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SoCalamx.netwww.socalamx.net/newsletterOfficial Monthly Publication of SoCalAMXSoCalAMXCalendarVol. 3 Issue 2—Sept. 2010Picnic By TheBay Report13th Annual Fleet WeekCoronado Speed FestivalSat. & Sun. September 25-26, H MY GOD," what a Beautiful Day, & I can'tthink of a more Beautiful place for a Car Show!If U missed it.soooo sadddd. Park onGrass. water ALL around. boats fly'n by.cool Breezezezez, 7 AMX's & a Bitch'inGremlin!Roam’n Relics Car ShowSunday, October 24, 2010Moorpark, CAhttp://www.roamnrelics.com/events.htmlLas Vegas AMC ReunionNovember 5-6, 2010Railroad Pass Hotel & CasinoHenderson, NVhttp://snamc.amcrc.com/carshow.htmlDon came down from Bakersfield for thisshow, in his Gremlin, Mark came down fromWest Covina, John from Murrietta, Stu & Mefrom Oceanside & Escondido, Bob with his 70AMX Beauty from Santee, Steve, Richard, &Stacy form SD. although Stacy didn't parkwith us.Join SoCalAMX so you can automatically receiveupdates and details of events listed above.Go to socalamx.net/join.htmCheck out“socalcarculture.com”for listings of shows in S. Cal!There was also a Pacer on the grounds, butwe never met the owner. I didn't get a lot ofpix, but I did get some overall pix of our groupof AMC's! Oh, there were over 400 cars at thisshow, saweeeet!Car Show PhotosRight next to where we parked was an awesome flightdisplay of kites. My favorite was this one 40 foot longmonster kite.For many more photos visit.Randy KirbyBBG AMXhttp://snipurl.com/picnic101

Detroit or Bust! AMO Nationals and Beyond.By Steve FoxEvery couple of years I like togo places I’ve never traveledto before and this year it wasDetroit. Most people conjuredup Detroit with a hint ofcynicism when they asked me“why Detroit” or whenmentioning the statement, “Ihear it’s dangerous there.” Aswe all know, Detroit is still apart of our automotive history,as AMC’s headquarters was located there duringAMC’s tenure.automotive geniuses of thetwentieth century.It wasamazing to think that thisman came from such simplesurroundings.Finally, although I didn’t visit his laboratoriesThomas Edison’s quote ought to be heeded by ouryoung people:Even though Detroit is afigment of its former self, it stillhas a lot to offer, at least interms of automotive history.My first stop was The HenryFord (http://www.thehenryford.org/). This vastNational Historic Landmark features bothGreenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum.TheGreenfieldexperience is like goingback in time to thenineteenth and earlyt went iet hcent ur ie s,complete with rollinga u t om ot i veact i vi t y,MuseumI spent an entire day atGreenfield and the nextday at the HFM. Althoughthere were severalsubject exhibits there, theautomotive exhibits werethe most interesting tome. Everything fromPresident Kennedy’sLincolnContinental(which was modifiedafter the assassinationand used by successorpresidents to PresidentTruman’s limo, as well.strollers wearing period correctapparel, and replica and realhouses of famous people, allfor your interaction. It gave mea sense of how people used tolive, long before technologyinvaded their lives to aconsiderable extent.Even though I’m not veryinterested in trains, Icouldn’t help beingcaptivated by the trainexhibits. The dedicationof the volunteers andattention to detail wastruly astounding!Oscar Meyer’s “Weinermobile”appearance and even“Goldenrod”wasthere, which set aworld record in 1965for the fastest wheeldriven (vs. rocket– orjet powered) vehicle.Among all of the authentic and realistic homes Iviewed Ford’s birthplace home was mostappealing, as he was one of the most brilliantThere were manyother cool and significant vehicles, too many tolist. Check out socalamx.net, “Photos” link to see2madean

gauges. Buick even made a tank for WWII.all of the picturesfrom this article.The last set ofpictures was fromafamousA m e r i c a ninventor by then a m eo fBuckminster Fuller.At the museum washisprototypeDymaxionhouse.Back at the end ofWWII, the GI’s werecoming home and ahousingshortagewas predicted. Fullercame up with a lowcost, efficient and comfortable house, but neverreceived enough funding to build more than onehouse (see next picture)The next stop was the Walter P. Chrysler museumin Auburn Hills, MI. The museum was, IMO, welllaid out and featured some very cool vehicles,including this fourwheeled motorcycle,capable of 200 mph speeds, major renditionsof the hemi engines,concept cars, and the“last” AMX every built(1968-1970).After THF experience Idrove to Flint, MI to seethe Alfred P. Sloanmuseum. This museumwas mainly for familieswith children and wasquite simple in nature.So, I walked across thestreet to the Buick portion of the museum andspent the next couple of hours there inamazement.Supposedly, a randomly chosen AMX was pulledout of the assembly line and was used as astandard to test wheel alignment equipment. Aftersome time had passed, the car was supposedlytransferred to an openarea on an upper floor ofthe company HQ. Foryears after, the car fellinto disrepair. Parts werestolen by employees andpeople sat in the car andate their lunch inside ofthe vehicle.This museum hadtwo concept (oneoff) cars that, forsomereasonweren’t destroyedafter they servedtheirpurpose.Incredible futuristicstyling, great looks,and two are stilldriven!are:Back in the early 1980’s a VP decided that the carwas to be restored and after several years, it wasthe “last built AMX on the planet,” according toAMC sources.Here theyThere were many other fine cars in this museum,including several renditions of the venerable Hemiengine and some concept cars as well.Some of the neatfeaturesincludeddial transmissionsand horizontal (barlike) fuel and otherNEXT MONTH: The Detroit AMO show!3

