American Freebies

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

>>
I am covering a Spirit parked outside, trying to protect the car from the brutal Florida sun. It's driven once a week or so. Thanks
<<

Cliff, I'd cover a Spirit covered with a custom-fitted Evo cover with a sun-reflective white Tyvek cover if I stored it outdoors in FL.  If mine (two covers covering a Spirit stored indoors in NY, plus an Ambassador-with-covers, some NOS stuff and piles of paper covering AMC history) are soon sold, cover your bases with bargains.  If that's the way it goes.     

>>
Also, we do not do "concours" judging. Our volunteer judges will judge
your car on cleanliness, looks, display, etc.
<<

Jock, I'd like your show; I'm tired of seeing over-restored show-offs! 

>>After calling the upholstery shop on and off for the last 8 weeks I

Doc, I'd suggest Tom's Auto Upholstery in Butler, NJ, about 40 miles from Yonkers.  (973) 838-5152.  Since Northern Westchester Body is closer, in Bedford Hills, Vinny, Sal, or Vinnie [ya gotta love America] may know someone.  (914) 666-5300.  In the city, Sports & Classic Coachworks on East 73rd has its own upholstery staff who can sew Connolly, Wilton, mohair, and vinyl to perfection.  Inject a Hornet sting into the Jag and R-R realm!  (212) 288-0173 or (917) 327-8888 cell. 

>>
American still rides better then my  wifes 98 Nissan Altima, which if you remember was advertised for it's "quiet ride"!
<<

Mark, I'd "weigh in" with an opinion (or with weighty 2005 ride photos),

http://tinyurl.com/cp9ws

but "firm ride" has been the Nissan currency (Nissan always modeled on BMW) and the then-not-quite-midsize Altima weighed less than did its peers.

For everyone but AMC (and the French), wheelbase and weight (or tons of suspension wizardry) were the only proven ways to achieve ride quality.

If bigger is better, then biggest is supposedly best.  (Except when tiny is...)

http://tinyurl.com/byllk

http://tinyurl.com/cylhn

I'd also note that that top Toyota's seat-cooling system --- accounting for some of the weight carried 'twixt its wheels --- is made in America,

http://www.allencaron.com/clients/amerigon/releases/071405.pdf

the land where what Packard and Nash-Kelvinator began that no one wants to live without today, is still done best.  Whether with Weather Eye or Frigidaire, Airtemp or Motorcraft, America still is the whole world's coolest car cat.

http://tinyurl.com/dh3pg

Let's melt down

http://tinyurl.com/bfskw

into AMC's own

http://www.mattsoldcars.com/gallery/picdir/side.jpg 

cool [hot] air.

>>
Factory tint is in the actual glass. Factory tinted glass was available as an option on all 72 AMCs, but it usually came standard when you bought AC. Non-AC cars usually had just regular clear glass.
<<

>>
All factory AC equipped cars since 54 or 55 came with factory tinted windows.
<<

Not.  Until the end of its "car life" (readers too young to remember that Car Life magazine once was as cool with car fans as C&D, R&T, MT and Automobile are today, shouldn't be too young to remember the '80s.  Big hair, little car company on ice after 1983?  AMC offered AC "System" and "Package" options.  Only one of which included tinted glass.

Click, enlarge --- and chill.

http://faculty.concord.edu/chrisz/hobby/80-DataBook/A07.JPG 
http://faculty.concord.edu/chrisz/hobby/80-DataBook/A13.JPG
http://faculty.concord.edu/chrisz/hobby/80-DataBook/A15.JPG


Correction to my last post: "Bryand" was a typo.  Bryant Body Company was that forgotten firm.  Here's the sort of body such a firm --- and its many competitors ---  once built.

http://www.rrab.com/apr00.htm

Final survivor of them finally failed in 2004.  Read --- and weep.

http://www.eagletribune.com/news/stories/20040613/BU_003.htm

Two days after I typo-ed, another overlooked date could've been noted.

On 8/14/35, as Social Security was signed into law by the US President, 

http://www.ssa.gov/history/fdrsign.html

the last Springfield R-R was delivered to the Whitestone, NY (~14 miles from Yonkers) home of one Mrs. Morrow.  It was, of course, by Brewster; final US Phantom (of 1,241) built.  "How do you improve on perfection?" was what they asked when Phantom I replaced the Silver Ghost.  What did they wonder seventy years ago, when that world was going astray?  Puts the price of gas into perspective; or only muffles the whines of folks who gladly pay $4 for coffee.

Springfield-built bodies in '27 and '30 style:

http://www.ohioconcours.com/2001/cl1-01-1415.jpg

http://mclellansautomotive.com/photos/B30514.jpg

When even Brewster bodies went -out- of style:

http://www.frankdale.com/carView.asp?carID=294

More body builders than Springfield even knew:

http://www.darkforce.com/royce/coach.htm

Springfield centennial celebration last fall: 

http://www.robisonservice.com/eventpix/RR_meet.asp

And an American Motors historical Roll call:

http://tinyurl.com/dg2ud

http://tinyurl.com/9d4jt

If the Ambassador Rolls abroad, drive right!

http://www.arvonia.net/~arfon/Rambler3/Pickup06.jpg

http://www2.uol.com.br/bestcars/carros/outros/rolls_silver_shadow_1966_2.jpg

Especially when "Me and My Shadow" is sung...

http://www.arvonia.net/~arfon/Rambler3/Pickup03.jpg

http://www.chinaclassiccar.org/RR%20silver%20shadow.JPG


Finally, let's ask what a scion of AMC styles would drive in 2005.

What might a designer of the lights that lit up for this millstone

http://www.autoguide.net/apf/images/agfor302lb.jpg

want to be seen in on the SoCal freeways.  What does a man once told by his bosses (at VW) that his work "wasn't practical, wasn't controlled, wasn't Teutonic enough" see as stylish?   If "You have those loopy swoopy things!" could be what he says about staid-and-stodgy old Mur-say-dees-Benz

http://img6.photobucket.com/albums/v16/forkontheleft/NYIAS/cls.jpg

http://www.rsportscars.com/foto/03/cls05_07_800.jpg

and "It doesn't speak German anymore." was what he said about the 2005 Jetta that looks more like a Corolla than like a Teutonic meisterwerk, what would he see himself driving?  There aren't many who can drive their choice of automotive-history museum-pieces from Tower Road to Alameda Avenue any day of the week (or ya gotta love --- and have total trust in --- the protective power of Angel wings.)  There aren't many who can -afford- to drive where idiots roam free on wheels.  One sip, one call, one crunch; and a dream car is a disaster.  So we all compromise.

When he says that "Nissan's done an outstanding job the last three to four years" and that he "fell in love" with Murano --- "with how it drove and how its interior was crafted," maybe he saw some Pacer-plus-Gremlin styling.  If his wife "did the same with a Mini Cooper" and "she had a grin on her face that was better than Botox!" [ya gotta love California]), maybe she, too, saw the future of automotive style in the models of AMC past.  What a Concept!

http://mclellansautomotive.com/photos/B32710.jpg

http://mclellansautomotive.com/photos/B32717-2.jpg 

When a former VW USA chief designer (in Simi Valley) and studio chief of VW (in Wolfsburg) sees styling that way, maybe "apples" didn't fall far from the Teague tree.  AMC, Rambler, Jeffery?  No, just Jeff.  And what would YOU drive off the 2005 floors if you couldn't --- or wouldn't --- drive whichever AMC design(s) you own and/or love?

You're free to talk about new/old AMC styles here.


Ya gotta love America.  See ya in couple of weeks.