Dead or alive

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

Before my dash to leave last Friday night, I dashed off a poorly written
("reasonable" twice in three paragraphs and "ROK" as "KOR" [on a license
plate, not a baggage tag]) last-dash note.  If a "death specter" is, for
valid reasons, something I've learned to take more seriously than I once
would, then five days in planes, trains, subways, taxis and cars driven by
unknowns, to and from airports, stations, hotels and terror targets, didn't
just a dead end.  Maybe some papal candle would be snuffed (Holy Limos!
Remember the Ambassador Lincoln tale I had just told?) or maybe another
disaster would strike thousands dead somewhere on the big globe. Maybe a
heart attack would stop me cold.  Couldn't know; didn't matter.  Five to
six: time to act. 

So, very strangely, before Colin went "Flying Down to [Well, Past] Rio and
before Jock got any more frank with Frank; before Bart burped again or Brien
bared his briefs (his arguments, not his BVDs; if that were to happen, Eddie
would don his thong, Bruce would zip up his block-logoed bellbottoms, Ellen
would dance and the AMC List would race from serious to silly in under six
seconds flat, while its Christmas Tree was still counting down to launch)
--- yes, hours before bans began and duct tape wrapped the old Rambler for
yet another s-l-o-w limp back to health, I dashed off a little note.
"Littler" could I foresee what would happen.

John Paul didn't kick his bucket hat (interesting that "miter" ["mitra" in
Greek] means "turban" and "zucchetto" is skullcap ["kippa" in Hebrew, "yira
malka" in Aramic, "yarmulke" in Yiddish], yet AMC people aren't the only
ones who still can't 'get along' with their peers) and I wasn't crashed,
crushed, crumpled or cardiac-ed out of commission.  Thousands on seashores
weren't flooded, thousands from Thousand Oaks weren't left out of Oscar
shines because there was no SoCal sun and thousands spewing threats weren't,
during those five days, cursing a thousand curses AND kill those their
God(s) "told" them to hate.  However, death did visit within hours, three
times.
 
Death came at 88: the pioneering figure who had hired me for my first
teaching gig: an "easy-pass" course that became a real challenge when I, 23,
faced students from 22-26.  Loved the subject, the independence, the
learning (sometimes barely ahead of the class), and loved seeing people
smile.  (22 year-old class-clown's had to be "wiped off" occasionally, but
years later, he switched career paths and made enough on Wall Street to
laugh while counting his cash --- if not his ex-wives' alimony stubs.

Death came at 94: mother of a longtime friend.  My '71 Ambassador was 1 when
we met (I was 19, she was 26; her husband, who I came to know when he got
back from Viet Nam, was 25); 33 years, thousands of miles and our glad/sad
memories later, we still remember the 1970s.  They bought a '73 Country
Squire, after another [mutual] friend bought a '72 Grand Safari, after they
all admired my Golden Lime ("Slime" to the unperceptive) AMC. The Ford and
Pontiac, we all joked, were "Envy Green" metallic with wood grain.  Only one
car survives from when AMC was alive and worth envying; today, it's still
the same shade of green.  (Four days before that lady went, a third
great-grandchild, a daughter, came. They share an initial; might they also
share some piece of soul?)

And death came at 92 the Friday before I wrote (it was announced 2/26):
co-creator of a truly significant 20th century American production car.  It
wasn't an AMC, a Hudson or a Nash and it wasn't a Packard.  Lest you presume
I've rambled off topic totally, it -was- a car AMC styling staff copied with
concept and production models.  Are you still baffled?  One AMC model you
will recognize immediately; the other AMC, sadly, you may still not have
seen.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/26/arts/design/26ebstein.html?adxnnl=1&oref=l
ogin&adxnnlx=1109786403-HdqM7Lh0ayqssozxdttF+Q

Sad:

http://www.aoai.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=199&highlight=ebstein

(That posting had been viewed only **ten** times when I checked it today)

Sadder:

http://www.theavanti.com/Ebstein.html

(That site had no "crepe hanging" [if you know history...] when I looked)

Saddest:

It's easy not to notice or remember; that's how easily auto history is lost.
Relatively few car enthusiasts seem to care.  Buy it, build it, run it hard
and part it out.  If history is mystery, it turns to rust.

So, what sort of "death rattle" did I shake?  How did it apply to AMC?  Why
is it relevant if I'm still drawing breath.  When will I stop and discuss
today's AMC?

Right now.  That note was a step toward keeping my "collection" of AMC cars
and paper "alive" when I'm no longer able.  It was an "outreach" to hope
that someone, someday, somewhere will erect a real Nash/AMC Museum and
Library --- a serious national non-profit institution where cars, documents
and memories can survive.  Studebaker, Packard, A-C-D, P-A and even Chrysler
all have one.  AMC has nothing but fading memories today.  (And specters of
death...)

Is there a <Ha, ha, tee, hee> AMC Gremlin in the new Corolla spot that
debuted March 1 on "Committed" on NBC?  Only if AMC built those
late-'70s/early '80s models named Pinto and Chevette.

Is AMC <giggle, giggle> even mentioned in the "Vintage" article in 3/05 GQ
that recommends ['83-'86; I didn't know AMC was dead then] Jeep CJ-7 as one
of their picks for retro cool.  Not unless the "tough to track down" Scout
V-8 was secretly an AMC mill or Bronco and J40 were secret models sold out
of RWB store back doors.

Is AMC alive because a breadbox American convertible was waiting for a light
in Dallas on the 2/28 CBS News?  Only if [dead] Dan would rather his hair
again be its 1963 shade.

Is AMC alive because a 1949 Jeepster on the 1/10 "Antiques Roadshow" is
worth $5-6k, a 1950 Murray pedal car, quite probably based on 1946-1948
Ambassador, on the 2/28 edition, is worth $1.5-2k?

Is AMC alive because a Hudson Hornet and a Nash Met appear on the 2/23 "FYI"
spin-off at an independent car show, or is AMC as dead as K-F and Crosley
(also shown) because "[they] produced cars America didn't want" --- when new
and when old?


You tell me ---  I never know.