In sort of a blurry-lens-1940s-Hollywood-film-noir-portrait-style, the seller of this 1977 Pontiac Can Am has provided photos that are somewhat difficult to decipher. But, these are fairly rare cars to see today and this one is listed for $2,250 here on craigslist in Sedalia, Missouri. Thanks to Pat L. for sending in this tip!
I’m not sure what happened with the seller’s camera but you can see most of the car and most of it looks good if not pretty dirty and faded. There is a little rust visible on bottom portions of the car but there is no mention of rust and it really doesn’t look bad, it’s just that the photos make it hard to really tell the condition.
Pontiac reportedly made fewer than 1,400 examples of the 1977 Pontiac Can Am, which was based on the LeMans Sport coupe, in Cameo White. Production was stopped because the mold for the spoiler was accidentally damaged, otherwise, the company could probably have sold several thousand more of them, up to a planned production of 5,000 cars.
Like the exterior photos, the interior photos make it hard to tell what’s going on but a lot of it looks like it could be cleaned up pretty well rather than having to be totally restored. This example doesn’t appear to have the optional power door locks and power windows but I’m not sure what other features it does have, it’s hard to tell. A manual transmission wasn’t available, they all came with GM’s Turbo-Hydramatic 400 (TH400) automatic transmission.
The engine has seen better days as with most of us, or maybe I should just speak for myself. The engine would have been Pontiac’s 400 cubic-inch V8 with a Trans-Am shaker hood and around 200 hp. California cars received Oldmobile’s 185-hp 403 cubic-inch V8. The seller says that this one hasn’t been running for years. Even though the photos don’t do this car any justice, it really does look like this Can Am could be restored if the underside is ok and the drivetrain isn’t locked up. Are there any ’77 Pontiac Can Am fans out there?
This won’t clean up nearly as well as the Lincoln did.
I thought the Can Am’s were neat when they came out. I remember wanting one of these. It was rare to see one of these even when new.
I love these and want one. But I’ll never understand why people post photos like this. Must be a competition for bad photos. This is honorable mention.
The can AM 6.6 litre produced 200 hp at 4000 rpms. They sadly only used a 3peed automatic transmission.
Nice car To restore and bore the orig engine with some forged pistons👀👍
Intake, exhaust and a GTO cam really wake these up.
I have always like the design of these cars but not with that ugly wing on the back.
I bet that wing(whose mold broke prematurely) is worth at least a grand alone. Maybe more.
Pontiac should have never made that front & rear end above & just stuck with the futuristic good looking grand am, & base the GTO, lemans, etc. on THAT (with steel bumper variations for base lemans, etc.)
In your face graphics and styling as usual from Pontiac, interesting car from a not so interesting era of automobiles. My state of Kalifornia had more than a few engines—N.A. back then. Or engine transmission set ups, or different carburators allowed/not allowed.
I thought there was more to the story about these Can Am Pontiacs or a different model was created without the spoiler. Not important.
His pictures look like that because like a lot of people he didn’t take 2 seconds to wipe the fingerprints off his phones lens.
1977 Pontiac Can Am Lamon’s Sport Coupe, LOL! I dont think its a dirty lens but prolly a flip phone camera. Ain’t that special.
Yup
Filthy car, blurry pictures, can’t even go to the trouble of removing the leaves from the scuffle; why bother?
BTW, can’t verify it but I recall that Pontiac had shifted from the Turbo-hydramatic 400 to the 350 for ’77; so watered down power-wise, the T-400 was no longer necessary.
Revised! The Pontiac 400 CI engine does appear to have used the T-400 transmission but the Olds 403 CI engine used the T-350.
Potato Phone strikes again!
Be really nice to see this at least somewhat cleaned up.
and in daylight.
and not looking through a jar of Vasoline.
This car appears to have been stored outside, under trees, and could possibly be damp/moldy inside. Shame!
Love these cars. Sad that they only made around 1,400 before the mold for the rear spoiler was damaged. It would have been very wise for GM to fix the mold, or manufacture a new one to keep production going. They would have easily sold every one they could make. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if they could move ten to twenty thousand of these cars, or even more.
I think the issue was that it wouldn’t be ready by the time this generation of A-body went out of production and the new downsized 1978 A-body cars were introduced.
I don’t GM made the mold, these were finished aftermarket with GM’s blessing, sort of like what ASC used to do. I think these were finished by a company called Motown, run by Jim Wangers.
The mold was owned by Motortown. Constructed of soft tooling. No back up. Jim Wangers was the marketing director there. Documents in Oakland County courts show bankruptcy declared by them in late 1977.
If I were closer, I’d be taking a ride for a closer look.
I thought the spoiler mold issue was 72? Or did they have 2 issies?
433 jeff, oddly enough, both cars had the same issue! It makes a person wonder if it was really an accident, not to be a conspiracy theory guy or anything…
These cars are kinda cool. I like the little spoiler. I never heard about the trouble with it. However I don’t think the factory would had let a broken mold slow them down if in fact they wanted to continue making this model. Can’t tell whats up with this car. 400? 403? ect. If you post snaps like these you just don’t care. LATER………………..JIMMY
In my opinion this was one of the last great Pontiac muscle cars!! It had that Pontiac look too!! The pointy nose and the way the bumper and front end was!! These were cool cars but I never even when they were new saw many around!!! I’m sure if this were a 4 speed car it would be gone by now!!
All Can Am’s were built at the now demolished Pontiac assembly plant. The cars were then transported to Motortown in Troy, MI for spoiler, hood scoop, and graphics installation. The Can Am script by the trunk lock looks hand made.
Yep – count me in – when these were new in my day they were bad ass cool – only needed a 455 transplant to show up some T/A and other folks up…….
These had The Grand AM suspension. A very nice riding and handling car. Find a 455SD somewhere, add beefed 700R4 transmission and aftermarket fuel injection and it could really cruise and possibly get reasonable fuel economy.
I like it. But would not be interested in sight unseen. If no or very minor rust and closer to me. It would be in my driveway already.
Suspension was standard for whatever came on the Lemans. Might be the same as a Grand Am but nothing special. Definitely a good cleaning would help.
Looks like it could be restored, but at what cost? These still aren’t bringing big money so might not make sense.
It makes sense if you want a Can Am.
Buy one finished for way less money than you’ll spend on a restoration.
This is probably a parts car but its hard to see it 😨
I know Ebay is notorious for their crappy photo car and truck ads, but I’m surprised Craigslist would allow this bad example of photo advertising of a rare car such as the Can Am. I know I’m supposed to expound on the car itself and not necessarily about the photos but I can’t help it…it’s just a pet peeve of mine, being that I love old cars and I’m an admirer of good advertising…not interested.
My first new car was a 77 Can Am. I loved it and would love to get another one… Don’t know if this is the one, but I’m always looking.
Looks like the mold is fine on this example!