SoCalAMX. SoCalAMX Calendar

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1 SoCalAMX Official Publication of SoCalAMX Proudly A Chartered Club of AMCRC Issue 75 Feb 2017 SoCalAMX Calendar 2017 Cactus Classic Hosted by the Cactus Cruisers AMC Saturday, April 8, 2017 Phoenix, AZ cactuscruisersamc.org Spring Fling April Hosted by CPW EDITOR S NOTES To say I ve been lazy for the past seven months is to state the obvious. When I looked to see when I published the last club newsletter I was surprised to see it was right after our car show in May, I can t promise a newsletter every month but I plan of getting one out on a regular basis. Mark Melvin SoCalAMX AMC Show Saturday, May 20, 2017 Cable Airport, Upland, CA socalamx.net/carshow Kenosha Homecoming July 25-29, 2017 Kenosha, WI kenoshahistorycenter.org/events.html 2nd California Central Coast AMC/Rambler Show Hosted by Pacific Gold Rush Ramblers September 8-9, 2017 Radisson Hotel, Santa Maria, CA Las Vegas AMC Reunion November 3-4, 2017 Hoover Dam Lodge Boulder City, Nevada snamc.amcrc.com Check the online Calendar at socalamx.net Join SoCalAMX so you can automatically receive updates and details of events listed above. Go to socalamx.net/1/join.htm Check out socalcarculture.com for listings of shows in SoCal! AMX/3 Story I got this Internet link from Gordon Hamman on the AMX/3. There are a bunch of pictures and text, very informative article on the AMX/3. Good reading! Check it out.. 1

2 2016 AMO National Show I m going to really need to think hard to recall what I saw at the 2016 AMO International Convention in Rockford, IL, as it has been six months past already. Well I m not to go into much detail as I have lots of material for this month s newsletter and have much still to do. Think, think, think. Okay, I remember doing 24 hour straight hours of driving to get my truck and trailer, with the Playmate AMX in back, to Oklahoma City, where I met for lunch with my longtime friend Dave, who recently moved to Texas. So after lunch and a short nap I was back on the road for another non-stop shot up to Illinois to the city of Rockford where the 2016 AMO show was scheduled to be held. I met up with the usual early arrivers, like Bob Hodson from Florida. I m being real short with details but I have so much more to type up, I hope you understand. With these big shows, most of the day is spent watching other early arrivals but at night they always have some sort of activity for everyone to meet at. Tuesday night there was a cruise in to the local Hooters. There was a great turn out of nearly 40 cars. Wednesday night there was a cruise in to a local Chrysler dealer next door to a Culvers restaurant. Thursday afternoon there was a neat tour of the original site where John Deere invented the field plow. A black smith on duty gave a real live demo of working iron straight out of the furnace. He told us he started the job as a part timer. 23 years later he s still doing it and very well! Friday morning everyone was over at the show site going through all of the vendors bins of parts. I was there selling a lot of what was left over from the Playmate AMX project. I sold the seats, two fenders, and the rear end valence, and other stuff. Friday afternoon it rained real hard for several hours and got the grass show field very soft. During the evening the show organizers got permission to use the giant parking lot of a nearby corporate building and the show was moved for Saturday. It was a picture-perfect day all day with puffy clouds around but never dropping a drop on us. That night at the banquet during the cocktail hour word starting passing around that Jeff Teague had just passed away. What? Geez, I had just talked to him 3 months earlier at a car show where he was judging. Wow! At the awards announcements, I ended up with a Gold Trophy in the stock AMX class for the Playmate AMX. The Teague Award for AMX Best of Show, was won by a guy named Bruce who happened to be sitting next to me. Congratulations to him! There were a lot of great cars there. I just wish I had found the time during the show to look at the cars more than I did. I was too busy watching my own car. A lot of people leave Saturday night, the rest mostly by early Sunday morning. I slept in and left by mid-day. Man, it was a long drive home. I once again did a mostly non-stop haul all the way from Illinois to California. I stopped in New Mexico at a truck stop to take a short nap. I woke up after about 90 minutes of sleep and looked around. I didn t have the foggiest idea where I was. My brain was so tired I was wondering where my traveling companion was, and that I was going to have to leave without him. As the fog in my head started to clear I realized there was no traveling companion so it was okay to leave. Then as I started to move out I had no idea how to get out of the place I was in, so I turned to the right which was right into some sort of commercial building complex and had to back up. Finally, after getting turned around towards the freeway and seeing the I-40 West onramp sign I knew where I was once again. Onward home! Mark Melvin 2

