>From: Robert Trottmann <rotrottmann@davidson.edu>
>
>I know I've said this before, but Javelins are the coolest car ever
>made....the 71 being the coolest of the coolest. 71 Javelin is the only
>thing I'd ever consider selling my dakota for...at this point.
Oh man...what is going on? What's the quote about those who fail to remember the
past are doomed to relive it?
I owned three Javelins in my life:
'70 Jav plain jane - 360 2bbl auto - my first car.
'70 Jav 360/4bbl auto Mark Donahue Edition (rear deck spoiler, "lovely"
red interior, and "styled" steel rally wheels)
'69 Jav 401/4bbl, headers, cam, 4spd, mags, flairs, starsky/hutch paint...hot
rod
The first '70 was pretty much a piece of crap. Lunched the tranny once, and had
perpetual electric problems. My second Mark Donahue was a bigtime sleeper, with
functional ram air hood. All I did was put headers on it, and I was smoking all
the camaro/malibu/mustangs at my high school. It kept throwing clutches, broke the
rear-end once, and it squeeked so bad you could hear the suspension coming about two
blocks before you heard my Corvair turbo mufflers. Ended up totalling it in the
rain. The other car, a '76 Buick sustained almost no damage. The third "hotrod"
never finished a race. Something always broke. Finally sold it for $1200 after
I wrapped up the valvetrain BUMP starting it (yup...typical electric problems).
But man, did it sound cool with that monster cam and headers. thump, thump,
thumpity, thump.
When they ran, Javs were very fast due to the big engine and very light
unibody construction. Handled terribly, completely unreliable, and very noisy
with squeeks and rattles coming from everywhere.
I suppose I wouldn't mind having a '70 AMX to sit in storage somewhere, but I
sure wouldn't want to drive it anywhere. You never know how you're gonna get
home ;)
The Mopars of the late 60's and early 70's were so vastly superior to the AMC
products. They'd take major abuse and keep running. I wish I had put my money
into Roadrunners, dusters, and challengers like my friends did.
So...get over it! :)
fish
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