[Amc-list] Shaken, not stirred?

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

"Belligerence begets demise" is what Daniel Howes wrote about the UAW today.  If the same words had been written 52 years ago, when the UAW stuck Studebaker repeatedly, causing its production and sales to drop precipitously, would many Americans have read them --- or have taken heed?

Not likely, because it'll always be the right of Americans to be free.

When Studebaker's slump led to the demise of Packard, freedom reigned.

Americans were free.  Of what a world had bought as best-from-America. 

When Studebaker's slump led to demise of Avanti & GT, freedom reigned.

Americans were free.  Of what was its longest-surviving vehicle-maker.   

When Studebaker's stock was built out, Studebaker Canada stopped also.

Americans were free.  Of what was a last independent 'fore a last AMC.

American Motors fans are famous for their independence & belligerence.

They like to battle with the Big Three believers and among themselves.

They like to boast of being belligerent and keeping Rambler Mentality. 

AMC is free.  Of a national museum & archive, magazine, and mega-meet.

Belligerent?  Clubs have -independent- meets: mega-, midi-, and mini-!

AMC has some car models in some museums; some documents are somewhere!

AMC has some ink with some regularity!  AMC has some surviving owners!

American Motors' followers are famous for their belligerent attitudes!

Don't mess with AMC!

AMC shall stay free!

AMC freedom reigns! 

AMC 4-ever!

Bada bing!

In 2059?

Am wha?

Dunno.

Maybe it's that restaurant down the street serving Mandarin Chinese...


"Belligerence, entitlement and strikes would only hasten their demise..."

"The refusal of [their] leaders to deliver ... concessions ... accelerated the move by Chrysler's German parent to dump the Auburn Hills automaker..."

Shaky Studebaker, shaky AMC, shaky Chrysler, shaky Ford: America can shake a stick at its shaky automakers.  So why can't America shake it off?

Shaky thinking?

Stupidy?  

No sir!

Sorry.


25 years ago, Robert Venturi wrote a famous book that received famously belligerent response from many experts.  Venturi was a designer --- not of car body panels at the rear of AMC Javelins or Chevrolet Camaros (or Pontiac Venturis, if you want take belligerence to the ultimate degree) --- but of -buildings-.  Iconoclastic designs that may or may not reign free in the rearview mirror of history, but that had effect on what or how America (and the world) sees.  If "Learning from Las Vegas" is old, "Learning from AMC/Studebaker/Packard" may still be new --- or worth its weight in words for American automotive freedom.

America's top, middle, and bottom might read & heed --- and not bleed.

America's demise might be bigger than that of Mopar & S-P --- and AMC.

http://www.designobserver.com/archives/000146.html

I bet you could sell the '72 book and buy a '72 AMC with the proceeds,

http://adcache.collectorcartraderonline.com/10/6/7/87663167.htm

and, if I remember Naches like I remember Yakima and Richland and Kennewick and Umatilla and Walla Walla, it shouldn't suffer from the typical AMC tin worm.  Bookworm?  Silverfish?  Mold?  Worse?  One never knows.  

http://www.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/buchpatenschaften/ebupatext.html

At least one knows what such a car would be worth if it were a Camaro.  Or a 'Cuda.  Or even an overblown, overgrown, overlooked Mustang.  More than an AMC.

Not that it matters.  Unless you undertake AMC restos.

"It's too expensive, compared with Big-Three machines, and there's not as big a market for resale, so I'll look for something else."  Where do AMC fans go?

http://theserviceadvisor.com/part/reman/amc.html

It's not that AMC's cars were of poorer quality than the Bigs': if an AMC hobby were more successful now, all would know that AMC quality was often better.

It's that AMC never seemed to be able to present itself well.

Engineering, styling, marketing, and even in cash management.

AMC could not set its goal, chose its course, and achieve it.

AMC forgot what Nash knew, and what Toyota came to apsire to.

AMC didn't think, study, plan, work, or succeed consistently.

AMC lurched from high to low, comforts to crises, as America.

But that sort of histrionic history really didn't need to be.

Not that it matters.  Belligerent and independent to the end.

"We don't need to change nothin'; we like us just as we are."


