Topic: Special Feature: In search of the Canadian car

[Autos_Editor]

What puts the "Canuck" in a car or truck?  A new exhibit at the Canadian Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa attempts to answer this question with a sampling of Canadian-built and designed cars, popular Canadian cars, and interactive exhibits.

Read More...

[D70]

Good coverage of a timely display

Collectors in BC recognise Canadian models.

links follow to a few Canada only models I have seen in the past few weeks.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/d70w7/4675116352/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/d70w7/4736611979/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/d70w7/4736611979/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/d70w7/4738732882/

[Funky Chicken]

Pontiac's of the 1950's and 60's were the most uniquely "Canadian" models. We had the Strato Chief, Laurention and Parisienne models in Canada with Chevy engines, while the U.S. models were the Star Chief, Bonneville and Executive.

In Canada we built a Pontiac version of the Chevy II called the Acadian, starting in 1962, which was never sold in the U.S. Submodels included the Invader and Canso. In 1964 the upscale Acadian Beaumont model was introduced, and in 1965 the Beaumont became an intermediate-sized model of it's own, which was basically a Chevrolet Chevelle with some Pontiac styling cues. In the U.S. their intermediate models were called the Tempest and Lemans in the mid-sixties. The top-level fullsize Pontiac model in Canada was the Grand Parisienne, while the U.S. had the Grand Prix. By the early 1970's the unique Canadian models were mostly gone with the introduction of the Ventura II to replace the Acadian, the LeMans replacing the Beaumont and the Grand Ville replacing the Grand Parisienne. The Acadian name was resurrected for a Pontiac version of the subcompact Chevette in the late 70's and early 80's.

[stargazer]

The article mentions the Ford Model T as being a car that put the country on wheels, which is true, but it mentions nothing of the unique features Fords of the day had in contrast to those from other plants.  Early Ts, as Henry designed them, had no door on the left side, but the Canadian factory placed a door on both sides of the car, to allow the steering wheel and controls to be placed on whichever side of the car suited the market in which it was sold.  There are many photographs of ol' Henry driving his early models, with a right-side driver's position.  It is interesting that, despite the closeness, politically, of the then-young Canada to Britain, this country, as far as I know, always drove cars on the right-hand side of the road (except, as I recall, Victoria and Van Island for a number of years), whereas it took the U.S. states several years to reach a concensus on which side to drive on.

[70chief]

I have a "numbers matching", fully documented, 1970 "2 door" Pontiac Strato Chief, that no one has any info on? Do you? I can't find anything on the Internet, anywhere! Can you suggest a site or have info?

Thank you,

Bill

[ovr50]

In the late 40s and most of the 50s into the early 60s, Ford had the Monarch, which was like a Mercury but with different styling details (grilles, chrome, taillights, etc). The Monarch was sold by Ford dealers, as opposed to Mercury/Meteor dealers. I remember driving a used '57 Monarch Turnpike Cruiser (black and purple...yeow!) for one summer. It was BIG, heavy and handled like dirt. 

[blur911]

Pontiac's of the 1950's and 60's were the most uniquely "Canadian" models. We had the Strato Chief, Laurention and Parisienne models in Canada with Chevy engines, while the U.S. models were the Star Chief, Bonneville and Executive.

In Canada we built a Pontiac version of the Chevy II called the Acadian, starting in 1962, which was never sold in the U.S. Submodels included the Invader and Canso. In 1964 the upscale Acadian Beaumont model was introduced, and in 1965 the Beaumont became an intermediate-sized model of it's own, which was basically a Chevrolet Chevelle with some Pontiac styling cues. In the U.S. their intermediate models were called the Tempest and Lemans in the mid-sixties. The top-level fullsize Pontiac model in Canada was the Grand Parisienne, while the U.S. had the Grand Prix. By the early 1970's the unique Canadian models were mostly gone with the introduction of the Ventura II to replace the Acadian, the LeMans replacing the Beaumont and the Grand Ville replacing the Grand Parisienne. The Acadian name was resurrected for a Pontiac version of the subcompact Chevette in the late 70's and early 80's.

A somewhat minor detail, (but not to Acadian owners),  while they were sold at Pontiac dealers, they were not Pontiacs, they were Acadians.