Before I get to show the car, I feel that I need to first give a little background on how I obtained it and a little more on where the car came from. Hope you'll enjoy the read.
It's been a while since logging into AMC as work and other commitments have taken priority. I've just been in SA for 6weeks time-off, where-by most of this time was taken up by going on holiday through Southern Africa...........so as always, there's never enough time to go about and get to all one would like to do.
So on to business - after a very lengthy time scale, looking for a genuine Can-Am, I was fortunate enough to obtain such a beauty on my last trip home.
First of all, I'd like to thank Mr Richard Sorenson who pointed me in the right direction and assisted with getting me in touch with the right people. I could not have done this without your help. A BIG THANK YOU again!!
In the end, it all came in the form of a rally modified Can-Am which belonged to racing legend Mr Ben van der Westhuizen in the Johannesburg area. After making the necessary arrangements, I went to visit the uncle after arriving at OR Tambo international.
My heart already picked up a few revs after seeing the car with my own eyes as I've never seen a REAL Can-Am close-up....only clone models. After checking all the paperwork, including the tags in the passenger door and under the passenger seat, it was indeed confirmed as a number's car: number 50 (575550).
After this, me and Ben went for a drive - what description other than AWESOME do say the least - excellent handling, brakes, straight as an arrow at high speeds, very willing engine with lots of torgue, steering very stable and most of all, car propels like a bat out of hell past the 3000RPM mark!!!!! In my own words I told my father upon our return: hierdie kar fo$$of!! Those internals fitted to the engine really do make the difference…..this is now without mentioning the other interesting mods which I will cover further down.
So, I was taken immediately by it and after negotiating on the price, the car was sold to me, making me one of the very few fortunate Can-Am owners in SA or world-wide for that matter!
Earlier that same day after arriving in Jo’burg, I also acquired another Landy 130 for recreational use and with the help of my father who came up from the Cape, we drove the two cars down to my home. After leaving quite late from uncle Ben and driving through the night to reach Bloem where we stopped over to see some family, I was able to make some small repairs to the lights (eventually had only one spot working on the way down from Jo'burg), exhaust and fitted new tyres before continuing onto the Cape Province. From Bloem, all went well and only after one minor issue with the electrics that killed the entire car while driving, we got both vehicles safely down to the Cape. Car was then stored until my return from holiday.
After I got home, it was down to me getting the "Little Chev" roadworthy and on my name. Was a bit of a mission and many nights working away in the garage made it finally pass the test - got her to pass the day before I had to leave for work again............so only had a small window where I could then enjoy my new find and with the weather still being a bit iffy, time was limited even more so.
Regarding the previous owners, the Chevy was owned by Mr van der Westhuizen since 2002 whereby he used it for some Gymkhana racing in the Rand. Prior to this, Mr Chris Andrew owned it for a number of years while participating in the famous Targa Tasmania and the Uruguay 1000km rally. After getting in touch with motorsport legend Mr Johan Coetzee about the work carried out by him on the car, it was mentioned that Mr Andrew participated 4 times in Tasmania and twice in Uruguay - I've yet to confirm this with Chris once I get hold of him.........hopefully sometime soon.
As Richard well said, the little Chev is not a trailer queen, but something that can be re-worked with a little bit of elbow grease and TLC before bringing it back to its former glory. I’ve also decided to drop some of the rally trim and make it more original again. Car was also in a fairly substantial accident "Downunder", but all work was done there and is it hard to find evidence of this other than the "V" badge in the grille for Vauxhall instead of the normal "F" for Firenza. There's also a display of poor workmanship to the bodywork at the rear (driver's side C-pillar) which I will have to re-do when fully restoring car in the not so near future.
I've also started removing some of the bits holding the roll cage in place - just to make it easier for getting in/out of the car. This cage was installed to comply with rules on participating in Tasmania and was done by Davis Brown with a legal certificate issued. Now that the Chevy is roadworthy, I will also go ahead and remove the rest of the cage, rally seats and harnesses before re-inserting the original interior (after first making some repairs to the upholstery, centre console and other areas).
Regarding the spec's, the little Chev still retains most of its internals apart for the engine block which we guess came from a 74/75' 350CUI. It was changed before the 90’s and do I still have to follow-up on this one. Meanwhile, most of the work was done by Johan in the 90’s and includes the following: installation of an MSD electronic ignition system, fitting a hot cam, polishing the ports and gas-flowing the heads and valves, fitting upgraded ventilated front discs with bigger callipers/rotors and discs. The wheels were thus changed out to make way for the bigger brakes and car was fitted with 15inch rally wheels. The standard Can-Am wheels are no longer with car.
The original M21 Munchie gearbox was also changed out for a Borg Warner 5-speed (after doing some research, we found that it's the same box (T5) they used for the Mustang’s and Camaro's of that era). The diff has also been reworked and a Detroit locker was incorporated instead of the standard limited slip arrangement. The rest is all still there including the "Camel Hump heads and rocker covers, sump, starter, air cleaner (not fitted) and all interior. All gauges were however upgraded including the fitment of a digital speedometer. (Gauges are all VDO from that era).
I think that this Chevy runs and handles overall much better than a stock Can-Am, but then again many of the parts were exchanged in the process - I'm however in the state of mind truly satisfied with the setup and will change very little apart from that which I mentioned.
Wow, that was a mouthful..........now onto some long-awaited pic's!!! I will hopefully get some more pictures/info from Uncle Ben/previous owners and from its rally days, especially in Tasmania and Uruguay.
Cheers for now
V8 fan
i want a Can-am
