Alright everyone, I know AMC week ended a little while back, but I will confess–I just didn’t want it to end. When Tom Klockau brought us an Ambassador, he reminded me of what is perhaps my favorite AMC “What If”: the 1975-79 Ambassador. You know, the one that never was. Let us consider the possibilities.
We all know that the Ambassador had been Nash’s top model going back to the 1930s. We also know by now that after a 1970 re-style, the last attention given to the Ambassador sedan was for 1974. We have spent much time bemoaning the outsized schnoz on the shorter wheelbase Matador, but the front of the Ambassador was actually quite nicely done, with a much more modest frontal protrusion. We also know that after a(nother) dismal sales year, AMC pulled the plug on the 122 inch wheelbase Ambassador at the end of the 1974 model year. As nice as the front was, those 1970 hips did the car no favors. Soooooo, I have some other alternatives to offer.
The formal look, with its straight beltlines and upright shapes, was back by the mid 1970s. It would seem that new rear door stampings, window surrounds and window glass could have given us a look something like this. I also dropped the vinyl roof line a bit lower, so a couple of stainless trim pieces would be needed as well. The straight beltline does not work badly with the upright C pillar, and I see this as an improvement on the official 1974 version. The only weakness I see is the back of the C pillar which still has too much slope to go with the more formal lines. This would have been fine for a fleet-special Matador, but not for AMC’s top model. So…
…how about a little Chrysler Fifth Avenue-style extension to the back of the sedan’s roof? A quick extension welded to the back of the existing sedan body and covered with padded vinyl would be just the trick, especially with a slightly smaller rear window. Vinyl roofs were a 1970s staple, so a standard vinyl roof would have been appropriately luxurious. With a properly squared-up C pillar, I think the Ambassador achieves the kind of sensibly sized luxury that was a hot commodity in the second half of the 1970s. With AMC’s 304 or 360 providing the power, this would not have been a bad choice for someone looking for luxury with a smaller footprint.
Of course, the party would have ended by 1979 or 80 due to CAFE requirements, but maybe AMC could have found a way around this too. This car could have given the post 1978 Panther or the GM B body a straight-up competitor that was undoubtedly better than what Chrysler fielded with its R body. So, my fellow AMC believers, what say ye? Would this have been the Ambassador to serve us traditionalists through the 1980s? Or perhaps you have a better idea (or better photo editing skills) for how AMC could have saved the Ambassador.
Kill the wing windows for one thing. Much as I like them to the general public back they screamed “old”. I agree with the 5th Ave. style C pillar too.
Well I don’t know about the ’80s, things got worse before they got better, but if the Ambassador were alive today I think it would look like this
No offense, but I don’t think an Ambassador would look anything like a Bentley. It just doesn’t seem like AMC’s style of doing things. If the Ambassador had survived today, it would probably look more like an Impala than anything else. Maybe a bit like an Acura RLX or a Kia K900…
I’m not good with Photoshop; anyone want to take a stab at these or any other ideas?
The Ambassador always looked a bit generic for the time (save the coffin nose) I predict an modern Ambassador would have looked like a Ford Five Hundred (a fine car but a bit ‘any car’ in its styling.)
I see a lot of ’77 Caprice there. If AMC had improved on it’s rep for reliability, tossed the Herb Tarlek fabric & Tonka-quality plastic interiors and introduced an industry beating 3/36,000 bumper-to-bumper warranty it might have been a best seller. Maybe done some of what the Japanese were doing at the time and actually stood behind their product for a change?
Square up the rear doors/glass, forget the tacked on extension (that wasn’t AMCs style), give the grille a more formal look (take away the integration of the headlights – make them square and fill the space left by the grille above and below them), go for more of a chrome waterfall in the grille in which the emphasis is on the vertical bars. Oh and at the rear a treatment like the 1977 Olds 88 (before 80s redo) would make it formal enough to be an American upper level car.
I choose box 2.
I’m not sure what I would have done to save the Ambassador, but I know I wouldn’t have plastered a fake Mercedes grill and stacked rectangular quad headlamps on it’s face…
I’m not sure how a 122″ wheelbase 219″ long car would have been “sensibly sized luxury”. This was a full-sizer.
Very reasonable compared to a Buick Deuce-and-a-quarter…
Well, yes (what isn’t? :)), but it was marketed in the Impala/Fury III/LTD class, all of which were around 220″.
I think a better strategy would have been to drop the 122″ wheelbase car after 1973, and continue the 118″ sedan and wagon with the quad headlight front end under the better known Ambassador name. The coupe could have continued as a Matador or been given an entirely new name.
It’s not as though the Ambassador hadn’t changed wheelbases before – it seemed to be practically an annual event in the ’60s.
My snarky off-the-cuff response on reading the headline was, “Reassign it to Brazil?”
Maybe Argentina – the ’65 had a long life there.
