July—August, 2002

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Inside This Issue! Gremlin Day!…………...…………….Page 3 Lew Brown’s NASHville 2002………Page 4 Springfield Cars & Parts Show……..Page 8 Preview of Ed Anderson Meet……..Page 10

Summer car shows!

OFFICERS CORNER EVENTS CHAIRMAN PRESIDENT VICE-PRESIDENT NEWSLETTER EDITOR_____________ Jeff Kennedy Steve Halstead Casey & Christine McGowan 7100 S.R. 142 SE 250 Conner Lane 3267 Raccoon Valley Rd. West Jefferson, OH 43162 Lewis Center, OH 43035 Granville, OH 43023 614-879-8249 or 879-SAVE 740-548-4806 740-321-1308 ramblerranch@alltel.net TREASURER ART DIRECTOR MEMBERSHIP CHAIRMAN___________ HEMMINGS WEBSITE MASTER_________ Dave Haugh "Javlynn" Sue Leair Richelle Dabe 4370 Lewis Center Rd. 4904 Edsal Drive P.O. Box 159 Galena, OH 43021 Lyndhurst, OH 44124 Lewis Center, OH 43035 740-548-9956 216-381-8248 614-784-8855 ohioamc@hotmail.com The Ohio American X-Press is the official publication of the Ohio American Motors Classics, Inc. and is published on a quarterly basis. Special editions are published on an as needed basis. Subscription is free to all club members in good standing. All comments, opinions and articles are encouraged and may be submitted to the newsletter editor.

Editor’s Note: By the time you read this, Kenosha will be an event of the past, and what an event it was! With all clubs hosting their national meets in this city, there was a reported 1200 cars in attendance for the combined shows. Casey and I attempted to videotape the show, but there were so many cars, we fell short of shooting them all. The weather was great (hot, but very little rain), and the setting at Kennedy Park was as beautiful as I remembered it be-ing in 1998. We saw so many rare cars - four 1958 and 1959 4 door hardtops, a 1962 2 door Ambassador, and the largest assortment of American Cup Participants I have ever seen! We’ll write more on this show in the next issue - complete with pictures! This summer has been great for car shows—the weather has almost always cooper-ated. Our own Teague Show was warm and dry with relatively low humidity. This year, I was able to judge the cars, and it was quite a learning experience. I judged Stock AMX’s with Rick Hill and Bob Reed - whom I consider to be pretty much experts on the subject. I found out many things about what makes an engine stock or non stock. We are always grateful for those who volunteer to judge - it’s a hard job, and takes away some time from looking at all the cars. The one thing I learned was to not be too harsh a judge. Folks spend a lot of time cleaning and detailing their cars, and take great pride in them. We gave out 48 awards this year - pretty good since we had about 60 cars registered to be judged. That speaks a lot about the quality of the cars that are being shown.

Next month, we’ll focus on getting you all to attend the Ed Anderson AMCRC Regional.

Happy AMCing!

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GREMLIN DAY; NOVEMBER 29 by: Javlynn Sue Leair

Reprinted from American Motoring, January/February 1998

On a cloudy Saturday after Thanksgiving, my mother and I stopped at a craft store in a shop-ping center to buy supplies with which to make some gifts. Looking at the car across from me, I saw the “Gremlin” nameplate on the hood and I remembered a year and a half ago when a schoolmate was teasing me about gremlins getting me. I then asked myself why in the world would someone give such a name to a car. Getting out of my mom’s car and walking toward the maroon AMC and the store, I noticed a huge gold gremlin on each of the quarter sail panels. The gremlin figures were about 12 inches in height. I gave the grinning impish visages the evil eye and thought how hideous the car was and the

pointy - eared figures did not improve the appearance of the car. On our way to the shop, my mother stopped to talk to someone she knew, so I continued to study the ve-hicle and the mischievous - looking decals adorning the sides of the automobile. Even though I didn’t like the Gremlin a whole lot at first, I still found myself searching for a them and keeping re-cords of the ones I had spotted. By 1 1/2 years later, I found myself loving the cars and wanting very much to own one. Besides, I could relate to them (Gremlins). I wasn’t the most popular girl in school and was the butt of juvenile pranks, much like the Gremlin was the butt of jokes.

