Randall Rambler and Jeep- Mesa, Arizona

[Route 66 Rambler]

From the October, 1969 Arizona Outdoor Sportsman magazine:



mike




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[Route 66 Rambler]

A picture of the Google Maps aerial view.  The boat lot to the left used to be the used cars and the boats, and the boat place operates the property now...



A picture of Google Maps Street View, from the west, looking northeast.



http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&q=1350+W+Main+St,+Mesa,+AZ+85201,+USA&ll=33.418171,-111.861055&spn=0.012465,0.027122&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cbll=33.414839,-111.861139&panoid=P_n_OPW7eaZMcZrWbEs3jQ&cbp=1,46.65675262459149,,1,-0.01453584292911068

-mike




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[AMX]

Thanks Mike, nice to be able to put a "face" on this legendary place!

[AMX]

Someone has made up some reproduction Randall dealer stickers, currently available on eBay:






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[Route 66 Rambler]

A lot of the ones I have seen that were like that sticker actually had the AMC emblem done in black and white, not color.  Might have been plenty in color too, I can't say I'm any kind of an expert on Randall.

I do know people who know some of the family, but the word is, the Randalls apparently don't really like to talk about those days, so I have never tried to contact them for interviews or comments.

P.S. I'll make sure some more of the Lost Dealership threads get their pictures back into them later tonight.  I've been working pretty hard lately on the main site, and restoring the pictures and links back into the forum, that have gone away during the reorganization.

[AMX]

I think it's great that folks are actually reproducing some of the dealer stickers. They really are a great detail for any restoration and most originals are long, long gone. I recall the DiSalvo's (sp?) stickers which someone made up also. Funny, when the cars were new some buyers strongly objected to the dealer stickers since they were "free advertising". Now they're cool. 

[Route 66 Rambler]

Yeah, I've always hated them, but I have changed my mind since we started in on the Lost Dealership Project.  I'll probably print some up for one or two of my cars, too.

Might actually be another item to track and archive, so people can reference these old stickers for their project cars.  I can make a board in the Lost Dealership Project just for the stickers, and put them in the Open Library Project as their own category, too, maybe.

[AMX]

Great idea, maybe show them actual size or list the dimensions in case someone wants to reproduce them.

[Route 66 Rambler]

Well, it only took me six months to remember to create the board while I was on here, but we now have a place strictly for the stickers, plate frames and badges of the Lost Dealerships of The AMC Heritage:


http://www.forum.route66rambler.com/index.php/board,207.0.html


I've started things off with an explanation of what the board is for.  Help will be appreciated in cataloguing the stuff we've already got onto this board.  A post can be copied, or just copy the URL of an existing picture within a post...

-mike

[Route 66 Rambler]

Went down and pulled the flares, end caps and rocker trim off another Eagle in Mesa, that I saw on Craigslist today...




The car was only a couple of miles from where Randall American was, so I had to stop by for a good picture of a totally legendary dealership.  I was trying to decide if I should park my car on the used car lot, or maybe try to get it over in front of the cool body/service area they had, but when I got there what I saw was this...








The one part of the service intake and parts area from the old Rambler days was turned into a motel a long time ago.  But the main dealership, and even the boat lot have been scraped up, and are now gone. 1350 West Main is now just a big field. Even that big sign they turned into the "Tracker Boats" sign in the pictures above is gone.  If you look way down the sidewalk, that white square area on the left of the red billboard is actually the old Rambler Select Used Cars sign, that says Tracker Marine on it.  That was way down between the used car area and the Randall Marine boat lot, it still says Tracker Marine, but nothing there now...  It's not even visible in the earlier Google pics, it's off the left of the overhead view.  That's how big this place was.

Words cannot convey the regret and heartbreak I feel about the disappearance of even a trace of this once magical place.  I have seen cars moving through here, in and out, being worked on or driven by, that I have never seen anywhere else except sometimes a magazine photo.  The mighty 401-XR, the Super American D/Stock record holder, those wild 401 Pacers and Spirits.  Hugely lifted CJs and trucks, with motors that made your heart race.  My first car, a 1969 Mod Javelin SST in Big Bad Orange with a 390 and 4 speed, Torque Thrusts and a T/A spoiler was delivered here.  So were my '76 Pacer coupe, my faithful '74 Gremlin, Molly Blue, and the Eagle Kammback I'm driving now.  S/CRamblers were scattered around this place like fruit from a tree, and so many shiny Ramblers and AMCs...

Yeah, this hurts.   :'(   RIP

[El Matador]

This is what some people like to call progress.

In the interest of keeping this forum "family friendly" I won't go into detail about what I think about it. 

Man, that sucks.  The ultimate insult will be if the site ends up being a Kia or Subaru dealership.  :'(

[Route 66 Rambler]

From the staking and stubouts they have started with, it looks like it's going to be RV parking, or maybe storage units or apartments.

A few pics to honor the memory...

1967: NHRA D/Stock National Record Holder, a 343 American, sometimes called Super American:



1972:  The Infamous and Feared Gremlin 401-XR:



Late '60s/Early '70s:  Super Stock AMX in staging lanes at Beeline Dragway outside of Phoenix.  Of course there is an excellent chance that this car was sold at Randall Rambler/American:



Mid to late '70s:  401 Pacer.  I don't remember and can't make out the first letter in the three letter sequence which preceds "Pacer" on the door.  I believe the last two letters were RE for Randall Engineering.  I want to say XRE.  But I honestly don't remember now.






I'll be posting various articles as I find them into this thread that tell the story of some of these cars and this legendary dealership.  I'll leave off for now, with a picture of another car I saw at this dealership more than once.  Jim West's Wild Wild West at Beeline Dragway in the early to mid '70s...



Oh, the humanity!    :'(

[IowaEagle]

Sad to see another major player with the AMC legacy all but gone now. 

[AMX]

posted by tbenvie at theamcforum.com

[Route 66 Rambler]

Awesome picture!!  I had a chance to buy one of these fiberglass bodied Commandos in the '80s, that one was turquoise in color by then, no motor, but the cage and powertrain were still in it.  I saw the truck out at the Gold King Mine near Jerome, a fairly famous ghost town in Northern Arizona.  At the time the guy wanted 1800 for it, I just didn't get the money together in time.  My friend and I were wanting to run Baja, Parker, Snowflake and the Mint 400, and were looking for a good starting point.  We ended up buying a Hornet that we were going to build prerunner style, but then I was deployed with the National Guard and everything went off track.