> From: bbgamx <
bbgamx@pcisys.net>
> Date: Mon Jul 4, 2005 10:16:53 PM US/Pacific
> To: ebaymember
> Subject: Re: Question for item #4560036711 - AMC : AMX
>
> Hi,
> Larry wrote the following to try to answer your questions.
> Regards,
> Doug
>
> I have no way to get the car up in the air far enough to try and get
> under
> it for any meaningful pictures. No gas stations exist anymore around me
> that have service bay and lifts. What few "garages" are around
have
> lifts
> with cars on them being serviced, I have tried them in the past and
> none
> want anything to do with stopping a mechanic from working to allow me
> to
> pull a car in since I have never been a customer of theirs in the first
> place. All I can do is lie on my back and look up as best I can. With
> that
> as a limitation as well as being 61 years old with osteoarthritis in my
> back and hip, I can not see anything that jumps out at me as being
> evil.
> But, that does not mean that the undercarriage is "flawless"
and I can
> see
> and judge everything. I just don't see anything to get excited
about
> from
> my limited visual observations but that is NOT a 100% guarantee. I have
> never gone over this car underneath a fine-tooth comb and neither has
> Charlie. I very much invite you to come and observe the car yourself or
> send someone to do such for you. I will pick you or them up at DIA and
> bring you/them to the car, provide jackstands and a floor jack and you
> may
> examine the car in detail to your satisfaction or dissatisfaction.
> Certainly no charge to pick up or take you back to the airport. As far
> as
> evidence of some damage from the 1977 episode, I invite you to reread
> the
> text where I state that the apron behind the headlight on the driver's
> side
> was wrinkled in the original accident and was never replaced or
> cosmetically pounded out. It is again, not "evil", but when you
open
> the
> hood and look, you can easily see it. I presume it is where the leading
> outside edge of the driver's side fender (I made a mistake in the early
> text and said "right" fender, but it was actually the right
rear
> quarter
> and the left front fender) was pushed back into the apron. One could
> pull
> the fender and replace it or pound it out. It is there, but certainly
> is
> not a "$3,000" fix if one even wanted to.
>
> I also state that there is a mismatch in the lower pass side rear
> quarter
> to the door as a 6-inch or so curve between the two is off by 1/8 or
> so of
> an inch and I feel it is not the door adjustment, but average 1977
> bodywork
> on a "used" car of the day and insurance company standards
then. (And
> today, too!) The paint also has some flaws in that rear quarter
> between the
> lower door and the front of the rear fenderwell BELOW THE BELTLINE in
> an
> area about the size of the palm of your hand--not including fingers.
> (Same
> area of the slight inconsistent contour.) It was an area worked in the
> 1977
> accident and the area not feathered out well before painting. As damn
> nice
> as the rest of the car/paint is, I might assume it was missed by a
> bodyman
> who, typically, will not get down on his knees to work on a car below
> the
> beltline if he can get away with it. Sidepipes were not damaged in that
> accident, fyi. It does seem to contain a shallow amount of filler with
> my
> refrig magnet. No rust, no real "dents", no chipped or peeling
paint.
> Like
> I said in the text, that area below the bodyline can be contoured by a
> good
> bodyman, computer color matched (there is no paint fade or clearcoat to
> contend with) and shot with the rear edge of the door, the bodyline
> and the
> lip of the fenderwell as the breaks with a fine fade into the narrow
> area
> of the kickout. It could be done for $500 or less--consider that when
> bidding. Again, there, not eveil, look at the pictures. It is
> something 90%
> of eBay sellers would not even mention.
>
> In 1977, I said I was at the shop for 20 minutes and left. I was
> looking at
> a used car to buy and sell that was damaged, but not "totaled"
out by
> the
> insurance company. I did not get a detailed description of what they
> had
> done or were doing 27 years ago other than what I saw. When they
> called me,
> I went and saw the car, it looked fine to me sitting on the tires, I
> drove
> it down the street--it drove straight and true then (and did recently)
> and
> I bought it. Charlie drove it 300 miles home from Rockford when he
> bought
> it in 1977 or 8, drove it to 500 miles to Kenosha and back one time
> with
> his wife and somewhere in time the tires went on the car and it was
> aligned. And a couple thousand around his area in summers. I have not
> seen
> the car until recently in the 27 years Charlie has owned it. Hence, I
> can
> only do so much on my own and certainly am not going to say I know
> this car
> like the back of my hand. If you can not come and look at the car to
> your
> satisfaction, there is only so much I can do and say. I state this car
> is
> not "flawless", not "perfect", not an untouched
virgin right off the
> Kenosha Assembly line and stored in a vacuum for 35 years. And, I
> worked
> for Chrysler at the Belvidere, IL Plant from 1968 to 1972 while going
> to
> college on the GI Bill. One night we heard a major crash at the end of
> the
> Final Line. Two cars coming off the floor dynos on the twin Final
> Lines hit
> head on because a relief driver turned left instead of right under
> power.
> Chrysler pulled the cars off the line, put them in a staging area,
> replaced
> both front fenders, hoods, grilles, valences and bumpers and related,
> slopped them with air-dry paint and shipped them out to the dealers.
> From
> that day forward, I'm not about to make statements about things I
> haven't
> lived with since birth. Could there be "damage" I don't know
about
> and/or
> can't see with or without my glasses? Charlie doesn't knows about? It
> is
> possible. From even before it left the factory, in the period the
> first guy
> owned it but before the first time I saw it? Damage I was not told
> about
> when I saw the car at the body shop? Even since Charlie had it but he
> has
> forgotten at age 74? Anything is possible and you and I know it. You
> can
> only satisfy yourself thru your own eyes, not mine. It is rumored (I
> make
> no statement I personally know is 100% true) that the 69 that sold for
> $57,000 at Barrett-Jackson had rusted out floor sections at one time
> that
> no one has ever been told about and that the factory AM-FM radio was
> inop
> and the A/C never even given the time of day during restoration and it
> was
> totally inop, the last things I know are true.
>
> I do not mean to be mean here. It is just that as limited as I am in
> looking at a car in my garage and in driving the car and it runs
> straight
> and true and I am not knowingly selling a car that has been rolled 3
> times
> in its life and you have the right to come look at it and I will make
> it
> easy for you if you want--it is up to you to make the judgement based
> on
> any and all the information you are willing to muster. I think brake
> seals
> on all four corners are getting marginal, but the master cylinder has
> not
> gone down in the month or so I have had the car and the 100 miles I
> have
> driven it on the highway and around town. You could buy the car and not
> have to do anything for another few years. Or they could start seeping
> tomorrow. Though resealing the front calipers and rear cylinders and
> even a
> new master cylinder are not going to up anyone upside down in the car.
> I
> don't think I ever bought a car I didn't find something not fully
> right on.
> Including my 2001 Jeep Wrangler I bought new, ordered out and the big
> Dana
> 44 rear axle had an improperly heat treated bearing and chewed up
the
> Twingrip and ring and pinion just off warranty. The dealer took care
> of it
> and boned Chrysler lying about the miles as my wife just had paid cash
> for
> a new loaded Liberty..
>
> I can try and take some pictures of as much as I can do with the
car
> sitting on the ground. Sorry, I refuse anymore to get under a car on a
> jack.
>
> The decision to bid or not--is up to you. This is not an "evil"
car in
> my
> opinion.
>
> Larry