The first time I set aside Gremlin Day as a holiday was in November of 1985. By that time, I loved all AMC’s, not just Gremlins; but I still had a high regard for the little hatchbacks. To celebrate the sec-ond anniversary of Gremlin Day, my dad and I went to a local auto salvage yard and bought a grille off of a 1974—75 Gremlin. I paid half the cost and my dad paid the other half for the cost of the part. As I recall, a year prior to that, my mother came home and surprised me with a gas cap. Those two parts were only the beginning of the parts collection I display in my bedroom. I now have an assort-ment of twelve grilles, two fenders, a 1969 Javelin door, a rear door from an AM General Postal Jeep and various other small parts. Last Gremlin Day was the first one that I finally celebrated with an AMC Gremlin of my very own, and had the luxury of looking after it on Gremlin Day. During the past few years prior to that , I would go out on my own to spot Gremlins and stop at area craft stores. I call these excursions my “Gremlin Day Rounds”. I even visited an auto salvage yard one year. No Gremlins were present in the yard, but I did spot a ‘68 Javelin on the premises. So now, what are YOU going to do this November 29th, the 16th Annual Gremlin Day? How about throwing a party, serving a cake in the shape of a Gremlin, or playing ‘pin the ears on the Gremlin”, making Gremlin sculptures out of leftover Thanksgiving mashed potatoes, dressing up in gremlin costumes, decorating the place in green and magenta (the official Gremlin Day colors), rent-ing movies with Gremlins in them, forgetting about Christmas for a day and thinking about Gremlins instead, going on Gremlin hunts, or giving that four-wheeled bundle of joy some extra attention? Well anyway, you get the idea. Remember, it’s been 16 years; Do you know where your Gremlin is? Start planning now for November 29, 1998! Editor’s Note: Sue still owns this great little Gremlin. We had the honor of seeing it twice this show season - at the Dick Teague Regional in Columbus, Ohio, and at the Nationals in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Sue is still a very enthusiastic AMC fan and is a past recipient of the Megan Cravens award—an award given for overall dedication to the AMC hobby. Make your plans now for the 20th anniversary of “Gremlin Day”!

NASHville 2002 By: Casey McGowan

Lew and Kay Brown once again displayed their hospitality by hosting what I like to call Lew Brown’s “NASHville” AMC Spectacular 2002. This year the weather cooperated by raining only at night, making for one great weekend of AMC fun. Orbisonia is a quaint Pennsylvania town located 13 miles north of the turn-pike on Route 522. Downtown is home to one if the best Pizza/Italian eateries I have ever experienced. Also downtown is Mr. Brown’s insurance agency where Lew reported to work for many years. He is semi-retired now and has time to man-age his rather large car collection and to occasionally host one of the best AMC shows one could ever hope to attend. This year’s show was sponsored solely by Lew and Kay and was a “fun run” family day without judging or trophies. Believe me, this show is so much fun, you don’t want to be spending precious time cleaning your car! Lew doesn’t forget his friends in Orbisonia, and invites all marques to attend. About sixty non-AMC’s graced the hilltop. Just down the hill were the vendors and guest AMC’s. I would estimate the field displayed about 70 cars. The assortment was broad, including a 1928 Nash sedan, a 1940 Nash sedan, a Met ragtop, a ‘56 Hudson Rambler, a Hudson Jet, numerous ‘60s Ramblers, Marlins, Javelins, Spirits, AMXs, a “Sunoco” Javelin, a Lois Lane 1950 Rambler convertible, and a couple of beautifully restored Gremlins. Entertainment you ask? If it isn’t enough fun to browse Lew’s supermarket of NOS parts, all spread out for easy picking, there are great food vendors, a craft/flea market, a pool, a memorabilia room, and oh yes, a huge tent featuring a great band - “The Fabulous Flashbacks”. Last but not least is Lew’s AMC car collection, displayed at the bottom of the hill. The largest AMC select used car lot to be seen anywhere. About 40 cars strong, Lew features clean low mileage AMC’s. About half are for sale. Ohio AMC provided five attendees to the show this year. All were set up on the vendor’s field and had a great time. Special thanks go out to Steve Halstead, and Mike and Dorothy Turner for accompanying Christine and myself to this year’s show. It has not yet been announced as to the whether this show will happen again next year, but if you read about it in “American Express” next spring, plan to attend. There is plenty of space for camping or you can stay at the Down’s Motel if you call several weeks ahead for a reservation. One more thing; there is no charge for Lew’s “NASHville AMC Spectacular

