1968 Beaumont Wagon - Rolling Restomod

[darguy]

Hi Folks!

So begins the '68 Beaumont Wagon project thread! My first car was a '66 Malibu 2-dr hard top, and I've also had a '70 Pontiac Tempest so this will be my 3rd GM A-Body - 37 years after the first one! To say it's rough around the edges would be an extreme understatement, this is going to take a while...

For the un-initiated, the Beaumont and it's sister, the Canso, were anomalies of the US Auto Pact, where until 1970 Pontiacs were not for sale in Canada. GM's solution was to create a separate division, Acadian, and sold the Chevelle/Le Mans-like Beaumont and the Chevy II/Nova-like Canso. The Canso lasted until 1971, but the Beaumont's last year was 1969. It's mechanically a Chevelle, but has some Le Mans finishes. Most notably, the dash is from the Le Mans (but the console, if so equipped, was from the Chevelle) and the front bodywork features a split Pontiac-style grille, but with a Pontiac arrow-head emblem with two Maple Leafs above it. These were only built and sold in Canada, and the best estimate is that there were only 705 Wagons built in '68 out of a total of 14,420 units. This one has a 250 straight-6, and there were only 318 of those built.

It was for sale for nearly a year until the price dropped into the realm of reality and I scooped it. I'm on Cortes Island, a super-remote island off the coast of BC, which as a point of reference would take about 7 hrs, 200 km of driving, and 3 ferries to get to from Vancouver. The seller was on Vancouver Island, and happens to owns a flat-deck tow truck. So, he brought it up to the closest city where my Uncle happens to live and dropped it there. He and I spent a long day going over it doing triage and affecting enough repairs (most notably a new fuel pump & massive carb adjustment, bolt the front bench seat & seat belts in, and seat cover) such that I could drive it the last 60 km over 2 ferries to get it home. It was an interesting ride, but I made it in one piece!



I'm doing the immediately required repairs (front brake hoses, centre link & idler arm), and painting the bright red '80s Camaro rally wheels that it came on black. At this point it will run and drive as designed to, but with some massive upgrades and restoration to be worked out. Should be interesting!

Here's a few for-sale shots:



And one with my Uncle in action, using a vacuum gauge to adjust the carb after we got it running:



And a couple when I finally got it landed at home:



Much more to come!

Cheers,
darguy