March - AMC of Houston

Newsletter of the American Motors Club of Houston
MARCH 2014 Issue 13
From the Officers - Latest Club News You Can Use
Upcoming Events
Club Information
Member Profile – Tom Taylor
Wild Plum Paint on a ’72 Gremlin
AMCs on Television
Austrailian X Matador
AMC News and Trivia
Tech Tips
Club Store
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From the Officers:
Cover Photo: Tom Taylor’s 1969 Javelin
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
March
8 – Bowling 2:00 pm at Armadillo Lanes, 10055 Fuqua St. Houston, TX 77089
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(Free for club members)
11 – Club Meeting at Hickory Hollow Bar B Q (Nomination of Officers)
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22nd – Saturday at the Strand – Open car show by Pontiac Car Club of Houston
22nd – Chevelle Club show at Otto’s BBQ in Stafford
29th – Spring Fling in Rosenberg, Sponsored by Southwest Street Machines of
Houston. Held at Knights of Columbus hall across from the Fort Bend
County Fair Grounds. Music, games, door prizes, raffle items and over
300 of the hottest cars around! Entry fee for cars is $22 advance, $25 at
gate. Admission is free to browse.
April
5th – Kemah Cruise Night – Home Depot parking lot next to Chick Fil-A
(6 pm – 10 pm) 321 Marina Bay Drive, Clear Lake Shores, TX 77565
8th – Club Meeting at Hickory Hollow Bar B Q (Re-election of Officers)
11-12th – Legends Nostalgic Drags and Rod Run in Sealy, TX, Gates open 8:30 am
www.lonestarmotorsportspark.com, 979-826-4490
19 – Space City Cruisers Annual Spring Show, Open Car Show, Swap Meet,
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Arts and Crafts, Show and Shine, League City Park by RR tracks on FM
518, Registration - $30.00 7:00 AM till noon, T-Shirt and goodie bags to
First 150 cars, Raffle/Awards – 3:30 pm
25-26 – Annual O’Reilly’s NHRA Spring Nationals – Royal Purple Baytown
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Raceway
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AMCoH Officers
President
Tom Taylor
4406 Mize Rd
Pasadena, TX 775045
713-249-2466
[email protected]
[email protected]
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Vice President
Mike Knuckey
713-253-8276
[email protected]
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Co-Secretaries
Ted Davis & Scott Stubler
713-721-8960 & 713-569-8421
[email protected]
[email protected]
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Treasurer
Cliff Osborne
713-773-1515
[email protected]
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Activities Director
Tim Gould
281-435-4452
[email protected]
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Membership Chairman
Kevin Dalley
281-481-6363
[email protected]
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WebMaster
Peter Groenewold
708-431-0987
[email protected]
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Newsletter Editor
Gary Parente
713-859-7249
[email protected]
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Member Profile: Tom Taylor – “My Love Affair with AMCs”
In the summer of 1970 my wife’s 62 T-bird was looking a little tattered and a burned valve was making it pretty obvious it had
to go to junk yard heaven. We decided that a late model Camaro would be just right. It must have a V-8 and Auto since it
would be her car (not saying she can’t handle a stick). We looked high and low for the perfect 67 or 68 Camaro even to the
point of driving around looking on dealers’ used car lots.
One August evening I stopped at an AMC dealer on OST (Fiesta Motors then). The sales guy approached and I asked if he had a
good used Camaro on his lot. He said no, but I have a great “new” 69 Javelin. I said no that I was set on a Camaro. He
suggested I take a look at the Javelin and I said okay just to humor him. I took one look at the Bittersweet Orange, 343
performance package 69 Javelin with cool wheels, black stripes, scoops and a roof mounted spoiler. I thought hmm, this may
be possible.
I went to the credit union the next day and decided to offer the sales guy $2,850 for it. He quickly turned the offer down. I said
okay and started to leave. He then said you offer me the used car price and this is a new car to which I replied this is August of
1970 and that is a 69 model. He took the offer and I drove home the proud owner of my first AMC which I still have.
The car has original paint and interior. The rocker covers, oil pan, carburetor and distributor have never been off the engine. I
have replaced water pumps and fuel pumps. Last year I installed a 3 Row OEM look-a-like radiator that really makes the old 343
run cool. I installed Borla mufflers and 304 S/S pipes 30 years ago. The car now has 44,000 miles and runs as good as it ever did.
