[Amc-list] Frame-up facts

["Mahoney, John" <jmahoney@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>>Huh? Unless you're counting Jeeps, AMC never made a full frame car.

Or you're counting "Preeps" --- AMC's M-422, despite its big success at weight reduction (call it "Little Lite" if you dare to), used a tubular steel frame to carry all its aluminum (body, engine, transmission, and axle centers) pieces.  Its exhaust flowed through that steel frame, so you can call it a "Four-by-Twofer" too, but, since it was built by AMC over a full decade before AMC acquired Jeep, it was, in fact, a full-framed vehicle (you can call it a "car" too) by AMC.

And if you're counting cars (or you can call it counting "nits" if necessary) that were -technically- built (e.g. assembled after the Hudson "merger") by AMC (which you can call "American Motors" at that time if you are "super nit-picky") [or you can recall a Packard called "Super Clipper" on one fender and "Clipper Super" on the other --- if you ponder what "super-duper" American Motors Corporation {bigger than both Chrysler and Ford} might have built], you can count Hudsons.  Yes, the "Step-Down" that really had a "frame."

>>
The last of the full-frame cars rolled off the Nash lines in 1950 or 51.
<<

If they did, they were super laggards; last full-framed Nash was a 1948.

>>
By 54 all were unit body designs except the last of the "real" Hudsons
sold that year.
<<

If one AMC Lister recalled that, it's super neat, so take a bow, Frank!

>>
And since AMC didn't exist until 54, those Nashes don't count (neither
do the carryover Hudsons, IMHO). I am, ipso facto, e pluribus unum,
ramalamadingdong, expiallidocious, RIGHT!
<<

AMC was "conceived" (merger approved) on January 14, 1954 and "born" (incorporated) on May 1, 1954, when was the final Detroit Hudson was built?  WRONG!  It was super sad; as when the last Detroit Packard, the last South Bend Studebaker, the last Buffalo Pierce --- and very many more --- were assembled by American motor companies.  Take another swing, Keleigh!

When American Motors began, General Motors had 48% of the American car market, Ford had 31%, and Chrysler had 15%: their grand total was 94%.   Studebaker and Packard had 3%; American Motors and Checker Motors and the truly small car companies that have disappeared (if you remember Midget Motors, you remember what once was the sixth largest automaker) had all the rest.  Remember that when Toyota passes GM as the world's number one producer of motor vehicles.  The mighty have fallen before and they will fall again.

Don't take my word for it; seek the source.  Read in original format. 

"Monobilt" might not mean "separate" but it still is called a "frame."

Not "monocoque", "sub-frame", "unit body", or "Unitized" as 1940 Nash.

"Perimeter frame" was what the last 1954 Hudsons built by AMC rode on.

So don't screen your AMC history movie in any but "full-frame" format.

But don't take my word: go to the source and read the original format.


(This document still looked reasonably close to the actual piece of paper before I put it into "plain format" but...
 
---
  
HUDSON MOTOR CAR COMPANY 
DETROIT, MICH., U. S.A.
CABLE ADDRE55 
H U D S O N C A R
TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN
TS 78-1 
 File Under: Body and Frame
ALL HUDSON OWNERS, 1948-54 MODELS 
CHECK THE PERMETER FRAME 
   Before placing in service or restoring any car it should be placed on a lift and the frame carefully checked for accident or rust damage, The frame is perhaps the most critical part of the car, for like a building if the foundation is faulty the integrity of the whole structure is in doubt. 
   On the Hudson "step-down" models of 1948-54, rust damage to the perimeter frame may be found when the car has been used for many years in humid areas and on winter roads where salt, was used. The perimeter frame covered externally on the sides by the rocker panels, is a steel box frame that extends from the cowl completely around the. body at a lire just below the door sills. Welded to it are crossmembers floor pans, seat pans, etc., so that the frame and the body are welded into one unit, which Hudson called "Monobilt" construction. The body and frame reinforce one another. Convertible and Hollywood hard-top models have an additional box member welded inside the regular box frame side rails to compensate for the loss of strength provided by the sedan or club coupe body structure. 
   If inspection shows rusted out areas caused by the build-up of silt on the inside of the box frame, and you are not familiar with welding, it is suggested that expert advice be obtained before proceeding. Usually rusted-out areas can be repaired provided   enough of the frame remains solid enough to weld. Remember the perimeter frame need not be as heavy as a frame on a "separate body  frame" car because with Monobilt design the body reinforces the frame. 
   The frame may be inspected further by removing the door sill scuff plates, and by removing the rocker panels, which are bolted on the 1948-53 models and the 1954 convertible. The 1953-54 Jet and the other 1954 models have welded-on rocker panels. 
   The perimeter frame and cross-members should be periodically cleaned cut and rustproofed to prevent rust damage. The drain holes should he kept open. 
Yours very truly, 
A. E. Adams 
Technical Service Editor
---

Since it now appears out-of-frame "mangled," don't blame the messenger.

And don't frame AMC for a murder charge in the death of Nash or Hudson.

Put the blame on Dann, man; put the blame on the econo-MEE.#  Sol Dann, who spoke at an AMC stockholders' meeting in early February of 1957 --- fifty years ago next week, asked that AM merge with "some profit-making company, or liquidate and pay off stockholders."  "Either choice would mean even bigger losses" said AM management, "book value of the company would be far less if it were not a going concern and by holding out [AM has] a chance to make stock more valuable in any future merger."  "Then for God's sake, get out of the Nash and Hudson market!!  Why don't you diversify?  You can make disposable diapers, as far as we're concerned, just so long as you have the know-how and can make a profit."  

For the first four months of fiscal '57, Rambler sales rose 40.8% to a record of 23,183 units.  "To turn a profit," said Vice-President Roy D. Chapin, Jr. (President George Romney was absent thanks to appendicitis) "a reasonable increase in sales is all we need.  We believe we can see that increase coming if we hold fast to our objectives."

If we can just sell some more [more profitable] cars, we will survive.$

Some things would never change.

Now it's up to you to save AMC.

So sing for your supper.

# http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbWN7O8WWbE

$ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZV8w3KpNpg

Sell AMC to more car collectors.

Make AMC "come alive" once more.

Fully frame your effort in fact.

Truth goes farther than fiction.

Especially driving old AMC cars.
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