Acadian (automobile)

- For the crossover SUV of similar name, see GMC Acadia Acadian was a make of automobile produced by General Motors of Canada from 1962 to 1971. The Acadian was introduced so that Canadian Pontiac-Buick dealers would have a compact model to sell, since the Pontiac Tempest was not available in Canada. Plans originally called for the Acadian to be based on the Chevrolet Corvair, which was produced at GM's Oshawa plant; however, the concept was moved to the Chevy II platform to be introduced for 1962.

Initially, Acadians were retrimmed Chevy IIs, offered as a base model, mid-priced Invader and top-line Beaumont. While the car used Pontiac styling cues such as a split grille, Acadian was considered a separate make, not a Pontiac model.

As with the concurrent Chevy II, Acadians were offered with 4-cylinder, 6-cylinder and V8 engines. There was a choice of transmission, depending upon the model and engine installed, 3 and 4 speed manual gearboxes or the 2-speed Powerglide automatic.

For 1964 and 1965, the Beaumont name was moved to a retrimmed version of the intermediate Chevrolet Chevelle, at which time the name Canso was applied to the top-line compact model.

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.

During the late 1960s, the Beaumont was also available in Puerto Rico. There was actually a Beaumont Cafeteria that was co-located with the local Beaumont dealer in San Juan. Acadian Beaumonts were also made in Arica, Chile.

The Acadian continued using the Chevy II/Nova body through mid-1971, after which it was replaced by the Pontiac Ventura II.

From 1976 to 1987, the Pontiac Acadian was a version of the Chevrolet Chevette sold by Canadian Pontiac-Buick dealers.

Links

* [http://www.tuerca.cl/articulos/2004/agosto/acadian/ The Acadian and its Chilean production on Tuerca.cl]
* [http://www.acadianbeaumont.cl/ Chilean Acadian fansite]