New world

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

>>
That Buick was a one of a kind show car. Here's one that will really stun
you: I was down at the Mecum muscle car auction in Belvidere, IL recently
and they sold a Hemi Cuda with 7,950 "original" miles on it for, are you
ready for this. . . $700,000!! (plus commissions). First of all, that's a
ridiculous figure. Second, I'm always very leery of original mileage claims
on these cars. It was awfully easy to either
disconnect the speedometer cable or reset the odometer on cars of that era.
<<

>>
I have lusted after that car for years, the 53 Buick.
Saw a write up on it years ago and it was selling at
the time for the low 20's. Imagine the parade of
owners who progressively saw a profit, as the car
flittered from owner to owner. It seems that car is
always for sale at some auction. A car museum bought
it this time
<<

Eeep!  Peeple!  If Rambler's raison d'etre was curved-dash Olds and Buick's
rise to fortune was carved by Charles Nash, AMC types should NEVER --- EVER
--- call an Olds a Buick, unless they also call a Javelin a Ford or a Dodge!
(Had one 197x clay [which AMC types should know of also, although they
haven't been shown it by their AMC-expert historians] actually reached
production, they certainly COULD have said that an AMC was a Big-3 model,
but that didn't happen and Javelin was an American Motors memory
exclusively; after it was through being one of Jowett's.)

If you don't know what I'm referring to, you're not in the AM-dead zone, and
you're the first here to -post- "Say what?" comment, I  will send you a
photograph of that "Javelin" (or "Mustang" or "Challenger" or "'Cuda" or was
it "Corvette" instead?) full-size model in a 196x Detroit studio.  And if
you're the only one who cares to see it, at least there's one AMC fan aware
that there's much more about AMC to be known.

Those who don't care can join the AMC zombies awaiting arrival of their
$100,000+ SC/Rambler clones (after demand exhausts the limited supply of
$250,000+ 'Cuda, Shelby and Camaro clones), drive their Cherys [not sic]
past the Sprawl-Marts and fill 'em up with $500-worth of 47-octane
bio-metho-latte-light blend at the SinoTex station next door.  They can head
to the unified AMOCRWDRA clubs' annual Area 51 meet where AMXs are staged
according to dash plaque chassis order, bow toward Kenosha (or El Segundo;
no one will know which way is which by then) and intone,
"Ummmm; I already know all I need to know now; don't care to learn anything
new anymore.  Ummmmm."  See Tom jump.

Before the Cruise, a man (or a woman; again, no one knows or cares) in a big
Olds will arrive and command "Behold this Buick!"  The Bonneville sand will
part, the Breedloves will race over (holding hands), Heaven's Hornets will
trumpet a blast-from-the-past rendition of "Me No Gremlin" and Dick Teague's
gull will clap its wings in applause.  

The other AMC anthem ("Cheep, Cheep") will then be sung by the assembled
faithful; each one using different lyrics.  It won't matter, for every East
Los Angeles gangsta will have pimped every extant Ambo and Eagle Premier by
then, and "BUMP-THUD-THUMP-THUMP" will be the new adult contemporary
soundtrack for non-musclecar AMC history elsewhere. 

The truly fanatic AMC fans (those who can recall the old days when "online"
meant viewing plasma screens instead of implanted GPS cranial chips and when
"The Reading" line was a rail-straight route to AMC knowledge rather than
that forgotten hill climb up American Motors Madness Petard Peak) might
mildly wonder where their former AMC world went.  The majority won't know,
won't care, won't care to know and won't know to care.  Their AMC world will
be one that's inordinately and Orwellian-ly happy; as it will have every
right to be.  Is that a 7.5 Richter or a '75 SC/Rambler?  Who cares?  Maybe
a Buick.  Is this a 1755 Lisbon Quaker or a 1955 Barcelona Hash?  It don't
matter.  We all happy.  

A Buick will be an Olds; 1953 will be 1954; Donohue will be Donahue and no
one will need to read, write and learn.  Encores will be The Machine; a
"humpster" Javelin will be a Messerschmidt and an Alliance will be a
MercedesMarlin by DimelerChryzler ~2004 or so.  SST will mean "Some Sort of
Thing" (or Something Similar Thereto) and a "Gremlin AMX" study (no, Frank,
it was not the AMX/GT, although you correctly see it aft of the cowl) will
still be unknown.

Grand Cherokee Illusions will still be sold by Jeep dealers (although
designed by Japanese, they won't be badged as"Boss 302-Toos" in North
America), but why the not-used '56 Studebaker-Packard logo design played a
role in the not-used '88 Chrysler-AMC logo (neither of which anyone will
remember) will remain untold.  But an AMC world will still be joyful.  AMC
life will be grand.

And when they have no greater value than words on AMC List screens, many AMC
cars will be grander if recycled into shelving, screws and fence posts than
used as preservation pattern examples.  No one will lose when the best of
the AMC past becomes lost and forgotten and who, what, when, why or how will
be of no importance to the AMC world then.  Don't worry; be happy.

Forgive me for funning on fact and future: my "drift" is that, although
where winds of tomorrow take you (and AMC) is unknown, how you can use them
is why there are wind tunnels.  Drive to Auburn, Buffalo, South Bend or East
Grand Boulevard in Detroit seeking knowledge and if, on a clear day, you
cannot see Kenosha, you may not be looking hard enough.

And while you're not looking, you may also miss the "chance-of-a-lifetime"
to make your own future AMC world into a happy, joyful or grand environment.

I own a 12.5 year-old Buick wagon with fewer than 2,000 'original' miles (I
put all but 6 of them on it), a 26 year-old AMC liftback with fewer than
20,000 'original' miles and a 34.5 year-old AMC wagon with just over 36,000.
When they are put up for adoption, someone who knows the difference between
an Olds, a Buick and two of the more original AMC originals in existence
will know the value of knowing.

As they say, "The more you know, the better."

Or as I say, "AMC knowledge is AMC power."


(Unless you'd rather have a Olds or a Buick...)