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Route 66 Rambler: Thanks for trying, Kerri! I have had a look, and can't figure out what went wrong for you there... possibly a typo on a URL or something. Running down Route 66 was indeed a really great time.Feel free to visit any time!mike
Kerri: Hey, thanks for inviting me to see the original art work for your background here. It is really good! I was going to sign the guest book there but it didn't work. It looks like you had fun on Rt. 66
Route 66 Rambler: Almost done getting the Web Page up, then I'll write a post about the trip to the Route 66 Fun Run. Just Too many pictures of Too Much Good Stuff to go through. Also been dealing with online Traffic School, and gotta go to court today, over Molly's 70 in a 55 thing. Not to mention recovering from a 500-mile camping trip. Stuff Takes Time...mike
Molly Blue: Just rained again, shoulda known. Mike just finished getting me all shined up, and the Route 66 tour is only three days away...Molly Blue
Route 66 Rambler: Some people have asked about the strange dating on my posts. I used to have this blog over on Yahoo 360, where it crashed several times, and was even "lost" more than once, along with my Geocities website. In desperation, I printed it out, and now I am typing it back in whenever I get a chance, in the order it really happened. Everything went alternate reality on me, and I 'm just trying to sort it out...
Molly Blue: Thank you, Danimal... I feel great for 33 ancient years old...Just got pulled over by the Sheriff for 70 in a 55.
Danimal: Happy Birthday Molly Blue
Molly Blue: Hello everybody, I am sitting in the drieway waiting for a wash. It is raining in Arizona right now....Every time mike tries to wash me it rains...Molly Blue

Saturday, June 23rd 2007

12:34 AM

Junkyard Raid 6-22-07


The last time around, I was forced to post a re-run of a junkyard scout, since I wasn't able to actually go out and do it in the real world...  

That lasted for a few days, then I was able to at least get some work done on the computer and catch up a little on chores    around the place.

But I still wasn't in any kind of shape to go traipsing around for miles, especially in a bunch of infrared-radiating automotive iron and glass, in the 110 degree Sonoran Desert. 

So I amused myself by creating a message board, now known as The AMC Heritage Forum  along with a lot of help from Doug Shepard, AKA IowaEagle, who runs The AMC Eagle Nest Forums, which is a message board for fans of the AMC Eagle.

The AMC Heritage Forum is a place for the discussion, sharing, learning, and preserving of all facets of American Motors history and development. The purpose is to provide a repository of difficult to find information, for the next generation of the AMC Nation. 

One of the members of both of these forums, is a friend known as bigdog56e, or just plain Eddie. bigdog feels that I am blessed with the famous "Luck O' the Irish", because of the way things work out for me with my American Motors project cars...  

Well, I AM Irish, after all...

Here's some more dumb Irish luck for ye, Eddie, or maybe my friend Crosley Kevin is right, with his "AMC Mojo" theory... 

It's time to do the brakes on Molly Blue, and it's the same cost either way to repair the drum system, or replace it with disk brakes. The main thing I do with Molly Blue, is treat her as a test bed of ways to keep your AMC alive.

The other thing I'm doing, is trying to learn about the cars first hand, by applying all the factory upgrades I can fit onto this car.

So I strolled into the junkyard, on the lookout for disk brakes. Here's the first AMC I came to... 

Disk brakes on a platter... 

Molly is also in desperate need of seatbelts, but Gremlin belts are a little hard to come by. It looked to me like the ones in this Spirit wouldn't work. >

So I continued on my way, and soon came across this little rig: 

 Well, well, mm,mm,mm... the seatbelts were in very nice shape. This is a 1974 Levi's Gremlin, with a 1973 body. It should be in a museum. 

Instead, so that others might live, it gave up the luggage rack, back glass, rear latch, seat belts, and oh yes, Molly's A/C condenser, recently developed a crack and discharged, just in time for 110+ Arizona heat.

What a coincidence, that this Gremlin just happens to have a perfectly good A/C condenser.

Also, remembering that part of the Molly Blue mission on this planet, is upgrade city, it was nice to see the power steering system in place, which is pretty hard to find, set up on the passenger side of the engine... just like Molly Blue needs. 

The grille was broken where someone mangled the hood to get it open. At least the signal lights and markers would aid my cause. Too bad some idiot broke it.

But, the extra replacement grille and headlight buckets, in the cargo area of the little nipper were a welcome score, as well as the much-needed driver's side glass, and a hard-to-find points-type distributor.

 Soon, there was nothing more to rip out of the tiny skeleton to suit my needs... I moved on, wondering vaguely if there was a chance of anything else useful for my AMC pursuits...

I gave the Eagle wagon a brief examination, hoping for a plastic AMC emblem off the back, but no chance.  

Moving along... the next car I noticed was a little heartbreaking. 

It was so sad to see what had been a beautiful 1968 Ambassador 990 4-dr, just sitting up there all high and dry... 

 But I wasn't heartbroken for very long, when I discovered a 343/2V and a Shift Command automatic, still in place. 

My 1969 Javelin SST has a 343 with Shift Command, only minus the Shift Command, and they are hard to find. I ran out of time and money, before I could begin the offloading process, but if it survives the weekend, I'm going back on Monday, to ruthlessly extract the internal organs of this formerly fine automobile... 
mike
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Saturday, June 2nd 2007

8:57 PM

Junkyard Scout 07-29-06

I'm needing to do a little work on Molly Blue, so I'm planning on scouting a few of the junkyards in my area for tasty tidbits O'Rambler.  But I'm having a bad spell with my back right now, and can't really sit very long at the computer for the moment.  So I dug out a post from the Eagle Nest Forums that I made, concerning a good time I had scouting junkyards last summer:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Just got back from a scout at four junkyards in Phoenix.  Got spy pictures of half a dozen endangered Eagles held hostage in Arizona boneyard.  They have been scheduled for termination.

http://s80.photobucket.com/albums/j186/route66rambler/Nashin%20on%20my%20Rambler/Parts%20Scout/Ecology/72906/

If you don't feel like wading through 30 pictures of heartbreak, here are a few highlights of my day, and a couple of bright spots:

This is the tower in the parking lot at Ecology.


