[Amc-list] "Ace in the Hole"
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[Amc-list] "Ace in the Hole"
- From: Brien Tourville <hh7x@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2007 23:06:20 -0400
The tires are Goodyear GT radials dating from the late
seventies or early 1980s.
They came to me on some old
Cragar wheels off of a 69 AMX I bought and have since
sold.
I had put them on the car even though I
realized they were old.
They look is so period correct
for the car mounted on AMC ralley wheels.
The tread
depth is like a new tire and I wasn't worried about
the condition of the rubber because of the light
weight of the Gremlin and the fact that I live alone
and wouldn't have anyone else to worry about in the
car.
But in order to have a comfortable (and admittedly
safer ride) it looks like I'll be investing in tires.
Joe Fulton
Salinas, CA
===.===
Cragers and Good~Years.....Oh My...
Didn't I tell this story once before ?..I did..... well.....
it's almost Labor Day....and Dad always linked Labor Day
with Automotive Highway Carnage.....
so let us begin again:
I had a big Italian
chum, Mario Mazarello - funny guy..... dealers dealer,
threw some great parties.
Mario came over one afternoon with Guitar chum Neil
- sometime in the late '70s,
I was clearing out the garage of accumulated
junk - which if I could eBay
that stuff today - would cover
a decent Paint job...... but not to digress:
Had this wretched Cragar SS mag with an old snow tire on it
that needed to go.
Blistering chrome flaking - SS Insignia gone -
it was for a GM and I was HUDSON / MOPAR, so out it went.
Always the scrounge, Mario asked if I wanted the SS mag:
"the tire is shot Mario - ....." he wanted the SS mag:
"Himmler...give me 'The SS'......chicken farmer....."
"if I give you the mag - you'll fu!in kill yourself
with the tire Mario........ - I don't need that on my conscience
."
yah-da-yahh-dah ....... whine -
" look, you can't run this -
if I give you the mag - you take this tire off - do not
run this thing for any reason"....... promise"
yah da -
"no - the thing is shot"........ whine
so later "ok - but - get rid of the tire"
<Grin> 'n promises..
Mario ran a '70 Camaro > 'Orca'..... body by 'Wanker'.
half the car was Bondo and sheet scrap metal - used old
license plates patch quarters held in by bondo......
shot with red primer... car would rock gently at idle
streaming blue haze out the duals...........
'Orca' packed a 'vette 350 - with goodies.......
Can't tell you
what the nearly unfastened front bucket seats were from..... maybe
a TR or a Sprite..... who knows.
Last time I'd seen Mario in one piece - it was about 11PM -
the NY STATE POLICE
had him pulled over in front of the VFW Post Bldg.on Rte. 9W South:
drivers door was open - dash glowing green:
Mario's at the rear of 'Orca'
which was cheerfully
lope_ing trails of Blue Smoke onto the scene......
the 7ft. tall Trooper had a flashlight in Mario's face - while Mario
- both arms extended outward - doing the 'touch your nose' sobriety
test Dance in the glaring lights of a MoPar Pursuit Vehicle......
grinned as he wowed the 'chump'.....
I crept past the spectacle, fighting a 'feeling' that I shouldn't
stop to chat.
.
I had sold my Ovation PA Sound system from my touring Group to Mario as he
loved Johnny Winter - had bought a '68 Gibson
Firebird Guitar - had a 'Kill ah MARSHALL' amp - and had begged nicely for a payment schedule.
I'd hauled a '63 Porsche's' home for him one Blizzarding Winters Day -
beat him at 'Battleship' - gave him a ride back home when his BSA-sh!t put
a rod thru the engine case and main frame down tube one evening
while we were
biking up Storm King Mountain on the road to West Point .
As Mario, he fell behind on payments - I called Neil to get
some leverage:
" B..... Mario's dead"........ huH?
"He hit a tree a thousand yards out from his Mom's house coming
home from the gig at 'Ace in the Hole' ....."
I lived down the street from 'Beansy's Towing' - he had the Thruway
concession and he was the Coroner - great lot of cars - is where
I found my '66 GTO convertible sans motor & trans one sunny afternoon.
His Son Eddie had an L-88 motor & trans meant for the car - Beansy liked
my Dad - he was the Principal of the local High School and involved
in Town Politico - so the GTO got flat bedded home & Eddie got stiff'd:
$75.00 and a bottle of Scotch... ;) Dad knew the ropes.
It was a week after Mario's wreck that I heard he'd gone in,
- Funeral was long
over.
It had rained most that week - I headed up to 'Unkle Beansy's' to
check for 'Orca'.
"Top of the Hill Brien - watch out for the Dog...."......
I trudged up the dirt road to the upper lot - a huge rectangular area carved out
of the Forest - waay down the other end of the lot - center stage in the open area
stood 'Orca' - ..... the back half anyway.....roof was separated on the drivers
side - and now fully stood up like a classroom Blackboard.