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My second AMC was a used up 70 Gremlin which was the $1,995 real bug killer. I bought this during the first energy crisis in
1973 when there were long lines at the gas pump. In 1975 my dad bought a Hornet SportAbout and I bought his old 1972
Gremlin because my Gremlin had been forced into retirement. The 72 had 32k miles when I got it and 195k miles when it got
totaled by a stop sign runner.
Then there’s Big Red. A beautiful 1976 AMC Renegade CJ-7 Jeep with a 304 engine and blue Levi trim package. This jeep was my
daily driver until 2001 when tropical storm Allison caused an 18 wheeler to park on my jeep’s hood.
Two years and lots of elbow grease put Big Red back to better than new condition. It still sits in my garage with an AMC 401
engine in place of the original 304.
In 1982 I ordered an AMC Spirit GT from Vance & Sons in Bellaire. It had a 258 engine with 2bbl carb and 5 speed tranny. This
Spirit was a fine car that had a range of over 400 miles per fill-up. I finally sold it to David Vasquez when it had about 190k
miles.
My last AMC is a 1973 Gremlin with a Jeep 4.0 liter engine which I bought from David Vasquez to be my “retirement project” (if
I ever retire). My wife is not too fond of it just sitting and taking up garage space.
My wife and I currently have 5 cars and they all have AMC engines (of course you know that the jeep 4.0 liter is actually an AMC
engine that was manufactured in the Kenosha Engine Plant until the end of the 2005 model run. This love affair has been an
enjoyable ride!
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Example of Wild Plum paint on a 1972 AMC
Gremlin
At the last club meeting someone brought up how much they liked this color.
Now that is sweet!
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AMCs on Television
I happened to be watching an old episode of the Andy Griffith show last week and Goober took a ’59
Nash Rambler apart and put it back together again inside the Sheriff’s office.
If you did not already know, Sylvester Stallone, as Rocky Balboa in Rocky II, ran by a Gremlin during his
training for the heavyweight championship rematch with Apollo Creed.
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AUSTRALIAN X
Harry Freemantle lives in Albany, Australia, and is the owner of this 1976 Australian Rambler Matador X. It
is one of the approximately 70 Matador Coupes imported in the 1970s. They have "Rambler" badging instead
of AMC, and are right hand drive.
Notice that the inner rear tail lights are different than the US version. Harry says, "The two inner rear lights
are surrounded by aluminium, possibly because of Australian regulations. They look factory fitted."
By far the most interesting pictures are those of the interior. The dash is totally different than the US
version, although the gauges and the light and wiper knobs look the same. The console and shifter are the
same, although the shifter release button is on the right of the T-handle instead of on the left. Harry says, "I
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guess the bits for the dash were from here, possibly from the AMI factory where they put the Australian
Hornets together. I should do more research. I will when I get time. The speedometer is in kilometre's
which is interesting, whereas the Hornet is in miles. Australia changed to metrics towards the end of the
1960's. The three sliders on the right side of the dash are for the heating and fan. The switch under the
cigar lighter, I have no idea what it does. I pulled it but nothing happened. I haven't followed the wires to
check it out yet. It may have had driving lights (spot lights) for night driving in the country, but I'm not
sure."
As for the back seat area, the most obvious feature is the large air vent on the package tray, along with
rear seat shoulder belt harnesses. "The rear defroster is actually a large (well huge) airconditioning unit. I
imagine it was fitted here but not by me. The car's first owner lived in Southern Cross, central Western
Australia where the summer temperatures sit in the high 30s to mid 40s Celsius (86-115 degrees
Fahrenheit). The rear seats have factory fitted lap/shoulder belts as well as the centre lap belt."
At this point, there are no pictures under the hood to show the changes that had to be made there for the
right hand drive conversion. They will be posted as soon as they are received. "I haven't any underhood
shots yet. When I get the digital camera I will give it a go. I haven't done much to the engine, just cleaned it
up. Difficult to paint any of it without pulling everything out. The pollution control pipes are all over the
motor making it hard to get at. I am tempted to pull all these bits off to clean it up and perhaps give it more
to breath with."
Pictures of the car in primer, with body man Tim at work, and with the first coat of new paint.
"The body was recently straightened and rust cut out, stripped back to bare metal then painted. The motor
is in good condition."
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TECH TIPS
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TECH TIPS – continued
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