But one never knows what Americans will be free to drive next year,

http://tinyurl.com/2lqstq

or the next 52.  One firm has designs on Chinese cars for Americans   

http://www.torino-design.com/home.html

and, having worked for a firm that designed cars for Italians, Brits, Germans, and for a few Americans (like GM, Ford, and Chrysler), its staff may still know some good designs from bad ones (whether or not some Americans still do...)

http://tinyurl.com/3de86o 

http://www.pontiac.com/g8/

Hood scoops -and- fender holes: holy cow, it's a real American car!

(from OZ...); thank the Ghost of Harley Earl it's not Euro or Asian

http://www.superautobacs.com/store/fukuoka/information/images/fender%20slit.JPG

http://www.stealthauto.com/store/images%5CProducts%5CE46gills%5Ccfgill.jpg

or one of those American cars designed to -look- foreign.  Ghastly!

http://tinyurl.com/2bwsk7

So ugly, even AMC and Checker didn't want it!

http://www.desoto58.com/dreamcar/dreamamcprojectivcaramxii66.html

So simple, even with the scent of hood scoop! 

http://www.american-motors.de/de/karmann/

So European, it was hand crafted by Karmann!

http://tinyurl.com/2gsbet

So European, it was an Italian-German dream!

Isn't it good that cars like those are gone?

Just give us -American- car designs, please.

http://www.maui-angels.com/04-trip.071.jpg

http://tinyurl.com/2lsvzx

(American, inspired by AMC Barcelona, II...)

and another firm has some car designs ready for Americans to drive.

http://www.contactcars.com/Images/News/Big/Chery-Logo.jpg

Think about trees and rocks and streams and strange new car badges,

http://www.auto123.com/ArtImages/14220/inline_03.jpg

http://www.murphyauctions.net/images/kenmore06may/1421.jpg

and think about where in America (or the world) it would drive to.

http://tinyurl.com/342e3a

America laughed loudly as it came to America: still laughing now?

http://www.nissanusa.com/gt-r/

http://www.lexus.com/fcv/lf_a.html

http://www.cmsnl.com/classic-honda-gallery/show_media.php?id=854

http://www.cardesignnews.com/site/home/photo_gallery/display/store189/item64521/
  

History has a way of repeating itself; always slightly differently.

http://tinyurl.com/23ssw7

So look back, America,

http://news-img.caradisiac.com/IMG/jpg/Chery-V5-3.jpg

America still is open,

http://news-img.caradisiac.com/IMG/jpg/Chery-V5-2.jpg

and ready take the wheel

http://news.caradisiac.com/IMG/jpg/Chery-V5-4.jpg

of new cars or old ones,

http://tinyurl.com/2p85j9

(unless old means dead-n-gone, and, to most Americans, forgotten)

(but not by everyone; search for "Jeffery" in the following page!)

http://www.eva.hi-ho.ne.jp/ordinary/ordinary/

Look back to see into the future; if only America still knew how.

Starting with the UAW or with the NEA.  Read or listen and learn.

http://tinyurl.com/2l6jd7

America can find better ways to live.  Or America, too, will die.

http://tinyurl.com/2rfofh

"Now" is not "forever" --- sometimes not even for 52 or 40 years.

Belligerent?

Rebellious?

Surviving?

Thriving?

Or all?

Do it.


>>PS: Trabants kick ass. I want one.

Then you can kick it back.  Or eat it.  The wonder of Duroplast!

Yes, old Henry Ford would be plenty proud,

http://www.hfmgv.org/exhibits/hf/soycar.jpg

even if he was hitting -plastic-, not soy.

(I presume y'all know the story of that...)


Anybody know the story of the Concord and The Little Aristocrat?

Anybody know how to afford to show a "Classic Car" for RM money?

Anybody know how such a car can be as fun as any AMC muscle car?

Anybody here care about such things?  Is everybody here demised?

Here's a third (and last) chance, so think and write, Americans!


If you can't, I can't not think of Genesis.  Lexus LS: RM money.

Now that -really- kicks ass!

Call it the 2008 Ambassador!

It's more car for less cash!

It's more demise of America.

And it's our own damn fault.

Not the leaders, not da Man.

It is us!  We, as Americans!

We didn't learn/work enough.

So now, we're gonna be dead.

Like the old AMC since 1987.

Deader and deader every day.

http://www.planethoustonamx.com/amxtrash/amc_junkyard.JPG

http://bigflea.com/tcar/images/save_me.jpg

Is it too late to save AMC, us, and the US?

Or are we 20, 40, and 52 years too late to?

Is "Belligerence begets demise" an epitaph?

It could be.
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