SC/RAMBLER1969 (Hursts Anti-Sleeper): June 2008

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Q&A RESTORATION ONLY(How Do I Restore My Sc/Rambler)

We have access to very hard to get information .
Any questions will be answered promptly as possible .
And to the best ability of our team ...

We can add these Q&A's / hash outs into the Concourse area ,

Thanks
Bob

Another thing that should be written up , since this is a restoration Q&A . Are purpose of
restoration , goals . Is it being built to concourse , Driver , or hot rod . And outline what
the cars are valued at in each category . Have expectations listed ... What can be done yourself .
What you may want to hire out ...good to be realistic . And have this be a really challenging , but fun hobby . Might want to buy a restored car . All the information on what to look for in one area
is what we're trying to do ...Ask or offer info , and will post ...

Q: Are there any spacers used when bolting on the brake booster? How is this supposed to be mounted ?

Q: Is there any minutia details other than what is posted in the minutia area ?
Linc to minutia area here , http://scrambler1969.blogspot.com/2008/04/scr-minuitia.html

Q: Is it possible to have a concourse correct car ?

Q: Trunk Weatherstrip detail . This is where the weatherstrip butts together , Black electricians
tape is applied to cover this seam ...
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k25/underdog57/ScRTaillight0007.jpg

Q: What are the inconsistencies of the cars ? It looks like few actual differences ...
NOTE: There is a Inconsistacies area on the blog allready . But am looking to see if more might be known . Bob http://scrambler1969.blogspot.com/2008/05/sc-rambler-inconsistancies.html

Q: What are the Original mufflers ? Oval or round Thrush ? or both ...
A: Both . AMC GUY writes .
Thrush Mufflers: The generally used muffler was the round one. I have seen 6 original exhaust cars and all had the round mufflers. There were some states (ex PA) where glass packs were not legal. These states the oval muffler was used. Gordy said their cars came with the oval muffler. The oval muffler has been documented as being used.

Note: We have the dimensions supplied by Mike Lewis in the Concourse and Minutia Area
of the blog .

Q: Does a serial numbers list exist from the first to all the cars?
A: Serial #s , No list exists that I know of, of all 1512 serial numbers. There are some registry's out there. One is available at the 1512 Forum and I have maintained one for the last 15years. Mine has about 150 cars on it and patterns do emerge with blocks of A & B cars. The 1512 Forum has a very complete registry. AMC GUY

Note: Dave Landrith tried a few years ago , and is going to try again . Not looking good to
get a full list . He has access to a high up Manager at Chrysler, But the records are difficult to obtain . Bob

Q: Does it matter what type of paint is used in a judged event, Urethane , base coat/ clear coat,Enamel ?
A:Paint: No AMC club I know of is docking for using Base Coat Clear Coat or other substitutions in lieu of the original single stage finish. The Mopar Nats Platinum Class would demand that the original finish be duplicated with orange peel.AMC GUY

Q: Are the repro batteries correct ? the terminal posts have been questioned if they are in the right place ...
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k25/underdog57/Gordys0006.jpg
A: Repo Batteries: They are the best we have. Are they 100%, No. It always bugs me if someone goes to the time and trouble to do a repo why not do it 100%. Must be a tooling cost question.
AMC GUY

Q: Is new glass available ? Is it possible to repro the windshield after the OEM glass runs out ?

Q: TAIL LIGHTS How to restore and decipher the tail lights ?.
A : NOTE : Excerpt from a carburetor restorer ..
"The most well-known carburetor material is olive-green colored zinc. Zinc itself is a bright silvery metal that reacts with air and water to make a powdery white material often called ‘white rust’ . To prevent this, carburetor parts are treated in the factory with a chromic acid solution, which forms a thin layer of ‘zinc chromate’ on the surface of the metal. This very effectively protects the metal underneath from being damaged by water or air. This is why carburetors are usually green!"

I believe the coating to the entire tail light was zinc Chromate , and the reflective material is still unknown ...

Note 1 :From discussions with Mike Lewis and the scratch/sandpaper test . We have found that the taillights were never chromed , obviously pulled stock before the chrome process for the Sc/Rambler .

Note 2: A goldish thin coating of zinc chromate was used . Inside and out I found this was everywhere . Inside the trunk view you can see black over spray and the gold coating.

