Dec - AMC of Houston

Newsletter of the American Motors Club of Houston
DECEMBER 2015 Issue 22
Houston Autorama – November 2015
From the Officers - Latest Club News You Can Use
pg 2
Upcoming Events
pg 2
Club Information
pg 3
2015 Houston Autorama
pg 4-5
The “36-24-35” 1968 AMX
pg 6-9
How One Frenchman’s Assassination Killed the Iconic AMC
pg 10-14
AMCs on Television
pg 15
Tidbits
pg 16
Classifieds
pg 17
Club Store
pg 18
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From the Officers:
Cover Photo: 2015 Houston Autorama held Nov 26-29 at George R. Brown
Convention Center, Houston, TX
Free National Club Membership!!
In an effort to get more folks to attend our monthly meetings, a giveaway will be held a couple of times a year to
award some lucky members with a free membership to the American Motors Owners Association (our Club is an
AMO chapter). If the lucky winner is already an AMO member, he or she will have the option of a free membership
in one of the other national AMC clubs, such as AMCRC or NAMDRA. Keep an eye out for email regarding the
giveaway.
Upcoming Events
(items in green are information only, not club events)
January
 12th – Club Meeting at Hickory Hollow Bar B Q
February
 7th – Super Bowl Party at Kevin Dalley’s home
o 12207 Courtney Greens Hou. 77089
o Starts at 4 pm - Kickoff 5:30 pm

9th
– Club Meeting at Hickory Hollow Bar B Q
 Club Bowling Party – tentatively scheduled for last week in Feb
o Details to follow
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AMCoH Officers
President
Tom Taylor
4406 Mize Rd
Pasadena, TX 775045
713-249-2466
[email protected]
[email protected]
*******************************
Vice President
Ted Davis
713-721-8960
[email protected]
******************************
Secretary
Jeff Jung
281-394-7985
[email protected]
******************************
Treasurer
Kevin Dalley
281-481-6363
[email protected]
******************************
Activities Director
By Committee
******************************
Membership Chairman
Kevin Dalley
281-481-6363
[email protected]
******************************
WebMaster
Gary Parente
713-859-7249
[email protected]
******************************
Newsletter Editor
Gary Parente
713-859-7249
[email protected]
tors Club of Houston p. 3
The American Motors Club of Houston was founded in the
early 1980’s with the goal of advancing the image and preservation
of AMC vehicles in Southeast Texas and the surrounding area.
Our club is one of three AMC organizations in Texas – the
American Motors Club of Houston, Alamo AMC based in San
Antonio, and North Texas AMC headquartered in Dallas form a
strong contingent of Texas AMC fellowship, experience and
support.
We are a chapter of the American Motors Owners Association
(AMO) and we strongly suggest joining this fine organization.
Planned activities include a large display in the annual indoor
Thanksgiving Houston AutoRama Show, the annual AMO
Lone Star Regional Show, and the annual AMC East Texas Cruisein, family picnics, cruises, parties, races, etc. The 2001 AMO
National Meet was also held in Houston!!
We have regular monthly meetings on the second Tuesday
of every month (7:30 p.m.) at the Hickory Hollow restaurant,
located at 101 Heights Blvd. (just a few blocks south of I-10). If
you are not already a member, feel free to join us for a “get
acquainted” session before you sign up.
Ownership of an AMC vehicle or residence in our local area is
NOT required to join our group. Interest and enthusiasm are more
than enough. We’ll gladly help you find your own treasured AMC
if you don’t already have one!!
Dues are *$20 per year – we are a non-profit organization,
100% of your dues go to supporting club activities. The club
officers do not receive a salary for their efforts. Dues and an
enrollment form may be submitted at our monthly meetings, or
mailed to our Treasurer, Kevin Dalley, 12207 Courtney Greens Rd,
Houston, TX 77089.
AMCoH exists specifically to support you in your AMC
endeavors, and we look forward to adding your own AMC
experience to our knowledge base. If you need any additional
information, feel free to contact any of our club officers.