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“The Second Annual Edmund Anderson AMCRC

Midwest Regional Meet”

September 28, 2002

Carillon Historical Park 1000 Carillon Blvd

Dayton, Ohio 45409 Full breakdown of classes – Three Trophies per class –

People’s Choice Judging

Sponsored by Ohio American Motors Classics – affiliated with AMCRC and AMO -

AMC Regional will be held alongside the very successful “Orphan Car Show” sponsored by local Studebaker and Packard Clubs

Park Admission is $5.00 per person Registration for show cars AND vendors is $10.00

Time: 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM

Area Hotels: 1. Dayton Marriott 1414 South Patterson Blvd (937) 223 – 1000 www.marriott.com

2. Econolodge South 2140 Edwin C Moses Blvd (937) 223 - 0166

For more information, contact: Casey McGowan (740) 321 – 1308 Mike Turner (937) 865 – 0940

FOOD AND CLEAN RESTROOMS ON THE PREMISIS

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‘73 AMX - 360 Auto, Cowl Induction. Silver with black vinyl roof. Body in great shape. Call for more details. $3500 firm. 260-837-9198. Ask for Deb. ‘87 Eagle Wagon - 258 Auto, Cruise, A/C works, well maintained. 160K miles Right side has some body damage. Driven daily. 419-275-2691, Brian ‘78 Concord/AMX - Louver back window, wheels flared, front spoiler, Levi interior. Pur-chased at Glass City Car show a couple years ago. Nice shape, needs restoring, Needs an exhaust system. Glenn Scherf 419-822-3540 ‘69 Rebel 4dr - Rebuilt 360ci V-8 Chrysler torque flight transmission. Limited slip rear w/3.73 gears. 8 7/8 Rear, New springs (4) new shocks (4), new brakes. Excellent chrome. 8 lug wheels Looks good, runs good. Priced #2 in Old Cars Price Guide 734-721-0277 ‘69 Rambler - 199 Auto 2 door, restorable or for parts. Extra parts with it. Mark Helsel , Toledo 419-476-0807 ‘68 AMX - Blue with white stripes, black interior, go package, 343 auto, good condition $8000 David Johnson 419-924-2854 ‘68 AMX - 343 Auto, Rally green, tan int. 75% restored - new engine and transmission, many NOS parts installed, needs cosmetics. $7500. Casey McGowan 740-321-1308 • August 18 - Livonia, MI, Motor City All Family AMC Meet, Greenmead Historical Park Contact Stu Ehrhardt 248-634-5259 • August 23 - 24 Berlin, CT, CAMO presents AMC and You in 2002 Contact Frank DiCaprio 302-736-0070 • Sept 1 - Perrysburg, OH 16th Annual Glass City AMC Car Show, River Place Plaza Contact Randy Hensinger 419-483-9917 • Sept 13 - 15, NAMDRA’s ‘02 AMC Nationals Cordova, IL Contact Jock Jocewicz namdra@juno.com • Sept 21 Indianapolis, IN - Hoosier Regional in conjunction with the Hoosier Auto Show Contact Mike Wilson 765-866-1712 • Sept 28 Dayton, OH - Edmund Anderson AMCRC Regional (held in conjunction with the

“Orphan Vehicle Show” Contact Mike Turner (937) 865-0940 or Casey McGowan (740) 321 - 1308

