Cheap or costly?

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

<http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=45180925
77&category=5357>

Bonanza's a name that will be known by both AMC TV- and race-car types.

Got photos?  Yes.  Got a hobby-wide co-op AMCyclopedia to display them?

Work-in-progress: its success or failure up to AMC clubs and AMC fans.  

>>
The rear bumpers on the 1967-73 Ambassador, Rebel, and Matador station
wagons
are slightly different than the one used on the 1967 Marlin. Yes, It appears
that they are using the same design, however, the top back edge that fits
against the body has a 1/4 lip on the Marlin. It goes up to the Marlin's
tail
lamps and back body. This filler cannot be used with the station wagon's
tailgate -- if someone would even want to cut off a unique to the Marlin
bumper! On the other hand, the wagon type bumper could be used as a
replacement 
on a Marlin. It would leave a gap of almost two inches, but would be better
than no bumper at all!
<<

>>
There will not be any "Peugeots" if you click on the address below --
however,
I do mention Citroen's airflow on the Kammback page. Please scroll down to
the
"other cars" area to find "The Kammback Story"

<http://faculty.concord.edu/chrisz/hobby/index.html>
<<

Thanks (for the first and second portals and for the bumper info); now let's
look a little closer at the fourth and fifth photos on one page:

http://faculty.concord.edu/chrisz/hobby/67-Marlin-2.html

A "notch" for load-floor clearance has always been obvious on the '67-'73
wagons, as has been their "filled-in" backup-light recesses.  What has not
been so clear was whether a sporting '67 Marlin fastback coupe used the same
stamping as the family-haulin' Rebel/Ambassador suburban; (with a second hit
made by a multi-ton tool on a wagon-specific die) or if the
two-thousand-some final fish spawned in a very "rarefied" AM sea.  The
answer to THAT sort of question can make American Motors interesting to
analyze and explain how --- again and again and again --- AMC either lived
or died.  Some car companies survive via sales volumes (GM), some via sales
exclusivity (A M), some via selling performance (Lamborghini), some via
selling cars cheap (Hyundai/Kia) and some by building salable cars cheaply
(Nissan --- and sometimes --- AMC).

How and when AMC did --- and didn't --- do that?  Worth considering.       

Marlin rear [AMC "trademark"] fender-to-bumper "nacelles" could only be
simulated (and the other use that part had [do you know it?] showed how well
Teague had learned the hands-on trim-design lessons taught during his first
year at Cadillac...), but such trickery was --- at least for a profile ---
very well done.  As happened repeatedly with cash-strapped AMC products,
"front didn't match rear" (a failing that will bother no one willing to pay
$20k+ for "mismatched" Rebel Machines now!), but no one noticed (and I don't
mean because few final Marlins were sold), and the Detroit design biz saw
Marlin as second to a truly "classic" GM hardtop [can you name it?] and
Marlin ranked second only to kissing-cousin DPL convertible in the internal
portfolio.  For GM or Chrysler to study an American Motors vehicle, it HAD
to be an exceptionally well-done car--- even when it "cut" its corners and
"flaunted" its flaws.  The wand might be magic; the frog was still an
evergreen rambling Nash.

Speak up ye silent ones with parts books; opine all youse loudmouths (in the
good sense, of course, just as my -genuine- Bart Simpson quote was no slam
at any other Gremlin-riders AMC may claim...) going "bump" in the night.
Debate, declaim, discuss --- and distill it into the AMCyclopedia.

When someone wonders "What AMC bumpers interchanged?" they'll know.

Much more AMC info some want to know; no more AMC time today to go.