Note 3 :Outside view was painted black . The housing was painted separate from the car . I saw black paint under the tail light flange on the tail pan ...
Looking closer it looks like the tailight opening was masked somehow quick and did not allow
black paint in the trunk area ...
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k25/underdog57/ScRTaillight0006.jpg

Note 4 : It looks like an silver coating(Not Chrome) was applied to the inner housing for reflectivity. It does not flake like paint ??? . any clear info appreciated to solve this !

Photo's here ( tailights had never been chromed , notice under the sanded areas throughout )
Inside trunk view installed
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k25/underdog57/BobsscramblerPhotos0248.jpg
Trunk side view not installed, note the over spray .
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k25/underdog57/ScRTaillight0002.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k25/underdog57/ScRTaillight0003.jpg
Inside reflector coating with the gold exposed under the silver .
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k25/underdog57/ScRTaillight0001.jpg
Silver color reflector coating
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k25/underdog57/ScRTaillight0004.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k25/underdog57/ScRTaillight0005.jpg

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Parts Sheets

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Sc/Rambler Scrambler Judging Guidlines (Bump!)

UPDATE : I ordered a Restoration & Judging Guidline Manual . For the tri five chevy's .
It took $27.99 and four days to get this . Its a big manual and has a binder thats included .
This Type thing is Impossable to get for our cars . The Blog is free and eventually will be
"THE Guide" To restore our flashy hot rods ...

Pushed this to the top , as this needs to happen ..!!!
If any one has experiance Judging Sc/Rambler's , your contributions would be appreciated .

theamcguy said...
I have had lots of experience judging SC/Rs. What are we looking for here?
June 23, 2008 10:12 AM

Bob said...
Your experiance and knowledge of these cars is greatly appreciated .

Idealy would like to put together a guidline that would have info to do a very high quality judging .This might work so that the owners of the cars can have this with them to help a person not familiar with the specifics of these cars .I've never seen a judged contest , but thinking this would also help with restorations of the cars ..
I may buy a guide that classic Chevy has just to get an outline ..
June 23, 2008 1:13 PM
Thank you
Bob Rascoe

theamcguy said...
It has always bothered me too that after all these years none of the AMC Clubs have published a guide to be used in restoring the cars. There is a lot of information out there, it is just not all in the same spot. I think most of the major issues related to restoration of the SC/R have been talked about and hashed out but there is still some mis-information out there that leads to confusion. Would it be possible to start a restoration question & answer section. Have people submit the questions and we'll answer them. That would be a start.

Bill ,
We do have a Q&A section , and I feel your pain of getting a uniform as possible document
on these cars . Especially now with more interests in the cars ...

If it helps , I can put a post up for Restoration only Q&A's to keep it more focused.
Name it you got !
Very much looking forward to your input !

Thank you for commenting
Bob

Monday, June 9, 2008

WHERE CAN I GET BETTER SC/RAMBLER INFORMATION ???

Where can I get better SC/RAMBLER information ?

A: Go back in time , to around Febuary 1969 . Hang around with AMC line workers and Hurst people .Talk to Dave Landrith(President Of Hurst Ind. Detroit) , H L Shahan (Engine Builder).
H L Was the expert Man on all the SS AMX cars , tweaked the Sc/R's that were brought to orange County Speed way(Seven cars . Also more about Dave and H L on the blog ..

Hang out at the the third floor of the Kenosha building .Watch hurst's crew put the special parts on the cars . Be around the parking lot as the cars are awaiting delivery . Hop on the trains and car haulers . 1512 cars were factory original then .

Other than that , this blog and contributers of real info has no peer . Or I would be reading
the alternate "best " site . Other than that go to car shows , compare cars . Look for one owner original cars . Talk to Mike Lewis , Gordy Chilson , Joe Roberts , Jim McKee , Bill Strobel , Andre Jacobs . Eddie Stakes and others . Pour over any and every "small" home spun site's , web pages .Phone owners that have low miles cars , rare cars . Contact Linda Vaughn . Heck contact James Garner .A guy named Joe , Fred , owners of restoration shops ..all this and more to be continued on this blog !!!
hope thats worth you nickel !!
Bob Rascoe underdog@fairpoint.net

Thursday, June 5, 2008

FRED'S " JAMES GARNER" BAJA (AIR) CAR PLUS SC/RAMBER COLLECTION

First off , This is One of Two 1969 4X4 James Garner AIR Team Baja race cars .
There were Ten cars total , the remaining eight were 2WD ....
Read more about this here :
http://scrambler1969.blogspot.com/2008/05/amc-historical-persons-cars-events.html

Will put up the last name of Fred if he chooses ...

