The Talepipe
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The Talepipe March 2019 Fallbrook Vintage Car Club The Fallbrook Vintage Car Club is a group of members that share a common interest in the preservation and appreciation of vintage vehicles. We are dedicated to serving others through charitable events and activities that reflect positively on the Fallbrook community. A Region of the Antique Automobile Club of America About This Month’s Cover See the story about Bob Nixon elsewhere in this issue... The AMC Gremlin (also American Motors Gremlin) is an American subcompact automobile introduced in 1970, manufactured and marketed in a single, two-door body style in America (1970- 1978) by American Motors Corporation (AMC) — as well as in Mexico (1974-1978) by AMC’s Vehículos Automotores Mexicanos (VAM) subsidiary. Featuring a shortened Hornet platform and bodywork with a pronounced, almost vertical tail, the Gremlin was classified as an economy car by 1970’s U.S. standards. It competed with the Chevrolet Vega and Ford Pinto, as well as imported cars that included the Volkswagen Beetle and Toyota Corolla. The small domestic automaker marketed the Gremlin as “the first American-built import”. The Gremlin reached a total production of 671,475 over a single generation — and was superseded by a (thoroughly) restyled variant, the AMC Spirit. Designed to look either “cute or controversial - depending on one’s viewpoint ... for many, it seemed perfect for the free-thinking early 1970’s.” American Motors executives apparently felt confident enough to not worry that the Gremlin name might have negative connotations. Time magazine noted two definitions for gremlin: “Defined by Webster’s as ‘a small gnome held to be responsible for malfunction of equipment.’ American Motors’ definition: ‘a pal to its friends and an ogre to its enemies.’” The car’s cartoon-inspired mascot was marketed for product differentiation and was intended to be memorable to consumers. The Gremlin’s unorthodox hatchback design was also needed to make the car stand out in the competitive marketplace, and according to Dick Teague: “Nobody would have paid it any attention if it had looked like one of the Big Three” automobiles. AMC promoted the Gremlin as “America’s first subcompact”. This description overlooks the Nash Metropolitan and the earlier Crosley. The Metropolitan—a subcompact-sized captive import, American-conceived and American-designed for the American market, and built in the UK with a British engine—has a claim to be “America’s first subcompact.” American Motors promoted the Gremlin as “cute and different” and the marketing strategy was successful with more than 60 percent of the purchasers were under 35 years old.[28] Talepipe Committee Editor: Ron Mintle Contributors: Steve Shapiro Daniel Strohl What’s in this Issue About the Cover This Year’s Poster R.O.M.E.O. at the Z Cafe J.U.L.I.E.T at Peking Wok Bob Nixon, AMC designer of the Gremlin and Pacer Enjoy Life Kick-off Breakfast Recipe New Members New Member Introduction Classifieds Upcoming Club Activities Annual Calendar Board Officers, Members, and Committee Chairs R.O.M.E.O. Retired Old Men Eating Out January’s ROMEO luncheon was held at the Z Cafe in Bonsall. As is quite common, the Z Cafe was crowded, and as a result, we had to be seated outside on that cold and blustry day. However, to our surprise, the wind was blocked, we had seats in the sun, and it actually was very pleasant. And our timing was good, for just as we were leaving, the direction of the breeze changed and it suddenly got cold on the patio. With a convenient location just off of Highway 76, Z Cafe is a Fallbrook & Bonsall favorite for many locals, we found it to have an extensive menu for breakfast or lunch. The March ROMEO will be held at 11:30 on Tuesday, March 21st at the Guadalajara Mexican Grill & Cantina, 27780 Jefferson Ave, Temecula http://guadalajaramexicangrill.net/ J.U.L.I.E.T. Just Us Ladies Interacting and Eating Together In February the ladies enjoyed a delicious lunch at Peking Wok in Bonsall. As usual, there was no shortage of interesting topics of conversation. We have a fun group of ladies with a diverse array of activities resulting in much to talk about and photos to share. Thank you to all the ladies who participate. If you haven’t attended, please think about working the luncheon into your schedule. All the ladies are welcome including past members. There will not be a JULIET lunch in March. The April lunch will be held at noon (date to be determined) at Journey’s End at the Pachanga Golf Course Club House. Car Pooling is suggested. Bob Nixon, AMC designer who penned the Gremlin and Pacer, dies at 86 by Daniel Strohl Bob Nixon (left) with Dick