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Rare Ragtop Rogue Refurb |
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kcsamc
AMC Addicted Joined: Sep/03/2011 Location: Denver, PA Status: Offline Points: 1974 |
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Posted: Aug/18/2021 at 10:09pm |
All cars in one's collection has a story of how it was adopted into the herd at home. For me, this new member of the Shope herd came about much different than I would have laid out for a story, but here I am at the beginning of yet another journey.
At the beginning of May 2021, I was happy working on last year's acquisition, my son's 78 Gremlin GT which was getting a lot of attention in my shop. Things were good, but in the back of my mind I had been looking to finish fixing a few things on the 64 990H to prepare to put it up for sale in the coming year in order to make room for a long desired convertible of some make or model. I wasn't overly set on one particular convertible target and in fact thought it could be one of several mid to late 60s Brand X cars. I hadn't gotten real serious as I knew I was going to have to sell the 990H and then put some cash to it to get something decent. So on that fateful Saturday afternoon in early May, I was minding my own business, holding and enjoying the day with my 8 month old grand-daughter when one of my instigator friends texts me with a poke about why hadn't I bought this particular convertible.... I thought here we go, I'll bet this is some far flung pipe dream or something, but then the ebay link opened up and there sat the rarest of all AMC convertibles - a 67 Rogue D code M code convertible (290 4bbl 4spd). It was rough, but it was complete and through the 20 years of barn dirt grime, there were hints that it wasn't terrible - it could look decent with some part replacement and strong elbow grease. I knew that Mark Fletcher had the only other one I knew of, and that production numbers were in the very low double digits. The auction was ending in less than 48 hours, and a decision would have to be made quickly. I did not like, not having a chance to see the car first, but I was able to secure a conversation with the seller on Sunday that answered some questions and I got some additional photos of areas I wanted to see. Talking through values with a few friends and seeing the number in my head being confirmed by several friends, I decided to place a one time bid just prior to the lunchtime Monday auction end. As the final seconds ticked away, I saw my "wish" price evaporate and the number quickly approach my max bid. I figured it was gone to another, but just as things ended the number stopped climbing and ended just under my max number. It looks like multiple people agreed on the final value. I knew the car would need a full going through to make operational, and that there would be surprises to deal with. But I had two things sitting strongly in my favor with being able to grab this little dream car: 1) My goals for the car is not to make it a show car. I have wanted a convertible again to drive - so I don't want it perfect. My 64 990H was basically an all original car that had its share of wear and imperfections. The fact that it is a barn find that needs a lot of items refurbished was ok - it was all there and except for the bad yellow repaint years ago, was largely an untouched car. 2) Having just finished the SC/R restoration I still had a good number of spare parts that I could steal from. The biggest problem I had was that this car was 1200 miles away in Minneapolis area. It was time for another roadtrip! This time around I rented a tilt trailer with winch, setup our Ram 1500 for the long tow and grabbed my friend Brian Moyer for another epic roadtrip - then second in a years time. LOL We had learned that the car had fully locked up front brakes so we prepared for a hard pull up the ramp. The goal was to make it quick and easy to get it extracted and get moving back home. The trip went just as planned - 3 days, 2400 miles and no issues. The RAM did great, averaging 18.6mpg empty going out and 16.0mpg loaded coming back - and remember that's including the mountains of PA going home on the turnpike! To make things fun, I had a good friend enjoying the weekend at Carlisle Ford Nationals, and we called them about 15 minutes before we were going to roll by, and they were ready out near the turnpike to salute the rare little Rogue as we rolled by at 65mph. They snapped a picture of us waving as we went past. The convertible has rust in the quarters, but I have yet to find any rust anywhere else yet. The undercarriage is super solid, and has many many original features on the car. My goals are to redo 100% brakes, and fuel delivery system and heating/cooling system. The interior played host to rodents over the years and is being gutted for cleaning and necessary refurbishment to make it driveable. If I have to take it off for whatever reason, it will get a complete redo, but not necessarily to concours standard like our Scrambler is. Having said that, there is a lot of work to do and I am anxious to get it out on the street, so we are focused on it right now, and unfortunately the GT project is sitting. The 990H has recently been re-adopted into another family about 20 miles from here so I will get to see it somewhat regularly which is great. In discussing production numbers with Mark Fletcher, it looks like this is one of about 20 or at most 30 made, and one of only 3 - 4 left. In reality, this is as close to a factory SC/Rambler convertible as one can get. I feel like I hit the lottery and I didn't even play it! I will discuss activities of refurbishment over the coming weeks. Below are a few photos of the retrieval. It is a true "barn find" - 20 years hidden in the building below. "The Barn" Causing a stir at Fords at Carlisle! Home at last! I told the wife I would find her a car that matched the house. I think I got pretty close!
