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On our last edition of Foreign Musclecar, we went south and showcased a Brazilian muscle car; the Chevy Opala SS. Today we are heading north, to show you a Canadian exclusive: the Pontiac Beaumont. Canada is known for hockey, maple syrup and epic meal time, it should be known for the Beaumont as it’s one of the sickest machines we have ever seen. It has everything a musclecar should; aggressive styling, mean lines and a V-8 engine.
The Beaumont’s life began 1962, it was created as a performance package for the Pontiac Acadian (a Canadian Chevy Nova). It would remain as a performance package until 1965.
The Pontiac Acadian
In 1966, GM of Canadian began to produce the Beaumont as it’s own marque. GM of Canadian wanted to the Beaumont to be a musclecar exclusive to the Canadian market. Essentially the Beaumont was constructed from spare GM Parts; It’s built from a Chevy Chevelle body with a Pontiac tempest interior and trim. A few Canadian touches were added such as a maple badges on the hood and steering wheel.
The Beaumont's Tempest interior with a Canadian touch.
Despite having a Pontiac name, the Beaumont’s power plant is Chevy. Providing power are engines such as an Inline Six in the base model and several V-8’s. These V-8s include the 283, 307, 327, 350 and a 396 depending on the trim. Available transmissions were a 4 speed Muncie Manual, a 2 speed powerglide or a 3 speed Turbo-Hydromatic transmission.
The performance package of the Beaumont is known as the Super Deluxe (SD). This was based off of the Super Sport package of the Chevelle. The package added a Super Deluxe trim, body stripping, bucket seats and a 396 under the hood. Like it’s American cousin, the 396 produced anywhere from 325 to 350 horsepower.
1968 and 1967 Beaumont Super Delxue.
Production of the Beaumont ending in 1969 when it was replaced by the Le Mans, there were only an estimated 700 Beaumont SD’s to ever roll of the assembly line. Sadly, several of these have been lost to the harsh Canadian winters. This makes the Beaumont SD one of the rarest muscle cars in the world. The Beaumont is still popular today among Canadian muscle car enthusiasts. While they are rare, one can be spotted at a local car show or can be seen tearing up the drag strip from time to time.
