Not Found on ebay: A Dual Quad 409 Equipped Canadian Pontiac Wagon!

Discovering rare and uncovered gems usually happens when someone contacts me after reading my column in Musclecar Enthusiast. So I received a lead about what might be the rarest muscle car in existence, a one-of-one Canadian built (at the same Oshawa, Ontario plant that currently builds the Camaro) Pontiac Parisienne Safari six-passenger station wagon powered by a 425-horsepower dual quad 409, the same engine immortalized by the Beach Boys song “409.”

When I spoke with George Kelly about his Safari the first thing I did was to verify his claim that such a car was indeed built by Pontiac/GM of Canada Limited (because of the trade restrictions at the time, GM Canada built some unique cars, among them the Beaumont which was covered previously on automotivetraveler.com). With the help of the Pontiac Historical Society (PHS) who verified the VIN and a copy of the 1963 Canadian full-line brochure, which clearly shows that such an engine was offered, we know that the car is the real deal. The car was built on 18 June 1963 and shipped the next day to Murray’s Garage in Neepawa, Manitoba. In a letter dated 24 January 2001to Mr. Kelly, George Zapora, a vintage specialist at GM Canada Limited stated that the car has the same mechanical specifications as the US Chevrolet model 1835 which according to the Standard Catalog of American Cars 1946-1975 is a six-passenger 1963 Impala station wagon. Apparently the Canadian-built Pontiacs were built on the same platform as south-of-the-border-built Bowties. Read more at Automotive Traveler.