Re: tarpon pics

[farna@xxxxxxx]

Chris Zinn's "Javelin Photo Archive" starts with the Sceptre prototype. That was the original name for the Tarpon. There are only very slight differences between the Sceptre and Tarpon -- paint color, grille (overall design is the same, bars are different), and of course emblems. Chris mentions tail lights being slightly different, but I don't see it. Must be very slight or the photos I have just don't make it obvious. 

I've also heard the story of a fellow who bought the original show car and drive it for a while. as noted, it was used and abused then eventually junked. Wasn't remarkable at the time, just a modified American. Many people probably mistook it for a Marlin. 


--Original Message--------------
Subject: Re: tarpon pics
Date: Wed, 9 Mar 05 16:46:34 -0800
From: Gwendolyn Ann Smith <gwen@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <mail@xxxxxxxxxxxx>

Wayne E LaMothe <superglider@xxxxxxxx>, you said...

>Someone on the list was looking for pics of the Tarpon.  I am just
>curious what you found and are you willing to share your info?  Anyone
>actually know what happened to the car?  I seem to remember reading
>somewhere that a person in Kentucky or Tennessee bought it from a
>dealership in 66 or so.  Don't know if it is true.  I also thought they
>built more than one prototype so it would be a fun piece of trivia to
>determine where they went.

I knwo that there's quite a few images out there on the web, most of 
which can probably be found via Google's image search.

http://images.google.com/images?q=1964+tarpon

I've heard rumours about that one prototype, though they often end in the 
demise of the car in question.  I do wish it was around, and if it is, 
that it comes up for air one of these days.  

I know there was also a "mock up" done that was only the passenger side 
of the car, but I sincerely doubt that lasted beyond the '64 auto show 
circuit.  That one was also, I suspect, not metal, but clay.  Further, 
the July 1964 Popular Mechanics does talk of an American Motors fastback 
concept called the Sceptre, "possibly designed along the lines of AM's 
Tarpon.  No idea whatever happened to that vehicle, either, and I've 
never seen a shot of 'er.

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