Serving the Northeast Ohio AMC enthusiast since 1991

AMX-Clamation!!!VolumeVolume 14 Number 3 May-June 2005 American Motors Ramblings... Scott Campbell Okay, so I lied. In the January/February issue I promised a return to Norwalk for Great AMC Day with my tur- quoise ‘69 AMX. Who could have guessed that instead I would sell it after 22 years of ownership? I sure wouldn’t have! This story begins late last year when it was mentioned on the AMC Forum that a certain factory pink AMX might be offered for sale. The owner really wanted an AMX to modify, and in his opinion this car was just too unusual to alter from stock. As I read this I thought, “wow, someone is going to score a really rare AMX!” I didn’t give it any more thought as I had seen the car last year in Kenosha and it looked nice. That combined with the special color would certainly put the car well out of my range. Then in January I happened upon Eddie Stakes’ monthly “Shut Up And Drive” listing of AMCs for sale all over the country. There, part way down was: 1969 AMX 390, pink, $16K. That got me thinking... In late January I contacted “PinkAMX” on the Forum asking if he had ever completed the sale of his car and if it was the same one on Eddie’s list. He didn’t even know abut the “SUAD” listing but confi rmed that yes, it was his car and that it was still for sale. He stated that many people had called him about it but so far nobody had showed him the money. This is the point where I began losing sleep. The only way to even consider buying the car was to sell my beloved Surf- side Turquoise ‘69, a car I had planned to keep forever. But would that even raise enough money? And what if I sold my car only to fi nd out that the pink AMX was no longer available? To add just a little more pressure, the seller told me that he was considering listing the car on eBay depending on the outcome of the BBG California 500 AMX being auctioned by Barrett-Jackson! That one went for something like $61K! I didn’t have very much time to waste. After a couple weeks of soul searching and general self-torture, I decided to list my own car on eBay to see what would happen. This would be my one chance at buying the pink AMX, do or die. If it didn’t happen, well at least I tried. It took two tries (another story for another time) but my AMX sold for more than enough to buy the pink one! I contacted Brad, the seller, offering to send a deposit to hold the car, or even the full amount Contact Information... President/Treasurer Advertising Director Newsletter Editor Scott Campbell Dale Veverka Javlynn Sue Leair 5340 Columbia Rd. 6934 Brookside Rd. 4904 Edsal Dr. Medina, OH 44256 Independence, OH 44131 Lyndhurst, OH 44124 Phone: 330-725-3824 Phone: 216-524-5977 Phone: 216-381-7859 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected]

West Side Coordinator East Side Coordinator Shaune Zavertnik Don Moyer 1254 Catherine Dr. 9027 Lakeshore Blvd. Brunswick, OH 44212 Mentor, OH 44060 Phone: 330-220-7264 Phone: 440-257-5615 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: MoyerGraffi[email protected] Deadlines... June/July newsletter – July 1 Aug./Sept. newsletter – Sept. 1 What’s Up?! NCAMC now has its own web site! The URL is http://clubs.hemmings.com/northcoastamc. Thanks goes out to new club member, Ken Walker who is willing to step up to the plate and create the club web page. Check it out!

You can also get the latest NCAMC news by going to www.amcforums.com under the Clubs section.

Friday, June 17th, 2005 is Great AMC Day IV (GAD for short). Featuring Barry Allen & A.H. Adkins in their SS/C AMXs! At Norwalk Raceway Park in Norwalk, Ohio. Gates will open at 8:30 a.m., track opens for time trials at 10 a.m., eliminations begin at 2 p.m. Door Prizes, CASH and trophies awarded!!! Racer cost . . . . .$50 (car & driver) Spectator ...... $10 For more info, or pre-registration, contact Mike Luke (740) 929-1300 Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or e-mail [email protected] or amcforum.net

