AMX-Clamation!!!Volumevolume 14 Number 3 May-June 2005 American Motors Ramblings
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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, GO Package 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 engine 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.