Old Cars Weekly has a lovely tale of an American Motors 1970 AMX in its weekly newsletter, which I highly recommend reading. But first some personal recollections. The AMX was an American Motors attempt to get the jump on its pony car competitors by creating a short-wheelbase 2-seat GT tourer vs. the Mustang-Camaro-Firebird-Cougar-Barracuda-Challenger 4-seat long-wheelbase cars. I was one of several American and Canadian journalists flown to Daytona to attend a press preview. The AMX was every bit as handsome as its British and European competitors and if less agile in handling made up in corner-to-corner squirts with good old V-8 power.
But ask a bunch of international journalists to behave themselves and what you get is a race! Yours truly finished first in lap times though the prize went to the most consistent, as it should.
Later at a motel celebration, I asked the waiter for a Corvoisier, a famous orange-flavoured and branded cognac. He said if I could wait a few minutes he'd make me one. I declined. On the way back my seat-mate was none other than designer Dick Teague. I asked him to predict the car of the future. No doubt accustomed to foolish questions from press gangs, Teague sketched something similar to a Model T. I was disappointed and after keeping his drawing for a few years, tossed it in the waste bin. What a fool, me, for failing to appreciate the presence of the industry's great designers. Perhaps it is easier to see things in the context of history than in one's humble presence.
If we old codgers could go back and sort thru all our old trash, we would all be very happy; but our “better halves” wouldn’t be.
August 28, 2009 @ 3:17 am