Re: Rambler Mentality

["Eddie Stakes" <eddiestakes@xxxx>]

Haha, actually I coined that phrase in the late 80s and well, it stuck. It
was not meant to be derogatory towards Rambler owners, as heck, I'm a
Rambler owner myself (see below). It was more of a being beyond cehap I
guess thought process one sometimes deals with vending parts. It is not only
confined to Ramblers or AMC. I had a friedn, Don Waits, his nickname in
these parts was Mr. Mopar and specialized in E bodies. You could find him at
many major mixed make meets in TX, OK, LA. One day, some Mopar fan came up
to him and asked him if he would take $25 for a pristine Six Pack air
breather setup (at the time, those sold for $300+, God only knows what they
sell for now!) and he told them he would let them touch it for $25. They
offered him $100 and he responded he would let them sleep with his wife for
$100.
When they asked what he wanted for it, he said $300, and firm, the guy said
'there is another fellow over there with one for $200, and Don shot back,
'then what the hell are you doing over here wasting my time, by the time you
get back over there it will have sold'. Of course there was NO other six
pack setup, just swap meet talk you know, someone trying to bluff this old
man.

One day however, Ramber Mentality will be a thing of the past AMC lore, as
either you will need the part, or do without, and that is happening quicker
and quicker these days with less and less used parts to choose from. You can
read many of my thoughts in the March Hemming's in the 71-74 AMX Buyers
Guide that Mark McCourt wrote, he used a whole LOT of my thoughts and
phrases from a long, rambling, (rambling mentality perhaps?) unibomber
manifesto I sent. I was humbled, but also alarmed. Humbled in that Hemming's
considered and used my thoughts, alarmed as I didn't want to give a false
impression that 71-74 AMX parts are readily available at Pep Boys or Auto
Zone, and some stuff is gone forever.

Look at it like this: Next time you walk out to your AMC
(insert model like Gremlin here) while the AMC hobby has made great strides
in reproduction parts int he past 5 years (more AMC stuff has flooded the
market in the past 5 than the past 15 years combined) please remember
however that a staggering 90% of the parts on <YOUR>
AMC will NEVER BE REPRODUCED.

Sheetmetal. Glass. Doors. Chrome and brightworks. Bumpers. Interior soft and
hard moldings. Grills. Lenses. Think about it. Used, used, and used, and
what is out there is simply out there, and the biggest mistake any AMCer can
make is simply thinking that there is a bottomless pit of parts that will
always be available for "their" car.

So hopefully those folks who need whatever will buy it, and those who have
extra will share it, and we will continue to see more repro stuff come along
too. But if you personally have extra parts for sale, let others know and
recycle into the hobby. If you know of a AMC in salvage, or sitting on a car
lot or appears in your area Auto Trader or Thrifty Nickle, then please share
the info with everyone, as you can make a difference. Gee, I sound like that
big arsonist bear in the woods with the cap he got after he ate the ranger.

But if you need something, as usual, shop around for your best price,
condition, new or used, and watch out for 'Reverse Rambler Mentality' on
ebay, that is when someone buys a 'NOS window crank' for $40 when they could
have bought the same 'NOS window crank' in the Help! section at local auto
parts store for $8. Or two more of my favorites: 'NOS Rebel Machine oil
dipstick tube!' like AMC stopped a mass production facility to press a oil
dipstick tube for a car that they could not give away when new. Or 'NOS
Spirit/Eagle/Concord head light adjusters!' Yup, some poor fool on ebay buys
them for $25, not realizing you can almost buy the whole rack of them at
local auto parts stores for that much, same deal, look under the red
lettered box and bags of Help! products! Happy junkyarding, parts pulling,
collecting, vending, Eddie Stakes' Planet Houston aMX
www.planethoustonamx.com
PS: there is more than the Rambler Mentality file on my site, check out the
'getting hosed by the NOS label on ebay' file too:
http://www.planethoustonamx.com/parts%20&%20Literature/bodyParts.htm

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "lumina333" <lumina3@xxxx>
To: <BaadAssGremlins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, March 19, 2004 6:39 AM
Subject: [BaadAssGremlins] Re: Rambler Mentality


Didn't Eddie paten that phrase? LOL....that was one of the first
articles I read on Eddie's site, and thought about writing him to ask
if he would sell one of those AMC dealer flags for $25 as a
joke....figured I'd better not though since my computer is not made
of asbestos *grin*...-Lu-

> This is not a place to be useing the Rambler mentality. Pop for the
extra 150$. You won't be sorry you did it.
> "Doc"





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