American Motors Ramblings Cond... since I had looked the car over in Kenosha. He said no, just bring along the money in case the car wasn’t what I expected. No pressure, no obligation, what a stand-up kind of guy! Now I had to wait almost a month to pick up the new car due to work schedules, etc. My pal Brent agreed to make the trip to St. Louis for nothing more than gas and food, just like the Boston run last fall to get the Pacer. We left early on April 9th, loaded the car after a quick inspection, then drove straight through, getting back to Medina in just 21 hours! My new pink AMX is very solid but in need of a complete make-over in order to be car show ready. It is a 390, automatic, car originally equipped with air con- ditioning, leather seats, and rear bumper guards. The original door tag lists the paint code as “00” which was used for any non-standard color. The car appears to have been repainted once and has actually faded to the current “Mary-Kay” pink. The original hue can be seen many places on the car including the compartment, inside the doors and on the floor. I plan to preserve as much of it as possible rather than treat the car to a “rotisserie” type restoration. So how exactly did this pink AMX come to exist? Nobody knows for sure, but there is a theory. In 1968, Angela Dorian (real name Victoria Vetri) was crowned Playboy’s Playmate of the Year. For this she received a factory painted pink AMX which she apparently still owns. It is a 1968 290/automatic car originally equipped with chrome Magnum 500s and optional rear bumper guards. It has a special AMX number plaque consisting of her measurements (in 1968!) rather than a random production number. By all accounts, this car attracted too much attention back in the day, so she soon had it repainted a different color. During her reign as Playmate, Dorian toured the country visiting the many Playboy clubs which used to be located in most major cities. It’s known that for each visit she was provided with a new AMX to use while in town. It is believed that my car was special ordered late in 1968 for this purpose. It quite possibly was driven by the Playmate of the Year when she visited the St. Louis club. Accordingly it was not sold to a retail buyer until almost a year after it was built. Most of this is difficult to prove, but an interesting theory none the less! If nothing else, my AMX is one of only two factory pink 2-seaters known to have been built, and it’s the only 1969. It’s also the only pink 390 car, the only one with the GO Package, etc. It has lead a fairly hard life but is already on the road to its original splendor. Watch for it later this summer! As a footnote, when Ertl decided to build a 1:18 scale die cast replica of the Playmate pink AMX for their Ameri- can Muscle series, they got a couple of the details wrong. They actually replicated a 1969 AMX 390 in pink, meaning that Ertl actually produced a replica of my car. Woo-hoo! Member Profile: Dan Koch Dan Koch Thanks to all of you who responded to my letter. However, I’ve only heard from a fraction of you, so the rest of you can expect to be pestered until I hear from you! Keep those cards and letters coming in folks! Well OK, I promised I would go first so here goes... My name is Dan Koch and I currently own a ‘69 Javelin. I bought this car about 5 years ago from its second owner with 64,000 original miles on the clock. It has the original 232 6 cyl. and three spd. stick on the floor (I was told this is extremely rare though not particu- larly valuable). Since I’ve owned the car I’ve had the head redone (.0060 removed, 3 angle valve job, bronze valve guides, etc.), installed a Crane cam (214 dur. @ .0050, 485 lift), and added an Offenhauser dual plane 4 bbl. intake, Holley 390 cfm. carb, Clifford headers, Pertro- nix electronic ignition kit, and an aluminum radiator (by necessity, not choice). And yes, I did finally mount it properly. I don’t currently own any other AMCs. I have one toy car and one wife, and to acquire one more of either, I’m going to have to get rid of one of the others. (I’m sure gonna miss her!) However, in the past I have owned a ‘70 hornet, a ‘71 Hornet, and a ‘73 Hornet Sportabout wagon. In the immediate future, I plan to refine this car. I want to install a posi rear end with something like 373 gears and I’m leaning toward a T-5 (5-spd.) manual trans. My ultimate dream is to eventually get this thing to the strip and get it solidly into the 14’s with the six. (Move over, Moneypenny!) A new paint job is also in order somewhere down the line, as are better wheels and tires. I have long lusted after an early Hornet race car, a post ‘73 (?) Hornet hatchback race car, a Rebel race car, an AMX race car...are you noticing a pattern here? My interest in AMCs dates back to the mid ‘60’s (yes, I’m that old). I was in my mid teens and I started to notice the styling lines of the AMC line-up. This was about the same time that I began to squander my long and miss-spent youth hanging out at area drag strips. Then, in 1968 the first Javelins and AMXs came out and I was hooked! One day after school, my brother and I stopped at Green American/AMC on South Arlington St. (Akron) to check ‘em out. I sat in both a Javelin and an AMX that day and made myself a promise that I would own one or the other some day. And 30 years later, I did! Then the Hornets came out and especially the SC-360’s and I said, “Man, I GOT to get me one of these!” Well, I’ve had three, but to date nothing with a 360 in it. Maybe there’s still time before they take me to the home... I well remember several AMXs showing up at the track - usually running C/SA, practically standing up on the back bumper and ripping of low 11’s or high 10’s - and that was about 1972! Those were the days! My particular pedigree is founded in racing 6 cylinders (an- other story entirely), which explains my fixation (sick- ness?) for them now. An inline “sixness” and an AMC fetish...what could be better?

