Current State of the Project

[Route 66 Rambler]

Some folks have noticed I haven't been around too much the last few weeks.  I wil be back to posting interesting, never-before-seen Rambler facts and connections soon.  Here is what is going on with this project at the moment.

We set out here to archive the rarely-seen and difficult to find aspects of the Rambler Heritage, in order to develop a unified history leading up to American Motors.  This is because we feel that there is too much "mystery" involved in the brand, and also that many don't collect or restore the cars, because they don't feel like it has a long and interesting heritage like the Big 3 brands.  This project consists of several separate, yet interdependent components, each of which tells the story of the American Motors Heritage in its own medium or method.

The primary component is my home page, Route 66 Rambler.  My eventual goal is to establish a Rambler Heritage museum, covering everything we cover here on the forum.  Route 66 Rambler is sort of an online car museum, basically notes to myself, on ways to present and display this information to the public.  So Route 66 Rambler is the museum component in this project.

Every museum needs an interpretation of its area of study, based upon those studies of its artifact collection, and in the available literature which is about those artifacts, the subject's place in society, the ways in which the subject set its goals into action, etc.  For this need, we offer the Rambler TimeLine, which is a presentation and interpretation of artifacts and literature, and the library component with which to catalog the literature, which in our case is the Open Library Project.

When examining an entity as large as a car manufacturer, one quickly discovers that the story is simply immense in its proportions, reflecting the mammoth impact the industry has effected on the world.  So there are other lines of study involved.

Because this is a study of a human endeavour, an examination of the people, products, and events involved becomes necessary.  The TimeLine serves as a host component for several smaller components which serve these functions, such as the Pantheon, which will be used for the biographies of important individuals, and the Make, Model, Year listing, which catalogs the products offered by this line of manufacturers.

And because this is just too large of a project for one person to attempt, there is a need for a "historical society", a group of individuals who take it upon themselves to obtain and organize this information, and further efforts to preserve it.

That is where The AMC Heritage Forum comes in.  One person can never gain enough information about such a large undertaking as an auto manufacturer to create an accurate portrayal.  The sheer volume of facts, people, products, and figures makes the individual effort an impossiblity on this scale.  This suggests a need for a place to pool  the knowledge of individual efforts into a single large knowledge base.

It should be independent in nature from my own projects, to avoid coloring the facts, or putting a single slant or viewpoint in charge of the interpretation.  This is an industry which profoundly affected the lives of millions of people over the entire globe.  It follows that there is more than one explanation for any given set of circumstances, as they were seen through many sets of eyes.

One way to express, gather, understand, and value these differing viewpoints is through the everyday celebration of involvement with your subject of study.  In other words, tinkering with your Rambler, finding and reading press releases, advertisements, manuals to better understand it, taking it apart and putting it together for a personal sense of involvement.  These activities also give one a fuller appreciation of the elements of design found in each vehicle.

So there is also a need to examine the culture and heritage associated with the actual use and enjoyment of these vehicles, as it has been in the past, and as it is now. That means looking at, speaking with, and portraying the viewpoints and contributions of the individual owners, the clubs, and the automotive community at large.  In other words, how do we as Rambler Fans relate to the rest of the world, and to our own automotive culture?

The component which serves this purpose, the Route 66 Rambler Report blog, is my personal journal as a Rambler fan, and serious student of the brand and its hobbies.  This is where I provide my personal viewpoints on living with your Rambler, what I call "Nashin' on my Rambler".  This is in an effort to demonstrate how all of these other areas we are looking at, affects the "average" AMC enthusiast today, as well as to encourage the preservation of our history.

All of these components of our study have been previously set up as separate web sites as they were conceived, designed, and put into action.  Over time, each has begun to gather a substantial amount of information, to the point where that information must now be managed in a systematic, organized way.  Up till recently, everything on these various sites, or components, was basically managed as if it was in a big file cabinet or a box.  It's all there, it's organized, but how do you search through it, find connections, and relate them one to another, to get the real picture?

