[Coco] CoCo crew old car reference

[Ron Klein]

Hi Gene,

You just keep getting better with age, sir.  Love the fact you dig cars!

Can we get a Coco for cars mail list?  :)

Thanks for sharing!

-Ron


On Fri, Jun 2, 2017 at 5:59 PM, Gene Heskett <gheskett at shentel.net> wrote:

> On Friday 02 June 2017 17:29:11 farna at amc-mag.com wrote:
>
> > I've had an AMC Rambler since 1979! A few might remember the 91-96 or
> > so CoCoFest years when I usually drove my green 63 American from
> > Warner-Robins, GA, to Elgin. One night Allen Huffman, Linda Podraza,
> > and someone else (can't recall now!) went into Chicago to eat at the
> > Hardrock. Taxi slammed on brakes in front of me in town on the way
> > home. I caught his back bumper on a front headlight. The headlights on
> > the old Rambler are at least 2' off the ground... that's how hard that
> > idiot stood on his brakes! Luckily I rode a motorcycle a lot -- as
> > soon as I saw he was going to stop I looked for a way out -- knew I
> > couldn't stop fast enough, even though I wasn't going fast or
> > following close. He started to go through a yellow light... gunned it
> > then changed his mind (no traffic, back road!) abruptly and stood on
> > the brake with both feet!! Well, at least he got out and looked at my
> > car, then his. Only bent the back bumper a bit on his late 80s LTD...
> > so he said no need to call the cops (might have been drinking...).
> > Jeez... well, thanks for that anyway! Fender was crushed into tire. I
> > had a tow strap in the trunk. Hooked it to lip of fender and a
> > convenient light pole, backed up and pulled fender out. Holed the
> > radiator, but I had a gallon water jug too! Filled radiator, drove 30
> > minutes or so, stopped, refilled, repeat twice more. Finally got in
> > about 4 AM IIRC!! Tony was a little worried...   What an adventure!! I
> > ended up staying at Tony and Linda's a couple days while a local shop
> > fixed the radiator, beat the fender into enough submission to drive
> > home. Got a LOT more comments at gas stations and such with the
> > crunched fender... lots of condolences!!
> >
> > Sold that car in late 1999 when I found my current 63 Classic wagon.
> > Built myself, everything but paint (and I did spray the interior paint
> > and primer on outside!).
> > Jeep 4.0L EFI engine, slightly modified, Jeep AW4 four speed (OD) auto
> > trans with custom manual shift controller, late 80s T-bird rack and
> > pinion steering, late 80s Jaguar independent rear suspension. Only
> > four wheel independent suspension/disc brake Rambler on the road! Also
> > has a cobbled together AC system with the original 63 inside unit,
> > Jeep 4.0L Sanden compressor, late 90s Chrylser LS parallel flow
> > condensor, universal dryer. Seats are from an early 90s Eagle
> > Premier... power buckets in front, along with the console from the
> > same. It's a mild hot-rod with the hopped up six. Still gets 22-24 mpg
> > on the highway, averages around 20 mpg combined. Built it to drive --
> > was my daily driver while I was in the USAF, from late 99 (well,
> > basically 2000) through 2008 or so. Retired in 2007, got a J-10 for
> > work around the house, later replaced with a Ranger. Wanted to rebuild
> > the J-10, just ran out of time/money... well, mostly patience as the
> > build was going too slow and I needed a truck! So sold the parts off
> > and got the Ranger. Worst thing I ever did!! Still have the 63 wagon,
> > doing some slight upgrade work on it now. Will be driving it up to
> > Kenosha, WI, in late July for an AMC Homecoming show, happens every
> > three years.
>
> Backup another 30 some years to when it said Nash on it, 49 Ambassador, 4
> door. The main thing it lacked was enough brakes to haul it in from
> around 120 mph without cooking the drums a 1/2" out of round.
>
> That big tall stroker of a 6 cylinder with teeny pistons running a 4 inch
> stroke was a blast.  I needed to snug up the conrods and reseat the
> valves shortly after I'd bought it, but in those days Motors had the cam
> timing figures right in their big blue book. Amazingly the timing was
> quite early, possibly to help the low end torque, but after doing a port
> and polish on the intake manifold, and finding a bigger throated Carter
> single barrel that I bought a bag of assorted jets and needles for, I
> lagged the cam timing a tooth on the chain.  It bucked the starter too,
> so I had to rig an ignition retarder, then pulled the timing back up for
> best idle.  By 2500 revs I could hear a light ping, so half the weights
> in the distributor left, then there were none on the next reassembly.
>
> That head, combined with flat topped pistons made a squish area that got
> more violent as the revs went up. That counteracted the lack of any
> spark advance over and above the 30 some degrees it idled best at.  The
> tappets were mushroom shaped faces, 2" in diameter, and the cam lobes
> were as square as any I've ever seen.  That engine could take a deep
> breath and mean it. It was full race then purposely detuned.
>
> But when the light turned green, and low gear had made it to around 2500,
> from there on it was Katy bar the door. This was circa late '55, and
> there was only one vehicle in Iowa City that could dust it, a 55 chevy
> with the 270 horse Duntov engine in it.
>
> Still single, I could throw a suitcase of dirty clothes in it, hit old US
> 6 for a run to the folks place in Redfield & use mothers old Easy
> Spindryer, about 30 miles west of Des Moines, running 90 to 125
> indicated all the way and getting at least 19 mpg.  Iowa had a speed
> limit on the open road in those days of "reasonable and proper". That
> was the funnest vehicle I ever had. Few factory cars could touch it. For
> the lean angles it gave in the corners, it still stuck like superglue.
> Some of those long sweepers on that old road I'd set it into the corner,
> straighten the wheel and steer with the throttle.  Highly enjoyable
> times, those.
>
> Back to your regularly scheduled programming now.
>
> Cheers, Gene Heskett
> --
> "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
>  soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
> -Ed Howdershelt (Author)
> Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>
>
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