It’s Show Time!

Jeff Kennedy fervently polishes the rear end of his brown AMX, while Ken Walker cleans the windshield of my Javelin so well that you don’t even know that there’s any glass there. Thank you, Ken. The check to build that new garage and buy you that 401 Gremmy is in the mail (wink wink).

At the 7th Annual AMC Family Meet at the Clark County Fairgrounds in Spring- field, Ohio this year 34 AMCs attended the May 28 event. Despite the weather- man’s grim report, the day was actually partly cloudy for most of the show. Only twice did dark clouds bring rain to the area just enough to get the cars dirty but not to disrupt the show. 7th Annual AMC Family Meet Springfield, Ohio

The plate on the blue AMX reads “Rude Awakening”. An assortment of AMCs

The theme of this year’s show was the Gremlin’s A Beautiful Big Bad Green AMX 35th anniversary.

Best of show winner, Manuel Cheek’s Tom Bunsey’s American SC/Rambler Jack Stokely’s V-8 Pacer among other AMCs 2005 AMC Calendar of Events

June 11: 16th Annual CEMA Car Show at Museum, Auburn Hill, MI Vince (248) 944-2312 June 12: Mopars at Summit - All Mopar Show June 12: American Motors Cruisers AMC Regional - Ionia, MI Anita Mier (616) 527-0477 June 17: GAD (Great American Race Day) IV - Norwalk, OH Mike Luke (740) 929-1300 June 19: Employees Car Show - Toledo, OH Pete Dunkel (614) 891-2639 July 8-9: 23rd Len Immke Arthritis Foundation Car Show - Dublin, OH web site: www.arthritisautoshow.com July 10: 24th Annual Richard A. Teague AMO Regional Meet - Dublin, OH Casey McGowan (740) 321-1308 July 12-16: 2005 Grand Nashional Car Show - Detroit, MI Al Ruckey (248) 212-3261 e-mail: [email protected] July 21-24: 2005 AMO International Convention - Atlanta, GA web site: www.amonational.com Aug. 12-14: Mopar Nationals - National Trail Raceway, Kirkersville, OH web site: www.moparnats.org Aug. 21: Great Lakes AMC Family Meet - Greenmead Historical Park, Livonia, MI Aug. 27: Hoosier AMC Regional Meet - Carmel, IN Joe Fougerousse (317) 335-3575 Sept. 4: Glass City AMC Regional Meet - Randy Hensinger (419) 483-9917 Sept. 17: APD Annual Car Show and Open House - West Manchester, OH Doug Noel (937) 678-7249 Sept. 17: Chilson’s AMC Family Meet - Lawrenceville, PA Casey McGowan (740) 321-1308 Sept. 24: Ed Anderson AMCRC Regional Meet - Carillon Park, Dayton, OH Casey McGowan (740) 321-1308 or Mike Turner (937) 865-0940 October 1: AMO Southeast Regional - Greenboro, SC Steve Corder (704) 938-5712

A Matador, a Marlin and an Ambassador at the AMC Family Meet in Springfield, Ohio Classified Corner Dale Veverka

