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Volume 27 issue 5 September/October 2006 2005 GOLDEN QUILL WINNER

OFFICERS’ CORNER PRESIDENT JEFF KENNEDY 7100 S.R. 142 S.E WEST JEFFERSON, OH 43162 (614) 879-8249 OR 879 - SAVE VICE PRESIDENT MIKE TURNER 5 E. COTTAGE AVE DAYTON, OH 45449 (937) 865-0940 TREASURER DOROTHY TURNER 5 E. COTTAGE AVE DAYTON, OH 45449 (937) 865-0940

EVENTS CHAIR CASEY MCGOWAN 3267 RACCOON VALLEY RD GRANVILLE, OH 43023 (740) 321-1308 NEWSLETTER EDITOR TREASURY SALES CHRISTINE MCGOWAN 3267 RACCOON VALLEY RD GRANVILLE, OH 43023 (740) 321-1308 WEBMASTER AARON SCHWARBER 7022 BRAMBLE AVE CINCINNATI, OH 45227 (513) 561-3871

MEMBERSHIP CHAIR CHRIS MAPLES 6980 NORFIELD RD ZANESVILLE, OH 43701 (740) 796-2271 CONTRIBUTING ARTIST “JAVLYNN” SUE LEAIR 4904 EDSAL DR LYNDHURST, OH 44124 (216) 381-8248 TRUSTEES OF OAMC DAVE HAUGH 4370 LEWIS SENTER RD GALENA, OH 43021 STEVE HALSTEAD 250 CONNOR LN LEWIS CENTER, OH 43035

WEBSITE http://clubs.hemmings.com/ohioamc/

Editor’s Note: Right now, I am a bit brain dead, and I apologize for the lateness of this newsletter. All summer, I couldn’t wait for the AMO Nationals to be over with, certain I wouldn’t have any fun until the very end - at the banquet. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed the entire week - even Friday morning in the pouring rain! I hope you all enjoyed yourselves also. Our club really showed that we are a seasoned group of car enthusi-asts. We have received so many compliments, through emails, phone calls, and on our website. Thanks to the more than forty members who helped us at the hotel with registration, on the show field with parking cars, vendors, and collecting park fees, and setting up for the banquet. If there were other duties I didn’t mention, I apologize, but believe me, you are all appreciated very much!

One thing to keep in mind with the coming of the next newsletter is the Christ-mas banquet. It will be held December 9 this year at Der Dutchman Restaurant in Plain City, so keep this in mind when plan-ning your holiday activities. Also, if you know of anyone who can do the newsletter, please let me know. I would hate to see it die out, but I will not be doing it after January, 2007.

Happy AMCing!

Inside This Issue

Officer’s Review page 2

Editor’s Note: page 2

AMO Nationals page 3

Dick Teague Regional page 12

Classified Ads page 14

Bill Reddig Preview page 17

Tech Tip page 18

Get Well Wishes page 19

GET WELL SOON!

Two of our members have had ill-nesses over the past few months. We wish them a speedy recovery!

Dorothy Turner recently had hip replacement surgery. She came through the surgery with flying colors, and after a few weeks of rehabilitation, she is now home to finish her recupera-tion. Doloros Morgan, wife of George Morgan, had surgery this past spring, and has had a slow recovery over the summer. We wish her and George well! Message from Dorothy: “I would like to take this opportunity to thank all members who sent good wishes and prayers, cards and flowers while I was in the hospital and rehab. It’s great to know such wonderful mem-bers who area also good friends. Thanks again.”

WANTED! NEWSLETTER EDITOR FOR OHIO AMC

If you are self motivated and energetic and would like to help out your fellow club members by providing them with the news of activities within their organization, then you are the perfect candidate for this position. As of January, 2007, the present editor is resigning and in order to continue with this award winning publication, someone must fill the spot! Don’t let the newsletter die out—please help!

