General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMitt's father was "an auto executive"
I find it interesting that they never mention that the company in question was American Motors Co.
AMC cars were just awful. My first car was an AMC Hornet hatchback, and my family also spun the wheel a second time and bought the wagon. Of all the cars we ever had, there was no end of trouble with those two.
The Hornet was what you bought if you were too cheap to spring for a Chevy Nova...
Did anyone else own one of these things? One thing you could count on was every knob - the door locks, radio, window cranks, I mean EVERY knob - would come loose in under a year. Then the hatch pistons would fail, and the lock tumblers would wear out. They sort of ran okay, but the engineering of trim parts, seat mechanisms, etc. was consistently poor.
They always make him out to be "a successful auto industry executive" and never mention the truly shitty cars he cranked out.
And who can forget the zenith of AMC engineering:
I think "rust" was one of the factory-shipped options on that POS.
Politicalboi
(15,189 posts)Never had one. But was interested in it's sister The Adobe.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xkufe2_saturday-night-live-adobe_fun
No rust either.
snooper2
(30,151 posts)pscot
(21,024 posts)and was a pretty good car.
Politicalboi
(15,189 posts)It was powder Blue with tuck and roll interior. Back in the day where $200.00 could get you a running car. I'm not sure what he paid for it. It was a nice car.
KharmaTrain
(31,706 posts)We called it the rolling fishbowl. He had endless problems with the thing but managed to keep it on the road for 5 years until it rusted away...
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)AMC provided the cars for the James Bond flick "Man With the Golden Gun". Aside from the hilarity of Thai police using Hornets to chase Bond's Javelin, the flying Matador:
Odin2005
(53,521 posts)That period is when domestic cars developed a reputation for bring junk that they are now starting to escape from.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)But AMC was head and shoulders above the crowd in the sucktastic department.
Sure, the Chevy Vega, Ford Pinto, and a roster of other cars were horrific, but the entire AMC product line was a cavalcade of lemons.
yellowcanine
(35,701 posts)Most of those certainly didn't suck. There were issues around rusting out which the American car companies were very slow to fix but Japanese, German and French cars were just as bad on that score if not worse. Around 1972 with the half assed way many of the American auto companies met new emissions requirements, yes, many did suck in terms of performance, but still not at the level of AMC, which was just awful.
jorno67
(1,986 posts)Was that on Pappa Mittens watch?
IADEMO2004
(5,559 posts)Square headlights for Gods sake. AMF that was the big mfg. for bowling stuff owned HD during the 70's. Very dark times
jorno67
(1,986 posts)sorry I got them mixed up.
elleng
(131,107 posts)A little bit about George Romney:
Romney entered politics by participating in a state constitutional convention to rewrite the Michigan Constitution during 19611962. He was elected Governor of Michigan in 1962 and was re-elected by increasingly large margins in 1964 and 1966. Romney worked to overhaul the state's financial and revenue structure, culminating in Michigan's first state income tax, and greatly expanded the size of state government. Romney was a strong supporter of the American Civil Rights Movement. He briefly represented moderate Republicans against conservative Republican Barry Goldwater during the 1964 U.S. presidential election. He requested the intervention of federal troops during the 1967 Detroit riot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Romney
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)It just strikes me as odd that AMC is never specifically mentioned as the "auto company" in question.
This mystifies me in connection with editorial policies generally. A lot of times, news stories omit the names of companies, and sometimes in contorted ways. The "fired lifeguard in Florida" story this week is unusual in that regard, and really stood out for actually naming the company in question.
I'm sorry that you find a musing on editorial choices to be a call to "hate" of some kind.
elleng
(131,107 posts)You did, however, somehow leave the impression that whatever the father did, or didn't do, is an appropriate topic to consider, re: the current campaign. Otherwise, why post about him?
Editorial policies are pretty bad, generally, imo, and HEADLINES are among the worst! (Not relevant here, but Headlines happen to be in my radarscope at the moment.)
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Because it happens to strike my "odd bone" that the company itself is never mentioned.