Beginning with the Forum, because it is the largest potential source of information, each component has one by one, been joined into a large relational database, which will allow the linking and searching of information, revealing relationships which may not have been very obvious.

I was going to move into the "third phase" of my plan sometime in the next 6-12 months.  This would have involved installing a "front end" and a database onto each site(component), which would allow the search and relationship of the information on that component, while allowing it also to tie to the other components, and provide update information to and from the other components.

This way if you are studying the TimeLine, and a brochure is scanned into the Open Library Project, the update about the new brochure is posted immediately at the TimeLine(and everywhere else).  With these updates(RSS feeds) present on every page, then eventually a search of the database at any one site will return results from the other sites also, based on the presence of these feeds on each page, and the sharing of information from a common database.

I moved my plans up by several months, when I was very sick a couple of weeks ago.  I got way behind on my work with this project, and right about that time, the host server was hacked, causing some damage to the sites that were not secured, as with the front end and database that the Forum enjoys.

Since I already had a mountain of work in front of me, I decided that if I was going to rebuild these sites and fix literally thousands of links to information, then it was time to install the front end/database combination to every component on the web site.

That is what I have done.  There is The AMC Heritage Forum, its backup Forum, and a Test Forum for my ideas.  Each of these Forums is integrated with an image host gallery, which is the RustBucket in the case of this Forum.  Each Forum has been modified extensively, into the archive framework which we employ here.

My blog, Route 66 Rambler Report, was on a free service with a major provider.  They began to experience some technical difficulties during an upgrade, and my blog was also hacked.  At that point, I decided to install my own blog software, and host if off of my own site.  The software I chose was WordPress, which is database driven, and highly customizable, just like the Forum and Gallery software I already have.  I was delighted to discover it is easy to integrate to the gallery, the same as this Forum software.  It also offers the ability to create normal web pages, except unlike normal ones, these are tracked, related, and searchable by the blog software.

This led me to the decision to use WordPress blog software as the front end for every component except the Forum and the Gallery.  I have now installed WordPress on the TimeLine, the Open Library Project, the Route 66 Rambler Report, the Route 66 Rambler main page, and I am now designing a WordPress installation for the Parts page at the main site, and for my links page, WebCat.

Now, every one of these main components has an automatic front end, categories for storage, an advanced menu system, and every one of them is now integrated into the main database, and are combined with the RustBucket image gallery, in the same way as The AMC Heritage Forum, even having their own RustBucket pages, and display of random images.

Things will be somewhat chaotic over the next couple of weeks, with a few glitches, possible log-in problems from time to time, and a lot of broken links.  During this time, I will be loading everything on my site, about 7 gigabytes at present, into these new front ends.  That means that every link(hundreds) that references the TimeLine, for example, must now be updated to point at the new installation, or a category or page within that installation, instead of at my old HTML page, which is where all of those links go to now.

This necessarily means that some links now point at nothing, or are broken in other ways, and that all of the web pages I have written(around 265), must now be loaded into the site component which covers each type of page.  All of those menu items that go to a page, where you choose a link, and it goes to another page, where you do that again.  One single link may have a chain of say, 10 pages, all of which must be updated, then fed into the new system.

So don't be discouraged if it sometimes seems like nothing works right around here for the next couple weeks.  It is getting better behind the scenes, and it's just not visible.

By the first of the year, I expect to have everything fully functional, with our present installation of the Open Library Project, and the TimeLine, up and running with everything they have now.  They will be on their own sites now, and will also be combined into the Forum archive, in some manner.

It might be like the main page for the Open Library Project is duplicated here, but when you choose Ads, for instance, it would then go to the "Ads" category, on the Open Library Project's front end, created from the blog software.

