I love you guys and gals.

No seriously, it's true. I don't think there's another forum with such a rich and eclectic community of gear-heads out there.

Now the reason I say this is I just bought a car, which itself is not a big deal, but I just bought an eight hundred dollar 42 year old car, that's over 400 miles away from me. A car I have never seen in person, never sat in one, never even seen one in person, but it's one I've been trying to find for over two years, and the only reason that's possible is due to this magazine and it's fantastic board members, one of whom took time out of his day to not only look at the car and talk to me about it's condition over the phone, but actually go and purchase it for me after I sent him the funds. Where else on earth could this happen?

Then there's the almost endless wealth of information on so many things automotive and even non-automotive that this forum brings together in one place. Want to know how to wire up a push button starter? There's someone here who can explain it. Want to know how to rebuild the top end of a Mercedes 6.3L 500hp motor? There's someone who has done that. Oh and if you need ridiculously specific giant spanner to do that, well there's a forum member who can make that for you. But what if you need to decide to dye your hair for job interviews? They'll set you straight on that also.

So thanks guys and gals. Thanks Tim and Margie and all the rest of the staff at GRM for creating such and awesome magazine that gets this weird lot of people so well, and provides this digital playground for us to share and connect with. We may not all agree on everything all the time, but I think we can all agree on this.

Thank you. Yes, we have an amazing community here. Thanks, everyone.

I am glad someone could return the favor, and yes this is the best place on the internet.

<3 <3 <3

Gotta love this forum. This and the galant vr4 forum are the only place where I'd let a member buy a car for me with my funds.

What? We don't get to find out what car you bought?

Unacceptable!!!! :P

I too love you. Over the past 2 weeks many of you have helped me deal with the senseless death of my soulmate. I will always be in love with Carrie, thanks for the help. Oh, and I have received good automotive advice as well.

Me too, I love you guys. Better to tell you that now, before I get drunk. You won't believe me then.

42 years ago means 1975 and they didn't make Infiniti Q45's in 1975 so I have no idea what it is.

I'll hope for a C3 with a planned LS swap.

This place is one of only three places in the world where i actually "fit".

It helps me make sense of the senseless.

It helps me make informed decisions and opinions.

It gives me the swift kick in the ass i need to be a better man.

I just wish I had more to contribute to the place.

Dusterbd13 wrote: I just wish I had more to contribute to the place.

I don't think that's a problem.

The car in question is a 1975 AMC Hornet Sportabout D/L. In lovely Copper Metallic with fuax wood grain inserts. Tan/brown interior. Only 27k miles on the clock.

My plans are to make it a reliable daily driver that will eventually see duty hauling my wife, son and dog around the US to as many national parks and monuments I can see in my lifetime.

A powertrain swap to a late model 4.0l fuel injected Jeep motor with 4 speed auto is the route I'm looking at. I want to use this as a test bed for new tech in an old car and keep track of the improvements they make to it.

Amc!!!!

I feel like i started a trend....

Agreed wholeheartedly - GRM wins so hard that any other car forums I visit seem absurdly barbaric in comparison.

Thanks for ruining the (rest of the) internet (for me) GRM.

You guys know how I feel about you by now, so I just want to chime in and say....an AMC Hornet! That's freaking awesome!

Oh, you're going to love that car.

I had a 73 sportabout.

You'll want to upgrade some things. Don't be disappointed when you first drive it - its kind of not fun to drive, but its easy to make it funner. You'll notice first of all that 70s AMCs were frighteningly under-engineered. The brakes are horrible. You can throw all kinds of new parts at them thinking they are failing, but even brand new they were ridiculous. Comically ridiculous. Mine had 4 wheel manual drums that made me laugh and poop my pants daily. In the snow, I could mash the brake pedal with both feet and put it in drive, and one of the rear wheels would just spin.

Fortunately, its not hard to upgrade to power brakes and put discs on the front. The factory 6 (probably a 232) is not bad. It won't win any races, but neither will the 4.0L you plan to replace it with. Both are super reliable.

With all the parts-bin swapping that AMC did with Mopar and GM, you're sure to have a really fun time mixing and matching parts. AMCs are like Legos. You can find parts from other things that will fit.

Here is my 73. I sold it years ago, but it only had 7400 miles on it (not a typo). Yellow with zero options. Brown plaid vinyl seats and orange carpet.

Sounds awesome, got any pics you can share?

Hornets are awesome!!! Sportabout is just a bonus!!

I agree 1000x with the community here. A couple of times I have needed help in a different city. Both times someone from this board, neither of whom I had ever met, went out of their way to lend a hand. I find it reassuring that an appreciation of strange cars, well...strange to others, can form such a tight bond from such a diverse group of individuals. We probably have every occupation and walk of life known to man on this board!

Before she was my wife, DW had a Sportabout. Looked about like Curtis's, but blue on blue, with a white side-swoosh. AMC Rally wheels. It was better than the Fairmont Futura that replaced it, but not much. I'm not convinced I understand the nostalgia, but if it can be restomodded, it could be cool. It was a useful thing, if not particularly (or at all) interesting to drive, and kinda cool looking:

This will be the oldest car I have ever owned by a good 20 years (hell it's older than me by 7 years). I wanted something older to play with that would be fairly simple to work on, but still have a pretty decent parts interchange, I liked the body shape, and the practicality aspect of the wagon.

I have a ton of parts interchange questions once I get it towed back down and can really start digging into, so be prepared guys.