TECH TIP: ELECTRONIC IGNITION AND YOUR AMC

By Mike Wilson (Hoosier AMC Club)

It is possible to have electronic ignition and still retain your original distributor. There are several companies that are making conversion kits at this time. The Pertronix Ignitor is a very slick system that has been on the market for over twenty years! The Ignitor can be installed as easily as changing points. There are no extra boxes or complicated wiring. It fits entirely under the distributor cap. The only evidence that an Ignitor has been installed on an AMC/GM Delco distributor is two wires go-ing from the distributor to the coil instead of one. The Ignitor comes with a 30 year warranty and sells for around $90 - $120. For more information and the dealer nearest you, contact them at retrorockets@snet.net. Units are available for a variety of engines. Mallory Ignition Company is still making their Unilite breakerless electronic conversion kits for the AMC/Delco dis-tributor. This system also replaces the points and condenser, but has more wires. Cost is $85 - $100. It is only fair to mention Accel is still making their dual point conversion kit for the AMC/GM Delco distributor at a cost of $30 - $35. This kit will convert your single point to dual point and comes with an allen wrench, feeler gauge and instructions. Another item available for the AMC/GM Delco distributor is an adjustable vacuum advance canister. Both Accel and Crane Cams sell a kit from $20 to $25. This allows you to tailor your ignition system to changes in fuel quality, and altitude. It will also improve your overall performance. As you can see, it is possible to have all of the advan-tages of an electronic ignition system and the original look. Electronic ignition will increase fuel economy. Improve starting, and boost engine performance. This article was originally printed in AM Xpress in January 1996. I checked online and the companies still do exist, but some of the telephone numbers and prices may have changed - Christine McGowan, OAMC Newsletter Editor

The Wright Place To Be With Your AMC Dayton 2006

By: Casey McGowan I hope that most AMC fans who attended will agree that our theme was “spot on”. The sight of all those gorgeous AMCs in the Marriott parking lot told me that a great number of folks found Dayton to be within their reach.

The hotel was huge, and the management team was very helpful. Many thanks to Kathy Baren-brugge & Vicki Scheidt, who catered to our every need. The rooms were great (especially the Hospitality Suite) where our club mem-bers could unwind in the evenings. The parking lots

were huge and well managed by the hotel staff who kept our cars pretty much separate from the other guests’ cars. Trailer parking was close and again more than adequate in size. I want to thank all the members of the “Flight Crew” who worked out in the rain on Thursday to set up the show field. They carefully measured and marked every row and space so our display of cars Saturday would be neat and or-derly. Friday was swap meet day, plus we had planned for a 100+ cruise-in at the Park, so people could take a tour of the Historical Village while part of the family could shop at the swap meet. Weather has a way of messing up the best of plans, and was again the case on Friday morning as our vendors laid deep tracks in the mud that used to be grass. Once again, our “Flight Crew” staff was there to whisk the trucks and trailers through our reg-istration area and into the grove of trees, and got everyone parked in a reasonably orderly fashion.

The cruise-in was hampered by rain. Sadly, we only had about 50 cars on the field Friday, but I be-lieve the folks that were there had a good time. For-mer AMC designer, Vince Geraci, was set up with the Marlin club to greet the owners of the unique car he helped create.

Many thanks to Weldon’s Ice Cream who was on the field Friday to serve all who attended. Saturday was great for them, as they had a line all day long. It was especially great to have breakfast sandwiches served each morning. After the rain let up Friday, the visitors poured into the parking lot. Our ticket sales team consisted of Todd Lewis, Ron Helderman, Ken Walker, and Troy Gill, who worked very hard to collect form all of those who attended. Also, thanks to Danny Sullivan who collected from many of the folks who parked along Carillon Blvd. on Saturday so they could take a short-cut into the park. Many thanks to all our AMC friends and other visitors for supporting Carillon Historical Village, one of Dayton’s most important attractions. I hope everyone was able to get in to see the Wright Flyer airplane.

Warm sunshine greeted everyone on Saturday morn-ing. Boy, was it ever appreciated! Cars began pouring into the park the minute the gate opened. Thanks to park manager, Shawn Miller, who came to open an hour early to accommo-date us.

Bill Reddig

Hoosier AMC Regional By: Casey McGowan

August 26th was a most enjoyable day for Christine and I. You should have been there! We would love to see more Ohio club members at our neighbors’ AMC shows. A three hour cruise once each year can produce many new AMC friends. This year was special at the Hoosier AMC club’s regional meet because of an appearance by the show’s namesake. No other club is lucky enough to have as a guest the man their show honors. The “Bill Reddig” regional is special because of the pres-ence of this famous man each year. Hanging out with Bill and Betty is always a pleasure. It’s great to talk about your car to the man who designed it. The next issue of American Xpress will feature our visit to the Hoosier Club Regional. Please enjoy this photo of the man and his creation. Also, check out the October 2006 issue of Cars and Parts magazine for a fabulous article by Patrick Foster about Bill Reddig’s career at AMC/Nash Kelvinator.