AMC offers not one but multiple customizing kits for the 1969 AMX and Javelin? You say you never realized that Motor Trend magazine’s Decem- ber 1968 issue featured a four page spread of these creations. The packages were to be offered at the dealership and the cost could even be included with a small boost to that payment book. One model, the Breedlove 600, was a collaboration of stylist Bill Moore and Craig Breedlove. It featured a fiberglass grill that is also a partial belly pan. A fiberglass hood with ram-air along with a uniquely placed spoiler top off this Aerodynamics Kit. All this and smaller alu- minum bumpers for just $700. Anyone ever seen one of these? Other kits include one by the Droke broth- ers and George Barris. Please support the fine people that support your club. Tom and Wendy at Radiatorwerks would love to help you. Rick at Kings would like to help you, too. Ads are still free to members so send ‘um in to me.

May 2005 Hemmings Muscle Machines includes the offering of a 1/43rd scale model of the 1957 . The $89.95 price tag seems to be justified by the correct color and the accurate scale of all parts. “ Roundup!” shows us that restyled econ- omy cars came to dominate a generation. Fal*on begot Mus*ang and the GM boys followed suit. A half page section spotlighted the AMC AMX and Javelin AMX. Most of the emphasis was on the four place Javelin rather than the “short wheel base” of the AMX. Javelins did ex- tremely well on the Trans-am campaigns of 1971 and 1972. The long awaited Part 2 of “Project HMX” also arrived in this issue. Its absence was explained by the author, Daniel Strohl. It seems that because it is supposed to be a self funded project that the costly break down of Strohl’s daily driver forced a pause on the project car. The March issue included four letters from fellow AMCers willing to help provide parts or advice (nice to see). Strohl has decided to do a head swap by putting the head from a newer 4.0 L on the stock 258 with its longer stroke. This will result in a 4.5L engine with 275 cid that will increase to 4.6L with a .030 overbore. These relatively inexpensive changes will result in 30 to 70 more horsepower than a stock 4.0L (he coulda hadda V-8 but would have fallen short of the 250 to 260 hp the redone 258 will crank out. (Remember when 1 hp per cubic inch was a production goal). Cost to date is $1,600 and change but almost $500 was for transportation of the $300 donor Cherokee that supplied the head..

For Sale: 1970 Javelin SST, parts car-$500; 1970 304 engine and trans, fresh bottom end not assembled. New pistons etc. ( $700 machine shop receipt). Heads, intake, pan, mounts, flex plate, converter, torque converter, drive shaft all included! All-$750; 1973 Hornet fenders, rough-$25 pair; 1973 Hornet lid, nice-$25; 1970-75 Gremlin fender-$75; 6cyl Gremlin Spirit rear end parts-free; Spirit AMX 4-speed with ford style bell housing (mustang t-5 style)-$350; Super t-10 4 speed with shifter(shifter needs work)-$300; 1969 Rambler trunk lid, nice-$50; Don at (440) 257-5615 or MoyerGraffi[email protected]

1973 Hornet rear quarters-$50 each; Hatch-$50; Roof-$50; Gary (216) 570-6510 or [email protected]

1969 AMX, 390, White with red stripes, red interior, 146K miles, one owner car appraised at 16K and 17K, must be driven to be appreciated. Asking price??? For more information please call (419) 868-1739

Eagle hood, same as 1977-78 Gremlin, also Spirit and Concord. Excellent used condition with no rust. Asking $50. Also have nice used Eagle wagon/Concord/Sportabout rear hatch, no rust. Scott Campbell (330) 725-3824 or [email protected]

Wanted: Wanted: 1968-69 AMX with nice body. Prefer 4-speed, GO Pack, PS, PB. Please call Lee Crum, (419) 663- 2239

Excellent used 1969 AMX (same as Javelin) steering wheel with no cracks or separa- tions. Prefer charcoal backside but will consider any color if wood grain is nice. Scott Campbell (330) 725-3824 or [email protected]

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5340 Columbia Rd. Medina, OH 44256

dule 2005 Show Sche Inside!!!