The Can Am was an instant...
The Can Am was an instant success with Pontiac dealers and its relatively low price and great muscular looks made it a quick seller. The price of the WW3 option package from Pontiac was $1,214 (later increased to $1,231) for the 400 and $1,164 (later increased to $1,181) for the California and high-altitude areas Olds 403 cars. The Can Am Appearance Package from Motortown was an additional $375.
Truth be told, not everyone in the Pontiac hobby owns a Trans Am or a GTO. In fact, GTO and T/A owners would probably be in the minority if a tally was taken regarding Pontiac ownership. Regardless, we write about them often because they're legends of Pontiac performance. Just because you own a LeMans, a base Bird, a Catalina or a Can Am, however, doesn't mean your Pontiac isn't special. All Pontiacs are special-the Can Am in particular-and would place near the top of many hobbyists' must-have lists, yet its short life was not without hardships.
The proposal for this special A-body was first rejected by Pontiac when it was presented as a new Judge. After the transformation to the Can Am, Pontiac's approval, and it making a big splash upon its release, it was canceled after less than 1,500 units were built. In this article, we'll explore the trials and tribulations of the Can Am and discover what made this alternative Pontiac so special.
Humble Beginnings
In 1973, GM Designer Bill Mitchell and his Pontiac Studio Two design team, led by Chief Designer John Schinella, created three in-house "Formula X" concept cars ("Department X," Jan. '06): an X-body Ventura, an F-body Firebird, and an A-body LeMans, all three with a white color scheme, shaker scoop, red and blue stripes, body-colored Rally II wheels, and dual exhaust. The LeMans and the Firebird had a ducktail spoiler. According to Schinella, "the three concept cars were done as a study to promote a lower-cost performance car, and all three were shown to dealerships in Michigan to get their reactions." Ultimately, Pontiac decided not to produce the Formula X cars.
According to Verne Howard,...
According to Verne Howard, most Can Am hobbyists know about the rear spoiler mold breakage at Motortown Corporation, but few people knew, until now, that Can Ams were made with two different types of spoilers. The fiberglass spoiler is most common, but several cars were manufactured with a rubber one. This was done to keep the Can Ams rolling out of Motortown assembly plant. The examples pictured here all appear to have the fiberglass spoiler.
Then in 1974, Schinella's team designed and built the All American Grand Am. It was a concept show car that borrowed from the theme of the upcoming USA Bicentennial, and it received incredible reviews from the automotive press. Jim Wangers, one of the few industry insiders to see it, was Pontiac's advertising guru and he found it "pretty good looking," and an inspiration to work on a proposal to return the Judge to Pontiac's performance lineup.
As the Bicentennial approached and Wangers saw that Pontiac had no firm plans to introduce a production version of the All American Grand Am, he sourced specialty car maker Motortown Corporation, and it approached Pontiac with a proposal to rebirth the Judge. The plan was to take the Colonnade-style LeMans, which had suffered in sales during the '70s, and return it to its glory days by adorning it with the loud, splashy graphics that made the Judge an instant success in 1969.
Pontiac said no to Motortown's proposal, wanting nothing to do with reintroducing a Judge to the American public. The concept was sent back for a rework. Conspiring closely with Wangers, Motortown toned down the Carousel Red prototype Judge to a less-flamboyant white, agreed to drop the name Judge, and returned to Pontiac with one major addition to their concept car: the trademark shaker scoop from the Trans Am.
Can Am Is A "Go"
This time, Wangers and Motortown had an ally, Ben Harrison, a Pontiac employee in the Marketing Group in Product Planning who took an interest in the "Judge" proposal, and gave it a new name, "Can Am." Shortly thereafter, with Harrison's strong support, Pontiac approved the Can Am for production, awarded the contract to Motortown, and a limited quantity of specially-equipped '77 Cameo White LeMans Sport Coupes were scheduled to be produced and sent to a satellite assembly plant in Troy, Michigan, for conversion. The Can Am was born.