I looked down from taking that picture to see this:

 
401, oh yes.  Next there was an MJ comanche in driver shape parked at the front wall.  Bought a ticket into the ride for 2 bucks, and in we go.  Look over a couple of XJ's in decent shape.  Looking to my left, I spotted a Checker.

 
  Here is the first non-Jeep AMC we saw in the place:


Later I met a guy named Bill that was into Studebakers.  He told me quite a bit about them, and knew his Ramblers correctly, too.


It was about this time that I realized that I forgot the memory card for my camera, and had limited space.  I took notes from here out, not much was remarkable, but some was.  For instance, this 77 Hornet was a surprise, both good and bad.


Also inside Ecology were the following:
6 XJ Cherokees, 4 with 4.0, 2 with V6, no manuals, no 2wd.
2 MJ Comanches, both 4.0 4wd auto.
4 FSJ's, all Grands with 360 auto.
We left Ecology and headed next door to Pull-n-Save.  Right there in the parking lot was another Comanche.  And also this truck:


At Pull-n-Save, there were 5 XJ Cherokees, one had a 5 spd and one was 2wd. two had V6's.  2 FSJ's, both 360, one with 4 spd, one was a Cherokee Chief. No AMC's.  However, they had just cleared space, and I believe they are also updating.  But I think they will keep offering Eagle parts.

Next up was Pull a Part.  Today had a theme, and there was yet another MJ pickup in the parking lot. 7 XJ's. One was 2wd. One had 5 spd. 2 had V6's. 1 Spirit 4.0 Automatic. No other AMC's this time, but usually have 1-2 Concords and about 4-6 Eagles. Hope they get more.

Our next stop was U-Pull-It.  They were in the middle of a cleanup crush.  Got the grand slam, MJ pickup in the parking lot. There were 4 XJ's, all beat up. One FSJ Wagoneer with Smal Block Chevy disease.  All the way in the very back was one last piece of fresh meat in the corner.  CJ7 Golden Eagle with a 360 auto, and what was left of a tan Levi's dash, although the seats and gauges were long gone.  On the way home was the usual assortment of old Jeeps you see in driveways in AZ.  But I did spot this 71 Javelin in the driveway of a farm:

Time for a beer and some wrenchin'
mike 
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Wednesday, May 23rd 2007

10:00 AM

Memorial Day tidbits...

With Memorial Day on the way, our thoughts first and foremost should be full of reverence for the men and women who have given their lives in the service of this country, as well as those brave military men and women who serve our country daily, and with their families...



So here is a big THANK YOU to all of them, and may you know that there are still those who understand and appreciate your sacrifices to keep America strong, and the Light of Liberty shining strong out there in the world...



Another Memorial Day tradition is the running of the Indianapolis 500 Memorial Day Classic.  American Motors and its ancestors have played their part there, too...



1931 saw Hudson placing 10th in the Classic with this Marr Special Straight 8, driven by the immortal Chet Miller



In 1947, Nash-Kelvinator Corporation provided this Ambassador as the Pace Car, driven by none other than N-K President George W. Mason




In 1967, Barney Navarro's team attempted to qualify a turbocharged 199 CID American Motors six-cylinder at Indy, driven by Dave Strickland.  These efforts went on for a couple of years, but met with little success.  There are limits to what you can do with a cast-iron passenger car motor...  

I got this picture from The Javelin Home Pages, by John Rosa, at:

http://www.JavelinAMX.com

I can only wish that my site was as nice as his... a must see for every AMC freak.



Dave Carrillo fielded this awesome car at the Classic in 1976 and 1977...



In 1978, Roger McCluskey qualified 11th in the Warner-Hodgden AMC Experimental Special.  This car featured an aluminum block and heads, but inferior castings killed hopes for that year...



Jimmy Thrall, Dick Simon, and John Martin working on the Vollstedt/AMC fielded at Indy in 1979.

From The Tribute to Jimmy Thrall Website

Hope everyone has a safe and happy Memorial Day Weekend...
mike 
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Monday, May 21st 2007

7:54 PM

T-shirt of the Week

Founding Fathers T-Shirt


Pay your respects...
Men's Lightweight T-Shirt by Fruit of the Loom.
An AMC Mt. Rushmore, featuring Thomas B. Jeffery, original founder of the Rambler line, Charles Nash of Nash Motor Co., George Mason, architect of the merger which created AMC, and Dick Teague, who designed some of Rambler/AMC's best-loved cars.
mike 
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Monday, May 21st 2007

1:10 PM

OK, OK, I get it...

Alright, e-mailers, I get the idea.  I'll keep writing for now.  But it would really be better if you posted your comments on the blog or "tag board", so others can read your viewpoints and respond.

At least now I can tell I'm not just in here typing alone for no reason in the heat...

Thanks so much to all who have responded.  I am honestly touched.
mike 
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Saturday, May 19th 2007

8:30 PM

All done

I have decided to stop writing this blog, since it seems that there is no one looking at it.  In 8 months, there has not been a single comment added,  or any e-mail, and no one has signed the guest book.  In addition, there has not been a single subscriber.  Only one person has ever posted on the tag board, and that was my best friend.

This indicates a total lack of interest.  No point wasting good wrench time.

I will continue to update the old posts that were scrambled earlier, just to bring it up to date, for my own reference.

I'll be out runnin' on the two-lane...

Have a good one!

mike  
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