Sweet dreams

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

A giant withers, a giant grows: it's auto history.  On the day GM value drops to a 23-year low, Toyota admits it could be #1 next year.  On the day Ford sails into junk territory, former Ford, GM, and Chrysler staff apply for 600 new jobs at Hyundai Motown.  Joy to the world of American motors.  Just wait for the new American Motors parts to flow.  So soon?    

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-12/21/content_3952718.htm


Having managed to return from where traffic don't flow ("My kingdom for a Segway!" more than one millionaire was heard to moan) --- in the best of times in late December, let alone when underground routes are closed (Hey, I'd like to retire with full benefits at 55 also; and I want the $5.00 co-pay they gave to everyone at GM, but guess what? America can't keep that kind of party running on and on!), I'm pumped for a celebration tonight.  The house is decorated, the music is out, and the goal of everyone is excellence.  To do something well and to make it seem easy is, perhaps, the greatest gift of all. 

http://www.rpo.org/Renee_Fleming.html  

(And to match greatness with a sense of humor can put cherries in the fruitcake; even if you're not a "Prairie Home" companion, you'll laugh at Renata Flambe with Guy Noir

http://tinyurl.com/av24e

http://tinyurl.com/8zldy

and if you're not a "Holiday Muzak" maven, you'll like well-sung carols and sacred songs [but whoever picked the "at-work" photo, however, might get coal from Claus...])   

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/shows/sacredsongs/

So excuse me if I don't make sense talking about AMC cars: my Spirit is divided in its attentions.  Or I may just be seasonally overloaded, by now. 


> what color/sheen I should paint my '68 amx wheels?  It's
> either black or charcoal, where the lug nuts go.

What if there were a book online where he could click "A" and "AMX" and "1968" and "Wheels" and "Paint" for access to all the AMC info we know?  

How hard would it be to design such a website?  How hard would it be to copy text and insert links at suitable places?  How many AMC fans would it take to create such a thing?  How many times is too many re-spinning the same AMC wheels?

Do nothing but rugged individualists with one-to-one "me, Me, ME" minds survive?  Do they realize that wasting time but saving money is Rambler mentality to an extreme?  Do they suspect how successful one really big AMC-Rambler tent show could be?

Whether they celebrate Kwaanzmas, Christmukah (or sleep until the games start on TV), do they all understand that an "Index to American Motors" would be everyone's holiday desire?  How many more years will they wait for stars to shine in the sky and blooms to grow in the desert of their own old-car hobby?  How many more fans will fade away, cars be crushed, and flags be tattered before they see all of what is slowly happening? 

Joy to the world of American Motors collectors, restorers and fanatics. Just wait for an AMCyclopedia to appear, for sugarplums in your dreams, and for one-million-dollar American Motors muscle cars in your garages.
Joy to you, true believers in every myth.  This --- and any --- season.


>>
Federal Depository Libraries
<http://www.gpoaccess.gov/libraries.html> should have earlier
editions, either in print, or on microfilm/microfiche.
<<

The 13-place VIN followed what once was called "the "rivet label law" and followed the 10-place ID (so well documented by Mopar fans online)

http://tinyurl.com/8yw6e

and followed the first national VIN --- way back in 1954 (although GM was using 12 places by 1960); it grew to 17 places in 1981 and was in the "Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966" that is for sale at  

http://tinyurl.com/b77qa

or for free reading as Glen Hoag wrote.  The 1966 act still functions, repeatedly reworked and merged into Title 49, Chapter 301, of US Code.

http://tinyurl.com/7fg4j


>>
Personally I just keep waiting out the real problem. The baby
boomers!!!! Their kids all drive Hondas with fart cannons out back. Once
"Dad" doesn't drive anymore the market will be flooded with muscle
cars!!!  Every birthday you guys celebrate is one day closer to me owning your cars!  This was in jest lest anyone become offended.
<<

Thus will any truth be less offensive while said in jest.

>>
I don't agree with your theory that the market will be flooded with muscle cars. Yes, they will all eventually become available on the market but there won't be anymore than there are right now. The only difference will be, as you grow older, you should be able to afford to own the car you have always wanted.
<<

Thus will any fake muscle car flood be washed out to sea.

>>
I'd like to kick everyone involved with Barret Jackson squarely in the "junk" repeatedly and HARD for what's been happening to prices over the last 5 years, this will normalize again, it's just going to take some time and patience.  
<<

Thus will any -buyers-, not auctioneers, be found guilty.

>>
I truly believe there is a small window left for the "sellers" and then the flood gates will begin to slowly open for the "buyers".
<<

Thus will any "investors" and poseurs be scared straight.

And thus will any 14-year-old inside every car buyer know: the makes or models he or she loved most passionately during the brief psychological window of development open until age 17-19 will forever stay such autos he or she will most want to own.  The Model Ts rebuilt from baskets are the cars car-lovers in car heaven adore; the Full Classics rescued from the barns and tow-rigs of latter-half twentieth century will be dreamscapes in assisted-living developments next; the fifties-and-fins will be more hands-off than hands-on before anyone can say, "Elvis has left the auto show!" and the hard rock of muscle car camshafts will one day be sparse even when golden oldies hum.  True, all of them will survive, just like AMC does today, in their own time, place or style of warp[ed?] history; but something else will take their place as a primo old-car place to be.

Maybe turbo Talons will get the Eagle eye; maybe WRX ST[i]Is can Sub for the Z-28s in 2025; maybe someone will acknowledge how much ground Honda broke in 1991 when a "lack of heritage" was answered with such level of overwhelming excellence that the notoriously fickle (or status-seeking) exotic market couldn't believe (or wouldn't accept) NSX's new reality; and maybe, when Aztek is as old as Pacer, if Solstice was as successful as MX-5 Miata, maybe Fiero GT will be tomorrow's version of today's gem that should be much more appreciated --- the Corvair an American motors, a General Motors, and a motors-loving-but-never-too-intelligent America once allowed to die.  When GM itself is dead, maybe history will recall how hard America once tried to succeed.  Or maybe it will only remember the less innovative Corvettes, Camaros, and Caddy ETCs.  Or the hottest cars of tomorrow will be built in China --- as Japan already is able to see.

http://tinyurl.com/dz2uu

Maybe when Chinese "Jeeps" are cool, American motors will see clearly

http://tinyurl.com/by7gq

what once was, what once wasn't, and what once -might- have been.  If American motors had been better able to see how fruitful AMC could be.

AFA hype and the muscle market, what several "experts" said last summer is something you could find interesting.  Wangers (GTO), Steuer (Mopar), Hyman (his father started him on Auburns and Packards; he now sells the best of such breeds), Soprano (not the one on HBO), and the "main man" at Russo and Steele have insight into aspects of high-buck car markets worth reading.  Can't stop the music today, so it'll wait for tomorrow.
Or sometime when there is a desire for excellence in the world of AMC.

Sugarplums.  Dancing.  Head.  Happy.  Holidays.