[Heybuck]

This car looks familiar to me. Might have seen it at a show down here a few years ago. A rare car here and I doubt not many left anywhere and certainly not in this condition.

https://www.carsales.com.au/cars/det...6992491/?Cr=13

[Stuart]

Interesting car. It looks like they were using the dash bezel and gauges from a 1965 Chevrolet to build a right hand drive version.

[John Eiseman]

Interesting that the 327 Chevy was put in and the decals.on the valve cover say 327 Pontiac ! Wonder if the 68 Canadian Parrisennes also have 327 Chebby engines ?

[Stuart]

Parisiennes were essentially a Chevy chassis and powertrain under a Pontiac body, so yes a 327 was available as a factory option. I'm not sure on the exact availability of Chevy engines in them for 1968 but they were probably available with six cylinder engines as well as big blocks, too.

[02Hawk]

The Canadian Pontiac badged cars were all Chevy powered with Chevy frames etc. It did say this one was sold new in Australia so I think we can assume the RH was done in the factory and was not a conversion.
As a kid growing up in the 60"s in Canada, my father owned quite a few Canadian Ponchos. I overheard lots of discussions in regards if the engine was Chevy or "AMERICAN" or "Blue block"....never heard it referred as a Pontiac block until well into the 70"s when Pontiac Powered cars were built and sold in greater numbers in Canada.

[Stuart]

Heybuck will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think back then they shipped Canadian Pontiacs in CKD form (completely knocked down) to Australia for assembly there, and they were converted to right hand drive during the assembly process.

[694.1]

That works out to about 40K in USD. Wow. Time to sell some cars over there!!

[Jeff Hamlin]

Originally Posted by Stuart

Heybuck will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think back then they shipped Canadian Pontiacs in CKD form (completely knocked down) to Australia for assembly there, and they were converted to right hand drive during the assembly process.

I do believe that was true.
Below are some pics from one of our past clubs honorary members from Australia showing his Aussie built Poncho.

[Heybuck]

Originally Posted by Stuart

Heybuck will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think back then they shipped Canadian Pontiacs in CKD form (completely knocked down) to Australia for assembly there, and they were converted to right hand drive during the assembly process.

Partially right Stuart but not fully.

We only built 4 door sedans here from CKD packages. Up till 1964 only 4 door pillared cars were built here, from 1965 through to 1968, we also built pillarless sport sedans

All locally built cars used Canadian sourced drivelines, chassis and body parts. Some interior parts were imported but most of it was done locally. So for example a Chevrolet Belair or a Pontiac Laurentian then later Impala and Parisienne all had leather seats. The Pontiacs were slightly better trimmed than a Chevrolet.

All locally built cars (Chev and Pontiac) from 1961 till 1964 used a 1961 Pontiac dash which was fully cast but in Right Hand Drive configuration.

From 1965 till 1968, all Chev & Pontiac cars used a deveration of a 1965 Impala dash. It was formed in fibreglass but again, it was made in Canada in Right hand drive form ready for assembly here.

Station Wagons, were fully imported as were Convertibles and 2 door cars. But they were built in Canada in RHD for export.

The wagon shown in the pictures would have been specially ordered and shipped out here ready to go using RHD components. That's why it has the '65 type Chev dash. It would have been a VERY expensive car when sold new here.

My own 1965 Parisienne Convertible was built in Oshawa in RHD and shipped to Australia. I have researched it through Canadian Historic Services (much like PHS), and found it was one of 47 Convertibles built in RHD.

[66sprint6]

We had the Parisienne and the Laurentian as well. I'm sure that both had Chevy engines in the 60's.

[60sstuff]

Originally Posted by Heybuck

This car looks familiar to me. Might have seen it at a show down here a few years ago. A rare car here and I doubt not many left anywhere and certainly not in this condition.

https://www.carsales.com.au/cars/det...6992491/?Cr=13

Mr. Heybuck,

Really cool wagon.

Thanks for posting it!

Chris.

[60sstuff]

Originally Posted by Jeff Hamlin

I do believe that was true.
Below are some pics from one of our past clubs honorary members from Australia showing his Aussie built Poncho.

Even the spokes on the steering wheel are opposite.

Wonder if the sales brochure on the console is opposite?

Chris

[Heybuck]

Originally Posted by Jeff Hamlin

I do believe that was true.
Below are some pics from one of our past clubs honorary members from Australia showing his Aussie built Poncho.

Jeff, I can absolutely guarantee you that the GTO you have shown was NOT built in Australia.

Either an authorised GM dealer or a private person would have imported that car maybe brand new or used. It would have then been converted to RHD before it could have been legally registered and driven on our roads. Literally thousands of cars were imported and converted back in the day. It was quite a strong industry with the converters doing all sorts of cars.

There are two possible exceptions to that.......

Any official Embassy (of any country) could have imported it and driven it LHD under diplomatic immunity. Those embassies did not pay tax and it was a cheap way for them to own an unusual car here. Once they had decided to get rid of the car, they could either send it back to their own country or sell it on the open market here however once it moved to private hands, it would have had to be converted to RHD to register it.

Second possibility was that when the US military was here setting up Pine Gap and lots of other "secret" installations almost all in the Northern Territory or the far North of Western Australia, service personnel could import a a car for their own use. They could drive it but it had to be either shipped back out when they left or they could sell it here but had to pay all the taxes. And those cars too had to be converted to RHD. Maybe they still can import and drive a new LHD today? Don't know about that.

Nowadays, we can import, register and drive any LHD car or truck that is 25 years old.

One more point about that GTO you pictured. I would say that it was not a "Good" conversion. Short cuts were clearly taken. The big give-away is they haven't changed to wipers. You can see they still wipe to the left. A lot of registry authorities would not have let that go through so you have to ask what other hidden short cuts might have been taken?

A classic was how the cheapo converters would reuse the LHD steering box. They would cut a big hunk out of the chassis rail and set the box as far as they could to the right so the pitman arm was located correctly. Then they would box around the steering box to put back the strength. That was sort of OK but when the box needed attention, often it became a MAJOR job having to cut the box back out of the chassis.

Ian

[OZZIEVILLE 67 2 door]

Thanks for history lesson

I didn't know about the 2 doors and convertibles coming down under

JL

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[Jeff Hamlin]

Heybuck,
Thanks for the clarification.
This is interesting stuff to us state side.
Cheers.