Florida Marlins

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

Last Friday night, I squeezed myself into a flying toothpaste tube and awoke
in a state that's too hot, too humid and too flat (for me, that is) but
where I'd enjoy Easter with wonderful old friends.  So many Detroiters
retired to FL, I usually try to call or visit a few of them also.  Every
time, I find fewer alive.  (Designer of Zephyr, for example, is two years
gone: while Bob Gregorie still could remember at 94, car facts, unlike
CarFax, wait for no car fan to wise up.)  When in Palm Beach, I also try to
"taste" the plentiful automotive eye candy: new or old, virtually every
flavor's present.

Roy Chapin III lives in North Palm, head of Mopar product planning lives in
Melbourne and he who tore down the temple Walter and Lee built (sold
Chrysler to Daimler) lives in tropical isola-, er, uh, splendor in FL, also.

I'll file their memories with the rest of my AM confusion but one's good
enough to go: "Chrysler's costs were higher than those of any other domestic
automobile producer --- except for AMC in Kenosha and Toledo."        

(Ouch; and the time was 1986-1987...)

Mysterious late '50s AM vision in GM's plain sight?

http://gmcreativeservices.com/documents/lobby.pdf

If not '58 Custom (250 V-8 under "deep-dip" hood?)

http://www.oldcars.co.jp/poster/rambler/ramb58.html

if not "Ambassador by Rambler"

http://www.internetweekly.org/iwr/parody_jesus_vehicle.html

not (note fender trim) Super

http://mclellansautomotive.com/photos/B16203.jpg

then a visiting Rebel maybe?

http://www.cascaderamblers.org/common/gallery.php?year=1958

(Not visiting from NZ or OZ!)

http://www.chc.quik.co.nz/rambler/58rebel.html

>>
Date: Saturday, March 26, 2005 06:51 PM
From: Joe Roberts
I just bought one of the original 19, 3 speed, 2 bbl SC/360's (only five of
the originals whereabouts are known). 
<<

When trying (and failing) to find a Chapin document, I just saw a piece of
paper with SC/360 production info!  Ten, twenty or thirty years from now,
someone might see it again.  Probably not me. 

>>
Date: Monday, March 28, 2005 09:49 AM
From: John Rosa
So I'm poking around eBay and this 78 AMX is listed.
<http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4538711136>
<<

If its "AM pushbutton radio" is "intact" (versions of "unmolested" are
varying), its wheels could be.  I recall a piece of AMC paper (lost in my
bad AM state) explaining why Classic Black cars' early "gold stripe on black
slot-styled wheels" turned to "alchemy" during the model year.  (Or
vice-versa?)  Another running change on '78 AMX could have been when yellow
baby buggy bumpers were (weren't?) black.  Speak while you can!

>>
Date: Tuesday, March 29, 2005 01:09 PM
From: Frank Swygert
I just hope there aren't to many problems with the EFI.
<<

I just hope the I-4 is happier (in America) than the V-6 was: my 5-door
Scorpio (replacement for the drowned Eagle wagon) had too [!] many problems
for Lincoln-Mercury.  In 1990, Ford bought it back!  After trying two more
German cars (300TE and 500SEL), I decided too [!] many problems (with
European imports) were more than enough.  I thought "I'd rather have a
Buick" and that Chevrolet was like a rock.  Wrong.  Dealerships were worse.
So finally, in the last half of the 1990s, I bought cars from Japan.  Gladly
(or sadly, depending on point-of-view), the most problem free ever owned.
Sadly, today, when I check stickers for country content, I'm not looking for
"Made in America."      

But XR4Ti folks are more rugged than Ford was

http://www.rapidogroup.com/index.html

and Scorpio/Sierra does AMC Eagle impressions 

http://www.harrys-fordpage.com/Sierra1-7.jpg

so why not that American into an "Eagle" 4x4?

http://www.asknik.co.uk/supp.html

Oh well, American Motors is dead and DaimlerChrysler is oozing cash.  Every
2004 Smart lost 5,000 euros; Forfour (made in a Mitsu Colt factory) can't be
a premium-price toy in Canada (or in the US) for long after introduction and
the smart little coupe/roadster can't sell for much more than a smart little
Pontiac.  None of those smart ideas would seem smart under the grille of a
Ford, GM, Mopar, Toyota, Nissan or big Honda truck, so where would
Mercedes fish bottom feed?  On Crossfire bait?  In Marlin's market?

More on that --- and other tails --- ahead.