The Beaumont was a Canadian version of the Chevrolet Chevelle, marketed as a Pontiac from 1964 to 1969. It was produced by GM of Canada and was the same car as the Chevelle except for the grille and taillights. In addition, GM also sold the Acadian for a time, a knock-off of the Chevy II. This 1968 Beaumont 4-door sedan is the Deluxe model, so we assume that it meant has/had a higher level of trim. It’s been sitting alongside a roadway for some time, so we doubt it will move anywhere under its own power. Now in Blue Springs, Missouri, this Franken-Chevy is available here on craigslist for $5,000.
The Beaumont was produced in Canada for sale in Canada, presumably to avoid duties on imported automobiles. Chevrolet, Pontiac, and Buick shared the same dealer network, and the Beaumont was never intended for sale in the U.S. Somewhere over the past 58 years, this beat-up Beaumont made its way to America’s Heartland, where it eventually ran out of steam. A six-cylinder engine is under the hood, likely a Chevy 250 CI, and it has an automatic transmission, presumably a 2-speed Powerglide.
Pontiac didn’t try hard to camouflage the Beaumont as a 4-door Chevy Chevelle Malibu. The split grille is characteristic of Pontiac, but most of the rest of the car cries out Chevrolet. We don’t know the history of this Canadian car, but given its flat tires, it’s been idle for some time. Someone grafted on an ungainly scoop to another Chevelle hood, maybe to make it look faster. But it looks silly now more than anything else.
We assume you’ll find issues on the chassis as it’s sitting in the grass/dirt, and the matching interior will need a complete facelift. The only logic for restoring a six-cylinder, 4-door Chevelle is that it’s an oddity in the U.S. as a Pontiac. When was the last time, if ever, you saw a Pontiac Beaumont in the Lower 48? Leave it to “Zappenduster” to find us a tip like this!
Up near the border with Canda we saw lots of these, including the SD396 which was Pontiac’s answer to the Chevelle SS396. It was somewhat of a novelty to see a Beaumont, or a Meteor, or a Mercury truck with Montana plates. But where I grew up the closest dealers were across the border into Canada, and they sold all those Canadian variants.
This car, if it was a 2-door coupe, and a little closer, I might be tempted. It might be as close as I’ll ever get to replacing my ’69 Chevelle 300. The second thing I would do (after washing it) would be to replace that hood with the genuine article…
Used to see these on the way to Grey Rocks years ago. The hood might not even be attached, just sitting there to keep the yard debris out…
Three options , power steering , automatic transmission and Rust. Way too many zeros in the price . It might have been a nice looking car at one time.
Yes, rare, but not valuable. Expensive for a project that needs everything. Might be a worthy project if this is someone’s dream car.
Steve R
A neighbor growing up in Ontario had this identical car. And I do mean identical to the drive line. It used to come in the old mans gas station in the days when your oul was automatically checked. It was traded in 75 or 77 on a plain jane, v-6 Buick Century..
Be interesting to know what oart of Canada this migrated from