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20 Years ago Romney at the AMO Convention

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Category: American Motors Corp., its history and more.
Forum Name: In The Beginning..........
Forum Description: The formation of AMC - American Motors Corporation, discussion of how, when, what happened to form AMC
URL: https://theamcforum.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=61712
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Topic: 20 Years ago Romney at the AMO Convention
Posted By: 70 Donohue 390
Subject: 20 Years ago Romney at the AMO Convention
Date Posted: Jul/03/2014 at 7:47pm
Thanks to Eddie Stakes for posting this on The AMC List. George Romney former President of AMC speaks. 20 years ago AMC National Kenosha at The AMO convention, Denver, PA. Were you there? Fascinating insight from the TOP.  I wonder how many Forum members and their families are in these videos?  Some very profound observations in the second video.

Revised per ACTUAL/FACTUAL representation-Thanks Guys.
 
part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZHYbyA9Ovo" rel="nofollow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZHYbyA9Ovo
 
part 2
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKyzZhOeDL8" rel="nofollow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKyzZhOeDL8


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67 Rogue 290 Convert

70 BBO 390 5 Speed Javelin-under construction



Replies:
Posted By: 360MDJav
Date Posted: Jul/03/2014 at 9:44pm
I was there but did not see George Romney speak. I saw that later when I bought the video.
I brought a Matador Red/Shadow mask '70 AMX to the show.

It was the Denver, PA meet in 1994.

Alan


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1970 Big Bad Orange Donohue
1971 ADPS Javelin
1973 Javelin/AMX 401


Posted By: Rogue401
Date Posted: Jul/04/2014 at 1:15am
We saw him at the PA show. I thought he was great, but some people didn't.


Posted By: brownspirit
Date Posted: Jul/04/2014 at 9:51am
The insight into amc was interesting other than that he is a typical wind bag politician....useless.

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69' BBB AMX 390/4-speed

69' s/crambler project

69’ International F210d Cummins/5+4


Posted By: ronte
Date Posted: Jul/04/2014 at 12:31pm
George Romney speaking in Denver, PA meet in 1994.  I enjoyed the talk a lot!  The show too!  
It was a three club meet.  AMCRC, NAMDRA and AMO.  Drag Racing on Sunday!

How could that be twenty years ago?


Posted By: kcsamc
Date Posted: Jul/04/2014 at 3:48pm
That was our show! Yes hard to believe 20 years ago. That event took 22 months of intense planning. I'll just say that convincing 3 clubs to do one event was full of interesting stories..... But we pulled it off and had a great drag race event on Sunday as the afterglow!

I still remember my little 18 month old daughter dancing with Elvis at the Thursday night cruise like it was yesterday....

It was a privilege to have a once in a lifetime shot of not one but 3 AMC big name speakers for that event.

Today though the park is an unused, overgrown, and unkept facility. Tragic on that account.

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Kevin Shope
1964 Classic 660
https://theamcforum.com/forum/rare-ragtop-rogue-refurb_topic112071.html" rel="nofollow - 67 Rogue 290-4V 4spd Conv
A-Scheme SC/Rambler (69 SC JOURNEY)


Posted By: Rogue401
Date Posted: Jul/04/2014 at 5:55pm
My wife and myself were there with her Rogue convert when it was mostly original. I took a lot of slides. I remember it was around 100 degrees, so you couldn't do much, but it was probably the best AMC show we've ever been too. I'll try to dig out the slides and start scanning them. Also have slides of Kenosha, probably in the late 80s(?) we drove out 12-14 hours in Wayne's first BBO AMX with 3:91 gears and Trendsetters. I think there were three AMX/3s there. Another great show!


Posted By: mramc
Date Posted: Jul/04/2014 at 6:14pm
I am there also, and I did talk briefly with George for a couple minutes. He did not remember much on his old AMC days and was more interested in his son trying to run again Ted Kennedy for senate in Massachusetts. I probably have photos from then also. Hard to believe it's been that long ago. Like most people memory fades after a couple decades. LRDaum  

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LRDaum


Posted By: kcsamc
Date Posted: Jul/05/2014 at 7:23am
Rogue401 - LOL, yes the temperature was the only thing we could not control, and humidity here in PA in the mid summer is unbearable, but at least it didn't rain!

