Photos: autoevolution.com, hemmings.com and Dave's Garage YouTube channel
2+2 equals pure classic Canadiana
By Claudio D'Andrea
The Pontiac 2+2: The sleek, powerful and long classic car advertised itself as fitting two adults and two passengers, usually children. But the spacious beast easily accommodated five on its B-body frame.
Even if you don't accept that 2+2 equals five, rest assured it equals excellence. Canadian excellence.
GM of Canada debuted the Parisienne 2+2 in 1967. That was when all Pontiacs built and sold in Canada until 1970 were unique from their U.S. cars as they were based on GM's B platform and chassis with Pontiac exterior sheet metal.
The 2+2 was highly prized and valuable as a classic. Comedian Jay Leno owns a '67 version. So does Canadian car buff Dave Plummer who, among other things, once ran the 1969pontiac.com website and was the programmer behind the Windows Task Manager and 3D Pinball video game.
His father bought a 1969 2+2 coupe version of the car brand new at Midwest Motors in Regina, Sask. Plummer inherited the black car in 1984 when he turned 16, according to a hemmings.com profile.
On Plummer's restored red convertible 2+2, the original 350 Chevy motor was changed to a 396 and eventually bulked up to a 427-powered 2+2.
Plummer, whose memories of his father's car include trips to the A&W drive-in and cross-country traveling to Victoria, B.C., achieved a rare kind of freedom during that car's restoration, according to the story.
"Throughout the restoration process, Dave enjoyed a certain freedom that many enthusiasts don’t get to experience," Eric English wrote. "Put another way, he built the car strictly for himself, without concern for absolute correctness."
In an autoevolution.com profile on Plummer's red convertible, Razvan Calin wrote the 427 V8 four-speed is the only car made that way. Of all full-size Canadian Pontiacs at the time, only 173 came with that big block engine.
The final 2+2 is an eye-catching piece of pure Canadiana and tribute to the Plummer family automotive legacy.
Says hemmings.com's English of the black coupe:
"Simply put, the big ’69 has been part of the Plummer family its whole life, and it won’t be leaving anytime soon. While much was changed during restoration, the car still sports its original Cameo White over Starlight Black color scheme, with blue interior. We dig the two-tone paint that most manufacturers had strayed away from by the late Sixties, and apparently, Dave does too."
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