Playmate AMX UpdateSince purchasing the Playmate AMX in July Ihave been busy watching eBay auctions andcalling vendors looking for good sheet metal toreplace banged up pieces on the car. Right nowfenders and a new hood are high on the list—two fenders are on their way but I am stilllooking for the hood.As really nice NOS parts have come along I’vegrabbed them, such as a quality crash pad andradio pod. A very nice gentleman back east isgoing to send me several parts, including anAM/8 track radio with face plate and wiringharness. On eBay this past week I won anauction for an AM/8 track radio service manualso I can repair the radio if needed! I also have adash lined up from a gentleman in San Jose.Rip roaring ready to go someone. Next trip Las Vegas?The plan is to trailer the car to Las Vegas inNovember for the annual AMC Reunion hostedby Mark Ogulnick’s club. There the car will beon public display for the first time that I’m awareof in over 40 years. The purpose is to allow thecar to documented publically as that of the AMXbelonging to Playmate Victoria Vetri/AngelaDorian, and to record the condition of the carbefore the restoration starts in earnestafterwards.Probably the first time the car has seen a garage in its life!Nothing is being done on the car other thanplanning its restoration, and getting it to thepoint where it can be started up and moved onand off a trailer, or driven short distances tohave some work done on it, such as getting theengine compartment steam cleaned to removesome 40 years of oily sludge.Dan C. asks, “you paid how much for this car?”Two weeks ago I replaced the fuel pump to getthe car to run, and this weekend I replaced theaccelerator pump plunger, and adjusted thecarb to a nice lower idle. I drove the car aroundon the property it is being stored at and it’sactually a good running car, the transmissionshifting smoothly.A new update next month.Mark Melvin1968 AMX1969 AMXPlaymate AMX security team!4

Las VegasAMC Reuniondiesel engine Ford truck to pull the trailer while Idrive my red AMX. It was no problem saddlinghim with the task of pulling an AMX loaded trailer.He has told me many times if I ever sell my redAMX he wants first rights to the sale!It’s only two months to the annual AMC show inVegas. Have you sent in your registration form toMark Ogulnick yet, or reserved your hotel room atthe Railroad Hotel? What are you waiting for?Come on, let’s get our convoy on and get it done!The forms are on the next few pages and besidesyou’ll help Mark in Vegas relax just a little bitmore as his mailbox gets fuller and fuller with theregistration entries. The Las Vegas club reallygoes all out to make it a great show for all of us,and it’s the right thing to do to register early tohelp him plan for the show. Enough on that fornow!Last year the convoy stopped at Baker to re-fuel.Each year Mark O. plans something different forus to do on Friday afternoon. Last year it was thepaddleboat tour of Lake Mead, and this year hehas something even better I personally feel,which is a tour of Hoover Dam, way down in theguts and bowels of the concrete monster. I’vebeen on it before but have forgotten the details soit will be like the first time all over again. Shouldbe really interesting and fun—but once again youneed to help Mark out by sending in your tourmoney now so he can make the necessarymonetary arraignments for the tour. Details of thetour are on the following pages.SoCalAMX hauled in the shinny hardware in 2009!We will plan on a convoy again on Fridaymorning. For me the planning starts much earlierthis year because I have to take an extra day offwork to rent a trailer and load my new PlaymateAMX on it. A friend of mine is going to use hishttp://snamc.amcrc.com/carshow.htmlLas Vegas AMC ReunionAMC/Rambler Club Southwest Regional MeetNovember 5-6, 2010Railroad Pass Hotel & Casino, Henderson, NVCar Show for the vehicles of American Motors Corporation:1955-1957 Nash/Hudson, Metropolitan, Ambassador, American, AMX, Classic, Concord, Eagle,Gremlin, Hornet, Javelin, Matador, Marlin, Pacer, Rebel, Spirit and 1970-1987 Jeep.Located at 2800 S. Boulder Highway, 25 minutes from Las Vegas5

Is this cool or what?This man converts parts of scrapped cars intosculptures worth thousands of dollars. James Corbett, a46-year-old Australian artist, creates these sculpturesusing salvaged old car parts. His sculptures are made ofgears, spark plugs, exhaust, and radiators, anything thatthe artist can achieve.http://www.amo2011.org/2011 American Motors Owners National ConventionJuly 7-10, 2011Sedona, ArizonaHosted By The: Cactus Cruisers6

Las Vegas AMC Reunion Registration FormNameAddressCity State ZipDaytime Phone Evening PhoneE-mailClub AffiliationVEHICLES REGISTERED:Year Make ModelYear Make ModelYear Make ModelYear Make ModelREGISTRATION FEE: 30 per car (registration includes event t-shirt)Please indicate shirt size: (S ) (M ) (L ) (XL ) (XXL ) (XXXL )Additional shirts available for 18 per shirt: Quantity ( ) Size(s) ( )SWAP MEET SPACE: 20 per space (20' x 20') Number of spaces ( )HOOVER DAM BUS TOUR: 26 Per Person—Number of People ( )TOTAL OF ALL FEES. Please make checks payable to: SOUTHERN NEVADA AMC CLUBMail to: Las Vegas AMC Reunionc/o Raymond Hatcher8300 Opal Cove Dr.Las Vegas, NV 89128Show officials reserve the right to restrict entrants to acceptable behavior during any and all activitiesrelated to this event. In consideration of acceptance to participate, by execution of this registration form,entrants and participants release and discharge the meet committee members and sponsors from any andall liabilities and/or claims from any cause, whatsoever, that may be suffered by any entrant to his propertyor person.Signature7Date

Friday Tour of Hoover Dam8

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