaning etc) a car can survive these extreme elements. This brings us to our December feature car. Dave Anderson (a.k.a beaumontguru) joined Canadian Poncho back in February 2008, less than a month after the site was created. Dave is an asset to the website and an encyclopedia of all things Beaumont. While Dave has a few "nice weather" classics, his vehicle of choice for the harsh Manitoba winter is this 1967 Beaumont Custom four door sedan. It's safe to say if it weren't for Dave, this Beaumont would have been crushed years ago. While some may balk at driving a Beaumont for the winter, my hat is off to him for doing so. I'm sure you'll enjoy reading Dave's story about his Beaumont as much as I have:

Fall 1996.jpg

"The car that started it all. This is my 1967 Beaumont Custom 4dr sedan. I bought the car in the fall of 1996. I was 19 years old and this was my first Beaumont. My intentions were to find a good driver for winter. The dreaded Manitoba safety inspections had come into effect 6 months earlier, so finding a “safetied” winter driver was next to impossible.   I saw an ad in the Buy-And-Sell for this car out in Woodlands, so I went to look. It was safetied and a little pricey at 2200 dollars. It was a nice clean driver, and being used daily on the highway. Reliable, but not too nice for year round use. I bought it for 1800 and drove it back to the city.

 The Granada gold paint was cheap and fading bad. The first thing I did was a good cleaning and polish. It came back really shiny and looked fantastic. But faded fast.

 

1997.jpg

 

 

I drive the Beaumont every year, all winter, and only in the winter. I think I drove it occasionally in the summer for the first 2 years I owned it, but it is really just a winter only car.

Winter 1996.jpg

I have an interior car warmer, a really strong blower motor, and I put in a GM accessory rear window defogger (period correct and it works wonders in the cold). The engine has 2 block heaters, just in case one fails, but so far so good.

 

IMG_3398.JPG 

2001: The paint was starting to fade bad, but worst of all, so thin that half the car looked like grey primer, so I gave it a 2-tone black roof. I found some Magnum 500 style Buick rallys and sand cast some “cheetah” emblems for the front fenders. The black and gold really gave it a Conroy Pontiac “Cheetah” appearance. I ran it like that for a few years, but then got tired of it, and the rust was starting to get bad.

2002.JPG

2006.JPG

2001.jpg 

 

2002: The motor developed a fairly bad rod knock and piston slap, and was generally pretty tired, so I replaced the non-original 230 with a 250. I am on my second Powerglide. The car has factory power steering too. But its funny after all these years I never have sprung for the GM documents.

 

 

2008 fresh paint.JPG 

 

 

September 2008: I sanded the whole car down, and re-sprayed it with proper automotive paint (I used Single stage PPG Omni). A quick, and cheap, weekend job that took me maybe 3 days in total(Afterall, winter was coming). This time the sides were getting really rusty so I thought black would hide most of the rust. I drew up a paint scheme similar to my favourite NASCAR, the Smokey Yunick 1966 Chevelle. I made half of the passenger side quarter and trunk area, lots of welding and a bit of body filler. I replaced the badly rusted out hood at the same time.

 

2012.JPG

 

2012: I decided it was time to get rid of the terribly pushed in grill that had been driving me crazy for years. I took the front end part, and fixed body mounts, replaced the heater blower, and did a general nut-and-bolt on the whole front clip. Major improvement, got rid of all the squeaks and rattles, and now the grill sits straight. That same summer, I recovered the front seat base. The insert was bad and the foam was gone. I sewed up a really simple seat cover, tightened the springs, and added new foam.

 

100_7635 (2).JPG

IMG_1525 (2).jpg 

 

September 16, 2016: The 20 year anniversary: I started driving to work at Canadian Tire when I was just out of highschool in 1996, then College, and various jobs and now an extreme daily city commute. The car gets beat on and battered every day, but has never let me down or left me stranded after all these years. I have been running studded snow tires for about the last 15 years. In 2010 I upgraded to 15” wheels and had all 4 tires studded, I will never go back to anything else.

 

2013.JPG

 

I replaced the gas tank in 2015 with a brand new spectra premium one. At this point in time, there is no fooling around; the car has to be reliable. In the summer of 2017, I completely rebuilt the front suspension. New ball joints, tie rods, upper and lower bushings, shocks, etc. I have done brakes numerous times over the years, as well as other maintenance and cosmetic upgrades. I just recently installed the third or maybe fourth exhaust system in 2017. I also oil spray it with transmission fluid and chainsaw oil (About 3 times each winter). It is really saving the car, still no frame rust, but it does get more and more rust blisters every year. I plan to keep the car for as long as I can. When i bought it in 1996,  some people would have used it as a parts car, but it was too good for that. So here we are 23 years later, people comment that i am "wrecking that beaumont", my responce is: after 23 years of driving, i haven't wrecked it yet!

Jan 2016.jpg

 

Ya its gone thru a few incarnations, but i think it still looks better than every other beige Toyota on the road!"

2015.JPG



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Todd
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Canadian Poncho World Headquarters - Prince Edward Island

 



A Poncho Legend!

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And THAT is making use of your Beaumont all you can!!!

Cool, glad to see it there Dave!

