I remember guys who put small blocks in their Vega's twisting the frames regularly. They were fast until they broke. A big block? lmao

Back in '80s, had a 72 Vega, 350 small block, 400 tranny 410 or 411 whatever they were back in those days. Nothing special just a good basic car for the street. But I sure wish I had it now. It was a bad car on the street

Straight to the top a 454 turbo

That's funny the 409 gone HEMI still here "who's the destroyer"?

It remains me of the 87 monte Carlo SS fast back so I'm guessing this is the model they got it from 🤔

I had a 78 Monza 305 (the car that replaced the Vega.) very fast but yes it handled like a sled.

The Vega DID have baddass styling

Power is one of the main prerequisites for being a muscle car. These looked the part (as best they could in the late 70s) and they drove nice on the highway, but that’s about it. Yes, you can swap gears, up the compression, change the exhaust, and do a million other things. You can make anything fast. These offered unremarkable performance how they came though. They left no real legacy or strong impression on drivers. They were decent offerings for their time. That’s about it. I’d consider something like the Buick Grand National or the more recent Chevy SS and Dodge Charger to be the closest thing in spirit to muscle cars, and better contenders for the title of “last true muscle car”. I love Pontiacs, but cars like the ‘77 Can Am and the ‘73/‘74 GTOs just depress me. They remind me of an older person dressed like a teenager trying to re-live their glory days. Yeah, there’s still a resemblance, but all the right ingredients just aren’t there. These cars just remind of a low point in automotive history.

Power is one of the main prerequisites for being a muscle car. These looked the part (as best they could in the late 70s) and they drove nice on the highway, but that’s about it. Yes, you can swap gears, up the compression, change the exhaust, and do a million other things. You can make anything fast. These offered unremarkable performance how they came though. They left no real legacy or strong impression on drivers. They were decent offerings for their time. That’s about it. I’d consider something like the Buick Grand National or the more recent Chevy SS and Dodge Charger to be the closest thing in spirit to muscle cars, and better contenders for the title of “last true muscle car”. I love Pontiacs, but cars like the ‘77 Can Am and the ‘73/‘74 GTOs just depress me. They remind me of an older person dressed like a teenager trying to re-live their glory days. Yeah, there’s still a resemblance, but all the right ingredients just aren’t there. These cars just remind of a low point in automotive history.

3:50-I wonder if the Burt Reynolds style hair piece was included in the option package.

GM and their double standards.

I remember seeing one at one of those high-profile auctions: all original, unrestored, low mileage survivor - very nice. While I was not terribly familiar with its this model being a one-year run, I thought the selling price of 35k was insultingly low.

I had a friend in high school who we called Spock because the similarities were obvious. While kids in metal shop were making cast aluminum ash trays Boyd made a functional engine. A few years later he put a 215 cu. in. Buick V8 in a 70 Vega with a lot of his own mods to the engine and suspension and shortened a 12 bolt rear end after finding the limitations of the stock pumpkin. It was a street monster. I think it's best 1320 time was mid 11s.

The 73 SD 455 Trans Am was the last, got into 13's..

My uncle owned and loved his Stud! He always bought hawks usually golden hawks but when they went under he switched to circa its until he killed a jaywalking kid then he never got behind the wheel again. But he drove to every contiguous state in both cars. And every back side window was covered with a sticker of every state he visited or its highlights. And a few from Canada and Mexico. He loved his Studs!!

The word "super" in these videos is super overused, super unnecessary, and sounds super uneducated.

If they were selling 300,000 Grand Prix’s the Can Am wasn’t stealing enough sales to make any difference.

Looks better than what we have now.

