They didn't mention Conroy in the Hot Rod article as I recall, they were merely pointing out the rule-bending. All was passed off as a Canadian GM thing until somebody checked and cried foul.
Back in the day I could very well see a dealer creating a unique model, or features being used to lure in customers. The seduction of power was a great seller, whether it be in a silent Cadillac or a clacking solid lifter high performance engine. At a dealership utilizing a modular approach to replacing one engine with another version from the same family was as close as they could come to an assembly line installation, short of the COPO or CSL process. With the handful made & sold it underscores the decision by GM not to produce those fringe models on a production basis, as they would have to stock all the parts, keep on top of technical bulletins for that handful of cars. These are not hand-built by panel beaters in Modena, Italy, these are mass-produced cars. Options were yours for the ordering, but any that deviated too much from base equipment and took a lot of engineering for a very small run was not attractive to a manufacturer. To handle such requests it would have to run through both marketing & engineering, be assigned a C.S.L. #, then it was available for any dealer to place an order. They didn't do that with the Conroy Beaumonts as far as I know (except for possibly the Expo 67 car). Speculation on my part.
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67 Chevelle Malibu Sport Coupe, Oshawa-built 250 PG never disturbed.
In garage, 296 cid inline six & TH350...
Cam, Toronto.
I don't judge a man by how far he's fallen, but by how far back he bounces - Patton
One detail I find very hard to believe is that the Talbot mirrors required leading in the GM mirror holes. I can't see Conroy getting into partial repaints to add mirrors. When a real cheetah gets restored we'll know that detail.
I also find it strange that if that many ended up in st Catherines that there isn't more documented history of those cars at shows, or being raced, or popping up now in garages.
You would think some original owners would still be around to verify any of these claims.
LT1 Caddy "guru" Rush to Judgement by responding less than hour after my post. Administrators could confirm exact minutes response.
You think this, you think that...
LTI Caddy - EXACTLY WHAT AM I MISUNDERSTANDING?
I did not "rush" to answer your post. I am on this website every night. What I was trying to help you with was, that maybe the dealership wanted to make a special model and used the Can Am name. I know that no production cars ran in the Can Am series. I have not read the article that you talk of. I do know that there were Pontiac Firebirds that ran in the early years of Trans Am, I believe that they were sponsored by BFG...
Another important factor since Pontiac Motor Division built 25 303CID RAM AIR V's for the Trans Am series.
Homologation required a minimum 250 unit installed in production cars, since this did not happen these engines were available from the parts department.
Why did Conroy not source these available rare engines for transplants?
originally posted by 73SC - "George Z confirmed the existence of these cars and they actually raced in Trans Am, now I think we know."