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Ozzie manning the
display
The annual Houston Autorama took
place Thanksgiving weekend, Nov 2629, at the George R. Brown Convention
Center in downtown Houston. Once
again, the American Motors Club of
Houston had a formidable display with
six terrific cars. For the first time the
club had three Rebel Machines in the
display and they were certainly a
conversation piece.
Awards were as follows:
st
• Teresa Stokes: 1 in class 1953 Nash Statesman Custom
st
• Don Jones: 1 in class - 1970 Rebel
Machine
nd
• Mark Perkins: 2 in class – 1973
Pierre Cardin Javelin AMX
rd
• Ron Eichler: 3 in class – 1970 Rebel
Machine
rd
• Allen Baker: 3 in class – 1970 Mark
Donohue Javelin
• Jerry Melton: class – 1970 Rebel
Machine
Congratulations to the owners of all six
very special cars.
Also at the Autorama we saw a very
nice Metropolitan and a cool 1965
Rambler American gasser.
Thanks to all who brought their cars
and for those who helped with setup,
tear down, and manning the display
throughout the weekend.
More pictures on the following page.
Continued on Next Page
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Courtesy of Bob Wright
Courtesy of Bob Wright
Courtesy of Bob Wright
Courtesy of Bob Wright
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Courtesy of Bob Wright
Courtesy of Bob Wright
The "36-24-35" 1968 AMC AMX
July 27, 2015 Automobile Magazine
By: Richard Truesdell | Photography by Richard Truesdell, Julia LaPalme
Everyone knows Playboy magazine spearheaded the sexual revolution of the 1960s and published some of
the era’s best-known authors in its heyday. But what readers really go to Playboy for—let’s be honest—are the
pictorials of some of the world’s most beautiful women. Beginning in 1964, the most beautiful of the world’s
most beautiful women, the Playmate of the Year, was gifted a new car as part of her prize package. Donna
Michelle was the first recipient, scoring a 1964½ Ford Mustang. In pink. And a tradition was born.
This brings us to the 1968 AMC AMX in Playmate Pink you see in this pictorial, a car billed by many in the
enthusiast community as one of the most historically significant cars produced by American Motors.
At the time, American Motors Corporation (AMC) was the fourth-largest automobile manufacturer in the U.S.
and was struggling under the weight of competition from the Big Three. AMC’s first stab at a pony-car, the
midsized Rambler Marlin introduced in 1965, was a dismal sales failure. It followed up with the Javelin, which
fared better thanks in part to a clever ad campaign.
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The Javelin spawned the AMX, a two-seat version of the Javelin with a foot cut from its wheelbase. It was
distinctive, with massive rear sail panels that lent it a look unlike any car on the road at the time. Like the
Javelin, the AMX was styled under the direction of AMC’s legendary design vice president Richard “Dick”
Teague, and during its three-year run—a little more than 19,000 were built—the AMX quickly gained a
reputation as a competent performance machine. At the time it was considered a foil for the Corvette and is
now a highly collectible car from the muscle-car era.
To introduce the AMX to its dealers, AMC held meetings at nine Playboy Clubs, which had sprouted up across
the country during the expansion of Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Enterprises empire. As part of its plan to promote
the car, AMC arranged for its all-new AMX to be awarded to the 1968 Playmate of the Year, who turned out to
be September 1967’s Playmate of the Month Angela Dorian, whose real name is Victoria Vetri.
Vetri’s AMX was well-optioned and came equipped with the car’s base 4.8-liter V-8 mated to AMC’s optional
floor-shifter, three-speed automatic transmission. It also had power brakes, power steering, chrome Magnum
500 wheels, an AM radio, an eight-track tape player, and factory-installed air-conditioning. But aside from the
pink hue, what made this AMX truly unique was the number plate on the glove-box door. While every other
AMX has a sequential build number, Vetri’s car instead sported her measurements, 36-24-35.