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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles 

1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars (now converted to a "factory" 4 speed)

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Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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Very cool car & story. Congratulations on keeping that Beaumont on the road in your harsh conditions.

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70 2+2 convertible
70 2+2 hardtop
70 Parisienne hardtop

 

 



Addicted!

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Looking good Dave!! Good on you...I love your response to the guy about wrecking that Beaumont.Thats perfect...everyone does kind of forget these cars were used 24/7 as our daily drivers and I applaud you for taking such good care of it as your winter driver! How nice would it be to see Dave's car coming down Portage at -35° as something you could at least recognize in these days of countless cars that no body has a clue of what they are that are on the roads today!

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Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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a classic canadian winter road warrior! congrads on the long ownership and yes you have saved that car for sure merry xmas

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http://canadianponcho.activeboard.com/t51640378/timbuks-first-invader/ http://canadianponcho.activeboard.com/t63146560/timbuks-second-invader/  vancouver island



A Poncho Legend!

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I was actually tempted to call it a "Winter Warrior" on the banner!

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Todd
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Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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Great story and thanks for sharing.

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Jerel
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Guru

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Great write up on the "Winter Warrior" Dave! The rest of us are too faint at heart to drive our classics even in the rain let alone winter, but your Beaumont keeps going!

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Now appearing as "68 Grande" 

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Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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Excellent feature car, and appropriate for the time of year!  Using it like it was meant to be used! It's great that you've been able to keep it going all these years and a testament to how you can make a car last if you give it proper care.



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Addicted!

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great story dave!it is so much more fun to be in a classic car winter or summer then any new stuff!i applaud ur  facing the brutal elements in ur cool beaumont !!



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dan lavoie


Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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Great car story, I agree totally with your use for o f the car, a beige corolla got nothing on this one. Oh dear, you dont have air bags, cruise, abs, 4wd, fwd, accident avoidance, efi, automatic start, push button start, safe bumpers, Bluetooth, the list goes on. I sarcastically say you dummy .

Congrats on a unique use of a 67 car and being the feature car.

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63 Parisienne sport coupe (The Big GTO), black, maroon interior, 409 4 speed; former owner of a 59 El Camino, 63 Corvette SWC, 62 Chev Bel Air SC.
1963- Pontiac top selling car in Canada

Mahone Bay, NS Still not old enough to need an automatic



A Poncho Legend!

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DonSSDD wrote:

Great car story, I agree totally with your use for o f the car, a beige corolla got nothing on this one. Oh dear, you dont have air bags, cruise, abs, 4wd, fwd, accident avoidance, efi, automatic start, push button start, safe bumpers, Bluetooth, the list goes on. I sarcastically say you dummy .

Congrats on a unique use of a 67 car and being the feature car.


 He did cheat on one thing though if I am right. It seems to me this car now sports an auto dimming/compass/temperature mirror! Hopefully Dave will correct me if I'm wrong.



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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles 

1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars (now converted to a "factory" 4 speed)

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Addicted!

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Had to do some welding today so put my car outside...It started snowing no less so I had to put the car away again...Something to be said for having a great old car for all seasons!

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Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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Ha,  thanks for all the feedback.  ya it does have an auto dimming mirror with temp display, since its winter, i am always driving in the dark so the auto dim is great.  There is also a sort of cool factor when you hop in on a winter morning and check the temp display to see a Minus 30.



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Beaumontguru

MY BEAUMONT HAS 4 STUDDED TIRES AND 2 BLOCKHEATERS......AND LOTS OF OIL UNDERNEATH.  The other one has a longer roof.



Addicted!

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Love it and hopefully 23 more years!

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No Bike Mike

1968 Parisienne 2+2 Convertible

1984 Correct Craft Southwind

1994 Cruisers Aria

2005 GMC K1500 



Poncho Master!

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Good story dave



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A Poncho Legend!

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Looks like he will test out the dual block heaters Tuesday night, forecast is -30....

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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles 

1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars (now converted to a "factory" 4 speed)

Fall into savings UP TO C $50 OFF Shop now
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Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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Awesome. A car of that vintage that isn't perfect can be made to beat the odds as a year-round driver with a proper water-displacing oil periodically. Weatherstrip needs to work properly. Thorough spring cleaning is mandatory. Aftermarket fenders & quarters are available if you don't mind cutting them.

One thing though. Check that frame! They can crack around the A-arms, and slow rusting can add up to a lot over many decades. Body mount holes can erode to almost nothing and be hidden by rubber bushings. The nice thing is these full frame cars can be fixed. How many daily-driver unibody Fairlanes survived in the rust belt?



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67 Chevelle Malibu Sport Coupe, Oshawa-built 250 PG never disturbed.

In garage, 296 cid inline six & TH350...

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A Poncho Legend!

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Long may you run! Good stuff!



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Prince Edward Island

'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.



Uber Guru

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seventy2plus2 wrote:

Very cool car & story. Congratulations on keeping that Beaumont on the road in your harsh conditions.


 What Clint said.........great to see this Beaumont being used as designed.......love the 67's......smile



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......big block, 4 speed, bench seat, it doesn't get much better

 happy motoring :burnout

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