I stopped and didn't move for quite awhile - the scene was appalling.
Black Headliner facing me - soaked from rain
- gently flapping in a breeze -
mud & musical equipment wreckage strewn everywhere......
"this ain't 'Woodstock' Toto ....." ~ God.
'Black Flag' slapping tin... I wanted to cut it down..... but it
was his Flag..... so it stood.
The the grenade Gibson Firebird Guitar
pink velvet lined case -
open casket in the mud - shattered guitar peg headstock with strings still attached nearby, the bare
chassis of his 'killer MARSHALL' amp head - box had exploded on impact...... busted electric guitar
tuner..... wires..magazines.. hair......folded in half door...looked into the rear seat area - no floor - just the rear seat cushion - and a drive shaft 'swizzle-sticked - spun like a rubber band..under the ever looming Blackboard Flag.
Forest Road where Mario lived was this long long country road with sections straight enough -
and the weather was clear that early Sunday - so it had to been something with 'Orca'
- which - given that the thing was turd & string - could be anything really....... the rust
could have let the car fold in half...... it truly was "a dangerous piece of sh!it....." ..... but......
I'd checked the back half of the Camaro over:
both tires were up - had a huge chunk 'cheese pizza' print
on the headliner that trailed right to where it had once met the former rear window........
Tree + Head + 'KILL AH MARSHALL' 100 Watt....- "Grape'd".
Beansy' must have found this 'errant wanderer' the baggers missed -
as he'd dropped it into the opening left where the roof had ripped away from the driver side rear quarter....
above the dog leg - a 'Mail Slot' of sorts -
just like Mario to miss his own Funeral.......... .
'Orca's front clip was on the the other side of the 'Blackboard' - upside down - dash incredibly fragmented from
the shock - blew off all the plastic - the speedo indicator - radio dial indicator...... ferocious.
Mario loved Mario Andretti so my guess is 70+ going in....smokin' 'Orca' ........
tree came thru drivers door above the knee:
Both hands crush outlined in blood on the steering wheel - testified he went in Fighting.
Passenger side front tire was OK - .....:
but my Old Friend from 'The SS' greeted me as I rounded the grille:
'Old Snow' Good~Year had given up the Ghost - no punctures so either
the bead or the valve let the air escape.
"ev_very Rose has it's thrown......." ~ poison.
Today,..... most of Mario's superstructure lies in the ground
at the top of 'Boot Hill' - Calvary Cemetery in New Windsor NY,
along with most of his cherished Gibson Firebird Guitar.....
I gave the strings and Gibson Firebird headstock debris to Neil.
'Orca' and Mario's main frame went to the Laskin Salvage Yard...... then took a barge
ride down the Hudson River to the Smelter.
Amen.
Some thoughts on Fate:
"It may be said with a degree of assurance that not everything that
meets the eye is as it appears.
<http://thinkexist.com/quotation/it_may_be_said_with_a_degree_of_assurance_that/223485.html>"
"The touch of an infinite mystery passes over the trivial and the
familiar, making it break out into ineffable music... The trees, the
stars, and the blue hills ache with a meaning which can never be uttered
in words.
<http://thinkexist.com/quotation/the_touch_of_an_infinite_mystery_passes_over_the/144097.html>"
"The poet, whether in prose or verse, the creator, can only stamp his
images forcibly on the page, in proportion, as he has forcibly felt,
ardently nursed, and long brooded over them
<http://thinkexist.com/quotation/the_poet-whether_in_prose_or_verse-the_creator/190280.html>"
"There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is
a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the
middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition."
/"You're traveling through another dimension -- a dimension not only
of sight and sound: but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land
whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's a signpost up
ahead: your next stop: the Twilight Zone."/
~ Rod Sterling
- don't run old Tires and that Signpost won't
RIP your car in half.
~ Brien T.
Rod Sterling quotes
-- Happy AMC Labor Day !
___
=Bt= /~ ~\
milnersXcoupe |_ |
"The Heretic" |/ __-__
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/ | \
, / / \
// _ _---~~~ //-_ \
/ (/~~ ) _____/-__ ~-_ _-\ _________
/ _-~\\0) ~~~~ ~~-_ \__--~~ `\ ___---~~~ /'
/_-~ _-/' )~/ /'
(___________/ _-~/' _-~~/ _-~
_ ----- _~-_\\\\ _-~ /' __--~ (_ ______---~~~--_
_-~ ~-_~\\\\ ( ( -_~ ~-_ | ~-_
/~~~~\ \ \~~ ~-_ ~-_ ~\ ~~--__-----_ \
; / \ ______-----\ ~-__~-~~~~~~--_ ~~--_ \ .
| | \((*)~~~~~~~~~~| __--~~ ~-_ ) | |
| \ |~|~---------)__--~~ \_____________/ / ,
\ ~-----~ / /~ ) \ ~-----~ /
~-_ _-~ /_______________________________/ `-_ _-~
~ ----- ~ ~ ----- ~
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