[AMC-List] Summertime

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

Being "fraudulently tampered with" resulted in a halving of the "high bid" and disappearance of multiple "bidders" --- but the "prototype blog" is unchanged.  That's AMC.  Too bad.

http://tinyurl.com/nlpgm

As was the tone in a question/answer section of the first listing: bad.

>>
it's obvious that AMC made some orders 18-24 months in advance. This makes sense -- the company has to have cars ready for dealers when they come out, and the factory needs build sheets well in advance so they know what parts to have ready (and to order). So the process has to start that far in advance. Once everything is set up and running it wouldn't take to long to build a few more cars as orders came in.
<<

True, but not in this instance.  Tooling for the '65 outer skins --- an unusual (for AMC) number of which were "ALL-NEW" --- had been approved; when this "prototype" was built, no new dies had been cast, thus no new panels had been stamped.  At this date, any Engle-d AMC would have come from the pre-production [Detroit] workshop --- not off the Kenosha line.

It's a perfectly nice regular-production '65 Ambassador 990 convertible.

It's worth the $12k or $14k or whatever real money was/is bid to buy it.

It'd be worth more if it were a 1965 Impala/Bonneville/Galaxie/whatever.

It'd be worth more if AMC weren't still that "weird-n-wacky" car choice.     

In the summer of 2006, American Motors still "rains" on its own parades.

And ignores --- in this 2006 venue, almost totally  --- its own history.


A week ago, some new old Detroit design photos appeared before my eyes.

I bought them mainly for the [1950s] Studebaker-Packard and GM content.

Some I'd never seen; some of those: AM studio photos you've never seen.

Some of those were taken in the summer of 1955, some in summer of 1956.

One was particularly interesting: it showed how AM intended to succeed.

In the summer of 1956, beside a [LWB] 1958 Ambassador was a 1956 #2413.

If you know American cars, you know what that means.  If you don't, go. 

http://www.gmphotostore.com/prodinfo.asp?number=53216929

On its own, that AMC looked like it had a sort of "king-maker" styling.

In a real world, the AMC looked like it was short of a shot to succeed.

It looked short where the Chevy stretched; its cowl was clunky instead of smooth; its details --- which looked excellent for Nash, Hudson, or Rambler --- would've looked amateurish under the sun by Saarinen's new styling dome.  AMC had a dream, AMC had a desire; AMC had a difficult road to travel to survive or succeed, but AMC didn't have what it took to become the best --- or among the best-regarded --- cars in history.

Made me think of today's AMC.  Or what little of it seems to be seen.

Image and styling sold more cars than engineering, performance, price, quality, and economy combined --- in 1956 and in 2006.  AMC was never able to burnish its image and, even when AMC -finally- came closer to Detroit in the quality of its styling (circa 1963 through circa 1979), its image continued to tarnish even the best chances for success that AMC could see.  Today AMC fans bask in their own AM sunshine: Rambler, Javelin, AMX, Machine and many more.  But what shadow has AMC cast in the -real- world?  1985 Taurus is revolutionary; 1975 Pacer is an AMC joke.  Rabbit is revived [1971 Redux], so too is Roald Dahl's [1943] "Gremlin."  Will time see AMC's [1970.5] Gremlin as an L-car on the distant and less Omnipresent historical Horizon or what feckless Fez drove on TV Land downloads from those silly '70s to next gen's chip-implanted brains?  If many of you AMC collectors are cranky cases in 2006, gee, you'll hate the post-DaimlerChrysler-era auto shell game!

When ToyotaGeneralMotors, NissanFord, and HyundaiEtAl battle it out.

(If Disney and Updike fly above your head, Shelby GLH may hit home.)

AMC is still a "sort-of" something.  Isn't it ever going to be more?  
    
AMC has had almost 20 years since it folded to turn its image around.

This is the closest thing there is to a community of AMC experts, so:    

How you doin'?  How's AMC doin'?  Bigger-n-better?  Y'all satisfied?

You got a couple clubs; you got a few shows; you get a word-in-print now-n-then.  Good for you.  You got a museum?  You got an archive?  A place where AMC can survive to succeed?  You got a Camry or a Camaro or a Caribbean beside a styling studio prototype for your -2056- AMC car?
 
