It’s proof positive miracles happen! For your consideration, it’s a forty some year old Pontiac Acadian still on the road. Come on…really? These little econo-boxes were never meant to last this long. Offered in two or four door hatchback body styles, this “T-Platform” car (Chevrolet had a version too) was for a time GM’s lowest cost, smallest and most economical offering. Think plain and simple. A throw away city car you drove it into the ground and bailed at the first sign of trouble. Get a flat? Scrap it! Need a fill? Scrap it! It’s a safe bet few made it too 100k kms nor much beyond five years. Of course there are exceptions…like here. All things considered, it’s not in bad shape, a little rust maybe but relatively solid looking otherwise.
The taillights tell us it’s a first generation example, so from 1976-1979. Production continued into the 1987 model year with little change. These could be had with tiny lawnmower sized engines, gas sipping but horribly under powered. Zero to a hundred…never. The quarter mile…eventually. Passing power…no! The base 1.4 engine was rated at just over fifty horsepower, while the optional 1.6 made about ten more. Whatcha going to do with all those extra ponies? Interestingly the mighty BIGDoer-mobile has a similar sized power plant rated about 150hp and in spite of being a big and heavy car in comparison, and fairly spirited, it still gets better gas mileage. The Acadian seats four…but the people in back will hate you. Odd, it’s rear drive.
There were several brand variants, only differing in badging and trim, the Chevrolet Chevette (most popular, see: Haphazardly Made, Sparsely Trimmed & Underpowered), along with a Pontiac T1000 (later 1000) for the US mostly and the Canada only Acadian, the least common. Almost three million combined were made in total. Attrition quickly took a toll and by the 1990s they were pretty rare out in the wild. There was a 1960s era Acadian, incidentally, also generally an economy model, even if performance options were available. I wonder which one would win in a race?
That’s a trailer hitch…he said in amazement. Just what did they hope to tow? A shopping cart?
We found this little beastie by chance in southern Calgary in May 2019 and never expected to publish this shot. Yet here it is – recall we pull these randomly. The intent was to have it be photographic evidence should this find ever come up in discussion. No one would believe it otherwise.
Short Subjects: reports that for any number of reasons are brief in nature. They might be updates to older articles, previews of posts planned or not yet published, brief snippets of things that don’t fit in anywhere else or subjects that are so obscure that information on them can’t be found. Or sometimes we just ramble on about Lord knows what.
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Date of adventure: May, 2019. Location: Calgary, AB.
Interesting. We’ve heard from others who have spotted the car there too. Had a friend who owned the Chevy version, and drove it once. Not a comfy car for someone tall as I. Thanks for commenting!
We used to drive those as pizza delivery cars when I grew up in Brandon, Manitoba. That was back when the stores bought the cars. I shudder now when I think about how we could get them wound all the up to 85 miles an hour. Not that we were ever hard on the cars, mind you.
It may be only a humble hatchback (sold in the UK too, the Vauxhall Chevette) and this is a rare survivor, but every dog has its day. The Chevette was a successful competition car driven by e.g. Jimmy McRae (5 times UK Rally Champion, father of Colin McRae) and “Flying Finn” Pentti Airikkala. The link is to a photo of Airikkala doing what he does best … in a 1978 Chevette
Amazing stuff! Thanks for sharing. We always love an underdog and anyone brave enough to do it in Chevette gets our respect. The Vauxhall hatchback version is not all that different looking from the ones over here.
Shocking that it has lasted this long. The hitch reminds me of the joke about the guy who walks in to a parts store and says “Can I get a hitch for my Acadian?”. The parts guy says “Sounds like a fair trade, park it around back”. My Grandparents here in Ontario had one of the original Acadians. It was the only one I ever saw.
If there ever was a throw-away ride, this is it. Yet here it is, over forty and counting. And it’s not even in that bad of shape. The 60s Acadian was a different breed altogether, even if it too was often optioned as a budget car. We’ve seen one hotrodded and it was zoomy.
