Nash/AMC Ambassador

[aostling]

There is a possibility that Phoenix (population 4.5 million and growing) will run out of water by 2050. I am compiling an archive of photos showing all aspects of the city. The images are on film -- future generations will have no trouble viewing how things were in the city's heyday. I concentrate on houses and buildings.

There are houses of billionaires, usually occupied only in winter. Some of the ghettos surrounding the downtown are still intact, mostly rented houses but beginning to gentrify. South of the Convention Center 90% of the houses are gone, as you can see in this satellite view https://goo.gl/maps/srz9YACwMGU2. All that gray area is gravel, spread on lots where the houses have been scraped. In addition to the few houses, what remains are dozens of corner groceries. These date from the 1920s, and are typically without windows. They sell mostly beer and wine. My project needs to know what they are like inside, so I have started going into them, with camera over my shoulder. To justify my presence I always buy a little bag of Doritos, (who knew there were so many flavors?) then ask the proprietor if he or she would mind if I took a photo. About half don't mind.

A fire engine was putting out a trailer fire at 3120 E Palm. I waited until it was gone, and then strolled around the property. There are hundreds of trailer courts in Phoenix, and some are quite fascinating. This one had a car under wraps. But what year is it? I did not want to poke around much at the trailer site, so could not determine if it was a Nash, or an AMC.

[danlb]

That appears to be a 1959 RAMBLER Ambassador, owned by AMC. A very swanky car in it's day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMC_Ambassador

[aostling]

That appears to be a 1959 RAMBLER Ambassador, owned by AMC. A very swanky car in it's day.

Yes, these photos show that you (and Guido in a PM) are right. https://www.google.com/search?q=1959...7mwTMSXriXIRM:

That was the year of my high school graduation.

[wierdscience]

I think Dan has it right,my Boss owned one way back,he called it his "Nash Can" as it had all manner of junk in the back for running his farm.Back in the era when the average car had enough steel in it to build a light Tank

[darryl]

Our first new car was an Ambassador, 1965.

[Tim Clarke]

Yup. 1959 Rambler. Would have had a 327 V&.

[Baz]

An interesting project. Don't just do straight up views of buildings though as that is not what real people see. They see the wide angle street view that takes in the ambience of the place.
Perhaps if they planted those gravel patches with trees it would reduce the temperature and promote rain.

[wombat2go]

Hi Allan,
Sounds like a worthwhile project

I would be interested to hear what cameras and film you are using indooors and outdoors.
I have some vintage medium format cameras and I do my own b/w and C41 developing here.

[CreakyOne]

There is a possibility that Phoenix (population 4.5 million and growing) will run out of water by 2050. I am compiling an archive of photos showing all aspects of the city. The images are on film -- future generations will have no trouble viewing how things were in the city's heyday. I concentrate on houses and buildings.

For anyone who doesn't know .... A website exists dedicated to old photographs including many showing streets and buildings of old towns, plus old vehicles, bridges, factories, and particularly People. It's named after a young coal miner:

http://www.shorpy.com/

You might find some useful information there by doing a search for "Phoenix", perhaps older shots of places you have recently documented.

I always preferred the more basic Rambler Americans; the 1961 version was somewhat boxy, and thus had a very roomy interior and trunk, plus it had high clearance and was capable of navigating dirt fire roads well. The stock drivetrain had a 196 cu. six, and a "three-on-the-tree" stickshift was common. That was also the year the first edition of International Harvester's Scout, the Model 80, came out.

My understanding is that AMC was the first company to use Unit Body Construction.

.

[aostling]

Wombat,

My switch back to film was painless. I went to digital in 2008, but kept my film developing equipment. I have no darkroom, but all I need is a dark closet to load the film into developing tanks.

I digitize the negatives with camera scans, using my Olympus E-M5 II, which has a high-definition mode producing 40 MP files. I sandwich the negatives between two 1/8" sheets of anti-Newton glass, so obviate interference artifacts. I can digitize a roll of film (stored as seven strips of five frames, in Print File sleeves) in about ten or fifteen minutes. I then import the files into Lightroom, where I invert the curves, clone out dust specks, and make all necessary corrections.

I breakthrough in scanning color negatives occurred when I recently bought a Kaiser Slimlite Plano light pad https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...k_battery.html. This gives balanced 5000K illumination, with a continuous spectrum. With a cheap light box, I was never able to get satisfactory color balance.

In Phoenix there are still two labs which run C-41 processing, so I rely on these for my color films. They charge $5 for a roll without prints. There is no E-6 processing in Arizona, so I have had to give up on slide film. There are kits, but I no longer have my Jobo machine to use them.

I develop my own b&w film. I favor Xtol developer, for Ilford films.

Film cameras tend to multiply, around the house. I have a few high-end p&s cameras, like the Canonet QL17, and Contax TVS II. I also have two 28-90mm zoom cameras from the late 1990s: Pentax IQZoom 928, and Rollei Prego 90.

