[moparcolt]

Whats the story behind the Comanche firebird?

[BR57]

Wow, I just see that I have not been around since before Christmas. It is great catching up on everyone's posts, I am so glad this thread has turned out to be so popular. I am also happy that some fellow Canadians have learned about Canadian Pontiac History and other Canucks chimed in too.

I see that GT182 is in New Castle Deleware. When I was a teenager we attended my cousin's wedding there, he was at the Naval Academy in Annaplois and met and married a girl from New Castle. That was a cool wedding and such a nice place. My uncles were USMC, one was a Colonel and the other was Sgt. Major Atlantic Fleet who was the groom's Dad.

Anyway one of the groomsmen a fellow Midshipman had a new 1970 LeMans Sport Coupe, three speed on the floor Convertible, blue white top. My Dad had a new 1970 Tempest 2dr. sedan 265 HP 350 I recall. I remember coming home to Toronto in one day's drive and that car hauling a$$ through the Pensylvania Turnpike and Interstates.

To the Commanche Firebird, it was just an idea to sell a loaded up Firebird as a GT car in the same way Baldwin, Yenko or Royal sold modified cars in the US. As I mentioned in my 54 years I have only ever seen one.

[comanchefirebird]

In response to the previous post, I own the car written up in HPP in Aug 2010. See
http://www.highperformancepontiac.co...e/viewall.html

Chris Phillip with HPP did a nice job in the article explaining about the idea behind the car. I have located a couple of the 13 cars built on the 1968 model and about 6 of the cars done for the 69 model year.

More pics available on purestockauto.com website as well

There are a couple of threads in the 67-69 Firebird section of PY forums as well

Regards,
Steve Johns

[Evil Stu]

Originally Posted by gto4door

Here is another Canadian Pontiac I would like to have in my collection.

Here's a 1970 396 car

http://ontario.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehi...AdIdZ315894336

[BR57]

That is a great find Evil Stu and that car is gorgeous. Whoever built is did an outstanding job. In fact it is so outstanding that the big block with it's badging and fender flashes looks factory. Not taking anything away from this beauty but I must point out that the big block was never offered in the Acadian. The top performance engine in 1970 was the L48 300 HP small block. This is a very easy swap since the Nova did come with the 396. Great car. GM Canada should have built it this way.

[russosborne]

Very interesting thread.
Now I understand a post I read somewhere about someone going to a junkyard to get a pontiac engine and was upset when he found out it was an orange block. :-)

I would love to have one of those 1960 sedan deliveries. I always wanted to build a real version of the old Monogram model kit "Street Fighter" or also issued as "Bad Actor". That was a chevy version, would be so cool to build a Pontiac one.

Russ

[Evil Stu]

Originally Posted by BR57

That is a great find Evil Stu and that car is gorgeous. Whoever built is did an outstanding job. In fact it is so outstanding that the big block with it's badging and fender flashes looks factory. Not taking anything away from this beauty but I must point out that the big block was never offered in the Acadian. The top performance engine in 1970 was the L48 300 HP small block. This is a very easy swap since the Nova did come with the 396. Great car. GM Canada should have built it this way.

BR 57. I had no idea. I'm not really and Acadian guy, I've always assumed the drive line options were the same (or similar) to the Nova's much as the Beaumont line. I always knew there were no 375 horse Beaumonts; same deal as no RAIV Oshawa GTOs in 70 I think, 1 plant did the low volume motor. Cool car any which way though.

[BR57]

Size matters, I don't think anyone would ever complain about having a big block in that car. I sure wouldn't. We'll never know why some engine choices were made in the Canadian Pontiac lines but they are not identical in all cases to the Chevy counterpart.

[68 427]

Originally Posted by BR57

Just got photos of this original 1969 Pontiac 2+2, only 36,000 miles on this car. 2+2 was offered in Canada until 1970. Engines for 1969 were a 250 HP 350, 300HP 350, 265 HP 396 and two 427's at 335 and 390 HP. This one has the L-48 300 HP 350 small block.

NICE CAR! LOL!

[BR57]

Originally Posted by 68 427

NICE CAR! LOL!

Just giving your car 5 minutes of fame.

[68BeaumontSD]

Ray, what do you know about the Beaumonts that were built in Chili up to 1971? They look like the 1968 bodies but I've always seen them refered to as 1969 bodies. I believe almost all were 6 cylinder cars. Were they all GTAs?
James

BTW, here is my car.

[BR57]

My Chile Beaumont knowledge is not that great but I understand that the bodies used were the same for 69-71. The modela were GTA, Custom and Deluxe I believe. Most were six cylinder but V8 was available.

Your car is beautiful James, can we say it has a 427 under that hood ? You must have the only Beaumont SD in South Carolina.

[68BeaumontSD]

As far as I know it is the only Beaumont in South Carolina. I have never seen or heard of another one here. Yeah, it's a 427. The original engine was long gone when I got the car. When I bought it it had a 454 block with 427 internals. I blew that engine 5 or 6 years ago. It now has a real 4 bolt 427, Jan 1969 dated block and heads.
James

[gto4door]

I am not claiming to be an expert on the Chilean Beaumonts, but from what I understand GM Chile began producing the Beaumonts in Arica, Chile for the Chilean market sometime around 1966/67 time period beginning with the 1965 body style. It seems the Chilean Beaumonts were always a model year behind. Regarding the 1969 thru 1971 Chilean Beaumonts GTAs, that 3 or 4 year run used the 1968 body style. I believe those cars used certain body parts/content (bumpers, trunk lids, hubcaps, etc that were sourced locally. Nevertheless, the the Chilean Beaumonts are an interesting piece of GM's automotive past.

[GT182]

Ray, just so you know, New Castle is not as nice as you remember.

[Chief Wanabee]

Resurrecting this topic to bring you a gorgeous 1967 Parisienne 2+2. It's an original 396 big block car, retrofitted with a 454. Note that it's a four speed manual!

http://calgary.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehi...AdIdZ362298404



The funny thing is that this is one of TWO 67 Parisienne 2+2 convertibles currently for sale here in Calgary Canada ... the survival rate on Canadian Pontiac convertibles must be higher than hardtops!

[Diego]

Was it at POCI in CA a few years ago?

[BR57]

This red 2+2 is a Pontiac friend from Calgary who recently passed away. He ws a tremendous gentleman. He has two other nice Canadian Pontiacs and his estate is moving very quickly to sell his cars. There is a huge garage sale at his shop the weekend after Easter. He also has a butternut '67 Grande Parisienne hardtop already spoken for and a nice Safari 283 car also on kijiji. As I recall he did win an award with this car at POCI.

The 2+2 was based on the Impala SS and was produced up to 1970. The Grande Parisienne was produced up to 1969 and was the top of the line car.

Convertibles do have a high survival rate in Canada and when compared to actual production numbers it is extremely high. The reason is that convertibles were strictly seasonal cars and you would be lucky to use a convertible for 5 months of the year in Canada. In Westen Canada winter starts in October and you have to reach May before you can be certain of no more snow.

[BR57]

I thought I would add this tid bit on the 2+2. Like the Impala SS it was a trim level option not specifically a performance option so the base engine was a 250 six with three speed manual. Not too many were ordered this way but I have seen one.

A 396 4 speed convertible car is a rare and desireable model. Engine line up in '67 was Astro Six 250-6 @ 155 HP, Strato Flash 283 V8 @195 HP, Astrp Flame 327 V8 @ 275 HP , Astro Jet 396 V8 @325 HP and Jet Flame 427 V8 @385 HP.

[BR57]

Here is a real beauty, this is a 1961 Parisienne bubble top drag car, powered by a 409.