At any rate, I have a lot of work to do, and I feel very strongly that it will greatly improve the Forum's effectiveness in archiving and studying the information, and also that a great deal more information will be available than is now present on any AMC website, once everything is up and functioning.  In addition, it will be easier to find information you are looking for, at those times when you aren't really sure WHAT you are looking for.  Related items are always a search away.  So I apologize for the slow activity of late, and the lack of suitably obscure and unseen information, but be assured, I am on the case.

I'm just out on the back 40, building sheds and running irrigation, instead of up front selling tomatoes.
mike

[IowaEagle]

Whew!  And I thought "the book" was becoming a daunting task.

[AMX]

Wow, very interesting, I don't understand some of it but the different parts and how they relate to each other makes more sense now. Thank you for your efforts in preserving American Motors' rich history!

[Route 66 Rambler]

It started as a neat little idea to trace the line, and then once that was under way, the amazing connections just caused everything to explode.  I believe that careful study of The AMC Heritage, reveals what is quite possibly the most important car builder to do business in the US, prior to 1975.

Once AMC ceased to be a genuine threat to the Big 3, the car industry in America took a decided turn for the worse.

I also believe that Chrysler essentially ceased to exist, upon acquisition of AMC, in all but name.  Sort of a reverse Nash/Hudson merger.  AMC just took over from the inside, stepping into the hollow shell of a once-mighty corporation.

Their people, ideas and culture quickly spread throughout the chaotic, undecided atmosphere, with their highly-focused priorities and lean, fast operating style providing leadership, philosophy and direction at a time when it was badly needed.

And it transformed everything about how they designed and made cars, right down to the way they presented themselves and targeted the market.

That was the real target of Lee Iacoccia, in my opinion.  The Jeep cash was just to implement necessary changes.  AMC was the primary instrument of those changes.
mike

[IowaEagle]

Interesting theory there Mike.  Yes, we know that Lee wanted AMC's engineering talent and use AMC's part/component sharing expertise.  And we have learned little by little that many Chrysler products that came down the pike after the buyout were either on the AMC drawing boards or completed by AMC talent.  The AMC CJ's and XJ's were a huge boost and they changed little from their AMC days -- a testimony to their well thought out design.  Keeping the 4.0 as long as they did also demonstrated how good of an engine AMC could design -- an engine that was being used way past the time that OHV in-line 6's had gone the way of the dinosaurs.  I know Lee would not admit it, but AMC probably did more for them, at that time, than they could have done on their own.  I wonder using the model name Spirit was aimed at former AMC owners?

[AUSSIE RAMBLER]

G'day Mike,

mate ,,its amazing!youve done a bundle of work,that i myself would never have know or thought of,it is bloody credit to ya!!! you will never get any complaints from me,ha ha ha ...i dunno how you manage to do it all! but good on ya !!!!!!

have a great christmas,and a happy +safe new year

aussie g

[Route 66 Rambler]

Thanks, Aussie, Happy Christmas to all of you.  It's summer there, I know, but we don't get any snow here, either, and some folks just decorate the Eucalyptus, so we've got that in common.

[Route 66 Rambler]

OK, we have a couple of new developments to report here on this front.

The first is that after yesterday's 8-hour overnight blackout of my host provider, I am going to move my web domains off of the Bravenet servers and over to another company called HostGator, out of Dallas, Texas.

This forum serves users from around the globe, in steady, constant, tick/tick/tick of visitors, around the clock.  That 8-hour time last night, meant that the usual guest readers, and members from Europe and Asia, even the US East Coast, were unable to spend their usual time cruising the forum and reading new Rambler-type stuff.  This has happened with greater frequency in recent months, and it's my impression that the speed has also dropped.

Bravenet currently claims something like 10 million members, so I believe we may have reached the limits of the current equipment.

I want our visitors and members world wide to have a quality experience here.Therefore I am moving the content-heavy sites like this one, over to HostGator.  The forum address and my other website addresses will remain the same.  Things may take a week or so to transfer from one company's machine to the other, and it is possible and even likely that there may be two or more days when there is nothing available at my web site.