For medium format I have a Mamiya M645 with three lenses, and a Fuji GA645i.

The best camera in the house is my Minolta CLE, which mounts Leica bayonet lenses. For this I have an Elmarit 90mm f2.8, an Avenon 28mm f3.5, and a Zeiss C-Sonnar 50mm f1.5 ZM. The latter cost me more than the CLE body. I had a CLE when I lived for a few months in Barrow, Alaska, in 1983. I am glad I was able to buy one back, a year ago. It has frame lines for 28, 40, and 90 -- hence the inclusion of a 50mm brightline on the accessory clip.

Are you a displaced Aussie, by any chance?

[aostling]

An interesting project. Don't just do straight up views of buildings though as that is not what real people see. They see the wide angle street view that takes in the ambience of the place.
Perhaps if they planted those gravel patches with trees it would reduce the temperature and promote rain.

Baz,

I will take this as good advice. My tendency is to shoot straight on at houses, correcting for converging verticals in buildings.

There are two likely trees which grow naturally in the Sonoran Desert. The paloverde needs perhaps too much water to get established, but is planted widely in Phoenix for xeriscaping. The other is the mesquite, which is a real pest elsewhere. Hey Texas, ship us your unwanted mesquites!

[EddyCurr]

A post to mention that Nash, American Motors and AMC were different corporate entities representing a succession of efforts to keep what started out as Nash continuing to operate as a viable auto manufacturer. One of the last holdouts competing w/ the big three, a stark reminder of an earlier era when consumers could choose from dozens of manufacturers. Studebaker hung on into the 60's. Did Cord make it beyond the e-50's?

American Motors Corporation was the result of a union between Nash and Hudson in the mid-50's that occured after Hudson floundered, despite great success in NASCAR and some involvement w/ Queen Isabella of Spain or one of her representatives. (Smokey Yunick wrote about Hudson and Nash in his books.)

Someone else can look up the details, but I seem to recall that American Motors became AMC in the m-l 60's. By the e-70's, they were done. But boy, they went out in a blaze of glory. Roger Penske and Mark Donohue campaigned Javalins in Trans-Am and later, Matadors in NASCAR. Those red/white/blue cars remain some of the most iconic examples of their kind.

A relative bought a '66 Rambler Classic fitted w/ a six and three-on-the-tree for a child to use at school a few hundred miles away. It had previously been owned by a preacher/school teacher and was particularly clean. Apparently, there would be "I'm just about to leave" calls from the distant location - the elapsed time between the calls and the arrival on the doorstep raised eye-brows more than once.

Edit: '66, not '63

[rohart]

Back when I did E6 I was using a borrowed Jobo. When I had to hand the Jobo back, I didn't bother getting another. I got an SS 4 reel tank and just filled the kitchen sink with water at 40 deg (IIRC).

I used a length of plastic waste tube in the drain to keep the right level, and maybe topped it up with hot from the tap once or twice during the first processing. Inverted the tank every thirty seconds, and everything came out fine, regularly, I mean always !

You could probably find a little colour variation because of my imprecision, but varied lighting does the same.

And the SS reels were a delight to load, if you keep them clean, give them a final rinse in distilled, and dry them quickly.

[wombat2go]

Hi Allen I was very interested to read what you are doing, thanks.
I have a collection of Pentax-Ricoh 35mm K mount
and I also use my vintage K lenses on the Pentax dslr

I am mostly interested in vintage medium format.
I develop C41 in the Rollei Digibase chemicals.
I have a PrimeFilm 120 Pro scanner for Medium Format, but also
does 35mm one by one.

Yes I regularly go back to Australia and have even taken the RB67
SLR which I use hand held ! (instead of doing a gym workout).

I make adaptors for 6x7 lenses on the South Bend 9A,
and I have built a complete 6x7 metal box camera which
is shown in one of the photos below
Some photos: ( negative magnifier might be needed on some)

RB67 in Michigan

https://app.box.com/s/75d6e107gfday8k09t2rk55bqowr0fg1

https://app.box.com/s/muqojmp4q6vsm4zuiw0le7y69ad1dhe9

2x3 Graflex in Sydney, and Belle Isle Detroit

https://app.box.com/s/4yt9pobksv5vanl70q2w37xe1ym3gntg

https://app.box.com/s/9qrlw48oqngxx849v6tgrz4l0f129amc

2x3Graflex + RB67 Cameras

https://app.box.com/s/9d6gm8vpss3erpw64u264h4h1nsqhqg0

Part of MF Camera Collection with the Home Brew WomTak67

https://app.box.com/s/b8di1879qnxjl8h9k1kw

[Baz]

It must be 40 years since I developed a film but still have the tank in a cupboard. My father and I also did CR50 (I think) colour slide film developing about 45 years ago which strangely was actually available in Africa when Kodachrome prepaid processing films weren't. In Africa we had to cool the solutions down with ice which made it seem strange back in the UK to have to heat them up.