Words and photo I

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

Hard to assign a subject title because I ramble, but, to observe new rules
correctly, when today's "words" come to their conclusion, a "photo" link
will be found.
  
Sometimes I close with quotes from a car-related person (dead or alive);
today I'll open with some words that the AMC List (and hobby) could put to
use.  

Can you guess who said each, when, and on what automotive topic?

Quote 1

"We've been knocked from the ring but we've got to come back in."

Quote 2

"We know the comeback trail is tough and uphill, but we believe we're tough
enough to keep taking those upward trips."

Quote 3

"Won't there come a day when people will be concerned with the cost of doing
things?"

I'll keep you wondering while you read some of my words.


Upon returning to the office today after five days away (and five more feet
of <enough already> snow accumulation), I saw RWB blood spattered on my
e-mail.  I don't usually have time to "play with cars" until after 5, so I
read quickly and saved for when I was able to skim the list online.

I've now done both so I'll respond to everyone.  I don't like "off-list"
driving and I have even less typing time than usual today. 

I'm as keen as any to see AMC survive as a make and a list, to grow --- and
to grow more respected; I'd be glad to offer, if not wisdom, 50+ years of
experience.  I'd not make a good moderator, traffic cop or clean-up crew
member, for the simple reason that often I may only read [online] two,
three, or four times per week.  I certainly wouldn't want to make AMC
communication and cooperation any -less- effective than it already is.  [!]

As long as I'm able and motivated, I will write what I suspect someone might
find useful that is related to American Motors and I hope others will do the
same, using fact, tact and [relative] good taste (this is more a garage than
a tea party...): only through this List will AMC people get any real
opportunity to make AMC both alive and unified. 

Only through reading this list will I see eBay cars like the Javelin AMX
with Hornet [nest] IP option, the Javelin Pierre Cardin with Algae Green
paint and the '81 Concord Limited wagon with roof-mounted aircraft.  Only by
reading the list would I be reminded that I have info on that
white-with-gilt show Pacer (somewhere, right now, I can't even remember its
proper name) and only on the list would I see that a "brochure green"
California plate Gucci Sportabout (with unbelievably intact interior) barely
broke $1,000 after 14 bids, while the same seller's Dodge Dart (Hmmm, did
Chrysler and Studebaker share a trunk mat supplier in the 1960s...?) has hit
$12,000 after just 12.  And only by -more- people reading this list and
wanting to own AMCs will the hobby prosper and the make survive.  

There are may places where I can see that Toyota sales soared [punny if you
know Japanese cars in Japan] 11% in the US last month, that Nissan was up
over 10% and that, of remaining "domestic" makers, only Daimler's Chrysler
rose ("Got a HEMI in that?); clearly America has no fuel supply and credit
problems: only a 40+% "take" rate for the V-8?  Why can't we guzzle and
borrow more than that?  Even if only in English, there are many places to
see what's new in world autos.  I might not have seen the '06 Lexus GS in
North America yet or the new IS in Geneva, but I can easily see how M-B and
BMW could be frightened; how GM, Ford and Mopar should be terrified.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_10/b3923145_mz070.htm

I can see the tarnish form on some "halo car" bodies before the paint dries:
I can forward from SSR and SUT to XLR to see what is failing, but I can't
look back from Spirit GT and Concord AMX to SC/360 so easily; I can't pit
production planning against days' supply by clicking an "AMC" key.  I can
see future collectibility by figuring fith-year depreciation (if it stops,
it's a "go"; if it doesn't, it's a "stop loss"); sometimes I can see
tomorrow more clearly than yesterday, but without this list on the road from
AMC yesterday to AMC tomorrow, I wouldn't see very much of anything --- new
or old --- about AMC at all.

I liked it back when I learned about lots of AMC subjects while reading; I
never liked AMC finger pointing, mud throwing and eruptions by idiots.  I've
come to learn that AMC people may be, let's say, "a bit different" than most
other old car folks.  I've come to realize they are carrying flags like the
old, dead, Studebaker men.  I've come to expect AMC never to change its
old-days ways.  I've also come to suspect that as today's AMC people die,
AMC --- except for the already-valuable models --- will finally die as well.
I'm ready for the reaper to ramble up in a black Marlin: "Springtime is
swing-time" might say he.     

I've been making my map of the exits already; I believe in being prepared.