Found this interesting....

Dave53-7C wrote:

"AMC, A Heritage of Crap" would be a more apropos title.

Which AMC cars did you own?

Many different models while in school. They ranged from late 50's models to those of the late 60's, All purchased from friends, neighbors and relatives unloading them. Although AMC cars were serviceable, all were cheap junk compared to those from the big three. How about you?

Dave53-7C wrote:

Many different models while in school. They ranged from late 50's models to those of the late 60's, All purchased from friends, neighbors and relatives unloading them. Although AMC cars were serviceable, all were cheap junk compared to those from the big three. How about you?

None, AMC was purchased by Chrysler the same year I turned 16. But I did grow up riding around in Gremlins, Rebels, Pacers and Ambassadors and the reliability of those cars were excellent, and my ancestors were known to be HARD on cars.

The AMC's I had experience with were built while Roy Chapin, Jr was in charge, you must've been driving those Romney Ramblers LOL.

royer wrote:

None, AMC was purchased by Chrysler the same year I turned 16. But I did grow up riding around in Gremlins, Rebels, Pacers and Ambassadors and the reliability of those cars were excellent, and my ancestors were known to be HARD on cars.



The AMC's I had experience with were built while Roy Chapin, Jr was in charge, you must've been driving those Romney Ramblers LOL.

So true Matt, those Romney Ramblers (Romblers) were sad. While I was in school, one friend had a Gremlin and another a Pacer. Again, in my opinion, those cars were of lesser quality than most. However, they sure did get around and nobody ever thought of stealing them, even if you left the keys in them.

I remember a interesting story that my father told me once about the time he worked for AMC at the Kenosha plant while he was stationed at Great Lakes. It was a part-time job, of course. The job paid minimum wage, but would bonus you for piece work above so many units.

He trained on the tailgate production unit for the Rambler, using a blue-print drawing that the engineer had detailed; he was required to spot-weld 48 locations on the tailgate unit. My father, dutifully spot-welded every unit as shown, always completing the required base amount of tailgates. But, it seemed he never could get fast enough to get into the piece work bonus money.

This was especially disturbing, as the guy next to him was turning out two or three to his one. Finally, my father asked the guy next to him to watch him put a tailgate together and see if he could give him some pointers or tips to speed his work.

After watching my father do a couple of units, the guy spoke up “Your putting too many spots welds in.” My father pointed to blue-print and said “I am getting every one shown”. The guy said “right, but I only do about a dozen”. My dad said, “What about the Inspector”? The man replied “Well if he sends one back throw a couple more in and send it along”.

After that, my father said he cut down the spot welds to about 24 and never got a reject, while the guy next to him was only spot welding about 12-14 and only got rejections when he went below that number.

So, I would assume that your “poorly made statement” is somewhat founded.

admin wrote:

I remember a interesting story that my father told me once about the time he worked for AMC at the Kenosha plant while he was stationed at Great Lakes. It was a part-time job, of course. The job paid minimum wage, but would bonus you for piece work above so many units.



He trained on the tailgate production unit for the Rambler, using a blue-print drawing that the engineer had detailed; he was required to spot-weld 48 locations on the tailgate unit. My father, dutifully spot-welded every unit as shown, always completing the required base amount of tailgates. But, it seemed he never could get fast enough to get into the piece work bonus money.



This was especially disturbing, as the guy next to him was turning out two or three to his one. Finally, my father asked the guy next to him to watch him put a tailgate together and see if he could give him some pointers or tips to speed his work.



After watching my father do a couple of units, the guy spoke up “Your putting too many spots welds in.” My father pointed to blue-print and said “I am getting every one shown”. The guy said “right, but I only do about a dozen”. My dad said, “What about the Inspector”? The man replied “Well if he sends one back throw a couple more in and send it along”.



After that, my father said he cut down the spot welds to about 24 and never got a reject, while the guy next to him was only spot welding about 12-14 and only got rejections when he went below that number.



So, I would assume that your “poorly made statement” is somewhat founded.

More like well founded, as in Packard's slogan, "Ask the man who owns one." No wonder the bodies kept falling apart on AMC cars. If we can find people who worked on the other lines, maybe they could explain the various nuts, bolts and washers often found floating around in AMC oil pans. Obviously, your father was too good of an employee.

No wonder I was able to buy AMC cars for next to nothing back in the day, I must have stumbled on the source of every one that had problems.