BTW - the banners for that show were stolen (or taken without permission...). If anyone knows the whereabouts of those banners, we would like to hear from you. They were the ones made special for the front of each host motel for AMO and AMCRC. There were taken sometime between dark on Saturday night and early Sunday morning. I guess we mistakenly thought all AMC people were honest folk, but were proven wrong. If you've seen them displayed somewhere we would appreciate hearing about them anonymously.

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Kevin Shope
1964 Classic 660
https://theamcforum.com/forum/rare-ragtop-rogue-refurb_topic112071.html" rel="nofollow - 67 Rogue 290-4V 4spd Conv
A-Scheme SC/Rambler (69 SC JOURNEY)


Posted By: 6PakBee
Date Posted: Jul/05/2014 at 9:08am
Two things struck me during the second video.  First when he mentions the coming influence of the Asian automakers other than the Japanese.  And now we have Kia and Hyunda.

I also am not one for the huge salaries that CEO's are paid but sometimes it appears they are worth it.

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Roger Gazur
1969 'B' Scheme SC/Rambler
1970 RWB 4-spd Machine
1970 Sonic Silver auto AMX

All project cars.

Forum Cockroach


Posted By: jpnjim
Date Posted: Jul/06/2014 at 8:11am

Thank you for posting this!


That was a brutally hot weekend, and obviously not everyone there was looking for 

a social-political message,

but even still Mr Romney was a fantastically interesting person to meet and speak with.

We ran into him after his speech and his message and perspective delivered one on one came through as an honest, caring man, past his political prime who just wanted better things for this country.

I'll leave it at that, because most clicking this thread aren't looking for a social-political message either.




Posted By: CamJam
Date Posted: Jul/09/2014 at 1:46pm
Mr. Romney had a lot of common sense and probably would have made a good president.  I'm not a religious man-- which Romney obviously was-- and do not subscribe to the notion that religion and morals are mutually exclusive, but if a common-sense man like Romney can keep his religion separate from his politics, he'll get my vote.

The problem with sensible people like George Romney though is that they are often sensible to a fault.  Like Henry Ford, I think Romney failed to see that people often want something more than cheap, practical transportation.  He was smart enough that he probably would have adapted, but I don't think you'd have ever seen something like the Mustang originate under a company run by George Romney.  He deserves credit for the '63 Classic and probably the '64 American, which were attractive, competitive and successful vehicles, but a company cannot profit solely on low-priced products.





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'73 Javelin 360 (current project)
'72 Baja Bronze Javelin SST
'69 Big Bad Orange AMX (2018 Teague Heritage Award) SOLD



Posted By: amcglass
Date Posted: Jul/14/2014 at 5:29am
Originally posted by ronte ronte wrote:

<span ="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px; ">George Romney speaking in Denver, PA meet in 1994.  I enjoyed the talk a lot!  The show too!  </span>
<font ="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span ="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;">It was a three club meet.  AMCRC, NAMDRA and AMO.  Drag Racing on Sunday!
</span>
<font ="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span ="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;">
</span>
<font ="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span ="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;">How could that be twenty years ago?</span>


I remember that show in Denver    they had the sc/hurst ramblers all parked together by the fence when you come into the show floor

ahhhhhhhhhhh memories   

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Javmanpres

BBG Mark Donohue 401

74 Jav/AMX
71 Matador 2dr sedan delivery wagon
1902 Rambler Runabout   
70 T/A Javelin


Posted By: kcsamc
Date Posted: Jul/14/2014 at 6:10am
Originally posted by amcglass amcglass wrote:



I remember that show in Denver    they had the sc/hurst ramblers all parked together by the fence when you come into the show floor

ahhhhhhhhhhh memories   


To "picture" that memory, go to this thread link:

   http://theamcforum.com/forum/69-sc-journey_topic46233_page4.html


-------------
Kevin Shope
1964 Classic 660
https://theamcforum.com/forum/rare-ragtop-rogue-refurb_topic112071.html" rel="nofollow - 67 Rogue 290-4V 4spd Conv
A-Scheme SC/Rambler (69 SC JOURNEY)


Posted By: maynardk
Date Posted: Jul/14/2014 at 10:17am
Does anyone have a photo of the missing banner(s)?


Posted By: 71SC360
Date Posted: Jul/15/2014 at 6:17am
I was there too. I couldn't sit through that speech in person 20 years ago, I don't think I could sit through it now on video either. I've never been much on speakers, even when I am interested in what they have to say.


