Ever hear of an Acadian Beaumont? No? Don’t feel so bad, as most other Americans haven’t either. The Beaumont was initially a rebadged and restyled Chevrolet Nova that was only sold north of the American border in Canada from ’62-’65, before being replaced with the Chevelle body for ’66 and until it was discontinued after the ’69 model year. Even lesser known is the fact they were sold in Puerto Rico for a brief time in the late ‘60s as well.
Although it did incorporate the Chevy body, drivetrain, and most of the interior, it came with some unusual, Pontiac-like styling as a result being sold through Puerto Rican and Canadian Pontiac dealers.
In fact starting in ’66, it was even offered in its own high-performance model known as the SD-396. While Pontiac fans may relate those initials to their hallowed Super Duty cars, what it really meant was Sport Deluxe.
Since most Sport Deluxes were sold in Canada and stayed within their Canadian borders, the unusual and oddball muscle car suffered the consequences of the northern winters, and thus, not many are around today. However, we recently caught wind of a ’68 Beaumont via the Dart website that’s been waving the Acadian flag proudly at drag strips courtesy of its owner, Chris Brisebois.
Whether or not Brisebois’ car is an SD is an uncertainty to us, but either way, that didn’t stop him from dropping in a Dart Iron Eagle Rocket block that’s packing 439cui with a claimed 961hp and 701ftlbs. in between the car’s fenders, and it’s backed with a TH400 transmission.
With a weigh-in of 3,387 pounds, there is enough momentum rotating through the 4.33 geared, 12-bolt rear end to propel the half-Canadian/half-American A-body down the quarter-mile in a time of 8.85 at 151mph with a 1.25 second short-time; proving that the Canadians can hit the track just as hard as we Yanks!