We were talking about 73 Pontiacs and this was cool.

[Cheapsunglasses]

Isn’t that what owning a car is about? Having the fastest car on the street?

 

[440 PHIXX]

Isn’t that what owning a car is about? Having the fastest car on the street?

Well… if we’re time traveling back to ‘78… I was just 13. And one of my neighbors had a Rally Green A12 road runner. A guy at the other end of the block had a ‘68 L78 Chevelle. Cars like that were everywhere. So the fastest/quickest ‘78 wasn’t very impressive. At least 13 yo me didn’t think so.

 

[Ron H]

Some truck memories early in my day. Worked for a machine shop, first job and not long before given more pickup and delivery duties in their old well-worn ’65 Ford 150, six with a 3 on the tree. Co-owner, da jerk-wad one, would load that thing up until it looked like it was on a hill. Felt like the front wheels were damn near off the ground steering it. Cuz they were. I’d bitch every so often; but he’d say grow some balls kid. One time damn near rolled it over on an icy street and the load of 2,000 shafts in metal bins went all over the box. Took an hour to get all them back on the pallets. One of a few bad encounters driving that truck.

Year later, owners got company leased Chryslers and a Dodge pickup with a four speed. Lol, what a diff! Liked that truck. My other boss, Geno, the good one, liked to borrow my Cuda and later my new Challenger giving me the keys to his boat Chrysler, and later his co-leased Cordoba. Think it was when they first came out. Cool ride. Met my old car buds in town one night driving it. They were like WDF hey what's this, where’s da Challenger? Said I traded it in for the Cordoba. Had some fun BS'ing them.

Old Geno, when he returned my ride, he’d have the stereo cranked up, wipers on, and heater/fan on full blast. I reciprocated on that ****. We all probably have our most-favorite people we’ve encountered in life and not a long list. At least, how it is with me. Geno, RIP you were one of the best.

Thanks for letting me jump in here a bit off the rails with some great memories.

 

[JackR]

The other "bird" in my garage. 70 formula 400 Almost done.

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

Well… if we’re time traveling back to ‘78… I was just 13. And one of my neighbors had a Rally Green A12 road runner. A guy at the other end of the block had a ‘68 L78 Chevelle. Cars like that were everywhere. So the fastest/quickest ‘78 wasn’t very impressive. At least 13 yo me didn’t think so.

Oh I know, we went from the fastest production cars being 400-500hp in 68, to over 200hp is exciting in 78

Don’t get me wrong though, I love the firebirds, it’s just the latter ones, like all cars because of the party police, just didn’t have impressive performance.

 

[440 PHIXX]

Oh I know, we went from the fastest production cars being 400-500hp in 68, to over 200hp is exciting in 78

Don’t get me wrong though, I love the firebirds, it’s just the latter ones, like all cars because of the party police, just didn’t have impressive performance.

I’m not a Pontiac or a GM guy at all. But I have to give them credit for sticking with the Trans Am. Everyone else bailed. And by ‘79 they were probably running 3 shifts.

 

[RemCharger]

The way to make a Pontiac move is put a 383 in it.

 

[RemCharger]

@69sunroofse argues that this  is a pontiac site.
cool.

 

[Photon440]

That 73 CanAm is pretty rare. Since the mid nineties I kept an eye out for one to restore if I could get it cheap enough.
never happened and too late now.
good looking car for 73 though

You'll be looking a long time for a '73 Can-Am. They were only made in 1977.

 

[Davefinan]

You'll be looking a long time for a '73 Can-Am. They were only made in 1977.

No WONDER I never found one!

 

[SteveSS]

Here's the deal. The 73 Grand Am was GTO in all the drawings. The industry noticed a shift to personal luxury so the Grand Am was born. It had the interior from the Grand Prix and the running gear from the Trans Am hence the name. Ours has a 455 almost 500 ft/lbs of torque. There's a rumor some G/As got the SD 455 but that's mainly been discredited. They did make a 73 GTO but it was a much lesser car than the G/A. So the G/A went on until 1975 and was dropped. In '74 the GTO switched to the Ponitac Venture platform, yuck. Then in 1977 they redid the G/A, still as a lesser car, and called it a Can Am. Again the spoiler deal killed it. Very rare to see one now.

 

[SteveSS]

One big difference between the G/As and the lesser cars (besides the 455 option) is the front end. Even the Can-Am has the big ugly bumper. The Grand Am has a thin bumper mounted to shocks behind it. The nose could collapse and then pop back into shape. The little grilles were hinged at the top so they could also collapse.

 

[chargervert]

They did a great job hiding the big ugly bumper on the front of the Grand AM cars,others should have followed their styling cues! They should have made the noses of Daytona Chargers and Superbirds they same way,federal government crash standards made them obsolete.

 

[440 PHIXX]

Here's the deal. The 73 Grand Am was GTO in all the drawings. The industry noticed a shift to personal luxury so the Grand Am was born. It had the interior from the Grand Prix and the running gear from the Trans Am hence the name. Ours has a 455 almost 500 ft/lbs of torque. There's a rumor some G/As got the SD 455 but that's mainly been discredited. They did make a 73 GTO but it was a much lesser car than the G/A. So the G/A went on until 1975 and was dropped. In '74 the GTO switched to the Ponitac Veture platform, yuck. Then in 1977 they redid the G/A, still as a lesser car, and called it a Can Am. Again the spoiler deal killed it. Very rare to see one now.

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Interesting thing about the ‘74 “Nova” GTO. It had a functional Shaker. The Trans Am and the Formula 455SD did not.

 

[SteveSS]

My son did spot one on the highway last year.

 

[440 PHIXX]

My son did spot one on the highway last year.

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Nice! A 49 state version with the Pontiac W72 400. Cali got the shitty Olds 403.

Leave it to GM… windowed main webs. They sure didn’t build ‘em to be hot rodded.

 

[demonram]

Here's the deal. The 73 Grand Am was GTO in all the drawings. The industry noticed a shift to personal luxury so the Grand Am was born. It had the interior from the Grand Prix and the running gear from the Trans Am hence the name. Ours has a 455 almost 500 ft/lbs of torque. There's a rumor some G/As got the SD 455 but that's mainly been discredited. They did make a 73 GTO but it was a much lesser car than the G/A. So the G/A went on until 1975 and was dropped. In '74 the GTO switched to the Ponitac Venture platform, yuck. Then in 1977 they redid the G/A, still as a lesser car, and called it a Can Am. Again the spoiler deal killed it. Very rare to see one now.

View attachment 1505441View attachment 1505442View attachment 1505440View attachment 1505451View attachment 1505450

I think that first rendering would have been over the top.

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

I think that first rendering would have been over the top.

But it was the 70s, everything was

 

[demonram]

But it was the 70s, everything was

I fully agree, to a certain point. That’s when things started slowing down, literally and figuratively.

 

[SteveSS]

The site won't let me copy the renderings anymore but go here to see all the sketches. It is the job of the designers to go way out there and then the CEOs and bean counters bring them back to earth.

’73 GTO/Grand AM Development

Great artwork.

www.deansgarage.com

I found this rendering on the internet and through a lot of detective work I found the artist living in New Zealand. I bought some prints of this.