My best memory of that show were two things... The parts at that show were pretty good, both sales and purchases.
The other memory was having breakfast in Zinn's diner with my Father in the booth right next to the booth that David Simon was in. We were eaves dropping in on his conversation with someone (can't remember who) and he was bad mouthing my father for his involvement in the AMC hobby, just about the whole time we were sitting there. The irony was, David had never met my father and didn't know who he was but he had a lot to say about him. We had more laughs that morning than I can remember, and to this day still talk about it and get a good laugh.



Posted By: kcsamc
Date Posted: Jul/16/2014 at 9:44pm
Originally posted by maynardk maynardk wrote:

Does anyone have a photo of the missing banner(s)?


I did a quick look back through some archives. I don't think I have photos, but somewhere I think I do have the original sketches of the ideas. A fellow club member had hand painted the banners. They were similar in theme as the back of the T-shirt design (see below, the bottom colored image - it was a takeoff of the Amish buggy / SC/Rambler). I know the one had the PA Dutch words: Offen der Gas (off the gas) and something else about arriving.

If I find my original artwork file as I go through things I will post what I have, but I know that I don't have photos of the displayed banners - but I am sure someone out there did, as they were popular and very unique for the event. I was very disappointed that they were taken. Being stolen, they really can't be displayed publicly nor resold without being found out as the thief, not sure how that brings any satisfaction.



-------------
Kevin Shope
1964 Classic 660
https://theamcforum.com/forum/rare-ragtop-rogue-refurb_topic112071.html" rel="nofollow - 67 Rogue 290-4V 4spd Conv
A-Scheme SC/Rambler (69 SC JOURNEY)


Posted By: Fluffy73
Date Posted: Sep/01/2014 at 5:03pm
Originally posted by CamJam CamJam wrote:


The problem with sensible people like George Romney though is that they are often sensible to a fault.  Like Henry Ford, I think Romney failed to see that people often want something more than cheap, practical transportation.  He was smart enough that he probably would have adapted, but I don't think you'd have ever seen something like the Mustang originate under a company run by George Romney.  He deserves credit for the '63 Classic and probably the '64 American, which were attractive, competitive and successful vehicles, but a company cannot profit solely on low-priced products.


You may have a point in that, but Mr. Romney seemed to be a foreward-thinking man.  How many times did he refer to the Rambler as 'the car of the future'?  While I don't think he'd have had the forethought to originate an idea like the Mustang, I get the impression that he was an intelligent man smart enough to see the writing on the wall and identify the market for sporty, compact cars. If Mr. Romney had continued with AMC, we might have gotten the Tarpon instead of the Marlin.  The Tarpon would've shared numerous components with the other production cars, thereby keeping costs down but still remaining competitive in the marketplace.


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I am genetically incapable of being Politically Correct.


Posted By: bjers
Date Posted: Nov/16/2014 at 9:09pm
excellent information. thanks!


Posted By: THE STING
Date Posted: Nov/28/2014 at 6:47pm
Interesting...thanks


Posted By: Concours dude
Date Posted: Aug/13/2015 at 8:59pm
Originally posted by CamJam CamJam wrote:


Mr. Romney had a lot of common sense and probably would have made a good president.  I'm not a religious man-- which Romney obviously was-- and do not
subscribe to the notion that religion and morals are mutually exclusive, but if a common-sense man like Romney can keep his religion separate from his politics, he'll get my vote.

The problem with sensible people like George Romney though is that they are often sensible to a fault.  Like Henry Ford, I think Romney failed to see that people often want something more than cheap, practical transportation. " He was smart enough that he probably would have adapted, but I don't think you'd have ever seen something like the Mustang originate under a company run by George Romney.  He deserves credit for the '63 Classic and probably the '64 American, which were attractive, competitive and successful vehicles, but a company cannot profit solely on low-priced products.


The Rambler Rebel was produced under during his reign. 327 V-8, 4 barrel, solid lifters.





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Past owned:
62 Classic 400
1976 Hornet
65 440 H
61 Amb
59 Classic wagon
55 Ambassador Sedan
54 Ambassador Country Club
AMCRC #1929
AMO #10029


Posted By: 68-73 amx
Date Posted: Aug/14/2015 at 1:50am
I was there. First AMC show for me. I wore the t- shirt for 10 years or so. Stinking hot,  even for a PA. boy.



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