Tom Dulaney - AMX/3 Reproduction

Hi,
My name is Tom Dulaney and I live in North San Diego County, California. I am 41, single, I have no children, but my girlfriend and I have 2 small dogs. I produce television shows, including Planet X where I review new cars and occasionally produce an episode on a motorsports event or automotive feature story.

Planet X TV Show - Extreme Actionsports Broadband Video

Right now I am editing a piece on R.J. Gottleib and the Big Red Camaro.

Big Red Camaro Official website :::: Welcome!

I have never built a kit car before. I have been an AMC hobbyist for 20+ years collecting, restoring and racing AMX's and Javelin's. In the AMC hobby, our Holy Grail is a Halo car from 1970 called the AMX/3. Only 6 were produced for AMC in Italy by Giotto Bizzarrini. Those of us in the AMC hobby could only dream of finding one and no reproductions have ever been made, until now. I was lucky enough to find the original fiberglass non-running display car from the 1970 Chicago Auto Show. I made a mold and 4 reproduction bodies that are shells with no depth. I have started a company called Sciabola Inc, with investors money, and we are making our first chassis with the help of Dave Ward, Crew Chief of the Big Red Camaro, and eventually will offer reproduction bodies to the public. Forgive me for being off topic, I know this is a GT40 Forum, great car! But a friend of mine with a really nice GT40 suggested I might get some tips from this forum. I am also active on the 2 big AMC forums, the Kit Car forum and I have a forum of my own just for the AMX/3 on my website

Welcome to AMX390

So I do have some experience posting pictures and such.
Tom Dulaney

Welcome Tom
You will get plenty of info from this site.
Thats a nice project, it has a hint of detomaso.

Jim

Big red is awesome! I love it..

Hi Tom,

Glad you found us!!!! The AMX-2 & 3 are a pair of REALLY cool cars... It was concepts like that which kept my heart yearning for more..

Like I said on the Kit Cars Forum - There are a lot of guys here that would really like to see your car and watch the build...

Hi Tom,

I live in La Mesa, and I work with a Greg Bruno at UCSD.

There a bunch of San Diegans here, including David Briggs who lives in the SDCE.
David is a good person to know

Ian

BTW, I also thought of the GTM chassis as a possible starting point.
Adding 4.3 inches between the interior compartment and the engine
bay might be very close to fitting the design.

Ian

Tom,

If you're serious about doing it right why not have Jeff Teague involved? He's Richard Teague's son and he's a great automotive designer in his own right. Having Jeff would also validate the project. I would call it AMX/4 to keep it authentic. Good luck with your project. The AMX/3 is one of my favorites. I understand the originals don't drive very well but they look amazing.

Freeman

Tom,

If you haven't already, talk to Fran Hall at RCR. His Superlight Coupe has
a 105" wheelbase, 74" wide, 43" tall, and 151" long. It can handle a BBC,
and a Porsche transaxle. They are also fitting a twin turbo LS SBC and Ricardo
(Ford GT) transaxle.

Ian

Randy,
You were right, this is a great forum. Thanks for the lead.

Jim C,
When it comes to DeTomaso cars, I think the AMX/3 is better looking than the Pantera, the Mangusta is pretty cool though.

Ian,
Thanks for posting, Greg Bruno is a great guy, we have been friends for more than 20 years. Greg has lots of car experience and has been very helpful with this project. I used to work for the SDCOE part time when I was in college, helping Greg. I have heard the name David Briggs a few times now, maybe I should call him, do you have his number? The GTM chassis looks like a nice piece, I have taken many pictures of the bare chassis as well as the completed car. I hear they are having some problems with the fiberglass body cracking though. The chassis Dave Ward is making for us is a simpler round tube, the GTM has a lot of smaller square stock pieces that is more time consuming, like a Lambo chassis. I just called and spoke with Fran Hall, that was a great idea, super guy, maybe at a later date the new company Sciabola Inc will have the funds for him to build an aluminum chassis for us with custom billet aluminum suspension. I like the way you think, I ate your missing fries.

