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JDaly

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    Javelin and the 180 degree American Motors Turn

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by JDaly
    mis typing (see edit history)

    2 hours ago, John_S_in_Penna said:

    Accounts like yours should be preserved for 

    generations to come--in your family, and in the

    old-car hobby.  They are already fascinating 

    glimpses into history, and will become even more

    fascinating as the decades roll by.

    Excellent point John and that (recording history) is at least part of the reason I am writing these. The cars intersect with big family events AND with pivotal auto industry directions and they tell a little behind the scenes history. e.g. My grandfather's insistence on a Packard Limousine at my mom and dads 1947 wedding and what happened to Packard. Why Kelvinator, an appliance company got affiliated with American Motors and how it provided cars for our family throughout the 50's and 60's and so much more.

    Thanks for the encouragement.

    My Family and 1939 Buick Century 4 Dr. / Price and Position

    in Buick - Introduce Yourself

    Posted

    49 minutes ago, MCHinson said:

    Don't feel too bad. You are certainly not the first person to write a lengthy scholarly research paper who had to retract it after publishing. A lot of scholarly research papers turn out to be totally wrong.

    Well, I just crossed everything out. Premise smashed.

    They say arbitrager George Soros always assumed he was wrong and was ever ready to take an opposite currency postion.

    I thought I learned that lesson.

    But I keep forgetting how wrong I am.

    Thanks to all of you.

     

    And in EmTee's video words...

     

    "Oh well that's VERY different... nevermind,"

     

    Nice hanging around you Buick folks, as an interloper, for a while.

    I republished corrected / Chevy version here.

    Gratias.

    • Like 1

    My Family and 1939 Buick Century 4 Dr. / Price and Position

    in Buick - Introduce Yourself

    Posted

    Thanks for the corrections.

    Yikes. I am very sorry. A novice I am.

    So I will need to correct it to a 1940 Chevrolet Special Deluxe series KA?

    Just want to confirm.

    THanks, 

     

    (also, can you pinpoint the 1940 price of that Chevrolet Special Deluxe Series KA?)

     

    (also, takes away my entire story line on the fam being upper middle class. But that's OK>)

    VERY obliged to Matt, Machine Gunn, Barney, Matthew and 1939_Buick Club. Thanks.

    • Like 1

    Javelin and the 180 degree American Motors Turn

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On 12/28/2022 at 10:52 PM, f.f.jones said:

    Well, there are always two sides of a story. I bought a new AMX, 390 cu.in.,.... till the charm of a two passenger "sports car" quickly wore off and I was able to trade it in for half the purchase price value (remember, it was just one year old) against a Firebird 350, automatic which I happily drove until trading it in for a f-100 pickup in 1973.

    Now these AMX's are $20k+ collector items, but I am still quite happy I dumped mine over 50 years ago. Probably should have bought a Kelvinator - it would probably still be running great!

    Vey interesting F.F. Not great reliablity. With my father's deal we kept these cars only 6 months to a year and then got another so we never saw the full life.

    I can believe you ran into that though. My GM devoted friends would scoff at the plastic -y dashboard and I do remember a rattle developing in the driver's side window. Looked great, drove well while new but... not durable.

    I have driven only Toyotas or Lexi for the last 22 years and some of these have gone close to 300k. Very different than the AMX experience. Thanks for filling us all in.

    John Daly

    Javelin and the 180 degree American Motors Turn

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On 12/28/2022 at 9:13 PM, Larry Schramm said:

     

    Image result for kelvinator parent company
    We are part of the Electrolux Group, one of the world's largest producers of premium appliances - refrigerators and freezers, ovens, cooktops, rangehoods, washing machines and tumbler dryers, dishwashers, air conditioners and vacuum cleaners - for both domestic and professional use.

    Thanks Larry for answering James question on Kelvinator. AMC had sold the brand to White company and my father stayed employed as regional sales manager working for the distributor Northeast Distributors in Cambridge MA. 

    WHat I have heard is that they still hold good share in the commercial ice cream freezer market. 

    No more Foodaramas though. And not many old Kelvinator appliances still left at the Daly's homes

    Thanks

    • Like 1

    Javelin and the 180 degree American Motors Turn

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On 12/28/2022 at 10:16 AM, Jim Skelly said:

    I started to read about your family's cars.  Then a popup box stayed on the screen over the article, prompting me for my email address.

    Very sorry about that Jim. I have not encountered that before. It might have been Substack asking for subscription?? but usually one can x or cancel out of them.

    Here's a link to a pdf version of the post that will allow you to see it. 

    I hope this works.

    Thanks so much for letting me know.

    John Daly

    • Like 1

    A Car's Persona: Chrome Lettering and Emblems

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Stephen Coles wrote the book The Anatomy of Type and was a creative director at FontShop. 

    He also developed a body of under-appreciated auto-art work called Chromeography - an online archive of chrome lettering affixed to vintage automobiles and electric appliances.

     

    He saw that the various emblems and chrome lettering on older cars — the “bright work” — as not just the label and name for a car but also a main source of its personality -- especially  mid - twentieth century cars (50’s and 60’s). He felt that no-one seemed to be archiving, cataloguing, saving them. That set him on a project to photograph, label, tag and publish them. 

