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#1
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Can Am production
What's the offical tally these days? Has it ever been confirmed through PHS?
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Just a blind squirrel looking for a nut. |
#2
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According to a copy of the official "News from Pontiac" memo from 1977 that I possess, it states 1377 were produced. As far as I am concerned, that should be considered gospel since it came from the company in an official document.
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1976 LeMans B09 Freeway Enforcer, 455/M40 Smokey 1977 Trans Am, 400/M21 Black/Gold Bandit. 44K actual miles 2017 Sierra SLT 1500 Z71 4X4 2019 Canyon SLT Crew 4X4 |
#3
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That's good enough for me. I've heard this number too, but only after hearing 1130 and 1138 that was touted for years before the 1377 was out there. How many are in the registry?
__________________
Just a blind squirrel looking for a nut. |
#4
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I can't speak for Verne Howard's official registry, but I have 340 cars listed in an Excel Spreadsheet that I created several years ago. This is from car shows, E-Bay, internet, etc.
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1976 LeMans B09 Freeway Enforcer, 455/M40 Smokey 1977 Trans Am, 400/M21 Black/Gold Bandit. 44K actual miles 2017 Sierra SLT 1500 Z71 4X4 2019 Canyon SLT Crew 4X4 |
#5
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I just found the public registry Verne released from 2005 and he had 247 cars listed then.
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1976 LeMans B09 Freeway Enforcer, 455/M40 Smokey 1977 Trans Am, 400/M21 Black/Gold Bandit. 44K actual miles 2017 Sierra SLT 1500 Z71 4X4 2019 Canyon SLT Crew 4X4 |
#6
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Hmmmm, I thought the number in the registry was closer to 400.
__________________
Just a blind squirrel looking for a nut. |
#7
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I'm a little fuzzy on these cars but wasn't there a number of them that sat converted (GP dashes) at Pontiac waiting on Motortown to repair the rear spoiler machine? Could that be the discrepency(sp) in the production numbers? IIRC, some were shipped/sold without the C/A goodies, just white LeMans Sports with GP dashes?
Brian I believe you and I posted a while back that yours and the one I sold in '03 are both blk buckets, column shift/no console? Last I heard mine was in Atlanta.
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'79 SE T/A 400/4spd '12 ZL1 Camaro |
#8
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Jim Wangers told me the leftover cars were simply sold as regular LeMans Sport Coupes. Nothing special about them. He didn't mention anything about stripping partially completed cars. I assume they would have had some spoilers in inventory and only made enough cars to use them up. I've always wondered if anyone has a 6.5/6.6 litre white LeMans Sport Coupe with a build date from around the time this happened.
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http://www.pontiacpower.org/ |
#9
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Quote:
There was one of them in my area that existed until 1993, then was junked. It had the W72 400 with the chrome valve covers, and the GP dash, but no decals, spoiler, or shaker scoop.
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1976 LeMans B09 Freeway Enforcer, 455/M40 Smokey 1977 Trans Am, 400/M21 Black/Gold Bandit. 44K actual miles 2017 Sierra SLT 1500 Z71 4X4 2019 Canyon SLT Crew 4X4 |
#10
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Here is the 1977 News From Pontiac document:
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1976 LeMans B09 Freeway Enforcer, 455/M40 Smokey 1977 Trans Am, 400/M21 Black/Gold Bandit. 44K actual miles 2017 Sierra SLT 1500 Z71 4X4 2019 Canyon SLT Crew 4X4 |
#11
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I'm just relaying what Jim Wangers told me. I thought the comment was odd at the time too. Maybe what he meant was that they did nothing special to the unused cars. He said the leftover cars were simply sold as LeMans Sport Coupes. I don't claim to be a Can Am expert. Might be best to contact Jim and ask him what he remembers.
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http://www.pontiacpower.org/ |
#12
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That was probably the case. I have talked with Jim on three occasions about the Can Am at different shows. He is a wonderful asset to the Pontiac community. My only wish is that he didn't feel so harshly against the '73 GTO. (LOL)
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1976 LeMans B09 Freeway Enforcer, 455/M40 Smokey 1977 Trans Am, 400/M21 Black/Gold Bandit. 44K actual miles 2017 Sierra SLT 1500 Z71 4X4 2019 Canyon SLT Crew 4X4 |
#13
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I know of 3 or 4 of them that were junked in this area.
Mike
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so many pontiacs, so little time.................. moderator is a glorified word for an unappreciated prick.................. "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." --Albert Einstein "There is no such thing as a good tax." "We contend that for a nation to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle." - Winston Churchill |
#14
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Quote:
The ones that were never fully converted shouldn't be in the list of Can Am's, in my opinion.
__________________
Just a blind squirrel looking for a nut. |
#15
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Quote:
I agree, they kinda are, but not. However, it would be great to actually find one of these cars, and look at the PHS for it. It should have the WW3 option code. In theory, one could take the spoiler, shaker, and the stripes and add them to one of these cars, and have a PHS documented Can Am, even though the car spent it first 33 years as a very plain white LeMans. How do we know that this hasn't happened a few times already?
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1976 LeMans B09 Freeway Enforcer, 455/M40 Smokey 1977 Trans Am, 400/M21 Black/Gold Bandit. 44K actual miles 2017 Sierra SLT 1500 Z71 4X4 2019 Canyon SLT Crew 4X4 |
#16
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Mine was ordered by a GM employee in Norwood. He ordered it with buckets for himself but the wife required column shift. Odd thing too it had a factory CB radio that was mounted on a bracket on the trans tunnel.
__________________
'79 SE T/A 400/4spd '12 ZL1 Camaro |
#17
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Interesting reading about the Can Am production numbers. I've asked before if the CA registry is still viable. I've sent 4 emails to Verne Howard at his listed address, but never got any response. Any suggestions/ideas on how to proceed? thanks
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#18
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I do not know what is going on with Verne. You are not the only one who has had a tough time communicating with him recently. I would not mind taking over the registry at some point if he decides that enough is enough.
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1976 LeMans B09 Freeway Enforcer, 455/M40 Smokey 1977 Trans Am, 400/M21 Black/Gold Bandit. 44K actual miles 2017 Sierra SLT 1500 Z71 4X4 2019 Canyon SLT Crew 4X4 |
#19
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Thanks, I was most interested in finding out if my car was already registered or how to get a list of the registered cars. And if not registered, make sure it's counted in the total.
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#20
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77 Canaman, I would like to see you or someone take over the registry and update it. Verne hasn't done anything with it for a couple of years. I would like to see how many cars are really out there. I have a rare Suzuki motorcycle touring bike that was only built from 1985 - 1987 and belong to a yahoo group that tracks them. We have found out good info about engineering goofs that could cause the motorcycle to fail or could cause seriuos injury to the rider. Not saying there is anything like that as a concern with the Can Am. Mostly we know approximately how many of these bikes are stioo out there. My 2 cents for waht its worth. Kbars
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