3 AMO 2017, Rockford, IL 3

4 AMO 2017, Rockford, IL 4

5 PLAYMATE AMX REPORT Signing up for the 2016 Santa Fe Concorso in New Mexico was one of the first shows I signed up for last year. In addition to my mother being born in New Mexico, the description of the show sounded very enticing, which lead to the decision to travel such a far distance. So, when the weekend approached in late September 2016 I hooked up my trailer and headed east on I-40 towards Albuquerque with the Playmate AMX behind me. As is the norm with me, it was an 18 hour straight drive with only fuel stops. Going through the Mohave desert from Apple Valley all the way to Blythe it was windier than all get out. I feared for my trailer s life, hoping it wouldn t tip over. When I got to Santa Fe I was looking for the lot stated in the directions for trailers to be parked, and following my GPS blindly. I passed a street I wished I had turned on to but my GPS was leading me a different direction. I went around a corner, down a slope, and found myself forced to drive on a section of road under construction, over part of a dry creek bed. Worse yet, I had to make a hard turn and then go up hill to get past this point. I made sure I kept going and didn t stop and made it on to hard pavement, with tires slipping a little bit that I could hear out the window. Friday night they had a reception at the local airport in a large hanger. Good thing having a roof over our heads because it rained for a while. They had a few cars parked outside the hanger on display. I guess they got a free wash. Inside the hanger, they had some cars as well as planes on display, as well as four buffet lines, drink lines, and table and chairs for everyone to sit at. All food and drinks were included in the cost of the show entry fee. All very nicely done. Saturday s morning activity was for all cars to meet downtown Santa Fe at the old town plaza, ending up with about 25 cars parked on each side of the square. While standing around talking to other drivers Steve Synder walked up to me with a surprised look on his face, like what the heck was I doing there. Steve is from S. Cal and was in town to be a judge at Sunday s show. He asked if I wanted a navigator for the road tour coming up next and I said sure. So at 10am promptly all 100 cars left the plaza single file on a 70 mile road course already mapped out for us. Steve and I had not seen each other recently so we got to chatting away and missed our turn twice. Each time only cost us a few miles and we were back on our way. We stopped half way in a small town for a bar-b-q. In addition to two food lines there was a large tent for all to sit under, and tables and chairs for everyone. Once again very well done. 90 minutes or so later we were finished with lunch and headed back down the road for the return leg to Santa Fe. Instead of putting the car in the trailer overnight, the Playmate AMX spent the night on the country club s golf course, with all the other cars. Although I had a little bit of extra cleaning to do in the morning, I got to sleep in a little. Because of the rain Friday night lingering into the weekend, it was feared there might be some rain on Sunday. Not to be, it was a beautiful day with blue skies and white clouds. All cars were parked on the same green at the country club, but there was still a lot of walking because golf courses are big by nature. Also, included in our show entry fee was entry into the country club for a lunch buffet. Eventually the judges approached and judged my car after I briefly explained the history of the car. A time later a few of the judges returned with ribbons for the winning cars. It wasn t meant to be for the Playmate car this weekend. 1 st place went to a GTO, 2 nd place went to a nice split window Corvette, and 3 rd place went to a 68 Dodge Coronet. The judges left and returned later to give me a Director s Award ribbon, I guess as a way to say thanks for coming. Not everyone got a ribbon so I guess you d call it an award for being 4 th place? Immediately after the show I packed up, got the car loaded in the trailer, secured everything down, and headed out of town. Headed west on I-40 there was one heck of a beautiful sunset in the sky. And of course, it was a straight non-stop trip home, 18 hours again. Mark Melvin 5

6 2017 Santa Fe Concorso 6

7 2017 Santa Fe Concorso 7

8 2016 Las Vegas Reunion There was a good run of AMC shows in Las Vegas at the Railroad Pass hotel over the years. But for reasons out of control of the local club members the show had to be moved to a new location. This new location is the old or original location of the annual Las Vegas Reunion. Once called the Hacienda Hotel, it is now known as the Hoover Dam Lodge by its new owners after extensive renovation. As always Mark Ogulnick, president of the club, had a great day planned for us on Friday for early arrivals. We were treated to a private tour of the personal car collection and home of Paul Maloof. It was unreal to see a collection of 300 cars in one location, mostly all Cadillac s I believe, with a smattering of others cars. The very cool thing here was we were encouraged to touch the cars, open the doors and sit in them if desired. Just don t hurt them. I have a picture of me sitting in a Duesenberg, valued at over a million dollars. After the car collection, we traveled to his home, just a few blocks away. Wow, there was so much on display, difficult to take it all in with our eyes. It can be described as a lot of stuff! In one room, we were treated to a performance of an old pipe organ. I had not heard one of these in person in a long time. Just great! Then we were told to move to the next room where there was an even bigger pipe organ, the granddaddy organ. We were told this organ came from the old Chicago stadium. It had to be cut in half to get it out of the building it was in, then moved to Nevada and reassembled to working condition at a cost of around $800,000, if I recall the details correctly. Of course, we were treated to a performance of this organ as well. It has been interfaced with a computer, so that when an organist comes and plays in person, the music is saved to the computer, and then be played back at any time as if the original organist was still at the keyboard. The last song played for us was Stars and Stripes Forever. The song is a very moving patriotic piece and had the crowd in the room mesmerized. Then the organ suddenly switch to playing the Air Force song, Up Into The Wild Blue Yonder. As it did so the propellers of 5 giant model planes hanging overheard started spinning as well. That was just over the top. Wow, wow! What a beautiful sound to hear those pipes bellowing out their notes. It s not something you get to hear often, unless you re Paul Maloof I guess. After the tour of Mr. Maloof s car collection and house we motored back towards the hotel straight to the famous bar-b-q hosted yearly by the SNAMC club. This was a new location from previous years and I think everyone liked it. Andy Ray and crew did another swell job of scorching the burgers and brats to perfection. A good time was had by all. That was our Friday. How was yours? Saturday s dawn came all too soon. Before I knew it, I was on the road headed to the Coffee Cup Café back in town for my favorite omelet and pancake breakfast. After breakfast, I returned to the hotel and parked my AMX in my class specified spot and cleaned my car for the show s total car count was in the 60 s if not close to 70. Mark Ogulnick has a knack for running a great show. As all car shows go, there are over before you know it. We headed inside for the awards. Since it s been 3 months past the show I ve forgotten who won what except for one person. That person would be Nacho Chavez who ended up winning the Best Of Show trophy for his beautiful 68 Rebel SST convertible. I ve never seen a prouder owner of such a nice piece of hardware. I m sure he had a quite a story to tell family when he returned home. Congratulations Nacho! Mark Melvin 8