Before and after her tenure as 1968’s Playmate of the Year, Vetri enjoyed moderate success as an actress,
with her best-known role in the 1968 Roman Polanski-directed “Rosemary’s Baby.” After that, Vetri flew under
the radar for the better part of four decades in Southern California, where she later married and became
Victoria Rathgeb. She eventually had the AMX painted brown, then gray, and finally black—partially in an
effort to avoid stalkers.
The “36-24-35” plaque in the Playmate Pink ’68 AMC AMX given to bunny Victoria Vetri reflects
the length, in inches, around the model’s chest, waist, and hips, respectively. Wow.
After owning the car for 42 years, Rathgeb decided to part with it. By that time it had gotten pretty banged up.
It was put up for sale on consignment at a local service station and later resold to a used-car sales lot. There it
caught the eye of AMX enthusiast Mark Melvin, who has owned a red 1969 AMX for 38 years, a present to
himself when he graduated from high school in 1977.
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"I HAD TO TAKE OUT A LOAN AGAINST THE VALUE OF MY HOUSE TO COMPLETE THE
PROJECT, BUT I FEEL IT’S MONEY WELL SPENT."
Melvin negotiated the deal directly, placing a deposit on the car and returning several days later to haul his
new treasure home. Shortly after, he invited several of his friends in the AMC community over to see the AMX.
“After looking the car over thoroughly, one person estimated it might cost as much as $25,000 to restore,”
Melvin says. “Oh, how I wish that had turned out to be true!” Melvin estimates he spent nearly double that
amount to get the car back to its original condition.
Like the AMX, Rathgeb had experienced her share of hard times and would eventually do hard time as a
result. Shortly after Melvin purchased the car, Rathgeb shot her husband in the back in an apparent fit of
jealous rage and later pleaded no contest to attempted voluntary manslaughter. She was sentenced to nine
years in prison in September 2011.
As Rathgeb sat in prison, the beat-up AMX sat in Melvin’s garage while he assembled the parts needed to
restore the car. Already aware of its provenance (Melvin has had it verified through the records of the
California Division of Motor Vehicles and is in possession of the car’s original registration), there was never
any doubt he would restore it with its original paint color, Playmate Pink.
The restoration finally got underway in July 2012, with Melvin getting help from several members and close
friends in the Southern California AMC community.
“My good friends Allen [Tyler] and John [Siciliano] were instrumental in making this car’s restoration happen,”
Melvin says. “I could not have had all this work done as quickly with this quality if it had been done elsewhere.
To illustrate the speed of Allen’s work, on the day we got the car off the rotisserie and back on the ground I
would have been happy with just that for the day. As soon as we accomplished that feat, Allen said, ‘Oh, let’s
go get the engine and put it in too.’ It was a team effort all the way.”
Over the course of the next 30 months, the small team restored the car at Tyler’s house. Seemingly every
corner of the AMX had been hit. No new original sheetmetal was available for the rear quarters, so Tyler had
to repair the original panels himself. The final fit and finish is testimony to his skills as a body man.
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After the restoration was completed this spring, the car received some attention on the Web, which led to it
making an appearance on “Jay Leno’s Garage,” its unofficial coming-out party. The official unveiling came
recently at Melvin’s own SoCal AMX Car Show.
“It took a lot of effort to pull this project together,” says Melvin, who has taken a great deal of pride in the fruits
of the restoration effort. “I had to take out a loan against the value of my house to complete the project, but I
feel its money well spent. The Playmate AMX is considered by many as one of the most historically significant
cars ever built by AMC. And with its direct connection to Victoria, it certainly carries a great deal of notoriety.”
Asked if he’s spoken with Rathgeb recently, Melvin is evasive but left us with this: “That would be some news
story to pick up the Playmate when she’s released from prison in 2019.” We can only imagine what she’d
think, seeing the car exactly as it was when AMC’s R.W. ‘’Bill’’ McNealy handed her the keys back in 1968.
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How One Frenchman's Assassination Killed The
Iconic AMC
by Michael Ballaban
On the evening of November 17th, 1986, Georges Besse collapsed in the gutter outside his home in Paris.
He had been shot four times in the head and chest, his body covered in blood. His death, while
unfortunate, was not the only one that night. It also marked the end of the American Motors Corporation.
