Growing up in the 50's on a small Virginia farm my Grandfather was a physician (everyone called him "Doc"), lived next door in the large house. He loved Packard, and we had three between us, the '52 was shared so Mom could take her mother (Doc's wife) shopping as she didn't drive. In 1964 Dad bought his first new car. We lived near Lynchburg and downtown there was a Rambler dealership "Tibbs Motor Company". That car was a prototype called the Tarpon. In the 1960's the US had the big four...GM, Ford, AMC, Chrysler. Someone from Lynchburg bought the Tarpon from the factory, apparently back then it was possible, brought it home and sold it to Tibbs who had it displayed in their showroom. Much about the Tarpon whether on Wikipedia or in books is incorrect information. The red one shown at the Autorama was a mock-up. Dad's was white. Guys I met years ago at conventions who worked at AMC called the prototype room the white room since that's what they were painted. White with a red interior, red bucket seats, a tiny red rear seat, red **** carpet. The red doorpanels even had red **** on the lower portion. At 12 years old then I still remember a lot about it. Today I have Ramblers in my collection, and the Tarpon was built on the American platform (I have a 64 American). The back gl*** went all the way back similar to the next year's Marlin (however Marlin was larger on the Cl***ic frame). It had the mid-block Rambler 327, Holley 4 barrel, Hurst 4 speed with overdrive. I remember the shifter , white ball knob, overdrive had a knob under dash you pulled out. It had a chrome air cleaner top. Chrome valve covers, other under hood chrome possibly. It had a console with tachometer. Wheels had from memory were wire basket covers with a spinner center, 14" I believe. I loved the car, it proceeded the Mustang which came out mid '64 and for the time and since it was small it ran pretty well...the first pony car. I remember seeing Dad coming up our long driveway that first day. Doc was a shutterbug...but so far haven't found pictures of it. Doc and Mom instantly didn't like it. It was too small, Mom didn't like a straight shift, hard to get in and out of, no trunk, carpet hard to clean, etc. But everywhere we went it caused a sensation, always a crowd of people around it. Mom hated cleaning off all the fingerprints as well! I'm convinced the Tarpon would have sold like hotcakes if Rambler had only produced them. Two years later with the advent of the 290 and the following 304, 343, 360, 390, 401 series engines AMC would have prospered, a little too late perhaps not realizing the importance of the muscle and pony car market. After having the Tarpon a few months, tired of Mom's complaining, Dad traded it back to Tibbs after ordering what she wanted...a 1965 Rambler Amb***ador 990, gold 4 door, 327 automatic. In the 70's I tried finding out what happened to the Tarpon. With notebook in hand I tracked down former employees as Tibbs had gone out of business. The first fellow remembered the car, saying a mechanic there bought it. The trail went cold since people had p***ed or moved away. I would love to know whatever happened to "the one that got away", maybe it's in someone's barn somewhere. Sent from my SM-S320VL using Tapatalk
My friend had a Marlin, nice car.... I was jealous of him when we went to the drive in and he had that Marlin and I had my Ford. Wink wink. Bones
Great Story Sir! I am a fan of the mid 60's AMCs' I had a red Marlin a few years back & just bought a rust-free 66 2dr Amb***ador in Arizona last week. God Bless Bill https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ar-transport-hauling-open-or-enclosed.614419/
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