Member: Don and Bev Earnshaw

Car: 1967 Beaumont SD

Don and Bev Earnshaw’s 1967 Beaumont SD

Forty years ago I was driving a 1956 Chevrolet 210 2 Door Post Sport Coupe, which I had owned for ten years. Bev & I were married on June 3,1967 and we spent our honeymoon traveling around California and Nevada in the old ‘56 Chevy! By the time we got back to Victoria, the 283 was clanging so badly that you could hear every part banging away inside the motor. It was then that I decided, after 10 years of service, motor expiring and body rust starting to take hold, that it was time to look at new cars. Being a GM person, a friend of mine already owned a 1966 Beaumont Sport Deluxe 396 so I thought that maybe I should look at the 67's.

It was July of 1967, so it was too late to place a custom order and have the car that I wanted built to my desires. I had to look at the available stock at Empress Pontiac Buick. ( Forty years ago the dealership was located on the corner of Fort & Quadra Streets in Victoria, the intersection where the View Towers apartments are today.) What I was really looking for was a 1967 Beaumont with a 327 V8 and a 4-speed transmission. The Beaumonts available on the new car lot were:

I looked at what the extra $400 bought and we decided to purchase the car that we still own in 2007. This 1967 Beaumont Sport Deluxe 396 had only 7 miles on the odometer when we purchased it on July 25, 1967. Now, nearly forty years later the SD has 129,400 miles on the odometer.

The car came with the RPO's options installed.(Options listed below). Base Price $3578.00 Total price of the car when finished was $4300.00, not much now, however, in 1967 that was a pile of money for a new car!

This car was driven daily for 26 years in the rain, snow and “whatever” until 1993, when it became my toy and had collector plates put on. Since 1993 the car has been restored; the bodywork and paint job were done in 1995 due to an accident (not my fault). A complete engine rebuild was also done 14 years back after a spun bearing. This restored the power the car had lost after 26 years of faithful service. Many thanks to Phil Ruskowski of Phil's Automotive in Victoria for the fine work; he rebuilt the motor from top to bottom with all new parts except for the crank crank.

Continental Auto Body of Victoria, did all the body work and paint. Many thanks to Dave & Ron, who did a marvelous job of fixing the front end after an accident tweeked it a bit. At the same time they did the rest of the car to freshen it up after 28 years of use. The Imron paint and clear coat are still shining today.

I am glad I never let this car out of my possession as I always hear comments like "I used to own one of those cars many years ago." I've come to the realization that I don't need to buy a "hot rod" or "muscle car"; I already did that 40 years ago.

Our car was featured in the First issue of Canadian Classics Magazine of September 1999, which made us very proud of the car, plus the Fact that it truly is a CANADIAN MUSCLE car as well as a CLASSIC CAR that has served us well.

much has been done to the car, but paint jobs (accidents, not caused by me). I had encountered the typical big block heating problems after the rebuild, so I installed a radiator shroud and a clutch fan plus a 7 blade 17 ½ “ GM rigid fan. It cured the overheating problem forever.

We travel to most of the Show N’ Shines here on Vancouver Island , and take in a couple of shows on the Mainland each “car season”. We have won and received a collection of awards and trophies from a lot of different car shows, including the BC Chevelle Club of Vancouver, El Camino Classics of Everett, Wash. USA and the Yesterdays Chevelle Club of Seattle, Wash, USA. Our Grandchildren enjoy being in the Beaumont, and love to go fast in the car. The car has been a real joy to have, and we have never regretted our $4300 investment forty years ago! I enjoy listening to Bev tell inquisitive folks that our car is not for sale!

Don and Bev Earnshaw’s 1967 Beaumont SD is equipped with the following


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