     

    Stephen talked about his Chromeography project,  at CreativeMornings Berlin, May 2012.

     

    I keynoted some highlights from his talk and posted them in a Substack Post Here.

     

    I think you'll enjoy it and its links to Stephen's work.

     

      

     

    CAFE the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards Actually Work

    in Automotive Legislation

    Posted

    ...and Happy New Year to you as well NTX5467 Willis

     

    You walked us through a very interesting and rich-with-insight story about the evolving "alternatives" to Internal Combustion Engine propelled vehicles,

    Very intereting.

    I feel the problem is not the individual cars but the entire transportation system.

    Just as the country was reaching the tipping point to going all in for cars (vs. trains or other mass transit options) in the 1920's Will Rogers said, "Good luck, Mr. Ford. It will take a hundred years to tell whether you have helped us or hurt us, but you certainly didn't leave us like you found us."

    It's now 100 years later and like the Yin Yang symbol ☯  its helped and hurt.

    Some pundits have pointed out that auto companies see electric vehicles as a way  to save the auto industry and EV's do not fundamentally improve our transport system. Traffic, parking, energy per mile, etc.

    (note that Disney World directs families to leave their cars far away as they monorail you into a car-free joyscape)

    Problems with they system will persist. For example, once we reduce the carbon emissions to stop adding to the green house cover that's heating us, we still have the problem of millions of cars spewing fine particle dust that's harming those living near roads and highways. As pictured here , from here.

    We are where we are and we'll need to keep satisficing and marginalizing.

    But it would be nice to get a do-over on the whole car / interstate system.

    John Daly

     

    1968 Javelin and American Motors 180º Turn

    in American Motors (AMC), Nash, & Rambler

    Posted

    The Javelin just  looked good, with a beautiful grill, large sloping windshield, long ‘semi’ fastback, flush mounted door handles and a lot of room. It looked much sleeker than a Mustang or Camaro or the other “cool” cars of the day.

    But how did we get here? How did American Motors the company offering economical and practical innovative alternatives to the Big Three’s dinosaurs suddenly come up with this gem at the head of the youth car class?

     

    Check out my substack post to find out

    You may find it interesting.

    John Daly

     

    And here's a hint (image).

    RomneyToAbernathyNoConsequences.png

    CAFE the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards Actually Work

    in Automotive Legislation

    Posted

    Larry Schramm,

    Thanks for your point.

    Yes the grid is fragile and the electricity sources do come from some fuel source.

    I guess folks are looking at the year to year increase in "% of generated electricity from renewable sources" (like solar) as a reason to prefer electric over fossil fuel.

     

    Another "shot" at the "everybody by electric cars now" fever dream involves the COSTS - as in carbon emissions to actually produce the cars... mining, steel creation, bending, grinding, shipping etc.  -- which often go uncounted in lifecycle carbon emissions analysis.

    According to the reasoning of this Guardian Article, we are better off, typically, milking as many more miles as we can out of our current rides as possible.

    That is the tack I am taking with our two 2009 Prius (Prii?)

    Thanks,

    john

    • Like 1

    CAFE the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards Actually Work

    in Automotive Legislation

    Posted

    DSailer.

    Thanks for your comments and insight. Well marked.

    Re "ceteris paribus" your point is well taken. So many variables get "in the way" in a real world system measure.

    We must take this data with appropriate grains of salt as you point out.,

    Re the jump from 2011 to 2012. Yes. Suspicious. I could not find an excel error in my sources.

    Here is the EPA site I retrieved the data from.

    And here is the downloaded data in Excel Pivot Table that I used.

    I used the 'estimated real world MPG' values.

    I reviewed but could not find the anomaly.

    I welcome any corrections. 

    re Obama era legislation. Yes, the Morning Consult Graph calls it out (yellow highlight below) but as it involved no change and just a continuation of the existing planned legislation I did not call it out.

    You have put your finger on a lot of good points.

    Thanks,

    john Daly

    ObamaNoChange.JPG

    American Motors and 1959 - the year they almost broke through...the Big 3

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Thanks Ed. Yes to that great looking Ambassador. Nice.

    We had one just like that only in station wagon form. a 1967.

    And it rode and handled beautifully.

    I attached a picture of it seen vaguely behind my brothers back yard hockey game.

     

    The Marlins were very unique indeed and quite the collectors car.

    BUt actually so is this unique Ambassador with the stacked headlights.... carried over to Jeeps when AMC bought them.

    John

    BackYardWrenStHockey_0001-X2.jpg

    • Like 1

    American Motors and 1959 - the year they almost broke through...the Big 3

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    THanks James. YES Ramblers' visual on unibody works extremely well... kudos to the market comms people at American Motors to convey it so clearly. Chrysler Airflow could have used that. And I agree on the Javelin, steep sloped windshield way ahead of its time and very cool styling. I drove the 6 cyl javelin regularly but was blown away when we got to try the AMX 289 and the AMX 360 with sticks. Incredibly fast and good handling.

    But the styling was way ahead and I felt the Camaros and Firebirds much inferior not to mention mustangs.

    John

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