1977 Pontiac Can Am

[satterwhite78]

The last gasp of the Muscle car era. Horse power and big engine displacement were no longer viable as EPA and government mandates on fuel economy and emission stretched the gap each year.  OPEC and a changing economy did worse to consumers' pockets. Dark days for the Automotive industry were rolling in fast.

Aw heck with the history lesson! It's all in Wikipedia! 

One of the coolest one year offerings that guaranteed to turn heads cause as Pontiac advertised, " We build Excitement!"

3d printed kit just as the 73 Pontiac Grand Am posted in April. Great subject,  not a lot of parts but some with fantastic detail.  Having  learned from the building on the 73 Grand Am, I thought this would go faster.......

There were a few pieces on the 73 Grand Am that I had to address my attention to concerning warpage.  Some hot air from a blow dryer coaxed those few parts back into shape.......

This one was a different beast. Whether it was the curing process, the 3d resin or the ambient room temperature of my residence,  the only part that didn't curl into a introverted armadillo I am proud to acknowledge but did not use in the final completion of this kit......was the box it came in.

Clothes pins, wooden popsickle sticks, trips to the bathroom to used the hairdryer, trips to the kitchen sink for hot water soaks, days on end certain parts(chassis) were spent in "cloths pin traction" on to curl again the following day.

As I said in the 73 Grand Am post, "patience and time".  In the 77 Can Am post,  "To little  of the first (patience)and not enough of the second (time)."

The biggest problem I have seen with this and the 73 Gran Am kit is in the area of the engine. It goes together great and the detail is impressive. But no exact mounting points for the engine to fit in the frame. On both I had to cut/trim the headers so the engine could sit lower but still sat to high as to prevent the hood from fitting flush with the air breather or shaker assembly installed. Extensive grinding on the hood,  Shaker assemby and radiator shroud help lower the hood but not flush.

Overall I am satisfied with end result, just more work than what was required to achieve that result.

A shout out to Ray's Decals to which adorn the body....Best decals I've ever used!

Thanks for looking! Chuck

[Falcon Ranchero]

That looks real cool, I dig it 👍

[AMT68]

Excellent work on both Pontiacs. I'm  really impressed with the overall accuracy of both bodies. And props to the supplier of the decals as they look excellent.

The Pontiac 400 was still putting out respectable horsepower for the era. 

Appreciate the insight into the issues working with resin as it provides important information should I decide to make the investment in one of these kits. As a Colonnade fan 3D is the primary source. 

[Model Guy]

I know a place where that  would look even better lol! Looks great chuck

[PappyD340]

Looks great!

[michelle]

awesome work 
i have the 3d printable files for this one 
i will be doing one soon also but of course mine will be right hand drive 

[johnyrotten]

Fantastic work especially considering the issues with warping. In the end it's a great looking Pontiac.👍👍

[charger74]

Looks really good 

[Rattlecan Dan]

Very sharp. Nice work.

[kelson]

Looks really nice,👍i've seen these for sale on Ebay quite a number of times.

[TransAmMike]

That's one great looking Pontiac ya got there Chuck👍

Edited June 10 by TransAmMike

[Tyreman]

A cool car and build!

[Tom99]

Great build!!

[ncbuckeye67]

Beautiful build(s)! I love the red & white color combination.

[Jim N]

Your models look spectacular!  Great work on both.

[slusher]

Beautiful build!

[RACINE ISHRAQUR RAZA]

Looks great!

[Dragline]

My neighbor had one of these new. We called it big sled. 3D is taking over and I am enjoying it.

 

Despite all the woes you described it looks great.

[KWT]

Very nicely done

[spencer1984]

Excellent job on this (mostly) forgotten history!

[pulln4dejr]

Beautiful builds, I remember the first time seeing a Can Am, thought it was pretty cool, especially the “shaker!” Great job 👏🏻