Afternoon guys, Got through most of my stuff and able to send again. Just a few Q’s
VMX, you say that we have spoken before and I guess must be getting old so please remind me and anyway we need to get together to talk about Can Ams.
Gunter you note that one of your cars was the Tony Pond 400. Was this one of Geoff’s Chevairs? because I can tell you some history on how the Chevairs started out life. Like to know. That Coupe of yours must be something else. What mods to the 383?
Before getting back to previous writings I figured I owe it to you lads to give you some of my background so as to put some perspective on my scribblings…
Firstly I had no idea that this forum existed until Dec 2008 when in SA for Xmas. I came across the forum quite by chance and remember sending some posts at the time, as interest in Can Ams seemed to be quite high. When I returned to Dubai, I followed the sad happenings that were associated with the car on the forum at the time. Extremely concerned, I very nearly got involved. But with my schedule and the fact that my info on the cars was held in storage in SA, I decided to give it a miss. I am very glad I did, because I tend to tell things as I see them and have no doubt I would have got myself into hot water. Fact is, had a colleague of mine and myself been given just an hour with that car, we would have been able to ID it, that is if it was the original ‘Á1’.
I did however write a letter to one of the motoring mags that had published what was, in my opinion, a very poor article on the Can Ams at the time. I never even got the courtesy of an acknowledgement…..I decided then that the facts on the happenings of the Can Am period were not ready to be told and left it…. until now. Some background:
I started with GMSA as a trainee in 1968. Finished that in 1972 and moved straight to Product Engineering to take on the 1245 GTC project. I ran that project with my team and we were located right beside the work being done on the Can Am. The Can Am was in its final development phase at the time and I had made sure that I kept pace with what was happening from the start of the project….petrolheads do that kind of thing.. The first off-line car became the first engineering prototype (wrong way round but a great story) and after basic checks were completed on that chassis, the car was sent to Wynberg for Geoff to build the first racing car for the 1972 9 hour. I kept tabs on the car throughout 1973. In ’73, the decision to run 3 Cars in the springbok series had been made very late by the GM brass
and I was seconded from engineering at the factory to help with the build of the cars at the Dealer Team in Wynberg. I worked on all the cars during that time and eventually ended up preparing and pitting ‘A1’ along with Mike and Jimmy for the three hour at Killarney. Nols and Giv (+Basil) drove the car.
I also have an association with 'A1' that has nothing to do with anything technical. I think I attained the highest qualification that any GM petrolhead of the time could achieve and that is I proposed to my girlfriend in the pits at Killarney straight after the race & right next to the car….just like all enthusiasts should do….She accepted and asked why it had taken so long……We are still married today!!
So.. is it safe to talk about Can Ams yet? And if so I would like to tell you something about a real champion of the Can Am, one Jonny Pittaway. Best P see you tomorrow on the GTC
- lovely car, will ask Lino to post a pic of my car.
