[Amc-list] No proto

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

>>
hazard a guess -- 78 Concord? Even a prototype wouldn't have really been
hand built, "hand trimmed" or "hand modified" maybe, but the shell was
really already "built", even though it was called "Hornet" instead. I
can't recall exact month/year it was unveiled, but would have been
sometime in 77, I assume.
<<

No, but Frank (I love it when someone "answers" here; reading is -far- more fun than "lecturing" --- plus, like my father said, "You won't LEARN anything with your mouth open.") had the right approach.  The car in my question was the 1965.5 Marlin --- which, of course, was the 1965 Classic with a few new parts.  It went from full-size model to full-on manufacture without any full-size steel running version ever being hand built.  It was one of the reasons, maybe, that it looked like it did, as no car ever looks -exactly- like it will off the assembly line and under the sun if it isn't first built -exactly- as it will be built when it enters production.

There's just something about models, concepts, and prototypes that auto stylists see as "different" --- they're the same, but they're different from the "real" production automobiles.  It doesn't make a lot of sense so it could fall into the area of "art-or-science" but it's always been an automotive fact.  Sometimes cars that look great in the design phase turn ugly in production; sometimes cars that appear questionable during development are beautiful on the sales floor.  Sometimes the "mistakes" are never noticed.  The original Mustang and Javelin and AMX show that.
The cars' designers may notice them and may or may not be able to "fix" them or "flaws" may become integral to the car's "character" instead, but there are always fewer "flaws" if a production prototype is hand-built.  Computers
to create cars from start to finish?  Yes, that's the fast way to tomorrow, but they still need help from -human-
eyes.  And human eyes need to have seen yesterday and today before they can see clearly to tomorrow.  That's why ugly cars are still being put on the roads.   

http://car-reviews.automobile.com/images/cars/ArtImages/12447/07.jpg

http://www.lincoln.com/navigator/exteriorfeatures.asp?feature=exterior_design

(And beautiful cars come from same studios)

http://www.psfk.com/jag1.jpg


The Marlin --- which was, at once, too big and too small --- was "fixed" for 1967.  Had it been "fixed" in another way, would it have been more of a success?  Maybe, maybe not: but no one will ever know.  Would it have been more successful if it had been hand-built before mass production?  Maybe, if it had been hand-built by a GM, Ford, or a Chrysler (with the means to "fix" its "flaws"), maybe not if built by AMC: AMC didn't have the means to start over.

It is interesting to view American Tarpon and Classic Marlin through the lens of design history.  When a measuring stick is employed also, we "see" what a "right" Marlin could be.  Wheelbase between the "too big" and "too small," wheels fully seen.  Sporty, yet sophisticated.  Like Marlin wanted to be --- when it debuted on the cover of Motor Trend magazine. In March of 1965.  After the Chicago show.  Bingo.  1963, 1964, 1965: best press yet for AMC; best until the Javelin-AMX era.  Best since the '58 Rambler was there (by sheer luck) when economy was new.  Studebaker had a Lark (by sheer luck) with its economy cars for a while also.  Until reality threw a wrench into both engines.    

If you saw that Pontiac ad and saw the 1967 Marlin, that's OK, but that wasn't my point in showing it.  I wanted to place an "English German" version in style-setting France.  Just as the manufacturer of a $170k "Marlin" does today.  Sized exactly halfway between too big and too little, it may be just the size that would have been a big seller for little AMC.

http://news.caradisiac.com/IMG/jpg/BENTLEY_DSC05073.jpg
         
http://tinyurl.com/3x2yqo

And if my rearward view looks to you like it has an AMC Spirit, good! 

http://www.duttondirect.com/automotive/view/id:4407

There's more than one way to skin fish.  Or to net Marlin and Tarpon.

http://static.blogo.it/autoblog/khan_bentley_continentalgt_1.jpg

http://tinyurl.com/38jfbx

http://tinyurl.com/3bh3sq

Good luck.

Gotta go.
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