Daytripping Spring 2024

Lake Huron
The
Daytripper
As always, we begin in WINDSOR, AMHERSTBURG, BELLE RIVER & ESSEX
MI
ONTARIO SHOP
NY
LOCAL
If You Give A Girl A Ratrod
Story and Photos by Tammy With, Wyoming
If you attend a car show in
Southwestern Ontario there is a good
chance you may run into Robynn Marks
and her 1960 AMC Rambler. Robynn is
a fresh face to the circuit after recently
rebuilding the car her brother gave her
30 years ago.
The journey began in 1987 when her
12 year old brother Alex went on a trip
to South Carolina with his father and a
group of car enthusiasts. Armed with a
savings he had made corn detasseling
all summer, Alex purchased the Rambler
and a Hudson which
they towed back
to the border. The
border security had
never seen such a
thing, and as such
they decided to
charge the young boy
$50 to bring the cars
back to Canada.
Alex never worked
on the Rambler, but
would help his father
work on other cars.
Robynn would watch
the pair work and
would talk about how much she
loved the Rambler and what she
would do to it if it were her car.
She would occasionally suggest
to her brother a colour or
alteration she felt would suit it.
Then, on Robynn’s 20th birthday her
brother presented her with a ring box
containing the key to the Rambler, and
told her since she had so many ideas
for it, he wanted her to have it. Robynn
was delighted to have it, and spent the
next several years carting the car from
house to house as
she raised her four
young children. As
time went on she
gathered pieces for
the rebuild and put
them away.
Robynn promised
herself she would
start the project, and
on February 1st, 2019
she kept that promise.
At the advice of her
husband Rob; a fellow
gearhead, Robynn
started by tearing
the car apart and placing
pieces in well labelled
boxes. Once the car was
apart from the engine
block up, she started the
major undertaking of
putting it back together.
As this was her first
build, she relied on the
expertise of her husband.
Rob acted as any good leader would; he
told her what she needed to know and
then let her teach herself. With his help,
and the help of the internet, Robynn
worked away for 30 months, usually
spending two or three days a week on
the project. “We used Friday as our date
night, we would order take out and work
on our cars. He has been my number
one supporter,” Robynn spoke fondly of
her time together with her husband.
On July 22nd 2021 Robynn put the
final touches on the car, and for the first
time presented her car to an audience
on August 8th at The Walkabout on
Christina Street in Sarnia. “I can’t even
describe what that felt like, it was like
a proud parent kind of moment,” says
Robynn.
She is still a minority in the craft,
and as such she is often overlooked as
the person responsible for bringing her
Rambler to life. “Most people at the shows
think Rob built her, but he is quick to
redirect them back to me,” she says with
a little chuckle. Her greatest hope is that
seeing her next to this accomplishment
will inspire little girls to dream big and
think, I can do that too!
“A project like this is never really
finished,” Robynn states, as there is
always something else to add. Currently
she is adding a little artistic flare to the
car with the addition of rose decals on
the exterior and floral accents on the
interior. Her vision is to give the car a
ratrod feel.
Perhaps her favourite detail included
is the wood panel across the back seat
featuring the signature of every person
who helped make her vision a reality.
It includes the signatures of the people
who donated parts, her children, and
most notably, the brother who started
her journey 30 years before.
Robynn has set her sights on a new
project; converting a more modern car
into a rally car. She has yet to start the
project, but says she starts with a vision
of what it will look like in the end and
goes from there. As for her philosophy,
Robynn believes,
You should never drive
boring cars
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ICE CREAM
• Around 5% of people share their ice cream
with a pet!
• Approximately 13% of men and 8% of
women admit to licking the bowl after
eating ice cream!
• The invitation of the ice cream cone is
linked to the 1904 World’s fair in St. Louis,
where an ice cream vendor reportedly didn’t
have enough dishes to keep up with demand
so he teamed with a waffle vendor who rolled
his waffles into cones.
• It takes approximately 50 licks to polish off a single
scooped ice cream cone.
• Children between the ages of 2-12 and
adults over 45 eat the most ice cream. .
• Vanilla is the most popular ice cream
flavour and chocolate sauce is the
favourite topping!
• According to the Guinness book of
world records the largest ice cream
sundae was made in Alberta Canada
in 1988 weighing in at 55,000 pounds!
As Found At...
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A proverb is the wit of one and the wisdom of many. - unknown
Spring 2024