Freeman,
Thanks for the suggestion about Jeff Teague. Jeff and I have spoken on the phone many times, and last year we showed our cars next to each other at the AMC show at Irwindale speedway.

Jeff already has a new design for the AMX/4, so I'll stick with the "3" since these are reproductions for the original "Zero" display car I have. Jeff is a very busy guy and unfortunately does not have time for this project. I love the AMX/3 too, when BMW did the testing years ago, they said it had the stiffest chassis they had ever tested. The ride may have been harsh or bouncy, but the handling was very neutral.

Check out my letter and reproduction AMX/3 picture in the July issue of Hot Rod magazine.
Tom

AMX390 said:

Ian,
Thanks for posting, Greg Bruno is a great guy, we have been friends for more than 20 years. Greg has lots of car experience and has been very helpful with this project. I used to work for the SDCOE part time when I was in college, helping Greg. I have heard the name David Briggs a few times now, maybe I should call him, do you have his number? The GTM chassis looks like a nice piece, I have taken many pictures of the bare chassis as well as the completed car. I hear they are having some problems with the fiberglass body cracking though. The chassis Dave Ward is making for us is a simpler round tube, the GTM has a lot of smaller square stock pieces that is more time consuming, like a Lambo chassis. I just called and spoke with Fran Hall, that was a great idea, super guy, maybe at a later date the new company Sciabola Inc will have the funds for him to build an aluminum chassis for us with custom billet aluminum suspension. I like the way you think, I ate your missing fries.

Click to expand...

Hi Tom,

Must be a different Greg Bruno - the guy I know doesn't seem to know you. Oh well,
would have made for an interesting coincidence.

Anyway, glad to hear you found a more local source for the chassis. And talking to Fran
is indeed a great idea - he is a tremendous resource, and has done some chassis for
others (the 917 and XJ12).

I have David's number somewhere, but it is probably best for you to contact him directly.
He's pretty active on the forum here, and I am sure he'll respond. He has some cool
projects underway, and does a lot of work with CAV GT40s.

My brother-in-law is very interested in the AMX/3. So, we may have to pay you a visit
sometime.

Ian

Ian,
Funny coincidence about there being 2 Greg Bruno's. You and your brother-in-law would be most welcome, I live in Vista.
Tom

Tom,

I showed your website and images to some of the designers and modelers in my studio. They're real fans of the AMX/3. I worked with Jeff Teague at VW Design. Really talented and nice guy. I met Dick Teague when I was at Art Center and our class was invited to an Indy race with him to see the PPG Pace Cars. He was a real hero of mine. If you get the chance, every Saturday morning 6:30am-9:30am we put on "Cars & Coffee" ( click on Autoworks Photography- powered by SmugMug for more info) in the parking lot of my studio/Ford PAG building. Its free and open to any "interesting" wheels. We all wish you lots of luck and success with your project. By the way, if a car company doesn't use a name for a number of years it goes unprotected into the "public domain" just in case you're thinking of using a "particular" name.

Freeman

Hello Tom !!
Very interesting project. At one time, I had two (2) NOS Otto Malaro transaxles for those AMC cars. I thought it was for the AMX2 though. Best of luck with your project.

Regards Brian

Freeman,
Thanks for showing the website to your staff, I am glad the design is appreciated outside of the AMC community. The cars and coffee event looks like fun, I would like to attend some day, I would be coming up from San Diego. Maybe we should call the reproductions AMX/3, since the name is now available in the public domain. Thanks.

Brian,
If you work for Ford, then we spoke on the phone. I also spoke with the gentelman who you sold them to, Leroy Kornely in Wisconsin who works for Chrysler. The AMX/2 never made it far enough for a running car, the ATA Transaxles were made for the AMX/3, in Italy, at the same time Bizzarrini was making the body.
Tom<o></o>

Hi Tom, I am interested in seeing your project.
Call me @ (760)787-5866
Dave

Tom,

How about AMX/3C as in "continuation"

Freeman