Teague. Photos courtesy the Pat Foster Collection, except where noted. Dick Teague may have whipped up an early sketch for the AMC Gremlin on an airline barf bag, but the task of actually designing a production-ready truncated Hornet fell to designer Bob Nixon, the longtime American Motors designer who died last week at the age of 86. Perhaps the greatest irony of Nixon’s long career at America’s last independent car maker arose from his assignments at American Motors. While Nixon towered over his colleagues in height, he ended up leading the company’s small-car studio and designing many of the company’s compact and subcompact production cars. That includes the first assignment Nixon received when he started at American Motors in 1959. Nixon had started out at Chrysler as a technical illustrator and worked in the Dodge styling studio, where he presumably competed against a platoon of other designers. Once he moved over to American Motors, however, Teague put him on the Rambler American and chose Nixon’s front-end design for that car’s 1964 restyle. Nixon’s design, which took the American from a late-Fifties holdover to a mod- ern-looking automobile with hints of Chrysler’s futuristic Turbine car, helped boost American sales nearly 60 percent over the prior year. He followed that front-end design with a radical rear-end design for the Classic, adding a fastback for the Tarpon show car that eventually (with meddling from Roy Abernethy) became the Classic-based 1965 Rambler Marlin. Photo courtesy of Gremlin-X.com By the mid-Sixties, Nixon was put in charge of the small-car studio, where he oversaw the American’s boxier 1966 redesign as well as the design of the American’s replacement, the Hornet. During the Hornet’s gestation, Nixon and Teague discussed a shorter Hornet and how it would look (according to Marc Cranswick’s The Cars of American Motors, at one point the shorter Hornet would have had a notch back design and gone by the name Wasp) and Nixon began to draft some design studies. According to Aaron Severson, Teague’s infamous barf-bag sketch came about only because, while pitching the Gremlin to AMC Vice President Gerry Meyers on a Northwest Orient flight in the fall of 1966, he had neither Nixon’s design studies nor any other paper at hand. “Teague convinced management that if their new subcompact was going to survive (pending competition), Gremlin had to be distinctive and stand out from the crowd,” Cranswick wrote. As Nixon related to Foster, the Gremlin was considered his “baby,” but he also credited other AMC stylists, among them Vince Geraci and Dick Jones, with helping birth the Gremlin. 1967 AMX III sports wagon. Courtesy the Chris Zinn collection Nixon later went on to oversee the design of the 1974 Matador coupe — a car that, at least in the front, referenced his Rambler American from a decade prior — as well as the Pacer, the Concord, and the Spirit production cars. In addition, while it appears Nixon wasn’t heavily involved with the overall design of the AMX and Javelin, both cars originated in his studio and he did seem to occasionally lend a hand as those designs progressed. His renderings formed the look of those cars’ front ends, and his proposal for a four-door Javelin sport wagon (named the AMX III) later evolved into the Hornet Sportabout station wagon. Nixon did not limit himself to production cars. Along with several other stylists, including Vince Gardner, Nixon designed the AMX II concept car, one of the project IV series of show cars that debuted in 1966. Then later in the Sixties he worked with Fred Hudson on the AMX/2 show car that preceded the AMX/3 mid-engine supercar. When AMC formed its partnership with Renault in 1979, it redirected its design staff to focus primarily on Jeeps, according to Foster. Nixon remained aboard to oversee the design of the Jeep XJ Cherokee then, following that project, led the design team for the Jeep ZJ Grand Cherokee. His work on the latter continued through Chrysler’s purchase of AMC in 1987 and led Nixon to remain on at Chrysler — where his career started decades prior — until he retired in 1992. Nixon died February 5 Irish Wisdom Kick-off Breakfast Recipe This year’s Annual Car Club Kick-off Breakfast featured Cheesy Tater Tot Breakfast Bake. It was enjoyed by all and Linda Lovett was asked for the recipe by several people. So rather than sending it to individuals, Linda asked that the recipe be published in the Talepipe. Here it is! Now you can make it at home. New Members Terry & Rahn Decker 1131 Via Encinos Fallbrook, CA 92028 Home ph.: 760-645-0299 Terry - cell: 760-710-1699 e-mail: [email protected] New Member Introduction By David Gotfredson Last month David and Karen Gotfredson joined the car club.