Canadian cars....

Here are a few more pictures of my Canadian 1957 Pontiac Path finder Deluxe sedan. Cheers.

 

That's an awesome story Caprice. Thanks for sharing it with us.

 

I always thought the '57 Pontiacs were a much better looking car than the Chevy and that one is a excellent example.

 

I appreciate all the kind words on my 57 Pontiac. Any other Canadian issue vintage vehicles out there. A very interesting topic here. Cheers.

 

I thought this was a very interesting topic on Canadian based models. Any others out there of worthy mention. Cheers.

 

I find this topic interesting also (thank you) .... as a matter of fact that is why I joined the forum this past February because I am sure I once owned the 1960 Frontenac wagon in post #6

And I also owned a very rare 1958 Pontaic .... I had posted about it in "the ones that got away" thread so I pasted it here as follows .....

Google ...... " 1958 Pontiac Bonneville Tri-Power" .... I had one of them in 1969 and didn't know what I had ... I was only 17

It was a 2 door hardtop , lots of miles on it ... tattered interior .... engine used oil so I eventually sold it.

But here is the thing ... and why mine was exceptionally rare ..... it was Canadian built and for some reason GM factory cars were always a bit different than US built.

The Canadian model was assembled on a Chevrolet B-platform and instead of calling it a Bonneville it was named Pontiac Parisienne .

But here is the kicker ... it had the new high performance Chevrolet 348 cu. in. V8 engine .... which was the same engine as the famous 409 that was the fastest car on the race track in its day .... the beach boys even wrote a song about it.

And mine was the tri-power with the three 2-barrel carbs ... excellent for economy because it only used the middle 2-barrel for normal driving and the other two only opened during high power demands (similar to how a 4-bbl works)

Turns out the car was as rare as rare can be ... but I was not aware of it at the time .. I was fixated on the Mopar 383 & 426 Hemi muscle cars coming out that year and my "old Pontiac" seemed irrelevant.

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For Chrysler Canada, 1964 was the last year that they mixed Dodge and Plymouth bodies and front ends. But, rather than the Dodge front on Plymouth bodies as they did in the 50's Mayfair and Regent, it was instead the 63 and 64 Canadian Valiants which featured Dart bodies with Plymouth Valiant front ends. Valiants were sold in Canada by both Dodge and Plymouth dealers, but I don't believe Darts were. For 65 and 66, that changed. By 65 Canadian base level Valiants were the same as US built Valiants while the top line Valiants, like the Signets, were rebadged Dart GTs. By 67, I believe both Darts and Valiants were sold in Canada. The Monaco/Polara line from 65-69 was a bit different in Canada from US versions. Starting in 65, I believe, the full size Dodges had Plymouth interiors including the Fury dash. In 65 while the Monaco was a two door hardtop only. The US never got a Monaco convertible. But in Canada, Monacos were available as convertibles through 1969. Beyond that, the full size Dodge lineup was changed around a bit. Because trim and model designations were different north of the border, it was easy to get confused trying to do a model for model comparison. The 1966 Polara 880 in the photo was similar in trim level to the US 1966 Monaco. It had the Monaco side trim, but Polara tail lights. Interior would have been comparable to the US Monaco (or Plymouth VIP). Below this trim level was a Polara 440 which was comparable to the US Polara product line. Above this Polara 880 was the Monaco 500 which was the same as the US Monaco 500 in bucket seat interior and exterior trim, except that it had the Plymouth dash. Also at this time the 318 was the base engine on the Canadian full size Dodges while the 383 was the base engine on the US full size Dodges.

 

A must-see video



I wonder, how much import duties were for these

 

wow that monaco ragtop is freakin awesome!!!!!

 

Well technically, that dark blue convertible above is a Canadian Polara 880 convertible. It had Monaco side trim and a Monaco level of interior trim, with a Plymouth dash. The other Canadian C-body Dodge convertible that year was the Monaco which was equvalent to the US Monaco 500. It had Sport Fury interior and shared exterior trim with the US Monaco 500 and the tail lights were shared with the US Monaco and Monaco 500. In Canada in 66 the only Monacos were the Monaco coupes and convertibles. The top picture here is a 66 Canadian Monaco convertible. The lower picture is my own US 66 Polara convertible (there was no Canadian convertible equivalent to the Polara as there was no convertible in the Canadian Polara 440 series). The only other 66 C body Dodge convertible for the US market was the Polara 500 which shared the side trim with the Polara, but had bucket seats.

There were changes in the Canadian C body Dodge lineup over the years up till 70 when the US and Canadian Dodge lineup became the same. In 67 the lineup reflected the US model lines, Polara, Monaco, and Monaco 500. There was no Canadian Polara 500. The convertibles in 67-69 were in the Canadian Monaco and Monaco 500 lines, while in the US they remained in the Polara and Polara 500 lines, and by 69 The US dropped the Monaco 500 line. So keeping everything straight could get complicated. The base engine in all those Canadian Polaras and Monacos was the 318. In the US, the 383 was the base engine in 65 and 66, though there was a budget Polara 318 4 door sedan available for the US market as a single model entry level vehicle since it was already offered that way for taxi fleets. In 67, the US followed Canada in making the 318 the base engine for the full size C body Dodges. But then I should point out the the 318 poly was replaced in the US in 67 with the 318 small block. In Canada the 318 poly motor continued one more year till it was replaced with the 318 small block for 68 in Canada.




Sticking with 66 just as an example, there were other confusing differences among the Canadian full size Dodge lineup. The station wagons for example. In the US there was the Polara wagon. The equivalent Canadian version was the Polara 440 wagon. Outwardly, it looked the same, but had the Plymouth Fury interior. But then there was the top line Monaco woody wagon in the US. The equivalent to the US Monaco line in Canada was the Polara 880. But the Polara 880 wagon was not a woody, though the 880 had the chrome trim for the wood paneling. This copper Canadian Polara 880 wagon with the white roof is currently in a collection in Maryland and I understand that it never had the woody trim.

Canadian Polara 880


US Polara (similar to Canadian Polara 440)


US Monaco

 

Dang! That was a lot of cool info.