Fall is here and what better way to celebrate than to feature a gold Beaumont! Les Duncan owns this Beautiful '69 Beaumont Custom. This Beaumont could be considered a "restomod" and has upgrades that not only enhance the car's appearance but also greatly improve driveability. We'll let Les take it from here:

The Story of “Beau 69”

It all started with a 67 Camaro RS Convertible.

We bought the Camaro as a daily driver for our winter home in Arizona. Driving it was a lot of fun and we decided we would like another classic car to drive in the summer at home in Winnipeg. We thought quite a bit about what car we might want and, based on my wife’s family’s small town garage/dealer history with Beaumonts in Morris MB, we decided to look for a Beaumont. We ended up with our classic “Beau 69” and I found my way onto the CP site, but there is much more than that to tell!

We bought Beau in Regina in Sept. 2013. The 1969 Beaumont Custom, was 1 of 4177 built in that last Beaumont production year, had a production date of May 22, 1969 and was shipped May 23, 1969 to Mid West Motors Ltd. Regina, SK. We are the 5th owners of this solid example of Canadian auto history. After negotiating a reasonable price, I flew to Regina to drive "Beau" home and it is here where “The Story of Beau 69” threatens to morph into “The Tale of the Cursed Beaumont”. 

Experiencing some carb backfiring on the way home, I ended up spending a night in Elkhorn MB while a local garage replaced the distributor and did some tuning. I made it home, but let's just say the 350 SBC just wasn't ever tuned properly. It was too late in the season to do much more than park the car for the winter. (As a bit of an aside, at the end of Winter 2014, we sold our winter home in Arizona and we brought the Camaro home to Winnipeg. Good thing … it turned out to be the only classic car we would be driving very much in 2014 and 2015!)

So Spring 2014 arrives and I have decided that an engine change is in order. My initial thought was an LS2 out of a 2005/06 GTO, which I thought would be a good fit for a Beaumont and provide driveability and reliability with reasonable power. A few phone calls later, I was persuaded that  “old school”,  BBC – maybe 427, was the way to go. I found a Winnipeg engine builder, sourced a 454 from the “BBC hoarder” in Morris MB and agreed on a build plan.  But I was naive and new to this, so some decisions I made would prove to be problematic, most notably, a decision to use aftermarket EFI from FAST. Beau was ready in September and the built 462 … we’ll call it BBC #1 … was dynoed at 570ish HP, which was nice for my ego but not so good for reliability. There were signs of over-fuelling problems from the outset and performance was poor, but with no time to sort out the problems and tuning, the car was stored in October. (The Camaro got a lot of miles that summer!)

Now Spring 2015 arrives and I shake Beau out after storage, looking forward to a season of cruising. With plans in place to do the early June “PowerTour 2015” out of Madison WI, on a Sunday drive in late May BBC#1 is still running erratically. I notice oil pressure dropping under load and regaining at idle. The problem … a bent rod. I believe, but can't prove, that the issue was over-fuelling … probably the big cam caused a lot of reversion, the ECU saw this as air and consequently threw fuel at it … there was certainly evidence of fuel in the oil.

So, I have the engine rebuilt and reinstalled … BBC#2 has a milder cam, new high end rods, new crank, etc. But while this is in process, there is an incident in the shop, the driver’s side front fender has to be repainted, and the paint is not properly matched. Nonetheless, sometime in July, Beau is back on the road … but only for 2 or 3 weeks until I notice a strange noise coming from the transmission area, or so I thought. With less than 500 miles on BBC #2, a thrust bearing has failed … the noise was the crank moving enough to hit the starter.

Now it is mid-August, we have BBC engine failure #2, we still have to get the front fender repainted properly and we are not happy. On the other hand, we have this great looking classic car with an empty engine bay … the question is do we crush, burn or build again?

By November, after some anger management and soul searching, we decide to sell the Camaro (which had gotten a lot of miles that summer, too, and found a good home in Nashville later that winter). The plan is that the sale will finance an LS engine with full GM warranty for our protection … what a concept! So I source an LS3 connect and cruise package including factory ECU and TCU … pretty much what I had wanted to do originally … from a GM dealership. And, fortunately, by this time we had met the young owner of an award-winning Hot Rod shop near us … HPI Customs, in Beausejour MB. (Maybe the “Beau”sejour was karma?)

Finally, Spring 2016 arrives and the LS3 installation by HPI Customs is complete. Beau now has a brand new engine and transmission, has undergone some suspension and other upgrades and is sporting new wheels/tires. The engine bay is organized, clean and amazing … a showcase for HPI's fabrication expertise and attention to detail. And then, shortly after, “period-consistent” one-off LS3 fender emblems are added.  

Since Spring, Beau 69 Version 3.0 … no “BBC#3” this time … has shaken out beautifully and we are very pleased. The handling is excellent and the new lowered suspension works really well with very little body roll in turns. The bulletproof LS3 generates plenty of power with ease. We now have about 5000 kms on the car and it is performing the way I always wanted. On a recent trip to Minneapolis, it handled perfectly in wind/rain conditions and we made 24 MPG … OK, so maybe mileage is not what is most important in a muscle car, but it sure doesn’t hurt! So while Beau is now probably considered a Restomod, I'm OK with that … this is how I wanted my car to perform and look. I can handle minor adjustments, but I'm not an experienced overhauler and I need reliability and driveability.

We are driving Beau 69 to Florida in late October to be our daily driver this Winter, planning a stop in Nashville along the way ... maybe a visit with the Camaro … and looking forward to attending the various cruises and shows. We just want to enjoy the ride, happy that the time we previously spent “cursing” is now spent “cruising”!

I have learned a lot from this experience. I would like to thank all the CP members for sharing their mechanical and electrical experiences on this forum … it helps guys like me figure out how to tackle some of the problems that arise. And for those of you who love details, here are the specs:  

BEAU 69 – 1969 Beaumont Custom

POWERTRAIN/ENGINE BAY:  

·        LS3/480 HP, 4L70E, coil packs hidden on custom brackets.

·        Eddie Motorsports LS valve covers painted Antique Gold.

·        AFCO aluminum rad with dual fans and custom steamlines/hoses for LS application.

·        Stainless fuel lines to EFI Tanks Inc EFI gas tank and in tank Walbro electric pump. 

·        Custom chromoly balanced driveshaft. 

·        3:55 Eaton 12 bolt Posi.

·        Engine bay with smoothed firewall and inner fenders, powder coating, matte black paint, custom mounts, brackets, lines, hoses

        Magnaflow 3" stainless with X pipe, Hooker LS Blackheart stainless headers.

EXTERIOR:

·        Antique Gold with black vinyl roof (with fender paint properly matched by Auto Resurrection, Wpg.)

SUSPENSION:

·        Front - Speed Tech upper/lower control arms, Viking Chicane dble adjustable true coilovers, Hotchkis sway bar.

·        Rear - UMI upper/lower control arms, UMI sway bar, Viking dble adjustable shocks, Custom spring rate.

WHEELS/BRAKES:

·        Wilwood 13" Dynalite disc conversion, stainless brake lines and Wilwood E Brake.

·        Budnick E 85 ceramic coated titanium and polished aluminum 18" wheels.

·        Nitto 555G2 tires - 245/40 ZR/18 Front, 285/40 ZR/18 Rear.

INTERIOR:

·        Period correct code 790 Parchment.

·        Dakota Digital 69 GTO VHX instruments with cruise control.

·        Shiftworks conversion for overdrive, Buckets and console.

·        Audio hidden in glove box.