"It was called a Pontiac Acadian in the companys internal parts and service manuals, but to customers, it was marketed as a distinct, stand-alone brand that was sold through Pontiac dealers."

That statement is not accurate unfortunately.

I have the service manual for my '66 Beaumont - nowhere is the Pontiac name mentioned. Parts bin marques go back to the early days of the industry - Pontiac itself (started as Oakland), Mercury, Edsel, and, latterly, Scion, Lexus, Infiniti, and Genesis.

What was different about Acadian-Beaumont was that they were never marketed apart from the mainstream Pontiac-Buick-GMC offerings - no special signage, separate dealer agreements, let alone separate sales & service facilities or dedicated sales people.

One suspects that the Pontiac hierarchy, in those days being Pete Estes, and then John Delorean, resisted using the Indian head on otherwise Chevrolet products, lest "brand confusion" set in when some of us ventured to Florida for the winter, or to Watkins Glen for some racing action. Never mind that they ALL (including Olds, Buick and Cadillac) shared glass, transmissions, differentials, radios etc. to varying degrees, by the time this came along.

My old girl shot craps on me "out in the county" yesterday (failed Holley Sniper EFI fuel pump...more to follow) and I had a lot of people slow to offer help and admire her before my pals, and AAA's rollback, showed up. At least three wondered, "what the hell kind of Chevelle is that???".

Always draws a crowd at local gatherings. Wish I could've gotten her up to the Dream Cruise this year, but wasn't able to resolve the heating issue until after we got back.

Well, at least the rebadged Chevettes were!  But, in a fitting turn of events, Canadian-built Parisiennes (Caprices with distinctive trim) were marketed stateside as Pontiacs, twenty years after the Acadian/Beaumont era.