Calendar of Events

SPRINGFIELD 2002

The AMC All Family Meet this past Memorial Day weekend at the Clark County Fair Grounds was by all accounts a huge success. Bob Reisinger and his crew of fellow Ohio AMC club members put together one great show. Friday’s turnout was good and there were several AMC parts vendors in opera-tion. Most people were out shopping the “Cars and Parts” swap meet and car corral most of the day. One car dealer had a very solid ‘59 American two door for sale at a modest $1800 price. It soon found a new owner. If any one knows the purchaser of this light blue Ram-bler, please recruit him for our club. Also sold was a nice original ‘71 Javelin AMX 360 in the car corral. Saturday morning showed us what Mother Nature conjures up every Memorial Day weekend. Torrential rains fell for a couple of hours and the prospect for a large turnout was in doubt. But by 10 AM the rain ended and the AMC’s seemed to fall from the sky forming a rainbow of color across our show - field. Our club members shrugged off the rain and ex-hibited that “I’m going to show my AMC today no matter what the weather” attitude. You know I like that! Our show barn was a-buzz with activity. Registered cars numbered 80. There were attendees from as far away as Wisconsin, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. Many thanks to these people for traveling so far for our show. The Springfield theme this year was “Red, White & Blue in 2002”. Supporting this theme were seven of the sharpest, rarest tri-colored beauties in the Midwest. Rick Hill dis-played his SC/Rambler with a “Scrambler” Schwinn Stingray bike alongside. Manuel Cheek’s SC/Rambler made it a pair. American Performance had a ‘69 AMX drag car painted for the occasion and Dean Hensinger provided the rare TA Javelin. Showing their beautiful Hurst Award Winning Rebel Machine were Pete and Laura Vaughn. Rick and Paulette Riley provided the rare “one of fifty two made” SS AMX factory produced drag car. The Star of the patriotic pack was the “Bonneville Salt Flats Speed Spectacular” Javelin owned by Rick and Deb Francis. This car was originally piloted by Craig Breedlove and after the event was given away by Car Craft Magazine. What a pleasure it was to see this piece of auto racing history. There were other race cars present of the solid color variety, including Bob Reisinger’s Levi Gremlin, and a cross - rammed ‘70 AMX. Stu Varney was in the barn with his amazing 426 AMC powered Gremlin. Many thanks to everyone who drove their car in the rain to attend this great show. We at OAMC encourage everyone to display their cars regardless of model or condition. Remember, most of the other cars at the show needed restored too at one time. Never be ashamed to bring your AMC to one of OAMC’s shows. We will welcome you and your car and respect your effort to save an AMC. The award format was top 50 with special awards as follows: Rick Hill - Best of Red/White/Blue with his ‘69 SC/Rambler, Rodney Riley - Best of Show with his ‘70 AMX, Roy Bellman - Don Child’s Award with his beautiful ‘51 Nash, and Brian Seeley - longest dis-tance traveled., driving 900 miles from Newberry, Massachusetts to attend. Many thanks to Bob Reisinger and friends for putting together another great AMC family show.

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Kenny’s Story By: Joe LaMagna

