Some words...

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

If Mer-par hasn't lost your wheels and AMC-list hasn't un-subbed you, join
me back in the office again for words and pictures on a Saturday. While the
streets of Manhattan are chocked with yellow, black and "Good grief, who's
in THAT ego-mobile?" [McLaren SLR, Maybach 62, Carrera GT, or Caddy SUT]
autos, "Daily Variety" is but a newspaper in New York (in Los Angeles, it's
a newspaper and an old-car-freeway-to-state-of-mind), so I need to reclaim
some middle-American automotive in-between ground.

And what was more middle-American than the middle-century life of AMC?
       
>>
The 300K Rambler with the 1930 backyard paint job (apply with brush, sand,
repeat) gets on. Go figure.
<<

Or, depending on where painted during the Dustbowl [not an NFL game,
Jaywalkers] decade, the "apply with brush OVER sand, repeat" method!
Pictures of a '27 Pierce-in-parts --- discovered in dustbowl state (in both
senses) a few years ago --- would show the technique better than words can.
Lacking that, you'll have to imagine: brown, rust, brown. 
  
>>
same identical method used to shrink Tyres onto wooden wagon wheels. The
wagon wheels never needed freezing and neither does a flywheel.
<<

That's not altogether the "hot and cold" truth.

http://clutch.open.ac.uk/schools/eaton-fenny00/arthur_tink.html

Furthermore, whether tyres or tires, the best method for 

http://www.studebakermuseum.org/images/conestoga.jpg

(Staudenbeckers smithed in Germany) may not be good for

http://www.moncopulli.cl/tour/conestoga.jpg

It'd be a Studebaker Conflagration wagon then.

>>
They put vinyl roofs on because of factory flaws
<<

No, they put them on because of factory need for profits.  Leatherette,
leather, fabric, etc. covered seams before presses were large enough to
stamp huge roof panels, but even way back then (before Turret Tops were
common) fully covered roofs were on higher-priced, higher-profit models.  

Then --- in the '20s and '30s --- later --- in the '60s and '70s --- and now
(a CTS with aftermarket vinyl headgear asks more questions about an
already-questionable design statement than we can ever answer), almost any
car (including base '78-'83 AMC Concords!) can be built with paint-worthy
roof sheet metal.  You may find a mess of bad spot-welds under plentiful
padding of one French-named non-French car (if you care to look when you
pull its rear end), but you may find a multi-coat mirror under that of
another French-named non-French car (assuming you exercise with Everflex),
but you'll have to see it bespoke, since it's no longer a "standard option."
(Not available on the Oxymoron model either.)  And while that tailor shop is
still named "Mulliner" [but it's no longer on Park Ward], you might get a
better fit now if you ask in German.  Ah, look at how we've changed.

http://www.westol.com/~blcars/images/sale2766d.jpg               

http://www.bentleymotors.com/minisites/arnagerl/en/arnagerl.html

Let's get back to speaking/seeing AMC.

Pictures can say more than words when visible

http://www.autotrend.com/pic/9619.jpg

and in Olds-AMX/Ford-AMX whirl, one pic wasn't.

http://hipsterdetritus.blogspot.com/amx3.jpg

It makes a lot more sense that way.

Words can say more than pictures when readable

http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/12/06/business/track.html

and in Bizzarrini AMX/AMC Spirit circles, even Ring bells.

>>
American Motors was the first manufacturer to use this transmission in the
1982 Spirit and Concord cars. Ford soon adopted the T-5, using this unit in
the 1983 Mustangs and Thunderbirds.
<<

Words can say more from non-AMC sources

http://79indypace.stangnet.com/swap.htm

than can be learned within AMC circles alone.

You can learn a lot about Pacer from Corvette.

And whatever the words "Gremlin v. Pacer" say,
  
http://boards.historychannel.com/threaded.jsp?forum=30080&thread=300032757&s
tart=1&sortOrder=revChron

they still say, "See AMC, it's worth comment."

Which is better than being slowly forgotten.