Edited by kcsamc - Aug/18/2021 at 10:13pm |
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azfletch
AMC Addicted Joined: Mar/11/2008 Location: SoCal Status: Offline Points: 829 |
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Kevin,
Congratulations on this rare discovery. I have tracked the 4 speed Rogue Convertibles for the last 20+ years. I believe that these one year only 1967 V8 Rogue convertibles are an overlooked rarity that are just now being discovered. Of the 921 1967 Rogue Convertibles made it is estimated only 20% were V8 with the majority being factory 232 6 Cylinders. That equates to less than 200 V8's in either the 200 HP 2 bbl carb version and the 225 HP 4 bbl version ( My family has owned 6 of these 200, and still have 5). Of those less than 10% of all 1967 American V8's were 4 speeds, so an estimated 20-40 may have come equipped with the T-10, and only 1/2 of those were ordered with the higher compression and horse power 4 bbl "D" code motor. So my number is 10-20 ever built and only 4 reported to still exist. I have owned two of these 4 speed convertibles and truely enjoy the Barbados Blue one that remains in my collection. Please feel free to call me any time and maybe we can get these rare cars together at a national show someday? I found that someone made a video from my car 2 years ago at a local show. Here is the link: Edited by azfletch - Aug/18/2021 at 11:22pm |
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Mark Fletcher
72 AMX 401 with 6K original miles. 70 Mark Donohue Javelin, 390 4 speed with 47K miles. 70 AMX, 390 AT, AC Randall car. 67 Rogue Barbados Blue 290 225HP 4 speed convertible 71K miles. |
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amxdreamer
AMC Addicted Joined: Jul/30/2008 Location: Vancouver, BC Status: Offline Points: 8511 |
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Super cool car Kevin!
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Tony
Vancouver, BC 1970 AMX 1972 Badassador AMO#10333 |
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azfletch
AMC Addicted Joined: Mar/11/2008 Location: SoCal Status: Offline Points: 829 |
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Kevin,
You may have already found this, but here is my thread on my cosmetic restoration 7 years ago. I am also including a link to the 2012 Hemmings article on the Red and Black 4 speed convertible restoration . |
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Mark Fletcher
72 AMX 401 with 6K original miles. 70 Mark Donohue Javelin, 390 4 speed with 47K miles. 70 AMX, 390 AT, AC Randall car. 67 Rogue Barbados Blue 290 225HP 4 speed convertible 71K miles. |
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Midnight Rambler
AMC Addicted Joined: Jan/17/2011 Location: SoCT Status: Offline Points: 1670 |
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Awesome, good luck!!!! I can't wait to follow this. If you figure out anything with the convertible frame seals you'll be a hero to dozens, and FYI Galvin's posted on their site that they are expecting the new run of vent seals some time soon.
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'66 American 440 Convertible 290/M-40/AMC 20 3.15/PS/PB '04 Jeep Wrangler X Rocky Mountain Edition 4.0 5sp |
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ramblinrev
Moderator Group Joined: Dec/28/2008 Location: Wisconsin Status: Offline Points: 11542 |
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You outbid me, Kevin, and it's good that you did! You can give it a better home than I can! Keep us posted on this neat, rare Rogue! |
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74 Hornet Hatchback X twins (since 1977)
62 American Convertible (still worth the $50 I spent in 1973!) AMCRC #513, AMO #384 70 AMX 360 4-speed (since 1981) |
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bigbad69
Supporter of TheAMCForum Joined: Jul/02/2007 Location: Ottawa, Ont. Status: Offline Points: 6685 |
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Nice car, and it looks in decent shape too. It's in good hands for sure.
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69 Javelin SST BBO 390 T10
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PROSTOCKTOM
Supporter of TheAMCForum Joined: Jun/20/2010 Location: Indiana Status: Offline Points: 2458 |
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Super sweet looking project.
Tom
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Molnar Technologies Full Service Dealer - Crankshafts & Connecting Rods
1969 AMC Rambler Rouge Race Car 1974 AMC Hornet Hatchback, Wally Booth Outlaw Nostalgic Pro Stock Race Car Project |
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6768rogues
AMC Addicted Joined: Jul/03/2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 6241 |
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That will be a fun car to drive. I have a Rogue convertible 232, the only one I have ever seen with factory overdrive. I also have a 66 American convertible with a Jeep 4.0 (about the same power output as a 290) and a 5 speed stick. That 66 is such a pleasure to drive, you should enjoy driving yours as well. Nice find. I have a few 66-69 American parts cars so let me know if I can help with bits and pieces..
Edited by 6768rogues - Aug/19/2021 at 7:37pm |
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Content intended for mature audiences. If you experience nausea or diarrhea, stop reading and seek medical attention.
Located usually near Rochester, NY and sometimes central FL. |
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LakesideRamblin
AMC Addicted Joined: Dec/21/2015 Location: So. California Status: Offline Points: 2694 |
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Great car, great story! Thanks for sharing.
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LakesideRamblin
69 Rambler 360 73 Javelin 360 "If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month." T. Roosevelt |
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