You got a ways to go; you got a way to go; what's keeping you down?

Look around; be as smart (or smarter) than the other guy.  -Drive-!

Back the future: 1950s. 


In the summer of 1955, America reigned as king of an automotive world. 

http://tinyurl.com/o33mv

http://tinyurl.com/nf4kl

In the summer of 1956, America assembled the last king car in Detroit.

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2142/1270/1600/47.0.jpg
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2142/1270/1600/62.0.jpg
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2142/1270/1600/100_0244.0.jpg
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2142/1270/1600/1933%20Packard.jpg

Many are called, few are chosen, but only one will be King-for-a-Day.

http://www.pebblebeachconcours.net/

("Hey, didn't I see that car in the resto shop back east last fall?")

http://tinyurl.com/nyw6l

In the summer of 2006, America doesn't know to give a king its "Due"! 

http://tinyurl.com/nkeh9

Fix cars because you like them, not to win awards: love their history.

You may even drive them now and then: someone may even take a picture.

http://tinyurl.com/npzpo

Study the past and pass it on to the future: make your efforts endure.

Keep reminding America what it accomplished in 1933 and 1956 and 1970.

Don't let America forget what it had done or fall into future failure. 

Remember the America of doing more: of Duesenberg and Packard and AMC.

Maybe you will trade a whole AMC for a filing cabinet full of history.

Maybe you will remember a Patrician #5682-4775 built on June 25, 1956.   

Maybe you will remember a Packard-and-AMC man who once did big things.

On July 16, 1956, he did the last line on his all-new-for-1957 design.

On August 20, 1956, the last line to the last Detroit royal was drawn.

He had to do big things again.  He had to make a Studebaker a Packard.

He did: in three weeks styling was finished; in six, tooling approved.

The last Packard he would design before he would design an Ambassador.

But before he left, he remembered the past.  He did a big little more.  

http://www.autohistory.org/review_9.html

America --- and American Motors --- can do more in the summer of 2006.


In the summer of 1999, America did not know its "1956" from its -1953-

http://info.detnews.com/joyrides/story/index.cfm?id=113

as this is a 1956 Caribbean [at least he could spell it!] convertible

http://www.adclassix.com/images/56packardcaribbeanconv.jpg

http://tinyurl.com/m4yxo

and this is what America has allowed its king of the world to become. 

Click "next" a dozen times each

http://tinyurl.com/qsh75

http://tinyurl.com/pjubu

It's a 1942 Plymouth: built when America saved the world.  Once more.


>>
While the Nash Ambassador was called the Kenosha Cadillac, the first
car on the AMC family tree to copy an "exclusive" of Cadillac was neither a Nash nor an Ambassador.  What and when?
<<

>>
Has to be dual reservoir brakes, split with front and rear cirsuits for
safety, the entire Rambler line for 1962. If that's the case, "nor an
Ambassador" isn't exactly true -- it was on the Rambler Ambassador also.
But not exclusive to Ambassador, if that's what was meant.
<<

At least one AMC fan read, researched, and responded (Thanks!), but no, you need to start way back before the -first- World War.  Turn it over in your head;  it'll spark an answer.  History isn't always dull; sometimes it's Delco.

AMC history isn't just about Jeffery and Rambler and Nash.  And Jav/AMX.

I've attended only one US car show this summer (plus one strange show-n-shine on a hillside [a Skyline club overlooking the skyline?] in Japan [they sure do different things to accessorize their rides]): it reminded me of AMC also.  A one-off that once lived nearby was on display, delivered in an air-conditioned cocoon (a/c in the trailer was run continuously while the car was "outside" --- as one of the two cars in an indoor [also air-conditioned] showroom --- who cares about oil cost and dependence?), so it certainly deserved some special handling.  Which, in 2006, must mean excess.  (If interested, read about it at:         

http://www.kerbeck.com/kerbeck/kerbeck.nsf/Worlds_Oldest_Corvette

and think of the girl driving it back-n-forth to school: history.)

The AMC point was outside, though.  Corvette show = AMX show.  Nice but not nice enough to die for.  Fun but not fully fulfilling.  Only part of full story.

Don't overlook the rest.

Redo the '50s.  Do more.
    

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