Bill Reddig poses with my 1964 Ambassador

Richard A Teague Meet Photos

Traffic was a little slow coming into the show field as most of the AMO-judged cars had to be photographed before we could park them. Some radiators got a little hot while idling in line, but overall, our team got everyone parked rather quickly. We parked over 325 cars in an hour and a half! I told our “Flight Crew” staff at our planning meeting that we didn’t want people pulling in and not seeing anyone to help them. I think all will agree, the green shirts were every-where. From Row 1 -Senior Division all the way back to Row 9 - Hurst Cars, everyone was parked as quickly and orderly as possible. All together, we had over 40 people working on our “Flight Crew” staff. They deserve a round of applause for all their hard work. The most prestigious location in the park was reserved for special cars. Main Street, in the Village, was where our “American Cup” cars were displayed. On the opposite side of Main Street were the “Special Interest” cars and our Jeep dis-play. I apologize for the light spectator turnout on Saturday morning. People on the main show field were busy eating and

cleaning their cars for judging during the AM hours, and many spectators didn’t pull into the lot before noon. However, the afternoon hours were bustling in the Village. People came down after their cars were readied for judging. Also bringing a lot more folks into the downtown in the afternoon was the AMO chapter photo session which was right in the middle of the strip, across from the 1930’s Sun-oco filling station. If you didn’t tour the Historical Village’s buildings and displays, you missed out on a great experi-

ence. Nearly a million people a year come to see what life was like around Ohio during the first half of the previous century.

Nash and Hudson owners were invited to attend our convention. They were given an area surrounding the main show field on two sides. They would have been the cars that linked the main show field to the Village downtown area. We had room for one hundred “Heritage” cars, and we were planning to host at least 50 of these great machines. Sadly, we only had eight Nash and Hudson cars in attendance. We do want to thank those car owners for showing us their beautiful pre-AMC cars. Their display was much appreciated – we love those cars.

1979 Spirit AMX, 304 V8, 4-spd. Car is complete but needs restored. Engine and trans. are out of car. Comes with spare 304. $1500.00. Car is in Piqua, OH Chris Brush (937) 778-0506, leave a message. 1967 Rebel Wagon: 290 auto, ps, 115K miles, Good condition, asking $2500. East side Columbus, Ohio (614) 402-2271 - Steve 1970 AMX: 360 4 spd, 74K miles, transmission out of car, painted bronze and tan - originally BBO with black interior. New polished Western wheels with Dunlop tires, Package deal - also included: 1969 AMX 390 engine. Bored over 30 race cam, Offenhauser intake, 350 HP. $15,000 for it all. Gary (812) 594-9488 (IN) 1973 Ambassador : 4 door, 360 auto, tan with brown roof, very nice $2900. Tom Wright - Call Casey McGowan (740) 321-1308 1967 Ambassador DPL: 2 door, 343 auto, needs good home. $800. 1966 Marlin: 287 auto, good body $1800. 1985 Eagle: 258 auto, 4 door, runs good, needs TLC. Troy Gill (937) 869-0955, (937) 834-2133

Wheels! 1965 Rambler American 220: 2 door post car, 6 cyl auto, radio delete, 45,000 miles, rust free, garage kept, $6000 or best offer. Kal Potter, Dover, Ohio 330-339-3937 1970 Rebel 2 door: California car, runs, Randy 6 AM - 4PM 740-225-0161, evenings 419-845-2417 1965 American 440 H: 2 door hardtop, auto, gold and white, original interior - brown and cream. Robert O’Brien 502-507-8811 1961 Rambler Deluxe 6: fender skirts, pushbutton auto-matic, 32K miles, new brakes, needs paint, tires and TLC. $2500. 1958 Rambler Custom 6: Brown and Alamo Beige, original paint, 39K miles, rebuilt engine, push button automatic, runs and drives well. $4500. Casey McGowan (740) 321-1308 1966 Ambassador 990 Convertible: Red with good black top, New shocks, tires and red paint. Bucket seats and console, rebuilt 327 V8. Nice car. $7000 firm. Jeff Matthews (417) 850-0767 (MO) 1965 Classic 550: Gold, 35K miles, 6 cyl standard, Good, clean car. $2900. (724) 376-4291 (PA) Bob Senegan email: raf22@zoominternet.net

