Da VIN "P" Code - Quattro

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

Note 5:

>>
I have burned the tire off of Javelins with these 2-v360s, and I will have to say, I have not found that to be true of a 4.0. 
<<

242 vs. 360.  Repeat that old "There's no..." adage.   There's no need.

242 Concords could have been faster than 360 Diplomats, had Chrysler-AMC (do you remember what one of the proposed logos Lido commissioned looked like?) wished to revive them @, but, for one of the very same reasons the Jeep 4.0 finally was discontinued, the 1970/1977/1980 sheet metal did not, like '50s Rambler, arise from its grave.  Both body and engine tooling were worn to a crisp and, when the last of the millions of 4.0s were rolled out of Kenosha, part of the plant they were born in was 86 years old.  Even the Brits and Italians would be hard-pressed to match that!  

Another footnote:

@ Chrysler Motors had a love/hate relationship with its ancient M-body models: they were enormously profitable but also notoriously difficult to build with any degree of quality, especially when old age required that "layers of makeup" had to be "trowelled on" (RAT-speak, comparing Fifth Avenue, Continental, and Fleetwood with Ambassador LS), and they were anathematic to the style-setting status Chrysler had craved (and had captured) during its "Cab Forward" decade.  It was mainly for such reason(s) that Iacocca allowed the Matador sedan and that ridiculously unlikely AMC 2-door (which some deemed "Imperidor") to be considered.  If an R-body Ambassador was mostly pipe dream, an M-body Mat was more likely.  If Chrysler owned AMC, and "Nash" built them, Chrysler could be stylish but stodgy old Kenosha could still earn some bucks.  Would you pay more for such a car now than for an AMC-Renault?  Win-win-win situation --- that never was.  Too bad.  Wouldn't you want to own both '8X Imperidor and '72 Fordador one-offs now?  Too bad.  Both are gone.  And the 118" Ambassador pillared hardtop?  It existed.  Long. long gone.

Now, do you remember what -color- it was painted?  And its vinyl top?  Both were BROWN!!!  (Or was it Browne???)

Note 6:

Marc's link reminded me how "rare" cars often are the most fun to find.

http://www.desertgold.com/classic/1933beacon/continental.html

Have you seen a "Beacon Continental" [sic] recently?  An Ace or Flyer?  

Rather rare when new,

http://tinyurl.com/8jy43

still rarer when old.

http://tinyurl.com/9hv9y

AMC related?  Petty!!

http://tinyurl.com/afvbx

http://tinyurl.com/czq47

http://www.americanartarchives.com/petty,g.htm

http://www.antiquemystique.com/pages/7011_jpg.htm

http://tinyurl.com/7bkp4

http://tinyurl.com/7zxcu

http://northstargallery.com/cars/car131.htm

Click right button three times if you care; click below if you dare

http://northstargallery.com/cars/indexmain.htm

then click back to yet another "Kenosha Cadillac" moment in history;

http://ken-thornton.com/m_factory_n-r.html

http://ken-thornton.com/m_cadillac.html

fly ahead, oh, "buy" about 20 years

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/s/lot-842368.html

and land on the first full AMC year.

http://tinyurl.com/8z252

Or land after flying through a Nash.

http://www.lepoix.de/text/nash_hood_ornament3.htm

Among other rare cars from that rare 2005 show, two more worth noting:

Along with the Packard "Pinoferena" [sic] which helped Teague practice building a big fastback before needed to fish a sinking Marlin out of the "too-big-to-be-Tarpon" '65-'66 sea (but, just as GM so often did, the year he hauled in trophy quality, AMC cut that line and tossed it overboard: just as old GM did, with, say, Fiero, Reatta, Allante and ['90s] Impala SS)

http://www.hhiconcours.com/winners/2005/special.html

(if you noticed the "Studebacker" [sic] below it, remember Avanti, II),

the relatively-rare AMC Hurst SC/Rambler above the rarer Nash Suburban

http://www.hhiconcours.com/winners/2005/winners.html

and the "who-cares-how-rare" Packard Darrin reminded me of AMC in AACA.