This will be temporary, and soon enough, things will be just as they are, except with more speed, a lot less broken times and less errors.

The real bonus is that HostGator operates a system with 1.3 million web sites, that is completely powered and cooled by wind power!  And storage cells, too, of course.  In addition the company is certified with those green carbon credits to 130% of their carbon footprint. 

That's all good, but what the wind thing means to me, is that when oil goes up again(AND IT WILL GO UP!), these guys aren't going to be paying more for power.  So costs should rise less than other networks, in my opinion.  It is more expensive than my current servers, but apparently you get what you pay for, and I like this outfit's potential to control their future cost increases.  That shows forward plannning.

The other thing is that the software for the forum and web sites will be chainging sometime in the next couple of months, but the change is not happening right away.  More on that one later.

Just a few updates and lettings know what's goins ons etc.

-mike

[IowaEagle]

Thanks Mike.  I hope the move goes smoothly.

[Route 66 Rambler]

I have installed a new software package on my main web site at Route66Rambler.com

It's called TikiWiki.  It combines a web page creating utility that tracks revisions and updates(Tiki), a Wikipedia-like engine for relating those pages into a chaptered structure(Wiki), as well as normal HTML web pages, image gallery, and a forum.

Blogs are included into the system, and a personal web page for each member, if he or she desires it.  The software lends itself well, to projects like we have undertaken at Route 66 Rambler, and here at The AMC Heritage Forum.

The upshot is that the contents of each page of the Route 66 Rambler web site will be transferred into this new system.

This kind of thing will obviously take a while.  We are talking about sorting, moving and connecting close to three years worth, of a strong effort by the AMC community to support my projects, actually stronger than was expected.  We have produced just a mountain of information in that amount of time.  All of the people who read my various web sites and write in to me have helped a great deal.

The Members of The AMC Heritage Forum have made some very significant contributions in the time we have been online.  Thank all of you for your support in this, and we have done an amazing amount of data collection over those three years.  It is now time to sort and catalogue that data in a more meaningful and organized way, than has been done so far.  Forums have limitations in the way they store information, and it becomes more and more difficult to find what you are looking for, over time.

The information and discussion here at The Forum will be edited and transferred to the main web site's new Tiki as well, since it also contains a forum.

However, once the Archives become sufficiently up-to-date with The AMC Heritage Forum live version(THIS SITE), I will necessarily flip the switch, and our first era as The AMC Heritage Forum will draw to a close.

At the time the two versions match closely enough, this site will be locked, serving as the archive, and the forum archive on the main page will become The AMC Heritage Forum, chapter two.

Some sections of The Forum as it is now, will become part of the Tiki structure rather than the Forum.  An example is the Lost Dealership Project, which could probably operate as a forum of its own.  It will become part of the Tiki, having its own structure of Wiki pages, rather than simply posts in a forum.  There will still be a presence for the Project on The Forum, but serving primarily to gather information that will be placed into the TikiWiki pages.

There is no way to avoid the fact that this will change the flavor of The AMC Heritage Forum somewhat, and essentially eliminate its independence from my own site at Route 66 Rambler.  This is something I have tried to avoid, but there is no way to manage it any longer.  I simply have too much to do, with not enough time to do it all.  Hence the move to the new TikiWiki software, and the combining of the several web sites into one.

Every membership at The AMC Heritage Forum will be transferred to a membership at Route 66 Rambler.  Every one who holds a membership at the Open Library Project, RustBucket, Rambler TimeLine, and the blog will also have those memberships transferred to the Route 66 Rambler site.

At present, I am creating memberships on the new software in batches, as I transfer in posts from The AMC Heritage Forum to the archives.  For example, I started with the thread, "To Restore or to Modify?" by Obscurity.  At the time the posts were imported into the new forum, I created memberships based on, "who are the participants in that thread?"

