Sink, sank, sunk

[farna@xxxxxxx]

Forwarded for John Mahoney: 

I'm back and see that, after another breakdown, the list is, as well. 

I've only a few minutes to annoy everyone now, so I'll be very brief. 

Jeep once aligned with "troubled" AMC; now with "troubled" Mercedes. 

http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml;jsessionid=14HRVUPWDOHXZQFIQM
FCM5WAVCBQYJVC?xml=/money/2005/08/02/cnmerc02.xml&menuId=242&sSheet=/portal/2005
/08/02/ixportal.html

Duesenberg was top-dollar in US; Duisenberg was top-euro in EU. 

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/briefs/0,1574,1664979,00.html 

Top German carmakers were impressed with both D & D. 

I'm impressed with R & D --- and with AM accuracy. 

Take a seat, 

>> 
Anybody know if the '77-'79 Monte Carlo 
featured 'Swivel' front buckets ? 
<< 

and proceed. 

http://www.sunmanford.net/br_sp_photo/1973-77%20Chevrolet%20Monte%20Carlo%20Swiv
el%20bucket%20seats.htm 

>> 
I'm not sure if Monte Carlo's had them or not but I know for a fact that 
Caprice's of that era had them and they got the down-sized body for 1977. 
One of my uncle's had a 77 or 78 Caprice with them. 
<< 

Factory?  By the book --- or buy the book! 

http://mclellansautomotive.com/photos/B28108.jpg 
http://mclellansautomotive.com/photos/B28172.jpg 

>> 
Early 60s cars had swivel seats, noting in hte 70s that I know of (but I don't 
know everything!). They were a feature on 61 T-birds I know for sure - a friend 
back home has one with swing-away steering column (before tilt -- column swings 
"in" for easier entry/exit) and swivel seats.

<< 

T-Bird's "Safety-Swivel Day-Nite Type Inside Rearview Mirror" (bonded to 
windshield!) and "Swing-Away Steering Wheel" ($25.10 extra!) swung for 
sixty-one; its seats didn't.  Check its specifications and photos.

http://automotivemileposts.com/tbird1961standardequipment.html 
http://automotivemileposts.com/tbird1961optionalequipment.html 
http://automotivemileposts.com/tbird1961interiortrim.html 

>> 
Thought only those 1960 Letter Series 
Chryslers had those........ 
<< 

In 1959, 300E lost a [genuine] Hemi, got a [Golden Lion] wedgie, and debuted 
[standard] "Living Leather" [basket-weave patterned] 60-degree swiveling front 
seats.  ('59 DeSoto Adventurer started swinging, also.)

'59 Imperial Crown Southampton swiveled with options when "Uncle" Tom [McCahill, 
a Mechanix Illustrated scribe who paved the macadam for all those 
too-cool-car-cats-with-computers out in publishing today] wrote:

"This doll was as loaded as an opium peddler during a tong war..." 

"Swivel seats make it as easy to get into as a floating crap game with fresh 
money..." 

"The finest car built in America, and I've been testing cars for a long time." 

Imagine what he would write about 1960! 

http://www.movit.de/images/imp60ifd.jpg 
http://www.movit.de/images/imp60if.jpg 
http://www.movit.de/images/imp60is.jpg 

Swivel, buttons, electroluminescence 

http://www.movit.de/images/imp60d1.jpg 

AND a phone?  The USA in its heyday! 

http://www.movit.de/images/impdani.jpg 

But don't forget: 

'55 Delta concept showed aluminum roof, twin tanks, and swivel seats; 

http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/images/New14/55Olds.jpg 

(If you can find a better pic, post it, or adapt a "twin" Buick) 

http://www.autoweteran.gower.pl/concept/1956_Buick_Centurian.jpg 

'56 RAT Pack had aluminum roof, twin fins, and swivel seats also. 

To sit pretty in AM circles, either buy the book, 

http://www.meinesammlung.com/php/details/16304/ 

or learn the AM ropes the GM-Packard-Mopar route. 

http://www.autoweteran.gower.pl/concept/1956_Packard_Predictor.jpg 

http://www.desoto58.com/dreamcar/dreampack56.html 

BTW, there were two different Chrysler swivel seats: upper frames were shared; 
seatbacks (folding or non-folding for two- or four-door usage) and seat chassis 
(manual or six-way power) varied.  Early swivel seats were cable-linked to 
door-jamb-mounted vertical leaf springs (or were they torsion bars? --- I cannot 
remember) and would automatically swivel when doors were opened; safety concerns 
led later seats to use levers. 