Been playing phone tag the past few weeks , left a message the other day . And unexpectedly
had the return call from Fred .. Very good car chat !! He is a very busy guy . And has a dream
car collection on steroids !!

We tailed about a gambit of cars . AMX II , AMX III , Roller AMX II and III cars . Roller is the cars built by AMC on a tight budget in 1969 . They had no drive train .
Fred noted that a guy he knows has one of the Roller cars , and wants to drive it . We both thought . No No . leave it original !!!

On Cars related to the Sc/Rambler , he owns the Baja car , and a 5,000 mile original Sc/Rambler.

Will firm up the previous owner of the Baja car before Fred bought it . Richard ???
Richard had a 4X4 shop . So bought the car years ago ..
The Baja car sat for years , and Richard's son brought it to a swap meet to finally try selling it .
It was offered at a low price and no one had interest in it (OMG)!!!

Finally it was put up on E-Bay auction . Fred wanted the car and was trying to do a buy it now.
$25,000.00 was offered and refused .. At this time the bids were around $8,000.00 .
Richard wanted the auction to run through .
The car ended with Fred getting the high bid to win the auction at $16,077.00 .
Richard was happy with what the car brought , and they did the deal perfectly ..

Another prized item is the Sc/R dealer promo kit . If the Dealer received two Sc's one of the cars would have the promo display package in the trunk .
The kit had the paper sc/r licence plates , and several cardboard items that were put on the car to point out a feature ...some were triangle to stand up and others lay down ...
This kit was about two foot by one foot ...

Here are some TEASER photo's of the Baja car ! First the story of the water color paint .
Richard was going to clean the Baja dirt off the car . His Wife was there and saw the water colors were being removed . She suggested that this was historical with all the names ect , and he should not remove ANYTHING . They both agreed to not touch it again ...
Guys , Listen to your wives ...!

Fred says the car is like it had left Baja yesterday !!! Here are the photo's
Car letters / names / insignia
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k25/underdog57/Baja2.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k25/underdog57/Baja1.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k25/underdog57/Baja.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k25/underdog57/Baja3.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k25/underdog57/Baja4.jpg
front wheel well area
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k25/underdog57/Baja5.jpg
Starter button ??
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k25/underdog57/Baja6.jpg
drivers seat
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k25/underdog57/Baja7.jpg
rear underneath
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k25/underdog57/Baja8.jpg

TOO BE CONTINUED !!!

Thanks to Fred for the exciting talk and photo's

Article by Bob Rascoe

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

H L Shahan AMC Talk Part One

Note : I have H.L.'s contact info and can easily reach him . So if there are any questions that he can answer , it will be no problem to ask ..

Will contact H L again , my phone made it difficult to have a good conversation .
This is what we talked about today . First I just want to mention the gratitude to H L
for the talk ...Very nice guy !

If you not familiar with H L , He was the guy that makes the cars go fast . Worked on the Hurst Hairy Olds , All 50 SS AMX . seven promo sc/rambler's . 15 promo Machines . plus a lot more.
His wife at the time was Shirley Shahan (Drag On Lady) .

This is coming from H L and is very interesting .

He worked for AMC on the Sc/Rambler .believe as a sub-contractor Said he had seven sc's delivered to him to prepare for the Orange County event . The Seven sc's had valve jobs (no porting) and better clutches installed ...this was the extent of the work done at this time .

At Orange County Speed way , the Dealers were given the opportunity to drag race the cars .
These are just regular guys , not drag racers . They did 14 sec et's at 101 MPH .
There was a big to do at this event , over 200 press people were there !

H L was given one of the seven cars to keep for himself . He put a cam in the car and
got the car to go 108 MPH in the quarter mile ...

Some believe H L's Sc/Rambler was the first car , its possible , but he has no idea .
Asked about the steering wheel center and the reply was : I don't pay attention to stuff like that .
Just make things go fast !

Later , he had the car painted blue and gave it to his daughter . She did not like the box look
of the car . It was sold . The guy blew the engine and had offered the car to H L again .
Too bad he turned it down . It's price has risen a lot since the past few years ...

This is as far as we went with the car chat , but will keep in touch . As questions come
up it will be great to have the help Of H. L.....

NOTE : WE do know who owns H L's Car . The owner wants to remain anonymous .

Interview by Bob Rascoe