We have a real treat for you wagon lovers! David Anderson is the owner of this cool 1965 Beaumont Deluxe Station Wagon. Dave rescued this car from certain demise in a field a few years ago. What he created is the ultimate "fantasy" Beaumont. Dave's skill and ingenuity is quite obvious when you see the finished result! Here's the story:

I first discovered this car around 2015 on Kijiji Saskatchewan.  The car was being cleared out of a field so I contacted with the idea of just wanting the roof rack for my 64 chevelle wagon.  I was not in a position to go get the Beaumont from Saskatchewan and the seller was very uncooperative and would not sell parts, so I just gave up and forgot about it.  I saved the pics on my computer and sure wished it had been closer at the time.

Then in January 2019  I stumbled on the same car in another Kijiji ad.  This time it was in Yorkton and being advertised for parts. It was already striped and days away from the crusher.   I talked to the seller about the roof rack and a deal was made.   I then talked to the gentleman neumerous other times over the week and I provided a lot of help and “Beaumont” expertise as he was building a 65 convertible.  Next thing I know he offers to bring the whole leftover shell to me on his trailer. No extra charge! I just paid for the roof rack.

At first I really didn’t know what to expect having only seen a few pics, and the seller did say the floor was shot. This is how it looked when I took delivery. It was stripped of all the “good stuff”.  Mouse interior, no floor, no trim, but original numbers matching 283 3 speed.

I cleaned it up and completely striped it down even further to a bare shell and did a good assessment.   This is a Beaumont “Deluxe” with a rubber floor covering(not carpet).  The rubber mat is what killed the floor from years of sitting in the field.  This car was last on the road in 1985!!!  Upon further investigation I discovered it was a fairly solid Saskatchewan field car with original paint and was not modified.  I got lucky as I found the floor braces and inner rockers were still mint.  So I decided to build it.  The GM documentation yielded just 142 beaumont V8 deluxe wagons were ever built. It was sold new in Prince George BC and had a Wagar motors Sturgis sticker too so I think it was in Saskatchewan most of its life.

First up I had to locate all the trim and missing parts.  Most of these parts I had in my inventory but I did not have a grill or front end trim. I also did not have a hood.  A few Poncho members and some local ads netted almost all the parts I needed including some locally sourced floor pans off Kijiji!  I couldn't find one “deluxe” emblem so I resin cast my own set from a single sample.

I did all the floor work myself that summer along with scratch building the lower quarters, the complete spare tire well, and the wagon body mounts, as well as piecing together a dogleg and rocker from various parts cars and panels in my inventory.   Nothing is available aftermarket so I just built all my own stuff.    The firewall was rusted thru from the inside due to mice.  So I sourced a firewall from a parts car and grafted the section in.  My goal was to have all the metal and rust repairs done before winter so I could do everything outside with fresh air supply.

Once winter rolled around I started on bodywork, glass re-sealing, full seam sealing, replacing all the weatherstrip, and generally getting the car leak-proof and sealed like a new car again.  I went thru the wiring and repainted everything inside

 I had a brand new 1964 Malibu interior given to me from PUI about 20 years ago.  I had supplied them with the original samples from a Malibu wagon so they could start reproducing them and they gave me the first run off the line. Due to the fact I had a free complete Aqua interior lying around the decision was made to change the interior color from fawn to Aqua. I was able to salvage and vinyl dye the original Beaumont Deluxe door panels which have a unique pattern. I think it looks way nicer in this color and I am just going to have to live with the Bowtie on the seats for now! I installed a black carpet to simulate the rubber mat and have a white painted roof for now. The headliner is to be done later.

I completely rebuilt the entire suspension, brakes, exhaust system, and installed a junkyard smallblock with a floor shift manual trans that first winter.  By spring it was “restored” and I drove it for the first time exactly one year after it was unloaded off the trailer.  That same winter I received the original hood back from the guy I bought the car from…..super bonus!!!!

The Danube Blue paint is original and was just polished and of course touched up where the repairs were made.  There are lots of dents and body damage, tie-down strap marks from when it was destined for the crusher, and tractor scrape marks, etc. They will all stay and that’s how I want it to be.

I drove it alot the first summer with the junker sbc. The next fall I blew it all apart again and rebuilt a mostly correct appearing L79 350HP 327.  A friend of mine bought a brand new  65 chevelle L79 and had reference pictures from the day he bought it in 1965. His was a Canadian car so I built and restored the engine bay of the wagon to look as close to a Canadian L79 as possible. I made all the correct L79 details like the crazy twisted thermostat, Holley carb, bypass hose, inline fuel filter, firewall mounted aluminum coil, chrome valve covers, air cleaner etc. I also installed the famous 151 grind cam too. I had it all finished and back on the road for spring.  I have now been driving it again all this summer.

A zero optioned 1965 Beaumont Deluxe L-79 station wagon.  PERFECT!