BTW also, to try to compete with Chrysler, Toyota put both a swivel seat and a 
2.2L into its '86 minivans.  Chrysler turbo-ed a 2.6 and then added two more 
cylinders, but Toyota, Honda, and Nissan now build America's most-lauded (and 
desired) minivans.  Mopar may move more units, but it does so by lowering prices 
--- exactly the way AMC sold itself out of the car business when it priced its 
'83 Spirits and Concords.  Fire sale is not a way to build for a future. Product 
is.  Product with style.

Those who don't learn from history...  (Why bother?  Why read?)    

Last weekend, there were two American Motors products at a 350+ vehicle WNY 
event: one AM for every twenty Vettes.  It was NOT a Corvette show.

One AM was unattended both times I stopped by it; the other car's owner was 
ready and willing with four-letter-word-laden presentation about how overpriced 
AM vendors can be.  I almost wished I were still with the '53 Buick Skylark 
owner who knew nothing about his car's history, or the '60 Buick convertible 
owner who knew that his very car had carried Miss America contestants, but was 
equally interested in learning that a Nash convertible carried Marilyn Monroe 
(into some controversy) at the 1952 Atlantic City show.   

http://www.missamerica.org/competition-info/miss-america-parade.asp 

(I also wondered if the back seat of a restored '66 Coronet cop car would be a 
safe haven from the never-ending war of AMC-world words...)

The weekend before, Cranbrook was a "Waterworld" until sunshine broke through 
(and a tree broke down upon sight of a Chevrolet HHR concept),

http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2005/07/27/138525.14-lg.jpg 

with at least one leaf from AMC's family tree (if a '30 Willys-Knight qualifies) 
on the show field, where a green-and-black car ought to be.  Leno didn't show, 
his Toro did: 1000-hp too much for wet grass.  Lutz braved the weather and the 
still-lingering biz buzz (Are two, too many concours for Motown?): now Mr. 
Towns, both an officer and a gentleman, has a third outing to call a success.  
Cinematic "gold" starred James "SC/Rambler" Garner ("Grand Prix" beat "Le Mans" 
and "Bullitt" as the best-car-movie-of-all-time, so was shown) and history 
seemed "silver" (Bentley flew the 1907 AX-201 Silver Ghost over from the UK); 
all in all, a pretty safe and sane place to be.   

  
This weekend, Meadow Brook will be heaven-on-earth (or on eBay) 

http://69.93.131.247:8811/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx 

when Hudson, Essex, Nash Terraplane and a Teague Packard will be sold.  Whether 
it rains or bakes, it won't shake, so it's the next best thing to the next big 
August weekend at Carmel.  Cali may have climate, cash, and car culture; 
DEE-troit still has a class in American Automotive History 101.  Too bad Kenosha 
hasn't paid attention to ITS past, like MI and IN and NY have.   

For wild-car lovers, the movie Merc ("Hey, Lay-dee!") that forecast a Rambler 
Edmund Anderson built just one of, will be available, as well.   

http://www.rmauctions.com/events/MB05.cfm 

When was a Met not a Nash? 

http://info.detnews.com/joyrides/index.cfm?action=carofweek 

>> 
Take a look at the AMC Inventory at this yard: 

http://www.roblins.net/ 

Marc 
<< 

Take a look at the '70 Firenza (it's filed under "Vauxhall" not under "Olds") 
and you can learn something you probably didn't know about the Spirit of AMC.  
Twenty-to-one (odds and/or production numbers) maybe.  You'll see.

http://www.rise12.freeserve.co.uk/dsg/images/cxe_firenza.jpg 

>> 
If links don't work, just Google Minaker's Auto Parts.  Both yards are located 
literally in the middle of Lake Ontario, north of Rochester NY.

<< 

On that island named AtlAMtis, 
In the literal Loch of Nash, 
Accessible only to AMCbees 
Gurgle, Gargle, and Glug. 

(Be careful what you write; someone might actually read it...)

--
Frank Swygert
Publisher, "American Independent 
Magazine" (AIM)
For all AMC enthusiasts
http://farna.home.att.net/AIM.html
(free download available!)