Pontiac trivia

[WhiteFish]

I've been a car nut all my life but one thing I've never learned and was always curious about is why old Canadian Pontiacs had Chevrolet engines.

[TonyL]

Pontiac engines were not available in Canada, however, but were replaced with Chevrolet engines of similar size and power, resulting in such interesting and unusual (at least to American car fans) models as the Beaumont SD-396 with a Chevrolet big-block 396 in³ V-8.

The rest of the article is Here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontiac)

[WS6]

If I am not mistaken, I believe it was because all exported GMs had chevy engines. Did not matter on destination. To me what is even more weird is to see the mismatch of body parts. For instance the Beaumont had many Pontiac peices including the badges on an otherwise obvious Chevelle body. There is one that shows up here in town from time to time. Burgundy in color. I believe its a 69. It is a coke bottle style year for sure. Great looking car.

[landyacht67]

I remember talking to a rep at a trade show (I think he worked for flex-a-lite fans) about my buddies Beaumont. When he asked what a Beaumont was. I told him it was like someone put a pontiac front end on a Chevelle and he said "**** son, why would someone do that?".

Julian

[WhiteFish]

Beaumont front ends look quite sharp I think, but I'm a Canadian. I'm off to read the article.

[WhiteFish]

One other thing, I'm quite sure none of the Canadian Firebirds or T/A's(I'm going to say GTO too) had GM engines up until '81. Maybe the base model 2nd gen Firebirds did? anyone?

[Kenova]

Here's my theory.
Auto Pact. This agreement between Canada and the US was superseded buy the NAFTA agreement.
Before the Auto Pact was negotiated any vehicle or parts shipped in either direction across our borders were subject to duties. Cars that were built after the Auto Pact was instituted were in the design pipeline long before the deal was signed. GM was building cars in Oshawa (still is) and Chevy engines in St. Katherine's (I think).
To provide the Pontiac dealers with affordable cars, GM simply used Chevy engines in them. The Acadian and Beaumont line was an easy and cheap way for GM to get more affordable products in the Pontiac dealerships.
Ken

[406 Q-ship]

My understanding is that before 1969, that cars sold in Canada were to be produced in Canada. Well there were no Pontiac plants in Canada, so GM rebadged and made some minor changes to the Chevelle, Nova, and Impala to produce the Beaumont, Acadian, and Perisiane (not sure on spelling). The Beaumont is a Chevelle for all purposes, it has a special grill, tailights, and a GTO/LeMans dash with a cross of pontiac and some buick interior pieces.

[formula]

One other thing, I'm quite sure none of the Canadian Firebirds or T/A's(I'm going to say GTO too) had GM engines up until '81. Maybe the base model 2nd gen Firebirds did? anyone?

Nope. My w50 formula was ordered in new york and came with a SBC. 350s and 305s became more and more common further into the 70's, but as far as I know all canadian f-bods still had chevy motors even early on. I've even heard rumors of canadian-spec 69 302 firebirds and once heard of a chevy-powered 60 t/a, but have no proof. I have seen canadian-spec chevy powered first gen birds, though.

[WhiteFish]

I've seen alot of Firebirds in Canda that have everything from the IHC 6cyl, 400's (including 6.6l Smokey, 1978) , 455, 301 turbo, and don't recall ever seeing any Chevy powered older ones unless they were swapped. Edit: I did a search on autotrader.ca, almost all the firebirds had pontiac power, two sizes I missed were the 326 and 403.

[Kenova]

My understanding is that before 1969, that cars sold in Canada were to be produced in Canada. Well there were no Pontiac plants in Canada, so GM rebadged and made some minor changes to the Chevelle, Nova, and Impala to produce the Beaumont, Acadian, and Perisiane (not sure on spelling). The Beaumont is a Chevelle for all purposes, it has a special grill, tailights, and a GTO/LeMans dash with a cross of pontiac and some buick interior pieces.
Many Pontiacs were imported to Canada. They were usually the more expensive models and always had the Pontiac engine in them. Many people referred to these engines as "American Blocks or American Engines". Just try and explain to these knuckle heads that they were "Pontiac Engines" :banghead:


Nope. My w50 formula was ordered in new york and came with a SBC. 350s and 305s became more and more common further into the 70's, but as far as I know all canadian f-bods still had chevy motors even early on. I've even heard rumors of canadian-spec 69 302 firebirds and once heard of a chevy-powered 60 t/a, but have no proof. I have seen canadian-spec chevy powered first gen birds, though.
In the early years of Trans Am racing some teams tried using this logic to get chevy engines into their Firebirds. The sanctioning body didn't fall for it. Yes, there were a lot of Pontiacs being built with chevy engines, but the Firebird wasn't one of them. During the '60s the only Pontiacs that were built with chevy engines were the ones built in Canada.
Ken