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 unavailable 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. The brand was also offered in
Chile, with models built in
Arica.
Initially, Acadians were retrimmed Chevy IIs,
offered as a base model, mid-priced Invader and top-line Beaumont. The
car used Pontiac styling cues such as a split grille but was marketed as
a separate make, never as a Pontiac. .
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, equivalent of the Nova
Data for the 1966 Acadian were: engines available were six-cylinder
(194 cid, 8.5 compression ratio, 120 bhp rated), V8 (283 cid, 9.25
compression ratio, 195 bhp) or (327 cid, 11.00 compression ratio, 350
bhp rated), overall length of 15.250 feet (4.648 m); overall width of
5.942 ft (1.811 m); height of 4.483 ft (1.367 m); turning circle of
38.40 ft (11.70 m); front track of 4.733 ft (1.443 m) and rear track of
4.692 ft (1.430 m). Its fuel tank held 13.5 imperial gallons.
1966 Acadian Canso Sport Deluxe
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. Drivetrains were
the same as the contemporary Chevelle with the exception of the 396 with
375 rated bhp, as were model offerings. The one exception to
Chevelle/Beaumont availability was a base-model Beaumont convertible.
Such a model was never available in the Chevelle line. All Acadians and
Beaumonts used Chevrolet engines and drivelines. The Beaumont was
dropped after 1969, after which Canadian dealers sold the Pontiac LeMans.
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