Our November feature car hails from Lappeenranta, Finland and is owned by Markku Kervinen. This 1966 Beaumont Sedan was exported to the country fairly early in it's life. Markku has and is continuing to work to preserve the originality of the Beaumont while at the same time improve it's appearance and reliability. Markku tells us about the car's interesting history and how it ended up in Finland:

I am Markku Kervinen from Finland. I have been engaged in the construction of American cars and Harley Davidson motorcycles for over 30 years. I changed the Harley project to this Beumont project in December 2020. The Beaumont was dismantled to start the project.

I started by restoring the frame and its fasteners and welding in new floors . The original upholstery has been cleaned and restored. The engine and other technology was just serviced and installed back in place.

All joints and steering, chassis, and shock absorbers etc. were renovated with new parts. The renovation for next winter has already started. The purpose is to go through the engine, replace a new clutch and improve the fitment of body panels. This car will be kept as original as possible.

The car was apparently bought at Glacier service in Smithers, British Columbia. The car doesn't have either brake booster or power steering booster. It does not have a radio. The engine is a 194 straight six and "three on the tree".

There is no certainty but propably Finnish citizen Eino Niemelä ordered the car new. If brought to Finland even a radio would have been an expensive piece of equipment for tax reasons. In any case, Eino imported car when moving back to Finland in 1970 to my home town Lappeenranta. He worked in the sawmill industry and was in Canada learning about the local sawmill industry. From 1973 onwards the history is better known.

The car has passed into the ownership of a Transport Business named Kalevi Kela in Northern Finland. Due to the car's relatively minor rusting, this has been a good thing, because roads are not salted at all in the north. In the first car wash in Kajaani the wrong (or too strong) detergents were used in a car wshing mashine sometime in the late 70s and the shine of the paint was then lost thanks to that car washing machine.

From 1990 to 2019 the car had been parked in the corner of the garage (truck depo). From there my friend Harri Äijälä brought it back to Lappeenranta and we have started the restoration by dismantling the car. More to come! Thank you.