Wait for 05 TJ or get an 04? Any Advice?

Missing dents and mud?

Eric

Did you ever see a Rambler?

The new 2005 catalog is available at the dealer. I got one today. lime green is still in there. The dealer says the six speed will allow for an lower crawl as well as a better overdrive for better mpg. This looks like the only major change. How many bugs can really go wrong? I mean, they aren't doing a makeover and the 97-04 tranny is said to be crap as well, though I never had problems. Hell for 05, besides the tranny, everything else is pretty much the same as my '98!

Jeff

The new 2005 catalog is available at the dealer. I got one today. lime green is still in there. The dealer says the six speed will allow for an lower crawl as well as a better overdrive for better mpg. This looks like the only major change. How many bugs can really go wrong? I mean, they aren't doing a makeover and the 97-04 tranny is said to be crap as well, though I never had problems. Hell for 05, besides the tranny, everything else is pretty much the same as my '98!

Which one? They used two different ones in that year range.

-jeff

I spent a lot of time in Ramblers owned by relatives and friends. Because I knew the cars pretty well, I was never dumb enough to buy one.

RJ

AMC and it's earlier incarnations pioneered quite a few innovations. Pineers are easy to identify, they're the ones with the arrows in their backs.

Back in the early '70's I had the misfortune to own a '64 Rambler station wagon which became a work vehicle (I was a musician at the time and a guitar & amp fit quite well in the back.) With about 75k on the clock the thing drank about a quart of oil every 100 miles (worn valve guides) and one could listen closely and hear it rust. There were large rust holes on top of the the front fenders, which the subsequent owner filled with concrete.

Regardless, it had great A/C (GM) and superb seats, which reclined all the way enabling much more comfortable in-car sexual acts with assorted girlfriends brave enough to be seen in the car, let alone with me. Ten years later the subsequent owner had driven it all over the USA on camping trips and claimed all he diud was tune it once in awhile and replace the valve stem seals, which cut the oil consumption a great deal. It remained a hopeless rust bucket and eventually was sent off to the scrap heap when the rear door mounts started to fall off. At that point he claimed it had gone more than 300k miles.

Heh, now if it had leaked as well, it would have been just like a Brit car of the period :-)

By the way Bill, AMC didn't make the Avanti!!! Studebaker did. (You're forgiven.)

Studebaker & Packard were mfr'd in South Bend IN near my hometown. Not sure if AMC ever produced anything there after they bought them out in the early

For that matter, the AMC engine plant in Kenosha WI is now a park and condos. When the plant complex was removed, I understand they had to haul out hundreds of tons of contaminated soil before they could build anything on the site.

That's right.

The Lakefront plant was once owned by the Simmons Mattress Company. I'd have to look at some of my old Kenosha history books to get the date that it was built. I think it was Simmons who built it sometime in the late 1800's...

The current Chrysler engine plant (where the 4.0 Liter Jeep engines are made, at least for now) is still in operation in Kenosha. I seem to recall that Chrysler razed a lot of the older structures at that site, and rebuilt, too. There are parts of the current plant that haven't been touched are are still in use, though.

When I was a kid, the current engine plant housed the final assembly line(s), while the Lakefront plant held other operations (which may have included AMC's engine plant back then. I don't know, because I never toured it. I did tour the final assembly plant back in the 80's when they were building Omnis and Horizons there.)

In AMC's time, it was a real inefficient operation (by today's standards) where unfinished chassis were trucked from the Lakefront plant, about 30 blocks west for final assembly. I'm think that Chrysler never utilized the Lakefront plant during their ownership. In fact, I doubt that Renault did either since I mostly remember the Lakefront plant being vacant. I may be wrong about this, though...

-John (from Kenosha)

P.S., I don't and never did work for Chrysler. Although my current employer does supply software to them -- although not to any operations in Kenosha. I thought I'd mention that so I'm not labeled a Nazi or anything... :)

My grandfather did work for AMC at the Kenosha assembly plant. He worked there his whole life and retired sometime in the very late 60's or very early

John,

Nice bit of history. I only knew that because my sister in law (until recently) lived in Kenosha (husband worked for DeLuxe) and when we visited we went down to the lakefront, that's when I learned it was the site of the AMC engine plant.

Pretty cool, on a clear day you can see the Chicago skyline from there.

Kenosha is a real "interesting city". There's quite a bit of history for a city that's overshadowed by both Milwaukee and Chicago. Kenosha is also the home of both Snap-On and Jockey.

I had the opportunity to tour AMC's former proving grounds this summer with the American Motors Owner's group. It's currently owned by a company called MGA Research. Here's the test track and facilities that we got to drive on:

The do have an off road track where they claimed that AMC used to test Jeeps at. We didn't get to tour that, though. I wonder if they'd be receptive to renting the facility out to Jeep groups? :)

-John