Please accept my deepest and most sincere apologies for having occupied your valuable time with my passing musing about having had the misfortune to have owned an AMC vehicle.
elleng
(131,107 posts)Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)All of the auto executives at that time, exactly like today, were colluding to repress competition and suppress wages as their number one priority. Making cars & trucks was not even on a list of priorities. Busting unions was the paramount task for these parasites and it took them 50 years to accomplish.
Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)rurallib
(62,448 posts)I don't think George Romney deserves criticism for some of those dogs of later years.
The Nash Rambler wasn't a totally bad little car.
dembotoz
(16,832 posts)must more than the term executive.....
had 2 hornets and a gremlin
loved em all
1-Old-Man
(2,667 posts)I believe it was the last car made in this country to have a flat-head engine, everyone else having given them up the preceding decade. The brakes failed, the transmission failed, it would not start when hot, it certainly would not start when cold. The rear end blew and the windshield wipers were overpowered by a drizzle. Romneymobile would have been a good name for it.
yellowcanine
(35,701 posts)Of course Ford was still using them in 1960 also.
snooper2
(30,151 posts)Kind of a thread fail but gives me a reason to post this sweet vid
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)Archae
(46,346 posts)Above all, it was easy to maintain, I could actually get under the hood to check the oil, change the plugs, (straight 6,) I even put in a new starter.
Sure it had zero back set legroom, but I never had anyone in the back seat anyway.
yellowcanine
(35,701 posts)1970. I wasn't going to buy it, just curious. In the course of the conversation with the salesman, came to find out that you had to pay more for electric wipers - vacuum wipers were standard. I nearly laughed in the poor guy's face. Anyone who has ever driven a car with vacuum wipers knows why - they stop when there is a big load on the engine - such as when one is going up hill. So it may be snowing or raining hard but too bad - if you are going up the mountain you can't see anything.
Later when I was working for USDA I drove an AMC Hornet sedan a couple of times. Apparently AMC got the fleet contract one year. I noticed the poor trim and also how underpowered it was. The term "lead sled" was invented for this car. When climbing a mountain the darn thing would shift up and down with a LOUD roar over and over again. The only solution was to drop it into second gear and roar all the way up the mountain. AMC achieved a modicum of credibility when it acquired Jeep in 1970. But tellingly when Chrysler bought AMC in 1987 (talk about the blind leading the blind) the only AMC brands which survived intact were the Jeep brands. (The AMC Eagle, a sort of 4WD Hornet/Jeep/Renault survived for a while as part of the Chrysler Division Jeep-Eagle I believe).
HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)jberryhill
(62,444 posts)It's more of an observation of editorial practices.
xmas74
(29,676 posts)I even heard Mitt reference American Motors in a speech.
drm604
(16,230 posts)One day I had the hood open. I tried to close it and, instead of closing, it bent in half.
xmas74
(29,676 posts)It was a good place to work, paid good wages, unionized, a place a worker could support a family. I grew up with AMC-people were proud to work there. When the plant was closed it did some major damage to an entire community.
Can't believe I'm defending a Romney but George wasn't the downfall of AMC. Lee Iaccoca was the person who ended that line. I have nothing good to say about what was done to the workers of AMC.
Igel
(35,356 posts)Or would care.
It's like saying "Packard" or "Nash." Or even "Studebaker."
Nice cars at one point, but there's a reason most of the dead brands are dead.
Too much detail detracts from message.
onethatcares
(16,185 posts)Last edited Thu Jul 5, 2012, 06:46 PM - Edit history (1)
balls to the wall fast machine.
I owned a rambler ambassador four door beast that tossed timing chains on a whim.
All the Pacers, AMXs, Javelins, scramblers and hornets are getting very hard to find, in any condition.
ieoeja
(9,748 posts)Sort of like the last Republican president whose first job was Oil Company President. Though he did manage to work his way up from those humble beginnings.
DainBramaged
(39,191 posts)I disagree. I lived in this era. I had a friend that had a slightly modified AMX in the 11's in 1971. And the Hurst S/C Rambler, one of the best $2995 muscle cars ever made.
http://musclecars.howstuffworks.com/classic-muscle-cars/1969-amc-hurst-sc-rambler.htm