In 1974, when I was eleven, two things happened; I discovered girls and I discov-ered cars. The first girl I had a crush on was a French Canadian I met while vacationing in Vermont. The first car I fell in love with was a purple Gremlin. To my mind, the French girl and that purple Gremlin shared important qualities: they were exotic, they had curves in all the right places, and they were cute. I especially liked that emblem of the little Gremlin on the gas cap. It also happened in 1974 that my parents were shopping for a new car, We already had a big Oldsmobile station wagon with a “Rocket” V-8, but Mom wanted something smaller and sporty for her personal use. Naturally I suggested a Gremlin X in deep purple to fit this need. My parents didn’t laugh at my suggestion, nor did they beat me or abuse me in any apparent way. They simply ignored me. Dad was a bona fide GMC man, so we all traipsed down to our local Chevy dealer and came home with a red ‘74 Vega. Although I installed a then state-of - the art Blaupunkt stereo with my own time and money in the Vega, I still hated that car. It burned oil religiously after 30,000 miles and a fill up at the station meant two things; gas in the back and 10W 40 in the front. I left for college with a good high school education, but with the emotional baggage of never having kissed a French girl or driven a Gremlin. As I aged, I went through the typical male phases. First there was a Camaro in col-lege. Next came a pickup, which was promptly sold when marriage and children arrived. For the toddler years I drove a Subaru station wagon all the while yearning for a return to a simpler time with more horsepower. During one particularly dull week, I decided to find one of my lost loves and put an ad in Uncle Henry’s. This is a sell-it -all, buy-it-all book which looks like a fat TV Guide and serves New England. My ad said I was looking for a Gremlin for a project car and was willing to travel to get it. I didn’t expect a single response, but soon after the ad came out I got calls almost every day for two weeks. I responded to one in the town of Rockland, Maine. There, at a hubcap emporium/used car lot sat Kenny, a Si-enna Orange 1974 Gremlin with a 258 straight six.. The car had 82,000 miles on it and a rusted hood, but otherwise ran alright. The interior was messy, but not a disaster. In the mess I even found an original bill of sale. The car was purchased at Jose Motors in Au-gusta, Maine in August, 1974 for $3688.50. I paid the man $600 for Kenny and drove home. My wife wasn’t angry at the purchase, just a little worried that I might actually suc-ceed in my plans to restore an old AMC to former glory. My two young sons were delighted with my new toy because I let them play in it until it was time to begin the restoration work. I took the car to a local restoration shop where the mechanics and I debated a course of action. At first I wanted to keep the car as original as possible and suggested overhauling the straight six and beefing it up a little. The lead mechanic at the shop didn’t show much enthusiasm for my suggestion, especially because he knew a guy who had a friend whose cousin had an old Javelin sitting in a barn in northern Maine. “Why not take a trip there, have a look at the engine, and see if it will work in the Gremlin”, he offered. Lo and behold, in the barn we found a ‘74 Javelin with a nice 360 V-8. Case closed. The en-gine was transplanted without much difficulty, and Kenny started to flex his muscles. Work continued slowly as I scavenged around finding body and engine parts. I bought some nice bumpers and chrome side mirrors from a guy in Arizona, and I found an-other Gremlin in Brewer, Maine, which became my parts car. The parts car had A/C, while Kenny didn’t, and this led to me considering transplanting that system.

At the body shop

The finished engine The finished car

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Unfortunately, the compressor was shot and the condenser terminally ill. To make matters worse, the A/C mounting bracket was rusted and untrustworthy. I was in despair. My wife, who didn’t seem to care about the project before, was now threatening me with mean looks if I didn’t put A/C in Kenny and get it to work. While visiting my wife’s parents in Dayton, I met a man who owned a ‘69 AMX. He showed me the engine, and when I saw the A/C I asked him where he got his parts. He told me about Bob Reisinger and soon afterwards I found myself at Bob’s shop in Jamestown,Ohio. Bob had the parts I needed and gave me a tour of some of his own AMCs. Bob also gave me a copy of the Ohio AMC Club’s newsletter, and assured me my passion for Grem-lins was not crazy. With renewed determination, I returned to Maine and “finished” Kenny in March 2002. The project took fourteen months and cost about the same as a new Subaru. I get lots of looks, a few snickers, and a few insults when I’m out about town. One guy accosted me in the parking lot of a video store and offered me $50 for Kenny. Another asked me “where the other half” of my car was. Sometimes I shake my head and ponder, “Was it all worth it?” It sure would have been cheaper for me if my parents had bought a Gremlin back in ‘74. I could have driven the thing then and gotten the AMC bug out of my system. So, I can blame my parents for not providing me with a fulfilling childhood. On the other hand, it makes me proud to know my marriage can survive a car project and that I will never be bothered by a “Check Engine” light when I’m driving my Gremlin.

Joe LaMagna and Kenny recently after the purchase

Ohio

American Motors Classics 3267 Raccoon Valley Road Granville, OH 43023

DATED NEWS DATED NEWS -- -- R RUSHUSH

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COMING NEXT ISSUE! KENOSHA 2002

Dick Teague Regional