History Canadian Pontiacs - Whats Up ???

canadien pontiacs were rebadged chevies, nothing more.

 

You may be thinking of Argentina. They got the 61-66 F-100 body style for some time after it was superceded in North America. They have all sorts of oddball combinations, including a separate bed with the body lines of a 61-63 unibody (including the tailgate) and y-blocks with Windsor heads.

 

If you click on this link you should see a dark blue Canadian Pontiac with a factory 409 and 4 speed.
http://www.bruneauperformance.ca/intro.html
If you click on "test drive" below the picture there's a really cool video taken from the passengers seat.
On the side bar to the left there's a link to an article about Canadian Pontiacs.

I recently bought a 61 bubbletop Canadian Pontiac project car. This particular car left the factory with a six cylinder Chevy but the 348 ci Chevy was an option. I'll put a 409 in it.

 

I had a buddy in college who had a '67 Pontiac Beaumont. The beaumont (like the acadian) was a Chevelle based car with chevy drive train (in his case a 327). What was really interesting about the A-body was that it was a chevelle but it had the tempest/lemans/GTO dash metal and supports. The grill was unique to that car as was the taillights - neither pontiac nor chevy. I have to say it was a great looking car.

 

Well, no, they were built with parts for a Pontiac on a longer wheelbase chassis.

 

This is not true on the full size cars, at least from 55-70. The undercarriages and drivetrains were the same, but the exterior sheetmetal was all different stampings. The early Acadians used the same body as the Chevy II with different grilles and taillights. Beaumonts used Chevelle sheetmetal with different grilles and taillights.

 

that is not quite true. yes, they had Chevy underpinnings, but the body panels, brake system, dash, interior were all Pontiac. The tail was more Pontiac than Chevy, but was unique. Very unusual and unique. I hope they are more "collectible" than just "rare"

my car was also available with a 409. Man, that would really make it worth some bucks

 

i know my 1950 canadian coupe has the chevy style tail lights in it not the round ones like in the american models

 

There are all kinds of subtle differences. I put a set of "Chevrolet" script valve covers on my 1958 283 in my Belair. A retired Oshawa GM worker informed me that the valve covers were for a US car. It seems that the Canadian valve covers were plain (without script) because the Ponchos were built in the same plant and it avoided confusion during assembly.

 

I saw something online that stated there were some "Pontiac" scripted valve covers on Chevy engines.

 

I have had several 50's Canadian Pontiacs - and still have a 57' Laurentian. Canadian pontiacs had their own line, so its easy to tell them apart. Laurentians, Pathfinders, Pathfider Deluxe, etc. were all not sold in the US.

 

The '37 Canadian Pontiac coupe I used to have had the Chevrolet body but all Pontiac running gear. 6 cly flathead car with 4/56 rear gears that ended up in a '50 Olds coupe.

 

I took this photo at the 2016 Atlantic Nationals in Moncton, New Brunswick. I believe it's a 1953 Canadian Pontiac or possibly 1954...

 

No,it's a 51 or 52

 

This 55 Canadian Pontiac 2 door station wagon is a good example. A 55 Chevrolet complete front end (sheetmetal) will bolt/swap right on, and the same with the tail lights. It's hard to see much of the dash, but does it have the 55 Chevrolet dash? I saw a 55 Canadian Pontiac sedan delivery that had a 55 Chevrolet dash. It had a 261 and 3 speed column shifted transmission also. 115 inch wheelbase also, the same as the same year Chevrolet; Chevrolet frame and suspensions, and a Chevrolet rear end. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

We got the Canadian Pontiacs down here as rebadged Chevies but RHD export CKD.

 

They were more than rebadged Chevies as the bodies were different. Holdens assembled them in Oz.

 

This Parisienne convertible has lived in NZ since new. In comparison the car in the foreground is a recently imported US Catalina two door post sedan

 

30 and 40s bodies were local GMH and were not interchangable with Nth American bodies apart from firewalls, fenders, hoods etc. 50s onwards shared the same / similar platform; minor differences, grills, dashes and fenders etc. The later 60s models used the basic same platform with generic export dashes that didn't resemble the Nth American versions. Chevs and Pontiacs were GMH mainstay from 1949 to 1968, by 1967 GMH had rolled out more local content with the Nth American models no longer being offered in full volume. Some later models were imported and converted but not by GMH but by smaller firms. A lot of history in the Holden book. Holden, like Ford, didn't like retooling and did things differently with carry over generic bodies etc. eg. 48 Olds, Ponticas and Chevs user earlier 42 style bodies with suicide rear doors. 'A' pillars are more upright, no separate garnish molds like Nth American cousins, electric wipers and not vacuum Body assembly dropped from 25K in 1948 to 8K in 1967. 1959 Chev was the last 6cyl offered in Oz until the 70 when the C10 was offered by GMH. 1948 was the last year of the 'Australian' bodied Nth American sedans.

 

BTT. An interesting thread.

 

How rare is a '58 CDN Pontiac sedan delivery?
I once read that the tail lights are quite rare.

 

An interesting one. 65 Pontiac 409 4 speed one of 70-some.

http://canadianponcho.activeboard.com/t63289032/march-2017-feature-car/

 

That's an American model 1950 Pontiac. You can see it has the Pontiac (somewhat egg-shaped) headlight bezels, and the protruding spear in the fender behind the headlight bezel that runs horizontal down the fender The Canadian cars had smooth side fenders and a symmetrically round headlight bezel.

The bumper and guards on the front of it are not original, they look to be 1953 Chevy.

 

I am a Canadian, and have owned and ridden in a lot of Pontiacs in my 74 years. I just wanted to say how interesting and complete your history was relating to the models became intermixed. I was going to make an attempt to write a bit of a history, but your contribution makes this unnecessary.
There are a few things that could be added, but nothing that changes your history.
I can add, that even though the auto pact was signed in 67, some manufacturers continued to offer some of the distinctively Canadian models until they used up their stock.
I still own a 67 Mercury 1 ton truck, and know that Ford continued selling the Mercury branded truck until the end of the 68 model year.
Back in the late 50, a buddy of mine had a 55 Pontiac with the 261 six banger and the three on the tree. Because of the higher geared rearend, with a good start and a little luck, we were able to take on the standard 265s and 283s and win more often than not.
Bob

 

Rare. Stupid rare, actually. There can't be more than a couple dozen left., and probably less than that.

 

I don't know if the writing was on the wall, but the Acadians and Beaumonts never used the word Pontiac in their badging unlike the Parisienne, the Laurentian and the Strato Chief. In 1962, I drove my 1955 261 powered Pontiac to Indy for the Nationals. Every time we stopped for gas, it caused quite a stir like a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Warren

 

I would give my right nut & my 54' belair 2 dr sedan for a 1966,67,68 beaumont , very unique with the Chevelle /GTO mix . IMO