Locate an Auto Repair Shop in Beaumont, California

Greed is enough. Despite the stories of a good deal being $500-$1000 over dealer cost, I have been unable to find a dealer in Texas who is interested in doing an ED deal for less than 1500 over dealer cost. That is considering Houston dealers, Beaumont, and Tyler. I have found a dealer in the Chicago area that was about $1200 over but then I have to add $850 trucking cost to the number. Some dealers want $3200 over, and if that is not greed, I don't know what is. For a little paperwork and no concessions on their allotments. If anyone is aware of a dealer within 500 miles of Houston who is interested in ED for $750 over, please provide contact info.

Hi there, I own a 68 concours c2dr ht, which I got in original condition that had been in storage since 1981. The old guy who had it on his property told me that the concours trim was only available on the wagon and sedan bodies, but due to a short strike at either the interior anufacturer or the chev plant a couple thousand 2drhts were sent to the buick plant to be finished with the concours trim. Interior is identical to a 68 gs buick and includes bench seat with folding armrest, carpeted door panels, extra padding under the carpet and additional body insulation, rear armrests with ashtray, a 'concours' insignia on the steering wheel with fleur de lis, steel headliner trim, locking glove box, and deluxe headliner and package tray. The exterior has full side trim with shorter wheel well trim that stops at the level of the side trim, as well as a black stripe painted on the wheel and side trim. full tail panel trim, same as a canadian beaumont, that was a bit wider and is not available in repro. tail light bezels are also a little wider to match the tail pan trim, also not available. badges say concours on the fender sides where normally it says chevelle. I believe all came with a vinyl top originally as well.

Canadian Pontiacs were always somewhat different in those days. To answer your last question first, the Canadian fullsize Pontiacs in the early 80s were victims of GM corporate's decision to drop the unique B-body Pontiac bodywork and interior, so they took an Impala and put a somewhat unique grille on it. It had the Chevy dashboard, etc. It was similar to the Parisienne that was sold later in the US when they brought the big Pontiacs back. For reasons I do not fully understand, Pontiac was always a more significant part of the Canadian market than it was in the US, even into the recent last days of the brand. GM Canada and its dealers were hurt a lot by the decision to discontinue Pontiac, as it made decent volume for them. Traditionally, most Canadian GM dealers were either Chev/Olds or Pontiac/Buick/GMC pairings, with Cadillac a wild card that could go to either. When Pontiac disappeared those dealers had little left to sell. GM Canada tended to make Pontiac mirror Chevy almost exactly until the late 60s in terms of engine/chassis -- the real Pontiac engines did not get offered here until the late 60s muscle cars showed up, and a "wide-track" Pontiac of the 60s wasn't wide track in Canada, because it had the Chevy chassis. It made some of the big Pontiacs look pretty crazy, with their front wheels inset into the body quite a bit. But in any event, your hypothesis is correct. In the 60s, Pontiac's full-size line in Canada looked like this from low-end Biscayne equivalent on up: Strato Chief Laurentian Parisienne Then in the mid-60s they introduced the Custom Sport 2+2, which was an upscale coupe that took some Grand Prix and Bonneville trim pieces but did not have the unique GP roofline. During this same period we did not get the LeMans A-body, but Pontiac dealers instead sold the Beaumont, which was a Chevelle with a different grille and taillight treatment with Chevy drivetrains. At some point - I want to say '69 or '70 but I may be wrong, it might have been later than that -- GM Canada began to introduce American Pontiac model names (at least, I dunno if they went with the entire design or just the model name) to the Canadian market. So at one point I'm pretty sure you could buy a Parisienne or a Catalina simultaneously in Canada. It was all very confusing. I think it originally had something to do with import duties and the fact that it was easy for GM Canada to build a Pontiac body but not so easy to build Pontiac engines and chassis, and so prior to the auto pact of the mid-60s they avoided paying duties on importing those Pontiac components by substituting Chevy items.

FWIW, here's what Wikipedia has to say: 1966-69 Beaumonts continued to use the Chevrolet Chevelle body with minor styling revisions, including different taillights and a Pontiac-style split grille, but dropped the Acadian name as Beaumont became its own separate make. The interior used the instrument panel from the American Pontiac Tempest/LeMans/GTO series. The Acadian emblem was retained on the front grille, however. All Acadians and Beaumonts used Chevrolet powerplants. The Beaumont was dropped after 1969, after which Canadian dealers sold the Pontiac LeMans. So it appears there wasn't a 1972 Acadian Beaumont in Canada, assuming that Wikipedia is correct. Was the Beaumont sold anywhere else?

It was sold as the 1972 Pontiac Acadian Beaumont. Waitaminute...GM of Canada was trying to push a 5-year old car off as brand-new?! That sounds like something Chrysler might have done in the Mexican market, but I don't think that can be right. I'm sure the Beaumont went to the "split wheelbase" design for 1968-72, just as the US Chevelle and all the other GM intermediates did. And back in those years, I thought the Pontiac Acadian was a rebadged Chevy II / Nova?