Thanks for the vid. I had totally forgot about the Can Am even though i wanted one back on the day lol!🤠👍

Have owned mine since 94 Still mostly original

That car certainly has style

I worked at a Pontiac dealership in 77 but we never saw a can am. But we had worked on some earlier GTOs . A man came in and bought 2 silver anniversary trans ams an automatic and a 4 speed the auto one had a 403 the 4 speed had a 301 . He said he was buying them for his son so after graduation they could ride around in a pair of classics. I don't know what became of them. I do know they were stored in Richmond VA somewhere the same year placed on blocks and deflating the tires and also climate control.

Gotta figure that 200 net hours power was likely closer to 280-300 gross.

I built the MPC model kit of the 71 Demon 340 a month ago... What a blast it was to build!!

I would love to see a model kit of one of these someday...

The only thing to kill its own GM counterparts like the Firehawk, ZR1, Syclone, 92 Camaro Heritage Edition Prototype 350/6speed...was the Callaway Corvette or a rare ZR-12

This was a lot of fun. Maybe you could do a video on the 1971 Chrysler 300 Hurst Edition

4,500 pounds 200 hp (probably at the crank) and 3.08 rear gear…how did the yacht even move lol. My mom had a 1975 Chrysler Cordoba with 160 hp 360 absolutely gutless 😂😂. The 70’s were not kind to the auto industry

Tas always had super tall fwy gears many in the 2xx range. 345 lbs was pretty decent, more than a TPI F body. As said 3.08 was more of a BB gear. Still uber cool cars, hottest girl in HS 86 had a new black/gold TA...super clean nice solid cruiser. ANyone who says how bad these cars drive never drove a new one. 2nd Gen F bodies drove the best over 1 gen

I own an 83.5 GT Turbo sn even rarer car ( only 556 made) . Ive owned it for 30 years and mines now making 340 hp. Ive been a fan from the beginning.

At this point it would be easier to ask who DIDN'T have an argument with Enzo?

442 W30 all day

Many years ago I owned a 1977 LeMans Sport Coupe. With it's "Radial Tuned Suspension" the car handled and rode better than any other large "mid size" that I have driven. The only downfall was the anemic 301 2 barrel engine which would slow down on moderate inclines. I wish I had found one of these Can Am models. With a potent 400 or 455 that car would have been a keeper.

I grabbed a '75 Lemans Sport Coupe GT in 1990 from Ft Benning, GA in Providence, RI. It needed a little life in the engine and some cosmetics, but otherwise it was a score. Still sits in my fleet of old cars rusting in the woods of Northern Maine. Too many fond memories to let it go.

The last true muscle car was built in 1970. In 1971 emission laws went into effect and emission controls on engines took away the muscle. For example the Chevy 454 went from 400+ horsepower to about 200.

That back end is a Holden SS Torana. A much better looking car than this Vega. Check Peter Brock running it around Bathurst - Mt Panorama.

I'd drop a 455 Pontiac in that.

200hp from 6.6 litres that just makes us Brits laugh😂😂 I assume their was proper after market tuning to take it to at least 400hp

Bad to the bone

A friend of mine had one in high school. Had no idea how rare it was.

Or a Bizzarini

I would take an ISO over any of these cars

Only the engine was off the shelf

Cant call a car with 200 hp muscle car

I disagree! You are forgeting the turbo 3.8's in the 87-8 Buicks. They were a lot faster than the Can-Am.

I saw one driving around about 5 years ago on PA 51 near Kecksburg Pennsylvania.

I would take the CanAm over the Firebird any day of the week.

Had a 67/69 never Forget Em!

I’ve seen a few of these over the years, mainly into the 80’s. The stripe and the interesting typeface of the Can Am logo are what caught my eyes back then.

I walked by a Can-Am every day for a couple of years in the late70's. What sticks out in my mind, was that I swear it had 7.9L metal badging, a white leather interior, and that it had Recaro seats with graduated orange inserts. For some reason, I thought that it was perhaps a Canadian car as this was in Binghamton, NY and the car didn't look like it came from Detroit. I'm kicking myself for all the opportunities I've had to acquire one of these when they were ignored. Alas, that is no longer.