[Amc-list] Charity AMX Project -- Anyone remember it?

[Frank Swygert <farna@xxxxxxx>]

Anyone remember this project? A summary follows, but you might want to 
visit the official website:
http://www.mattsoldcars.com/charityamx/index.html.

Started over at the AMC-List in 1999, a 70 AMX was donated and started 
rolling by late 99. It was determined to split the proceeds between 
three children's hospital organizations (the donater requested that the 
proceeds specifically go to children's charities). At first the project 
went as planned -- each group that took the car evaluated it when they 
got it, determined what work they could do, beat the bushes for 
donations, got some local publicity, did some work, and got it ready to 
be transported to another group to start the process all over. I was 
supposed to keep track of everything, handle monetary donations, and 
make sure it had somewhere to go"next". All went well the first two 
years, then the car really needed some major body work before anything 
else was completed. Some of that work had been started, but not 
repairing a quarter panel and a little rust damage. The body work proved 
to be a big hold-up/snag in the whole idea. It was beyond most hobbyist 
to tackle, and proved to be a good thing they didn't try.

The car was transported to Kenosha for the big 2002 show. With a high 
density of AMC enthusiasts in the mid west surely someone would take it! 
No one did. Dave DeLabio volunteered to store it for the winter or until 
a group would stand up and take the car. No one did over the winter, so 
Dave beat the bushes and found a shop willing to tackle the car, 
convinced a local paint supply to donate supplies, AND got the project 
wrote up in the local newspaper! The shop took it with the intent of 
spending their down-time between jobs on it. First snag was the guy who 
planned on doing most of the work left the shop about a year later. A 
good bit of work had been done, and the shop discovered that the car 
hadn't been properly repaired after a side impact. It had been "covered 
up" pretty good, and no one had spotted the damage until a new quarter 
panel started to go on. Then it was discovered that the rear of the 
rocker panel was out by about 1/8". The shop put it on a frame machine 
and also discovered the door post was misaligned by over an inch! Good 
thing they had it -- it was all pulled back into place and is now good 
as new!

There wasn't much down-time at the shop, but work was being 
accomplished, just slowly. I did send inquiries out  to see if someone 
else wanted the car, but I think the remaining body work was still more 
than most hobbyist wanted to attempt. So it stayed almost THREE YEARS at 
the shop. At the start of the third year a big effort was made to get it 
moving. Tom Benvie, who donated the car, was especially frustrated at 
the lack of progress and and length of time this project was taking, and 
offered to take the car back and finish it. I wasn't ready to give up on 
the AMC community, and asked him to give me a little time to see if I 
could get it to someone else first. About a week later John Widker, 
co-owner of TDD Motorsports and a self-declared AMC nut, volunteered to 
take the car in his shop and complete the remaining body work and get it 
painted. John rated the body work as "good production work" (it was a 
production shop that did it), but John builds show cars. To him it was 
about 3/4 done, and he put the finishing touches on it. That's where it 
is now -- queued up at the paint shop waiting for paint (at a business 
partner of John's).

The major body and paint work was the big snag -- now that it's done 
things should get back on track. All that needed to be done before 
anything else could be finished or even started. Once it's out of the 
paint shop I'll be looking for someone to take the car, or I'll work on 
arranging transportation back to Tom.  Anyone within a 10-12 hour drive 
of Auburn Hills is fair game!

Let's not let this project take another couple years to complete! It 
will need interior work and a lot of detailing. Tom Benvie made the 
suggestion that we might want to start a couple teams up to take on very 
specific tasks at this point. There are some details to work out on 
that, but it sounds like it might be a good idea. If you aren't close 
enough to take the car and do some work, you can still contribute! Just 
contacting a company to donate something like a repro 70 AMX dash 
overlay, or a partial donation (get the overlay at a discount) would be 
a big help! A local club could have a fund raiser to purchase and ship a 
specific part -- that would be a big help!!

There are two things that need to happen first: The car needs to get 
back from the paint shop into John Widiker's hands. Then he can take 
better stock of exactly what needs to be done and parts that are needed. 
We actually have most parts to complete the car, but some (like the dash 
overlay) could be replaced with repro items to make it that much nicer 
when done (NOTICE -- a dash overlay has been promised, it's not needed, 
just used as an example!). Once we have a better list of needed items, I 
can publish the list. Then my job comes in: coordinating. When an 
individual or group (doesn't have to be AMC specific -- local car club 
or any type organization can contribute) decides they can help with an 
item/area, CONTACT ME (Frank Swygert, farna@xxxxxxx, 803-604-6548). I'll 
either write you in for that item or let you know it's already covered. 
DO NOT START SOLICITING FOR A PART DONATION UNTIL THIS IS DONE!  We 
don't want three groups calling a vendor trying to get the same part(s) 
donated/discounted!! Of course money is always accepted!

-- 
Frank Swygert
Publisher, "American Motors Cars" 
Magazine (AMC)
For all AMC enthusiasts
http://farna.home.att.net/AMC.html
(free download available!)

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