More about Joie and how this HURST car would change my life
I look back on the years and I am truly grateful to have enjoyed
as much performance driving as one little AMC car could give. This car
often performed in the line of duty to extreme measures and kept on doing
it every day I had it out. I had fuel bills as high as
$800 a month during the summer months. Foolish spending no doubt, or a wise investment in my memory for when I am too old to drive? I'd like to thank AMC and HURST for making the best I could have asked for in a street car, which in my case was a daily driver not to mention the most reliable, dependable and durable car I have ever owned. After
19 years and 110,000 miles, I can honestly say that
I had completely wore it out and the car still looked spectacular. There is no way I have the time to tell you about
every mile, but anyone who has driven on of these cars can tell you, you
do appreciate every mile. I have gone so many places and done so many
different things with this car.
I am what I call a natural born hot-rodder for as long as I can
remember. My long time friends, Larry & Pauline, have always supported me and have been largely responsible
for my continued dedication in keeping this particular car alive and running.
Although they have not always agreed with the things I have done with
it, they stood up for me in the beginning years when I first owned it.
I was the ridicule of most of my friends and peers as I had switched from
Pontiacs (owning only 1969 GTO’s)
to becoming an AMC admirer. How I got from there to here in time is some times a blur, but I wouldn't trade all the memories for the money it cost me, that s for sure!
Now going back a few years, At the age of 27, I was on my 8th GTO. My long time, good friends, Gordie,
Rick and Tim were always very supportive of my interest in cars and largely
responsible for getting me hooked into this hot rod stuff. My son’s
father, Randy, was a die hard AMC dude. Myself and others usually
made fun of because of his silly little AMC, but taking notes and watching him over the years I noticed that he hardly ever broke his SC/360
Hornet despite the severe abuse he would dish out while driving it, not
to mention that I don't think he ever lost to anything down at our famous
Latimier Road. He had been trying for years to convert me from Pontiac
to AMC and eventually I was convinced and I started searching for an AMC to buy. I had chosen
to try finding a Scrambler because of one simple fact I had learned about
them. They never made one with an automatic, that s right, they were all 4 speed cars! Was that cool or what ! I was a die hard, 4 gear
girl and to own a car that was never offered as a sissy automatic ruled
big time.(not that there is anything wrong with automatics or sissy's for that fact)
Little did I know that these cars were so rare and that they would be
so hard to find. The few I found
over the next few years were not for sale and no amount of money was going to change that as I ran into some very stubborn folks. Why
did these people have such a dedication to these cars?, I couldn't figure out what the fuss was to get one, they were just
freaking Ramblers! Heck, my high school janitor had one. I remember the
kids plugging the exhaust up with a potato and hearing the muffler explode
in the school parking lot. These cars were everywhere weren't they?... Well it would take me 6 years to find one.
My Scrambler is the first American Motors product that I had ever bought…
that was July 4th, 1987. I bought it in
excellent running condition. I drove it trouble free for 2 years with the original 390
in it before starting to take things into my own hands. The drive home took 12 hours from Grangeville,
Idaho, back to Langley, BC, Canada. Alternating drivers with 2 friends that accompanied
me on the trip there and back. In a brand new T/A TRANS AM with long legs, yes, the
trip there was a lot shorter than the trip home because of the Rambler…
well, it had small tires but a bonus was that it had no carpets with that constant 3500 rpm @ 55
mph drone, was pleasantly recorded in my head and I could hear it for
weeks… HA, like we could drive 55… ok, it was more like a multi level drone and what a ride it was!
After almost 20 years, this car has probably had more daily driven miles to and from work on it than any other
muscle car in history. I say that rather boldly, but if there has been
someone else with as much passion for performance, then I'd like to compare
stories, because this wasn't easy. I personally logged over 110,000 miles
on this Scrambler driving it everyday for about 15 years. Besides the fact that I spending a small fortune on my memories, I was blessed
to have had such good fortune with the car as well as luck when it came
to breakdowns. In all that time, I only ever broke it 3 times bad enough that left me strained and
calling for a tow truck... Oh, you wanted to know what I broke, well it was a long time ago... so I guess it's ok to tell. The first one was self inflicted. After 11 years
of constant 7500 rpm shifts, one day I was showing off as I left Laurie's
Gym and completely scattered a T-10. It felt like a fire cracker had gone
off in my hand while grabbing second gear. My first reaction was that of surprise like “Hey,
I finally broke something.” Then instant disappointment as I realized that was my favorite tranny (2.64
first gear). The second time I broke Russell I was trying to get my new Holley carb to buzz up to 8500 rpm and I dropped the factory oil sump in
the bottom of the pan due to vibrations caused by the solid motor mounts I just had to have.
The third time, after 85,000 miles of already extreme street duty I was showing off grabbing compression cherps and exploded a clutch disc.
So you see, only 3 tow bills after 19 years of ownership and 110,000 hard miles and memories documented, it is quite obvious that showing
off was child's play for this car and breaking parts was a very rare occurrence.
Oh, don't get me wrong… I blew stuff up all the time, just not usually
in this car, I mean you can ask anybody I hardly ever did that, I mean show off that is, I was always pretty good ... really I was ... ok well on the rare occasion I'd show off a tiny bit and sometimes my foot would slip and ... a little cherp might slip out by accident of course cause um ... like I said I never drove like that hardly ever... not really very often and and actually not at all sometimes and never never when people were watching or in the car and I mean I was just giving someone a ride and they were in a hurry... and they needed a ride nicely of course .. well I think once... or maybe twice, ...ok, ok ok but I am not kidding man, the car made me do it!. Ask anyone! That's my story and I'm stickin to it! |
;)