Members at The AMC Heritage Forum will be sent a notifying e-mail when your membership is created, and a PM here on The AMC Heritage Forum, informing you that you now have a membership at Route 66 Rambler.  You cannot access the forum archive at Route 66 Rambler unless you are logged in as a member.  You can browse around and look at what's there so far, and there might even be some stuff you can play with, like uploading to the image galleries etc.  But if you're not logged in, you can't go to the forum archive.

Once we go live over there, then that forum will be made public, and this forum will be locked, but browsable by the public, like a piece of The Modern AMC Heritage of its very own.

I encourage the members here to visit route66rambler.com frequently if you are interested, and familiarize yourself with the software and the new structure there.  You might want to bookmark the forum, for instance, so you won't be surprised whenever we get around to the actual move.  Anybody who feels they can work on the site itself, is more than welcome to write me to discuss it.

All of this will take some time, as I said, likely a couple of months at least, before The AMC Heritage Forum makes the switch with the archive.

-mike

[Route 66 Rambler]

Just a quick update on things.  Some of this stuff takes a long time to get done, just because of the sheer size of our database.  I have just finished restoring all the pictures and archiving all the posts from the AMC Racing boards, so if there is anything there that you've been wondering about, but no pictures there, now you will be able to see them.

Everything from The Factories has been moved over there and had the pictures restored as well.

I realize it looks as if there is nothing going on here at the forum most of the time, but in reality I am working on it as much as 5-6 hours a day, several times a week, just getting the pictures put back in, and archiving the posts into the new site at the same time.  As long as I am modifying posts in order to put the pictures back in, I might as well take that opportunity to copy the posts over at the same time.

Thanks for your patience with all of this.  The REAL challenge is going to come when I have to finish moving all the Lost Dealership Project postings over there.

Things are a little slow, but there IS work going on.

Some have had questions as to why I changed the name to the History forum instead of the Heritage forum.  This is a result of the Department of Homeland Security closing my websites for a three day period a while back, and advice from my lawyer that the use of the word "Heritage" is something that they frown upon from us right wing extremists.  And the "right wing extremist" label comes from helping to organize those famous Tea Parties that you may have heard about back in April, as well as a little bit of spirited debate with the currently fashionable folks on certain blogs like the Huffington Post and the Washington Post, New York Times, etc.  As well as the fact that I am not registered with any political party and frequently criticize both sides.  Oh yeah, and the gun rights thing.  Among others.  Like being a combat veteran.  And because I am very vocal about spending more money than you are taking in, and probably in the wrong places.

So I changed it for a while to cool things down and show them I am a good boy.  This will not last. 

Beginning soon, I will be changing those references from "History" back to "Heritage", mainly just because that sort of thing just plain rubs me the wrong way.  And also because I happen to take seriously a certain old-fashioned piece of whimsical writing known as the U.S. Constitution, which happens to have been amended by Congress and the States to allow for the right to speak as we wish.

I know that whole bunches of people who look at car sites get really turned off by "politics", but things are getting to a serious point in this country, and if you are unwilling to stand for what you believe, then you don't deserve it anyway.

At any rate, consider this a warning that the time may come when the site is unavailable again, because I believe Heritage is Heritage, no matter what else you might want to call it.  Everything is constantly backed up and preserved, so if for some reason I am shut down, this information can be moved over to someone else's site, like The AMC Forum or something like it.  I'm not going to allow all of this work to go to waste, so there is no need to worry about that.

At present, I have moved around 35 percent of the total posts over to the new software, but I started with most of the longest and biggest boards, including about 15 percent of the Lost Dealership Project.  Some things have been combined or deleted, where that made the most sense.  Like when a person posts something, then a little while later, they add another post right in a row with another small thought.  Those two would have been combined into a single post.

So that's where we are right now, just wanted to give folks a heads up on things.

-mike

[IowaEagle]

Thanks Mike for you dedication and hard work in preserving an important part of US History and for providing education and pleasure to perhaps not a vocal group but to a group who spends time here reading and remembering what was.