First day home with my Scrambler, July 87

I smile as I remember the day after I got the Scrambler home, that was July 5, 1987. Now we have to go back a week or so prior to that day to appreciate this story. I had a cool 69 GTO race car project and an early, rare Corvette 427 Big Block engine and hoped to go racing for the first time in my life. The engine was all machined up and I was ready to assemble it… all the goodies, spared no expense. This was a plain Jane GTO and I had been there and done that with all the Judge stuff and was quickly growing tired of breaking & blowing up parts every time I drove it, so I decided to go big block… it was what all the kids wanted!. Even my son Shane who was only 4 years old at the time.

The turn in my preference happened when, by total luck, I actually had found one of these rare SC/Ramblers I had been looking for… for over 6 years. Now, remember I spared no expense on the Big Block, so to say I was broke was an understatement. But another good friend of Randy's, Dale, who was also a partially converted AMC, had offered to lend me the money to buy the Scrambler if I used the Big Block for collateral. So you know what happened next, a trip to Idaho and a Rambler SC/Rambler was coming home. We arrived home with this little gem at about 2 am and left the car parked on the front lawn for the night. I didn't get much sleep staring out the window at this Rambler that I had been dreaming about building for 6 years now and of course realizing we have a problem… hum, a one car garage and a race car project in the said garage… and a Rambler Scrambler parked onthe front lawn. Heck, that will never do… I called up my good friend, Gordie...”Hey, Gordie, dude, can you come and help push the GTO out of the garage?”. Silly Gordie, thinking we were about to install a Big Block in the GOAT said, “OH, GOODY, GOODY! I'll be right over.” Well, if you could have seen his face when he got there… it was priceless! I wish I had taken a picture… the picture would have said a thousand words (nasty words, that is). He was pissed. I believe he uttered something like "Have you completely lost your freaking mind...it's a Rambler… NO! NO! NO!" He just stood there with his arms folded and refused to help me push the GTO out of the garage. I think the next thing he said was “you will come to your senses, girl...this is the stupidest thing you have ever done! and how much did you pay for this thing? I didn't have the heart to tell him that the big block would be for sale now.

So, disappointed with Gordie, I called my friend, Tim. Well, I got a different reaction this time. Tim wasn't a big fan of “belly button” cars, so to him, this was the coolest thing I had ever done and yes, he gladly helped me push the GTO out on to the front lawn. Actually, I think he even put the for sale sign in the window, like minutes after Gordie left (he was not going to be a part of this “madness”). Now as for my friend Rick, his only question was...”Is it a stick car?”... “Yep.”… “Right on… no sissy cars here!”. Rick taught me everything I knew about breaking parts and how to walk to a phone to call a tow truck (this was long before cell phones).