Was wondering if anyone can answer this. Why were American vehicles rebadged when they were sold in Canada? i.e. Dodge to Fargo, Ford to Mercury etc. Why didn't they just retain their American names?
You know, they weren't "re-badged" and sold in Canada. They were made in Canada. And we didn't have Mercury instead of Ford, we had Mercury AND Ford. Dodge trucks were sold at Dodge dealers; Fargo trucks were sold at Plymouth dealers. Beaumonts weren't re-badged Chevelles, they were Pontiacs, that were built as Pontiacs, in Canada, and sold as Pontiac Beaumonts. We just had more selection.
Late 50s Canadian Mopars were cool.... My 1959 Dodge Viscount had a 1959 Dodge front end and a 1959 Plymouth rear end!
With Fords, it was simple, not every town in Canada had a Ford dealer and a Lincoln-Mercury dealer. So, the LM dealers needed a low priced car, initially a 114" wheelbase Ford with a Mercury grille, that later became the Meteor. The Ford dealers wanted a medium priced car, that would be the Monarch, a rebadged Mercury. This is also why Mercury trucks were sold there, and not just pickups, COEs, Vans, Econolines, and there was a Meteor Ranchero too. Pontiac sold the Acadian and the Beaumont because, well, back in the 50s and 60s the "big 3" in Canada were Chev, Ford and Pontiac. Same with Vauxhalls.. the flopped in the US but were quite successful north of the border, also because they came from the British commonwealth and had a tax advantage I am told. They were sold by Pontiac dealers, Chevy dealers wanted a piece of the action so the Envoy "brand" of rebadged Vauxhalls came out for Chevrolet dealers to sell.
1962 Acadian Invader and logo Acadian coupe 1963 Acadian Beaumont convertible 1962 Acadian coupe 1965 Acadian Acadian was a make of automobile produced by General Motors of Canada from 1962 to 1971. The Acadian was introduced so that Canadian Pontiac-Buick dealers would have a compact model to sell, since the Pontiac Tempest was unavailable in Canada. Plans originally called for the Acadian to be based on the Chevrolet Corvair, which was produced at GM's Oshawa plant; however, the concept was moved to the Chevy II platform to be introduced for 1962. The brand was also offered in Chile, with models built in Arica. Initially, Acadians were retrimmed Chevy IIs, offered as a base model, mid-priced Invader and top-line Beaumont. The car used Pontiac styling cues such as a split grille but was marketed as a separate make, never as a Pontiac. As with the concurrent Chevy II, Acadians were offered with 4-cylinder, 6-cylinder and V8 engines. There was a choice of transmission, depending upon the model and engine installed, 3 and 4 speed manual gearboxes or the 2-speed Powerglide automatic. For 1964 and 1965, the Beaumont name was moved to a retrimmed version of the intermediate Chevrolet Chevelle, at which time the name Canso was applied to the top-line compact model, equivalent of the Nova.<SUP id=cite_ref-0 cl***=reference>[1]</SUP> Data for the 1966 Acadian were: engines available were six-cylinder (194 cid, 8.5 compression ratio, 120 bhp rated) or V8 (283 cid, 9.25 or 11.0 compression ratios available, 195 bhp or 220 bhp respectively); overall length of 15.250 feet (4.648 m); overall width of 5.942 ft (1.811 m); height of 4.483 ft (1.367 m); turning circle of 38.40 ft (11.70 m); front track of 4.733 ft (1.443 ft) and rear track of 4.692 ft (1.430 m). Its fuel tank held 13.5 imperial gallons.<SUP id=cite_ref-1 cl***=reference>[2]</SUP> 1966 Acadian Canso 1966-69 Beaumonts continued to use the Chevrolet Chevelle body with minor styling revisions, including different taillights and a Pontiac-style split grille, but dropped the Acadian name as Beaumont became its own separate make. The interior used the instrument panel from the American Pontiac Tempest/LeMans/GTO series. Drivetrains were the same as the contemporary Chevelle, as were model offerings. The one exception to Chevelle/Beaumont availability was a base-model Beaumont convertible. Such a model was never available in the Chevelle line. All Acadians and Beaumonts used Chevrolet engines and drivelines. The Beaumont was dropped after 1969, after which Canadian dealers sold the Pontiac LeMans.
All the Pontiacs that were built here were sourced from Canada and had the Canadian names (Laurentian, parissiene) and were Right hand drive.
There's a story behind that... McLaughlin was a carriage company in, IIRC, Oshawa, Ontario (Home of GM Canada today) that started building Buick cars under license, eventually GM bought them out but kept the name for a while. I do remember reading that after the buyout a founder or previous owner stayed on as president of the company.
you are RIGHT on! Sam McLaughlin remained as President of GM-Canada for many years. Interesting story...William Durant owned a carriage building company and had in-depth knowledge of the quality of the McLaughlin carriages. When the horseless carriage came about, Durant made arrangements with McLaughlin to use Buick ch***is to power the McLaughlin automobiles. The McLaughlins were similar to the Buicks, but were much more ornate and extravagent. By the mid-30's, wood was no longer used in the body and the steel was all stamped at great expense. It was then that the McLaughlins accepted the Buick body parts. The only differences were interior, badges and trim and options. McLaughlin production ceased with the onset of WWII.
i really like the looks of north of the border cars [Pontiac's],some really cool & different,too bad they didn't make it south of the border that much, i see a few in magazines.
One of my faves was the Frontenac, based on the Falcon. They had the coolest Maple Leaf hubcaps. And of course there were the Maple Leaf trucks. The McLaughlins were fast,and could haul a lot of stuff over poor roads. So they became the ride of choice with Canadian rumrunners to the point that they were nicknamed "Whiskey Sixes". It got so that when anybody bought one, he was labeled a runner, even if he was the local preacher or whatever! The Pontiac Parisienne was strictly a Canadian model, too.
Another Canuck oddity is the fact that '50's and early to mid-'60's Dodges and Pilgrims didn't have 318's! The Canadian base engine was a 313 cube version, supposedly so the engines supplied to Australia were under a certain displacement and thus were taxed cheaper.
Next episode of "Sanford and Son" you might see, take a good look at their truck, as it is a Mercury! Some of you guys already know this, but some don't.
Sam McLaughlin's son didn't want anything to do with the auto industry. He became a pharmicist and lived in New York where he invented Canada Dry ginger ale. He sold the rights......
I am thinking that was a brother or an uncle? He invented Canada Dry before WWI, then sold his patent. Perhaps I am incorrect.
The other oddity about Canadian Pontiacs, was that from 55 to 58 they were all built on Chevy ch***is with Chevy engines and had 4" or 5" less wheel base and shorter front fenders and hood. Recently I spotted a real nice 58 Pontiac Convertible with a factory 348 tripower set up...................talk about a rare car.
Im pretty sure all pontiacs with chevy engines and frames were built exclusively at the oshowa plant in Canada
This is a Canadian car. It's a Pontiac Pathfinder. In the USA, Pontiac quit making sedan deliveries in 1953.
That would be a Parisienne. They are very rare and valuable, up north they are a****st the Holy Grails of 50s cars.
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