Of particular interest in the Heritage and Special In-terest areas were some proto-type cars, both factory and home built. Attendees were given the opportunity to see Darryl Salisbury’s famous “Jeffords” AMX with the proposed rumble seat, plus the Dick Teague-designed ’71 AMX proto-type, owned by Mike Spangler, that AMC should definitely have produced. On display in the Heritage area was Dale and Cindi Adams’ beautiful Metropolitan Station Wagon newly created prototype. All these cars were a big hit with the fans. I must say, the best part of the show, and the part that did go as planned, was our AMC designers’ pavilion. We had invited ten men who were part of the AMC design team through the years. I consider getting six out of the ten a success. AMO was fortunate to have at our disposal, six fa-mous men to meet. These men manned the designer’s pa-vilion on the Midway of our show field. They were greeted by continuous lines of AMC fans who wanted to shake their hands and hear stories from some of AMC’s most famous personnel. Some had displays to look at, while others had prints of their work to sell us at a bargain price – and they were autographed as well! Designers in the pavilion included Vince Geraci, who helped pen the Marlin, the Matador, and

the Pacer; Bob Nixon, who worked on the Hornet and Gremlin projects; and Jim Pappas, an interior designer who began his career with AMC in 1956. We all love AMC interiors. His crea-tion that is my favorite is the dash in the 1965 Ambassador. Attending, but not set up was Jim Alexander, head of the per-formance division at AMC during the ‘60s. He formed and managed several AMC race teams. Clay modelers Frank Pas-coe and Keith Goodnough brought some of the tools they used for their trade as well as a large piece of clay. Frank joked that between all of them, they had the knowledge and materials to build a new car. When they weren’t in the tent, they walked around the show field, talking with everyone and signing auto-graphs. It was awesome!

Also on hand in the Pavilion was AMC book author Pat Foster. I had with me a copy of the AMC bible, a book written by Pat, “The Last Independent”. I purchased this hardback book from him at the 1994 National Meet in Denver, Pennsylvania. He autographed the

book, and I added a few more at that show – Evelyn Aye, Miss America 1954, sponsored by Nash, famous designer, Bill Red-dig – who served under Ed Anderson, and George Romney, who also spoke at that event and was gracious enough to sign my book. This year, 2006, my book was signed by all six de-signers in attendance plus Pat Foster again commemorating Dayton, Ohio – “The Wright Place To Be With Your AMC”

Our anniversary show was held on the grass covered island on the southern edge of the Metro Center. The quality of the cars attending was high and our location (on a corner) gave us high visibility from the Arthritis Foundation show field. Thanks to Lori Gill for our special Anniversary cake and to Steve Pierce of Weldon’s Ice Cream for donating the ice cream. Everyone was impressed by our party and had a good time. Next year’s Teague Show will coincide with the AMO International Convention also occurring on the same week-end. Many of our usual show managers will be out of state, so volunteers will be needed for our 26th annual event.

Richard A Teague AMO Midwest Regional

Celebrates 25 Years! Ohio American Mo-tors Classics celebrated its Silver Anniversary on July 8, 2006. Our 25th Richard Teague regional was held on this day, a Saturday, in con-junction with the 24th Arthri-tis Foundation Classic Car Show in Dublin, Ohio.

The show, usually held on Sunday following the Saturday Arthritis Foundation show, was moved to Satur-day due to the workload on all those preparing to host the AMO National meet two weeks later. I believe most will agree this arrangement worked out well. We had 45 cars in our “show within a show”. We performed our concours judging as usual and had our

“Best Of Show” winner pass the reviewing stand for special recognition. The down side of the show combining is we did not have space for our vendors. We do plan to separate the two shows in the future so we can have vendors once again. The Arthritis Foundation show was a huge success again this year. Our club put any profit aside this year and contributed our registration dollars to the greater cause—helping to find a cure for arthritis which afflicts many people today.

Some of the designers were also present at our awards ceremony. We at Ohio AMC are grateful for their participation at our event and I believe the designers were very happy to be with us as well. Christine and I received a special thanks from them for the invitation to the 2006 International Convention. We would like to thank our visitors from Mexico, Canada, and Australia. It is always a treat to meet them and share with them the cars we love so much. Thanks to each and every AMC owner and fan for making 2006 a most successful year. I believe our attendance will be hard to top. Ohio AMC has raised the bar for conventions yet to come. We are looking forward to attend-ing future AMO Conventions. AMO always has a large turnout from the Ohio American Motors Classics chapter. See all of you AMC fans next year in Colorado. We can’t wait!