We used to do something called the "pointless challenge" 🤪 and miss those days. It was so much silly fun and often frustrating as heck. In these we'd invite people to send in random photos of obscure locations, but not give any information, and then we'd track where it was and shoot something similar.
Most of these came from old family collections, as was the case here. Anyone up to resurrecting the series?
In hindsight, why didn't we pose someone in our shot?
Pointless: “Devoid of meaning (or) senseless” Merriam-Webster.
If you like what we do and want to support this ongoing project (12 years now), go here: https://www.BIGDoer.com/help-the-society/ Thanks to Connie for making this post possible.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: ca1970 and 2014. Posted by Connie.
Captured on a cold, cold day many years ago. We've been passing this old house for decades and it's little changed in that time. At some point we expect to drive by and it'll be gone.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
When retired old railway cars usually get cut up for scrap. Sometimes, however, they find their way into the hands of the general public or whomever. Flat cars make good bridges, and boxcars can be transformed into storage buildings and the like. Case in point here. We see them used like this often enough and in this case, it's part of a corral.
Incidentally, this boxcar dates from 1950 and this was found by tracing the old road number, which is still visible.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
This central Alberta racetrack was never a commercial operation but instead just a fun place for car enthusiasts in the area to get together. Early '70s or thereabouts and it only lasted a few years. Even thought it's been abandoned for that long, there is no doubt what was here.
You know we like the the obscure stuff and this one fits the bill perfectly. Found by accident while backroad cruising and the history comes thanks to local car guy Mike.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2022. Posted by Connie.
On top of little Myrtle Mountain in the Kimberley (BC) Nature Park.
There's some good wilderness fun to be had here and nice views as you can see, but the real reason we came is mining history. The whole area near the ski hill was extensively worked over a century ago and we were looking for evidence of this. We didn't find much in the area searched, but it's a big chunk of property and we hope to return to cover more ground again soon. Of all the subjects we cover, mining related is a favourite.
Still, it was a good hike and that can't be bad. Look to the comments for more info 👇.
Exploring nature and history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2022. Posted by Connie.
It's a strange curiosity in south Kananaskis, there on a hillside and we have no idea who created it. We asked around and no one's completely sure about its history. In the past it showed the Canada 100 logo from 1967 but in 2017 someone changed it to reflect the country's 150th.
That's our friend Emily from DanOCan.com having a look.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
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Must work at the library, I’ve seen the same box there last winter. Know these cars well, family business had a bunch as courtesy cars.
Interesting. We’ve heard from others who have spotted the car there too. Had a friend who owned the Chevy version, and drove it once. Not a comfy car for someone tall as I. Thanks for commenting!
I see a Great Beater Challenge entrant.
Yup, 2021 is not far away!
We used to drive those as pizza delivery cars when I grew up in Brandon, Manitoba. That was back when the stores bought the cars. I shudder now when I think about how we could get them wound all the up to 85 miles an hour. Not that we were ever hard on the cars, mind you.
Such cool memories! Most company cars (and rentals) get a lot of abuse.
It may be only a humble hatchback (sold in the UK too, the Vauxhall Chevette) and this is a rare survivor, but every dog has its day. The Chevette was a successful competition car driven by e.g. Jimmy McRae (5 times UK Rally Champion, father of Colin McRae) and “Flying Finn” Pentti Airikkala. The link is to a photo of Airikkala doing what he does best … in a 1978 Chevette
Amazing stuff! Thanks for sharing. We always love an underdog and anyone brave enough to do it in Chevette gets our respect. The Vauxhall hatchback version is not all that different looking from the ones over here.
Shocking that it has lasted this long. The hitch reminds me of the joke about the guy who walks in to a parts store and says “Can I get a hitch for my Acadian?”. The parts guy says “Sounds like a fair trade, park it around back”. My Grandparents here in Ontario had one of the original Acadians. It was the only one I ever saw.
If there ever was a throw-away ride, this is it. Yet here it is, over forty and counting. And it’s not even in that bad of shape. The 60s Acadian was a different breed altogether, even if it too was often optioned as a budget car. We’ve seen one hotrodded and it was zoomy.