[Amc-list] Oddities

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

Oddball?  If seven AMC cars (four bought new, three bought used) and two ex-Studebaker Avantis aren't odd enough, how 'bout that '86 Mustang SVO and the '88 Merkur Scorpio?  Not oddball enough?  How 'bout the '90 Mercedes 300TE, the wagon that made any Rebel 550 look luxurious?  How 'bout the Fatboy woodies: '49 Packard and '53 Buick --- unless the '41 Packard 120 with -six-cylinder- engine better qualifies as odd?  (Dark green, so, of course, I claim a total loss of control...)  If more modern blimps-on-wheels (the S-class Mercedes that claimed a total loss of front-wheel geometry control, the final Roadmaster Estate that claimed a total loss of quality control, and the final hot rod Impala that everyone claimed was the final American muscle car --- until the next all-American muscle car named Impala came along) weren't odd enough also, explain the sudden shift into Japanese buyership before ad writers ever coined Nissan's "Shift" slogan.  Oddball?  American Motors disdain?

Try harder.  Like Bart, Steve, Jason, and other listers.  We've heard it all before.

Down 'n' dirty?  If my '57 Plymouth Rusty, '66 Dodge Car-or-not, and '69 Super Buzzy weren't Mopar Mensch enough, how 'bout listing lusty ladies liked but never dated?  '64 Studebaker Cruiser and Daytona?  Croissants or Wonder Bread?  '65-'66 Marlin?  '65-'66 Ambassador?  '66 Rogue?  '67 Marlin?  '68+ Javelin?
Big Macs or Kobe beef burgers at 21?  My list is endless: "more for less" is my motto, and of that I stand proud.  Fast forward through the 1970s, when love for cars had to share life with love for learning (to afford more than a Ford Pinto, Maverick, or Tempo: truly one of the least-lovable cars I ever drove...), to the '79 Fox-y Ford, '80 Caprice/Impala, Mopar J, M, and R bodies (if a Dart could be turned into a Town Car, who didn't love that?)  I even lusted after some Ks.  EEK!  (If you don't get that joke, you may not be smarter than a fifth-grade auto expert, or you may keep your Chrysler Q-car to Nissan Infiniti --- and if you don't get those two jokes, you may be dead --- and never able to afford an AMX #3.5.)  I even loved when a square-cut '80 LTD turned into a semi-aero '88 Crown Victoria for the cost of a cup of coffee today.  Oh, sorry.  Excusez-moi.  Une latte aujourd'hui.

It only cost $6 million to turn a Hornet into a Gremlin in 1970.  Geez!

Always give every crowd what they -think- they paid to see.  What??  No cover?  Well, then play with 'em.  Screw up their "brains" --- totally!

But don't be mean-spirited at it because one or two of 'em may actually hope to do more than just have fun.  What??  Learning is fun?  How odd!    

http://www.allpar.com/model/rwdbodies.html
http://www.allpar.com/model/fwd-bodies.html

And how odd is it to have spent more to store a 36-year old Ambassador and a 28-year-old Spirit than either will ever bring on eBay or in AMC Dreamland?  
Oddly enough, "love" is the totally odd answer.  An AMC is the oddly odds-on/odds-off recipient.  Oddly, AMC has no museum: no place for "pattern" cars.

But AMC fans have all the answers.  Totally.

Give us a break: cut the class-warfare crap.

Give up on P-A also.  To Packard, it is odd.

Give us a blast: compare Pierce with -Nash-.

Give up why both can be called Full Classic.

Give us more insight and factoids than guff.

Give us an "assembled" opinion first though.

Give up some independent info -on- oddities.

Odd?

No.

AMC?  

Ja.

So,

Did Studebaker or AMC build assembled cars?

Second, third, zillionth chance??  Oddest!!


>>Did I get the no-prize?

Marc, standard definition of "assembled" is what all these cars are:    

http://www.markushartel.com/blog/august04/checker5.jpg

http://www.santafephotogallery.com/artists/images/small/HW-087.jpg

http://www.cartype.com/images/page/durant_star_logo.jpg

I don't mean to make it "Dauntless" for anyone --- just fun learning.


>>A market, I might add, that AMC was never really able to capture.

...but was able to benefit greatly from.  When Chrysler acquired AMC-Jeep, the Grand Wagoneer had the highest-income buyer demographic of -any- US car.  When the last one was built in 1991 (and titled as a 1992 model?), Grand Wagoneer still claimed the -second- highest income level --- with only the [then-brand-new] Buick Roadmaster Estate buyer earning more American bucks.  Really.

Way back then, the average income of GW and RE buyers was over $100,000.

It may burst Brien's bubble to admit such fact, but GW buyers were rich.

Not bad, just -successful-.  And they still bought odd old independents.

Save scorn for import-car buyers: back then, they were the richer-thans.

Not those who bought Rabbits or Renaults, of course.  Y'all -love- them.

Batter the BMW, Bentley, and Benz boys: they have thick skins.  Wallets?  


>>
And very difficult and expensive to repair.  I've
never owned a Saab, but I have heard you practically
had to pull the engine to change the starter.
<<

Slam Saab and push Porsche into a similar Box-ter.  Not for RM DIY fans!

No car lover can do with a Civ or a Tib what could be done with a T-buc or a Tri-5.  No one will be loving an LS, an SC, an CLS, a CSL, a CS, or even an LC (which you've probably never heard of; but it looks lovable...)

http://tinyurl.com/35axvj

like they love an SC/360 or an SS 396.  One of the best of the "modern" American muscle cars still gets rather little love.  And LSC was no Splinc truck.

http://img.clubphoto.com/jerboa/36636206/hi/null/image.jpg

So why are today's auto-fans-of-tomorrow not buying American?  Why don't they prefer a Cobalt or a Mustang or a Charger to a Civic or a G35 coupe or any imported V-8 sedans?  What is the demographic for American metal today?

[Underpaid?] boomers, [retired?] elders, or [semi-unemployed?] rappers?

Where is that going?  
  
Where AMC is now?

Don't flame me.

I'm working.

For AMC.

Still.

Why?

Too stupid to stop?

Too old to learn?

Too into AMC?

Too too?

Maybe.

But don't forget: you get all this stuff for free.

What would you pay for similar info in a magazine?

Remember RM.

Kindly.


PS - 9-3 is built on the Vectra platform developed in Germany, so it's genuine GM and as much Opel as Saab.  The last "Saab" Saab 9-5 will be switched to the Epsilon 2 platform, so it, too, will be a "generic" GM.  Which, of course, for anyone with an odd case of RM, can be good as well as bad.  Better GM cars for budget buyers in America --- albeit developed elsewhere.  Get going!!!

New Gremlin, Spirit, and Sportabout coming: oddly, from GM and Germany.    

http://www.europe.opel.com/brand_sites/astra/launch/microsite/main.html

http://www.saturn.com/saturn/vehicles/futurevehicles/index.jsp


PPS - Open that window.  Take a good look at what's outside.

>>I'm saying, show me a factory showroom, FWD performance car.

>>I don't think we will convince him that such a car exists.

I think we may: right now.

http://tinyurl.com/ys4zuv

I love old cars --- 1930s, 1950s, 1960s (and a few 1970s) old cars --- better than new ones, yet that doesn't stop me from loving lots of new ones as well.  We can't love anything we don't work to learn about, and the -ultimate- in RM is being intelligent enough to become informed.  And then acting like we are.

Knowledge is power.  Information is free.  So is bandwidth in our heads.

Rage on.

I'm off.
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