AMO 2008: Circle the wagons!

While you Yanks were eating bratwurst watching fireworks this past weekend, I was up in Kingston, Ontario, for an equally patriotic event, but with a twist: The American Motors Owners Association for the second time in its history held its annual convention in Canada, which made for much clashing of accents and currencies. Definitely not the largest AMO meet, but anytime the meet moves eastward, attendance drops. Still, some neat cars showed up, including an abundance of station wagons.

For example, the SC/Rambler two-door wagon above had a lot of interesting what-ifs going for it: What if AMC built a two-door American wagon in the late 1960s? What if AMC applied the SC/Rambler formula to an American wagon body?

But the Cross-Fire Injection small-block Chevrolet V-8 underhood stopped that cool what-if vibe dead in its tracks.

Another late 1960s Rambler American station wagon showed up, though this one an honest driver with four doors and awesome patina.

Rambler American station wagon too small for your burgeoning family? How about a Rebel 770 Cross Country station wagon in similar colors?

Still not big enough? then step up to this 1969 Ambassador SST station wagon, owned by Tom Bunsey of London, Ohio, and fitted with a 390-cu.in. V-8.

Then on the show field Saturday, I spotted a couple older wagons, including John McGhee’s Keswick, Ontario-based 1965 Rambler Classic 770.

And next to it John Hampton’s Lansdowne, Ontario-based 1965 or 1966 Ambassador wagon, equipped with the 327-cu.in. V-8.

Check back tomorrow for more coverage from Kingston, including one incredibly rare Hornet.

AMO 2008: Small bodies, big style

Not too many Spirits or Spirit AMXs showed up at this year’s AMO, so I had to console myself with checking out the other post-1970 small-body AMCs, including the Hornets, Gremlins, Concords and Eagles. The Hornet hatchback in the above photo caught my eye, not for its excellent condition…

…but for the dealership sticker on the back panel. The owner of the car said Phillip Michaud still has several of these dealership stickers stuffed away somewhere.

Of the two Spirits that showed up, including this Spirit AMX, both were modified. This one only slightly. you could hear it a kilometer away (I’m using metric measurements because, if you’ll recall, this year’s AMO took place in Canada).

Another post-Javelin AMX did show up: a 1977 Hornet AMX that belongs to Michael Cantin of Chateauguay, Quebec. He said he’s the original owner of the six-cylinder, four-speed, Lime Green AMX, and he towed a trailer’s worth of parts to set up in the vendor’s row.

Finally, perhaps the rarest of the small-bodies I spotted at Kingston was this Green Hornet, a Canada-only special package from 1972 that didn’t really seem to include anything save for green paint and some special “Green Hornet” decals. This particular two-door had a 304, 14-inch alloy wheels and a nice Domino-pattern interior.

AMO 2008: just for you, earthpilot

First off, good eye, earthpilot. Not too many people would have seen past the two-door SC/Rambler station wagon in the earlier post of wagons from this year’s AMO convention, but you did, and you asked for more, and like the U.S. Postal Service, we deliver for you.

That Jeepster’s actually been to the last three AMO conventions I’ve attended: 2005 in Atlanta, 2006 in Dayton and this year’s Kingston show. It belongs to Judy Emerson of the Bronx, and if we ever do a truck magazine here at Hemmings, I’magonna make sure it gets in. It’s a 1971 SC-1 model, which means it got the black rally stripes over the Butterscotch Gold paint, a standard radio, aluminum wheel covers and the 160hp 225-cu.in. V-6.

And I cheated a little bit: The above photo is from Atlanta, not Kingston, if only because I didn’t take a full photo of the Jeepster this year.