Paint my wagon

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

Let's pour some old on the new and drag a few strips off AMC history.

Knowing Knotheads know that aspects of AMC's most visible race livery were "adapted" (so the head Knothead told me) from one of the Fords that started the whole American rock-n-roll car thing: meaning Muroc; meaning also "A" Model that's forever enshrined in auto paint history.   

The most faithful to those beginnings, I was informed further, were not Penske Javelins, SS AMXs, or Hornets (from or not from) any AMC factory.  That old paint was (again to quote the Grand Master), used on Matadors of both brick and baroque body styling.  And it was recalled (to prove AMC types can be both honest and factual), faithfully by DC Mopar.   

http://www.jayski.com/schemes/2003/cup/12-50th-layout.jpg

Billionaire Penske certainly still counts every penny; the least we can do is to count on facts when we account for what happened with dead old AMC. 

"Car of the Dome" was the first Packard to be "painted by AMC."  As I've bored everyone to sleep by saying, it was painted the color later worn by some of the most significant one-offs and production cars signed by Teague; it had nothing to do with Chinese Jeeps, but everything to do with the last golden age of American motoring, with what had made General Motors the styling leader of America and the world, and with the best styles that ever wore a door tag embossed "American Motors."  Obviously, I have been baying at the Moon, dying for Diana, and Whippet-ing around the wrong racetracks for the past nine years. 

http://members.core.com/~mcbeed/autos/directory/history/moon.htm

That's Diana motorcars:

http://tinyurl.com/8ejxt

not that M-B S-casket:

http://tinyurl.com/dd85v

And while sedans sold:

http://tinyurl.com/dmjjt

(See here: AM family!)

Sports sorts speeded:

http://www.vintagespeedway.com/Whippet.jpg

(It's hard not to be dogged about trying to share the delights of older marques --- just one look and you can paint me doggone crazy for just about any old cars.)  

http://tinyurl.com/8ph3h

(Yes, they're related too; but that may be nothing you want to read...)

>>
how many other companies managed to survive so long by contnually re-working old product -- namely the 1970 Hornet body?
<<

Winner of that prize could a Kaiser-AMC-Chrysler Jeep, designed by a Studebaker-AMC-et cetera expert who exerted more style-on-wheels (on rubber and steelies) from Wisconsin than there were Excalibers (it's "Excalibur" I know, but we're talking cars, not swords, here) to cut wheels of cheese.  1963-1991?

Or maybe it'd be another AMC-Chrysler-Chinese-boxed Jeep.  No MSG.  1984-tomorrow?

Or a British b-,b-,b-beauty (quoting Tim Conway's Mr. Tudball*) that became so long in the tooth (now, now, let's not make dental humor; marmalade is nothing to, uh, trifle <groan> with, especially if its slathered on a hot sugar-topped scone) its sophisticated sleuth of a driver swapped his Bristol Blenheim for an almost-as-uncommon Jensen Interceptor (with --- somebody else please tell us something now --- IIRC, some sort of connection to Jeeps and Eagles by AMC?)  Ever the independent; always the lover of alternate sorts of automobiles.  We like car continuity; living automotive history. 

*For some reason, I always saw Tudball's Michelin-bodied secretary, Mrs. ["Uh"] Wiggins, in a mid-'70s Matador; perhaps a '74 G6 (AMC paint code, not Oprah Pontiac) coupe with Buff Bravado vinyl roof or maybe, after he gave her a big raise, she traded her green '72 Grand Torino hardtop for a nearly-new '78 Barcelona II (she loved those opera windows) two-tone Sand Tan demo dream.

Either AMC she would have driven very slowly (in and out of every lane) en route to the In-N-Out (a burger, for readers far from LA car culture; unless reading is an oxymoronic concept to consider with SoCal) drive-in window, which she would have had to open the massive Mata door to reach, causing her massive, ah, boot[ie] to become wedged near a pillar-less B-post.  While she slowly tried to extricate herself from that, ah, tight squeeze (and the cars waiting in line behind her began honking, too), it became apparent that she had left her Torque-Command in gear.  

As her Matador millimeter-ed forward, she oozed into the void behind its beautiful Beige (Color 56, Where are you?) "Velveteen Crushed Individual Reclining Seat."  Her burger box tipped out its contents.  Coffee mixed with cola, nacho cheese melted onto fluid flow and concrete pad incline sent that river right under her left rear HR-78 steel-belted radial.

Since she had both optional 3.74 axle -and- Twin-Grip differential, her Matador made its move --- minimally, yet masterfully, on the oblique to busy Ventura (of course, her Barcelona II drove in Camarillo) Boulevard.  Traffic filled her spot at the pick-up window; her high heels protruded from the partially open driver-side Mata door, and her driver-less beast bull-ed its way into traffic on 101 eastward.  In Espanish style and AMC smoothness, she traveled all the way past Encino, finally stopping just beyond the 405.  She had also forgotten to fill her tank with 24 gallons of premium.

As that magnificent Matador rolled to a stop (and it masterfully scraped the paint off its color-keyed slot-style wheels), she rose from the soft cut-pile carpet, adjusted her carriage in the way that only Mrs. Wiggins could, and waddled a short distance north from Ventura into a store that could address her auto predicament.  She was sure they'd know just what to do.

Their address was 5230 Van Nuys Boulevard; they welcomed her graciously.

"Cheap?" she asked, through her bubble gum chewing.  "Yes, you're at the right place" they answered, "We have many models.  What colors would you like to see?"

"No, I don't want a new car, I want you to repair my beautiful Matador."

In that showroom, all sounds ceased and even the Magnum SRT stopped spinning on its turntable.  Everyone looked at her and asked in one voice, "What's a Matador????"

In the car-culture capitol of the country, she was suddenly put at the center of things.  "It's a car, silly!" she answered, "The very nicest and most luxurious car I've ever owned."

When the laughing ceased, the sales manager said, "Oh, we though you said 'Jeep' --- we've never sold any Matadors."

With that, she gave a flip of her bleach-blonde tresses, engaged her own style of Forward-Control in motion and headed out the door.  "This sort of AMC dealership will never get -my- business!" she proudly (and rather loudly) stated: "I won't be back here to trade up to a new Ambassador."

(Truth can be as funny as fiction; especially if they're well confused...)

http://www.in-n-out.com/location_details.asp?id=41&directions=true
     
http://www.centerjeep.com/index.html

So where was I?  Oh yeah, new paint on old bodies.  Check out Checkers, roll out Silver Spirits and Shadows, and always remember how long life has lasted for the Ambassador.  Not the Nash-AMC one, of course.  Dot, not feather.
  
AFA what AMC Premier premiered as, Allpars aren't all-knowing.  I wrote
"25 on 21" for a reason; Renault development will explain what and why.

AFA what AMC did or didn't change on Giugiaro's design, I'll let you in on a "secret" (another worthless one among thousands) that I've held in case I ever had time to play like Pat Foster and write another tell-it-all AMC book.

The code name for development of that Renault-and-AMC body was "Marlin!"

Not in the AMC Detroit design studios, not after production planning was underway to build a new plant in Ontario.  In Italy, when the body was a prototypical design dream.  Someday, if I do do a Foster, you may want to own a copy.  It could contain some words and photos you've never seen.


Out.