Car: 1964 Beaumont
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Here's the story behind our car. Back in August of 1997 we out on a drive in the country when David spotted a very original looking 1964 Beaumont sitting in a farm driveway. He told me the car looked perfect for me as a daily summer driver. I had been looking for such a car to use in the summer when I retired.
The car did not have a for sale sign on it, but we decided to turn around and have a closer look at it. It had one flat tire, there were two pieces of side trim missing and the car was very dirty inside and out. The whole car was covered in black tree sap and the paint was very oxidized. We quickly looked at the car and realized it had only 59,000 original miles and that under the tree sap was the original paint. There was no rust to be found anywhere, so we went and asked if it was for sale.
To our surprise the owner said, "Yes". The man explained that the car was his daughter's and he was in charge of selling it since she went off to college. We had a good look at the car and drove it around the yard before buying it on the spot. I guess we were just in the right place at the right time.
It was a four-hour drive back to our house with the car, but it cruised along at 70 miles per hour as if it just rolled of the showroom floor. Our car still has the original Desert Beige exterior paint with a fawn and white vinyl interior. The motor is the original 194 cubic inch six cylinder with a Powerglide two speed automatic transmission. When we bought the car it still had three of the original four "GM T3" headlights and the spare tire in the trunk. Our car was built in late June of 1964 and was 10270 car to roll off the assembly line form the Oshawa Ontario plant. This would make our car one of the last 1964 models built before production was switched over to the 1965 models.
Over the winter of 1998 my son David went to work cleaning and detailing the car. He pulled the front clip off the car and removed the engine to detail it and engine bay back to factory condition, but all the original parts are still on the motor. The interior was removed and cleaned. Nothing needed replacing on or in the car, only cleaned extensively. The body and paint has not been touched except to be polished. You can't beat that "mint" original paint! The man we bought the car from said that if he were to keep it he would need to have it painted. We found that the paint was just fine under all that oxidation. The best paint in the world for a car is the stuff the factory puts on when the car is built.
David located an original '64 Acadian radio and an old style FM tuner for the AM radio, but it's the only option we've added to the car. By the spring of 1998 the car was ready to roll again so we drove her to Minneapolis, Minnesota for the Back to the Fifties car show. The car handled the thousand plus mile round trip so well we decided to do the same thing the following year. Over the past two summers since sprucing up the car we have not had any problems with it. It just runs and drivers like any other car. So far we have put over four thousand miles on the car bringing the odometer up to 64,000 miles.
We enjoy driving the car on weekends and taking it to the local cruise night each Sunday, as well as, taking on one or two long trips each summer. Although it's a four door sedan that kind of blends in to the crowd, we still get lots of waves and smiles. When we take the car to the Untied States no one knows what it is, they all think its a Buick or Oldsmobile. We have to explain that it's a Canadian "Acadian Beaumont". To make a long story short it's a Canadian Pontiac built car based on the Chevrolet Chevelle. Pontiac dealers sold them, but not officially a Pontiac, it was separate car line in Canada built from 1962 to 1969. Our car still carries the dealer's tag Dauphin Motors Pontiac/Buick/Acadian. The car shares all of its sheet metal with a Chevelle except for the exterior and interior trim pieces are unique to an Acadian, as is the grille (more reminiscent of a Pontiac with its centre grill divider) and taillights. The Acadian Beaumont shares its dashboard with the American Pontiac Tempest/LeMans/GTO rather than the Chevelle.
The car is owned by Jon Anderson (father), David Anderson (son) does all them mechanical and restoration work to the car. They both take it to shows and drive the car in the summer. In addition to the 64 Beaumont, David Anderson also owns a few other related cars including a "daily driver" 1967 Beaumont custom 4 door. A 1964 Beaumont custom station wagon (needs restoring, but very rare car), and is currently working on a very rare 1964 Canadian built Chevelle Malibu station wagon with over 20 factory and dealer installed options including tinted glass, power seat, power windows etc.
This car was not ordered with many options but here they are as listed on the line tag found under the seat: · A62 Seat belt delete · C14 Two speed windshield wipers · F40 Heavy duty front and rear suspension · M35 Powerglide two speed automatic transmission · P01 Full wheel covers · P66 6.50 x 14 two ply black wall tires · T86 Back up tail lights
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