'77 Can Am - Blvd of Broken Dreams
 

This PHR article states :
"Parked in front of the Motortown facility, this is Jim Wangers' original Carousel Red 1977"
True?

http://www.popularhotrodding.com/fea...m/viewall.html

http://image.popularhotrodding.com/f..._can_am%2b.jpg

Bench w column shift
http://www.2040cars.com/_content/car...540000/009.jpg

Black Gut w Taco Bell Mascot :D
http://cdn.speednik.com/image/2012/08/canam03.jpg

http://www.2040cars.com/_content/car.../12002/005.jpg
http://www.2040cars.com/_content/car.../12002/002.jpg

A genuine Can Am racing namesake vehicle:

Mid-Ohio Can-Am McClaren August 12, 1973
http://www.autosportsltd.com/wp-cont...14-576x394.jpg

well, from reading the article, the car didnt fail; pontiac failed to build it--they had the sales offers already. i akin the can am to the trans ams of the same era which were great sellers. i think that a can am or a lemans gt program should have been in place as soon as the gto badges were put to rest on the 1973 models. if that had happened, youd see a ton of lemanses today like the 76-79 trans ams.

...more like "Blvd of Broken Tooling"....

K

The point is that Pontiac management in those days were all about the personal luxury cars, and after 1977, the Trans Am. They never really liked the car, since in their eyes, the muscle car era was long over. The GP dash is what killed the car, yet it also made the car. They could not make those last of the good, big, real GP's fast enough, and one dashboard used in the Can Am was one loss of a potential sale of the higher profit GP.

I still to this day don't understand why it was going to take 90 days to make another tool. If they just would have started to build a new tool as soon as the other one broke & told no one about it they would have been that much a head of the deal. Also why was it going to take 90 days to build a new tool. Most tools are repaired not completely remade . I think someone was just dragging there feet on the deal. If it were me as soon as I would have been told the tool is broke,,,, There would have been an order for a new one that very HOUR.

Indeed.

"...tooling contracts were written."

"...there were almost 1,000 special white (1977) Le Mans Sport Coupes waiting to be shipped to Motortown. Our storage lot was already completely filled, so these cars sat at the factory. As you can imagine, storing over 1,000 white cars in one place becomes somewhat of a spectacle. Every time management looked out of their office window on this virtual 'sea' of (old model design replaced by '78 downsized platform) white cars, they got more concerned."

I believe you are correct.

K

Tooling Repair and/or Replacemet would be dependent on the Terms and Conditions, Scope of Work, Schedule of Work, and Contractual Monetary Reimbursement per the contract. ie: 3rd party vendor/supplier.
Which if anyone here can provide details - to the spoiler tooling detailed contract - please feel free to contribute those terms. It's not emotional...it's contractual. See below.

From the Motortown Head:

"I call cars like the 1973-77 Le Mans a '5-minute car.' "...this car was a loser. Four years later it had not been improved." Jim Wangers - Glory Days

Jim may have called them 5 min. cars but I would bet that BY CONTRACT he made a sack load of money even though they didn't complete the contract. Thats how a lot of money is made in that group of guys. Plus he is making a lot of money through his book deals that he sells by slamming GM for not helping him complete his cars to. Also he says there 5 min. cars in one sentence & then says in the next that the 77 Can Am is the best car that Pontiac made that year. To much back peddling, but it sells books.

I would still love to find one of the "non-Can Am" Can Ams, there has to be a few out there somewhere.

Jim hates the 73'gto but loves the can am.

That makes no sense at all as the 73 GTO is where he got the idea for the Can Am. Well some of the ideas came from the All American design from the Pontiac design studio but the 73 GTO was the base for it. OH! I forgot to say that in 1984 when he was at the GTOAA Nats. he did say he really did hate the 73 GTO as he was quoted in saying a while back that it looked like 2 different people that designed the 73 GTO 1 for the front & 1 for the back & then they just pushed it together. But A the 84 Nats he did say he really like my 73 GTO with the rear spoiler on it. He did say it made it look as though it was complete that way. I don't know if he was just saying what I wanted to hear or ?? But I have over the last 40 + years have been told the rear spoiler on mine make it look really good. I haven't gotten any negative comments yet about it. Plus it took a while to get it to fit so it looked right when I put it on. I had to re angle it to make it sit on the rear deck lid correctly.

Tell me about it. Lot of similaraties

Jim once told me the left over white LeMans Sport Coupes were sold by GM. I'm sure some are still around.

X2 IIRC there was a previous thread on PY about them several years ago.

IMO - his "Love" may be in part BC it was one of HIS company's "tape, graphics, and spoiler" jobs like the many shown in his book that just happens to be a Pontiac.

Look again at what his company was pedaling:

AMC Spirit "AMX"
Volare "Road Runner"
Mustang II "King Cobra"
Et al

Point is Motortown, just like Pontiac, was in business to make money and profit no matter what brand or vehicle they "gussied up" w tape and plastic.

Anyone else notice that the '77 Can Am used the old shaker design vs the '77 version? I'd be willing to bet that they got a great deal on the "old design" shakers instead of the then new '77 & up design. Wangers would certainly have been in the know as to future design changes, equipment, etc. to be offered from Pontiac. IMO the newer style shakers follow the Can Am flater & crisper hood and nose design lines of the '76/77 Le Mans.

Agree - same cars. "I call cars like the 1973-77 Le Mans a '5-minute car.' "...this car was a loser. Four years later it had not been improved." Jim Wangers - Glory Days.

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...8&d=1390437129

And before anyone gets bent out of shape here, I'm not throwing stones at glass houses.

Just some observations. Love our Grandma, err I mean Grand Am 1973 regardless of the above.

Just some interesting 1973-77 history IMO.

When we saw the new Can Ams on the dealer lot we thought they looked great, but were disappointed to find out it was an appearance package only, with no performance improvements.

I remember that too. At the time of launch all of us local gear heads felt the same disappointment of no performance added.

The W72 was rated 20 hp over the other 400 in the rest of the A bodies. So, yes there was a performance improvement...

School me...CanAmman, Alvin .. I hear you talk about the GP dash in the Can Ams, but my 76 Gran LeMans has the same dash. Did they use a different dash in the Gran series as opposed to the regular LeMans? Am I missing something or just lacking knowledge?

As a side note,I worked at a Pontiac dealer in 76 & 77, we had a local police dept. order several 77 LeMans for use.I drove a few around and noticed the steering,it was a little stiffer to operate, not like the wishy-washy normal power steering, I really liked he feel of it and was wondering what they did to implement this feeling in the steering. Special box, reduced pressure ? I figured if anyone would know it would be Canamman . thanks Jim

Any a-body with "Grand" in the name has the GP dash. Grand Prix, Grand Am, Grand Lemans (there is no Gran Lemans).

Can't say about the steering.

The Grand LeMans was & is the better step up in the LeMans series & they got the better dash lay out which was the up graded Grand Am / Grand Prix dash. The police car package cars from Pontiac came with the Y-99 suspension which part of it was the better sterring gear which was a high effort for better road feel. There is a code for the sterring but I don't have that info at hand. But it was a part of the police package.

Thank you for the info, much appreciated.

GP dashes were used in Can Ams, Grand Ams, '77 LeMans GT, and Grand LeMans. There were also a few unconverted "Can Am" LeMans Sport Coupes that were sold that used that dash.

The steering in the B07 and B09 police package Enforcers was a firm feel, 14:1 straight ratio, and was not utilized in other Pontiacs. I recently replaced the box in my '76 LeMans Enforcer with a '96 Impala SS box, and that box is even quicker/firmer than the original police box.