The automotive industry landscape in the United States wasn't always almost entirely composed of Ford,
General Motors, and Chrysler. There was also the American Motors Corporation, better known as AMC.
AMC was much like the other three, in that it grew by buying other, smaller American brands to amass
itself into one big car manufacturing juggernaut. While GM has brands like Chevy and Cadillac and
Pontiac and Oldsmobile, AMC had brands like Jeep, Rambler, and Nash. It also sold cars under the AMC
name, cars that people were pretty proud of. Like the muscular Javelin:
1 Photo credit: Brian Snelson
It's hard not to like this front end.
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And the oddball Gremlin:
Photo credit: Mike L
But by the mid-1970s, the company was encountering financial trouble. It was the perfect storm when
you're trying to run a business – a combination of poor timing, a weak economy, and bad management. Its
main factory in Kenosha, Wisconsin, was the oldest in the country, and it was rife with horrible
inefficiencies. Assembly points were strewn all over the city, with components and assembled cars having
to make a trek pretty much across the Badger State before they could even be readied for delivery.
Cars like the enormous AMC Ambassador were introduced right as the oil crisis was reaching its peak,
which isn't exactly what you'd call the "right moment."
The compact little Pacer, while better on fuel than the Ambassador, still had a thirsty straight-six engine
that couldn't hope to compete on economy with the new offerings the Japanese were starting to bring over.
And it was incredibly expensive to manufacture, which is the opposite of what any company wants for
anything.
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Basically, AMC was screwed.
The company was hemorrhaging cash. In 1976 and 1977, the company lost the equivalent of nearly
$300,000,000 in 2014 dollars. Sales continued to shrink, and despite eking out the smallest of profits in
1978 thanks to Jeep sales, market share had dwindled to less than 2%. If sales of Jeep took a tumble that
would be very dangerous for the company.
Which is exactly what happened in 1979 when the economy began to trip up a bit? Jeep sales began to
decline, and AMC had another crisis on its hands. By 1980, nobody would lend the company money
anymore. Which is a very bad thing in business.
AMC began to look for a foreign buyer, much like its competitor, Chrysler, would do 20 years later. In
December of 1980, it found its savior in the form of Renault, which was owned by the French government
at the time. Yep, what you're thinking is exactly right. A company named American Motors was
essentially owned by the French. But, c'est la vie. Might as well play some music, for the rest of your
reading:
Renault, to its credit, immediately set about fixing what was wrong at AMC, which was a lot. They
streamlined production and manufacturing, which generated some of AMC's highest costs. They brought
in new people at the top, to sweep away the archaic management habits of the old company. And they
acknowledged their presence by bringing in front-wheel drive Alliance which was basically a Renault
made in Wisconsin. Exhilarating, I know.
2 Photo credit: Greg Gjerdingen
An actual Renault Alliance that isn't a pile of rusting junk in 2014? Color me surprised.
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As the early 1980s plodded on under President Reagan, AMC continued to struggle, despite the new
management team. Most of its offerings were small cars, which was great for the 1970s, but not so much
for the mid-1980s. As the economy began to recover somewhat, people wanted bigger cars, which AMC
conveniently did not have much of.
Renault itself wasn't doing too hot, either, and there were rumblings from the French government of doing
something with AMC. It would mean either a huge investment for new product, while the old stuff
languished in dealer showrooms, or Renault could try to sell off AMC to somebody else. That way, it
wasn't their problem anymore.
And Renault had a lot of problems, the main one being AMC, as it was already a constant money pit.
And that's where Georges Besse comes into the picture.
Besse had a long history as an executive in France, with stints at top management in the
telecommunications industry and uranium production for power plants. He was basically the Alan Mulally
of 1980s France, a turnaround guy who had a track record of results.
Besse became the chief of Renault in January of 1985, and immediately set to work.
And by "set to work," I mean one of his first acts was laying off 21,000 people.
At the same time, however, he also poured massive amounts of money into AMC, investing in products
like their venerable 4.0-liter six-cylinder engine, a motor that was in production all the way into 2006.
