Reminds me of one of the TREEHOUSE OF HORROR episodes of The Simpsons..

It was a spoof of the William Shatner/Twilight Zone episode where Captain Kirk sees a monster on the wing of an airplane. Anyways, in the Simpson episode, Bart sees a monster outside the bus and yells to the driver, "OTTO!!! There's a gremlin outside the bus. Otto looks and sees an AMC Gremlin being driven by Moleman... :D

Guess ya had to be there, but trust me. It was funny.. :D

Michale.....

One more thing. I was hit by a (brand new) early-80s Audi Fox going 50-60 mph, on my rear-drivers corner. The impact swung my car around in a perfect 180 -- I arrived on the other side of the intersection FACING BACKWARDS, perfectly in the lane I was supposed to be in (to give you some idea of the force of the impact). The Audi looked like an elephant had stepped on it -- one-fourth of its engine bay was just GONE -- smushed! I banged my car's dent out with a sledgehammer later, and had to spring for a junkyard taillight cover. Oh, and the radiator had to be fixed (the mounts were wonky on my Rambler, and every accident I ever had with that car, the fan took a bite out of the radiator as a result), but that was the sum total of my damage.

As I said, "tanks have their charms, too."

:-)

I was pleasantly surprised, years later, to return to the intersection in question and see that it had been totally redesigned to eliminate the blind spot which caused this accident. So there is a happy ending to the story...

-CW

Why set aside the glories of underground comix? It is a rich and untapped vein of discussion...

:-)

-CW

They just don't build 'em like that anymore, do they?

My personal opinion: the automobile industry started going downhill when it rejected the effusive use of chrome.

Discuss amongst yourselves...

:-)

-CW

Excellent! My first car was a '65 Pontiac Catalina Ventura. I loved that grand old white land shark.

My own first car was a '74 Pontiac Catalina. While driving home from school once, I was rear-ended by an '85 Buick Skylark at 45 mph. The Buick was totaled; the sum total of damage to the Catalina was a cracked taillight cover. The experience gave me an appreciation for why old-timers detested fuel efficiency. It also showed the difference a decade of design can make.

As for the military Humvee, it actually comes in several different models adapted for different roles; but the unifying advantage the vehicle has is that it will literally GO. ANYWHERE. The one I drove in the Army had a stronger suspension and a built-in generator to run an enormous, one-ton electronics hut on the back -- yet I could easily take it up 40 degree inclines, muddy river banks, and over frightening rock climbs.

If I have one complaint about the military vehicle, it's that our stripped-down M998s were far more expensive than necessary. The US Army pays out about $60k for a vehicle with canvas top, no AC, power windows, or radio -- about $10k more than the enclosed civilian version with all options included. One motor sergeant I knew would order the GM 3-speed transmissions on the civilian market for a third of the price the Army paid to the manufacturer.

Setting aside the fact that you're a fellow connoisseur of underground comix, the story of the Humvee's design is really a testament to the doctrinal changes under President Jimmy Carter. So many of the weapons systems America still counts on were originally designed between 1977 and 1980; the Humvee is contemporary with the M1 Abrams tank, the Bradley Armored Fighting Vehicle, and the M80 five-ton truck. Contrary to what we've been told by the Reagan legacy project, it was Carter's decision to revamp the US Army for the Cold War challenge of Europe in the 1980s that led to these superior weapons that still outclass the most modern Russian equivalents.

the last vestige of my first website, archived by a fellow AMC enthusiast.

Just for everyone's curiosity. The image links seem to be broken, it used to have a clickable map to see possible junkyards with Ramblers in them all over the US (and some junkyard photos of AMC cars as well...)

-CW

Well, the car was over a decade old when I got it, if that helps.

The Golden Hawk is one of the most beautiful cars ever made. And AMC buffs welcome the Studebaker fanatics with welcome arms, seeing as how they share a history. Personally, I like the Studebaker wagon with the retractible roof.

Elizabeth -

I'm not saying everyone should drive them, but I'm glad the military HMMWV is still made in America...

:-)

-CW

PS. My first foray into the world wide web (still pops up in occasional Google searches on my name, even though it's been offline for years... although the "AMC Junkyard List" may still be around...) was called the "SC/Rambler Page".

I love your history lessons - no one does it better!