9 2016 Las Vegas AMC Reunion 9

10 2016 Las Vegas AMC Reunion 2017 Best Of Show Winner 1968 Rebel SST Nacho Chavez 10

11 SoCalAMX AMC Car Show The set up for this year s 11th annual SoCalAMX Car Show has changed a little from the past three years, so check out this article for the details. Thank you first to Dave & Kati Chick who jumped in to help steer the show in a new direction this year. They so far have enlisted the help of Randy Kirby and Steve Fox to help with the planning and delivery of the show. One notable change this year is the venue. We will be holding the show at Cable Airport in the city of Upland. The distance between last year and this year s location is just 2 miles. For the most part the rest of the show will be similar to what we ve done in past years. For Friday night, everybody, especially out-of-towners, are invited to come to Dave & Kati Chick s home in Monrovia for a bar-b-q. We re holding the cost to $30. When you go to mail in your entry form notice the new mailing address and make your checks payable to Dave Chick. The entry form is available in the newsletter and on the club web site at (socalamx.net/carshow). That s it for now, there will be more to come in the next few months. Legendary American Motors Magazine Author/Photographer Rich Truesdell has put together the makings of a high-quality magazine exclusively for AMC readers. You can preview and order the premiere issue off of Amazon right now for $11 paperback or $4 for Kindle version. Go to this web address: There will also be a subscription available soon to the same magazine. More information is available at this address: They really do exist. I saw this old ad on Facebook for AMC oil in the old style packing, and went out to my garage for the real macoy! Mark 11

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15 Support Your Newsletter Writers are needed to help support this AMC newsletter. I welcome submissions from each of you who attend the events we go to each month. You don t need to be a super writer or own a wiz bang word processor program. All you have to do is just send me a simple as your article text and I ll do all the formatting and spell checking for you. Please do attach pictures to your if you have them! Send your stuff to: mightypilot@gmail.com JOIN AMCRC! SoCalAMX has become a chartered club of the national AMC club known as AMCRC, or AMC Rambler Club. Although membership in AMCRC is not required for membership in SoCalAMX, it is encouraged that everyone join AMCRC to support the national and local clubs, and the AMC hobby in general. To join AMCRC go to amcrc.com and click on the Join link on the side. What do you get for joining AMCRC? You get a Start Up Packet, a quarterly publication, and Services. Read about the details at: FREE! FREE! FREE! I hope that grabbed your attention. The SoCalAMX.net monthly newsletter has a nominal cost of $0.00 per issue due to the availability of Internet delivery. If you have problems downloading the newsletter I will make arrangements with you to send a copy via the United States Post Office, for a small fee to cover postage. The newsletter is published in the Adobe.pdf format because it can be viewed across all computer platforms such as Windows, Mac, and Linux. You can always download the most current version of Adobe Reader X (ver. 10.x currently) at their web site (adobe.com). Sometimes, if you re having a problem viewing a.pdf document, installing a fresh copy of Adobe will cure your problem. Adobe s new Reader seems to load much faster than past versions, but be informed the download is about 52 meggy bites!. The newsletter is available for downloading at All back issues will be available as they are published monthly. If you have received a notice for this newsletter and wish to be taken off simply me at mightypilot@gmail.com and I ll get you off the list promptly. Just think how busy I ll be if articles are submitted to me, by you, members of SoCalAMX? Send all submissions, pictures and text, to mightypilot@gmail.com and I ll do my best with them. The deadline for the following month s newsletter is the 15th of the current month. Mark Melvin, SoCalAMX Newsletter Editor 15