That's longevity.
He was a big champion of AMC, and was confident in its inevitable success. He pushed hard for Jeep,
seemingly foreseeing the huge demand for SUV boom of the 1990s which was just on the horizon.
Happy days were back for the company. 20 months into Besse's tenure, the company turned a profit for the
first time in a long time.
But Besse wasn't loved by all. For sure, there were those 21,000 people he laid off at Renault. And before
that, the more than 30,000 he had laid off previously at French aluminum company PUK-Péchiney.
On top of that, it wasn't an easy time being a capitalist in 1980s Europe. As the Soviet Union went through
its death throes, it continued to prop up violent capital-C Communist, anarchist, and terrorist groups
throughout Europe. Groups like the Red Army Faction and the PFLP thrived, carrying out killings and
general mayhem in the name of the worker and the proletariat.
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And because of his actions as an executive, that made Georges Besse a target.
On that brisk November night in 1986, Georges Besse was returning home in his chauffeur-driven car. He
opened the door, and stepped out. He didn't even make it to the sidewalk before he was dead. Two people
had ridden up on a motorcycle, and four shots were fired directly into his head and chest. A French group
called Action Directe claimed responsibility, in the name of retribution for the layoffs, and revenge for a
killing of one of their own by a Renault security guard sometime earlier.
Renault itself had turned a profit just two months before. With Besse dead, so were the hopes of an AMC
revival. Its champion gone, the company began its quick run to the gallows.
Raymond Levy, Besse's successor, almost immediately caved to pressure to rid Renault of what many in
the French republic considered to be a tumor eating away at the rest of the company. Though he never said
it, the specter of more layoffs if AMC went south, and the possible endangerment to his life that would
ultimately follow, probably weighed heavily on his decision. It was a decision that most people, faced
with that kind of pressure, probably would have made. Though I can't begin to understand what it must be
like to be in that situation, I probably would have made it myself.
Less than six months after Georges Besse's death, Renault sold AMC to Chrysler.
Chrysler immediately turned AMC into its Jeep-Eagle division. But Jeep was the real prize, and obviously
it continues to thrive to this day. Eagle struggled on for a few years, and they're mostly remembered for
the Talon, but by the end of the 1990s, it was gone, too.
Even still, it's incredible that one man had kept a company alive. And somehow, only four bullets led to its
final demise.
How would you like one of these
to transport your AMCs in?
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Several AMC Eagles make an appearance in the movie ‘National Lampoon’s Vacation’, one in a gas station (yeah,
that’s Chevy Chase) and the other at the Grand Canyon resort hotel.
In the Dirty Harry movie ‘The Enforcer’, Clint Eastwood is watching a TV newscast while sitting in a café. What
he is really looking at is that sweet Gremlin X that is going by.
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Tidbits
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1974 Matador X
360 engine with A/C, pwr steering, pwr disc brakes, auto on the
console, super nice tan interior, orange paint and brown vinyl top.
$6,950
Contact John Williams at 936-675-1507.
1966 Rambler Classic Wagon
Many new parts throughout and working AC
$9000
Contact Doug at (936) 672-1988
1965 Rambler American 2 Door
Get into an AMC for little money – Would
make a great drag car - 2 door project
clean car very little rust 6 cylinder car
$1500 obo
Contact Jessie at (936) 402-6795
1969 AMX
390 car with Torque flte trans, stainless
steel exhaust, aluminum Radiator, Call
Russell if you have interest. 832-661-1824
Mark Shuford's restoration parts company.
http://www.amarkamc.com
Muscle Car Shop. Full restorations, stock, restomods, pro touring, bumper to bumper including:
chassis/suspension, LS conversions, paint/body, custom fabrication, rear-ends, engine work including crank
grinding, cylinder boring, valve work, decking and interiors. Please see our web site at:
www.texomaclassics.com contact us at: [email protected] or call: 903-819-1452.
Disclaimer
AMCOH in no way will be a mediator between customers and vendors. Any and all disputes over price or quality of service
should be between customers and vendors.
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