Right on target, it was Argentina, they continued the ’65-66 Ambassador body until 1974 or 1975.
Possibly the best answer of all. 🙂
Guess I’ll agree with AUWM. I would have focused on a modern mill for the American. My favorite cars have always been in the American/Nova/Dart/Falcon size range. Make mine a wagon.
From a 1975 perspective, I would not have invested a dime in the Ambassador. It was 1960s technology, and the trend was towards luxury in a smaller package. IMO, the Concord should have been developed/introduced much sooner. By late 1973, we already saw with the Mustang II, people would buy small luxury cars in droves.
I would have saved all the tooling costs on freshening the Ambassador. As underneath, it was still a 60s car. In fact, I would have tried selling the tooling to ZIL, as the latest Russian limousine. lol. I say this half jokingly. As I don’t think the political climate back then, would allow this. But I would have ditched the Ambassador nevertheless.
I would have pumped the funds into improving the Hornet. Including a luxury version. To me, this was an affordable option, that would have made AMC quite good sales between 1975 through 1977.
Afterall, AMC needed to make money however possible. Not try to fill market segments they weren’t that credible (or successful) in anyways. The way Dodge pickup trucks failed for years to draw loyal Ford and Chevy buyers. The Ambassador was never going to lure LTD owners.
Instead, AMC was deadly slow introducing a luxury compact. The AMC Concord could have been competitive with the Granada/Volare, if introduced 2 to 3 years sooner. A 1978 introduction was already too late. As the downsized GM A and B body were on the market. As well as the LeBaron/Diplomat and the Fairmont/Zephyr. A high zoot extra plush version of the Concord could have been ready by 1975/1976. In the vein of the Mercury Grand Monarch Ghia. It would have been competitively priced and paid for future AMC product development. Helping offset the losses of the Pacer and Matador coupe.
They wouldn’t have splurged on new rear door stampings, just used the ’67-69/wagon ones.
That, plus a Broughamtastic neoclassic grille to turn the protruding nose on the 118″ car from a bug to a feature, and a “Now for 197x – an Ambassador for a midsize price!” ad campaign. Let the Ambassador replace the Matador and use the 1960s architecture as an advantage over the too-big-to-be-midsize Colonnades and Gran Torinos.
Later in the ’70s, push the wagon on price to the extent allowed by the long-since-paid-off tooling. It could offer 3-row seating at the price of a 2-row only Malibu or even Fairmont.
I’d eliminate the vent windows and lessen the curve in the rear door windows. Plus a little less chrome.
The biggest improvement would be to lose the ‘coffin nose’ hood/grille. Seems like it was worse in real life than in the illustrations but maybe it was most noticeable with the later, dual headlight Matador sedans.
Next would be to straighten the belt line ‘droop’ below the windows as depicted.
Here’s a custom job where someone used the square headlights from a Concord. Not too bad but the nose still ruins it.
That grille would work much better in all chrome, imo. No black highlighting, chrome instead of bodycolor side filler panels, clear/white instead of amber signal lenses. Right in step with the early ’80s big-car look.
An attempt to show what I mean. Still would like a chromier grille insert:
I would start with photo #2 with the straightened rear beltline, then add hideaway lights (and hide the signal lights behind the grille), and suicide rear doors (as inspired by the AMC Caravelle styling study) although not in the interchangeable sense. Also would smooth out the rear wheel openings and put on skirts, similar to the Mercury Marquis. Oh yeah, and make it as a four door hardtop.
First, get rid of the coffin nose, give it a more vertical rear door glass, eliminate the vent windows, perhaps as another post noted give it a waterfall grill. This would have strictly been a short term fix as after 1977-78 with the CAFE standards, AMC would have had a hard time producing it. Maybe the best idea would have to recreate it as a luxury compact along the lines of the Ford Granada.
If we’re talking about the 1977-1980 timeframe, I think I would have gone and aped the GM B-body as much as those body dies would have let me. I like the idea about the squared off roof line, but also ape the then contemporary Town Car or Buick Electra and extend the bladed fenders front and rear.
There should be two versions of the car; Ambassador, the standard sedan and the wagon and then the Grand Ambassador which would have been an upscale version of the car, not unlike a Buick 225 Electra or Olds 98 Regency.
For the Ambassador, make the headlights mid-70’s contemporary and rectangu-lize them. For the Grand Ambassador (a high content version similar to the Cardin or Gucci cars) hide them behind doors, similar to the Town Cars or Grand Marquis of the times. Also, make the grille more like a “bunkie beak” of sorts, like a Grand Marquis from the late 70’s.
On the Ambassador, use tail lights similar to the existing car. For the Grand Ambassador, make the whole rear panel a tail light assembly, buy a bunch of sequential controllers from Ford (along with the electronic ignition systems) and make the turn signals really unique. The standard Amby has a single exhaust, and the Grand would have standard dual exhausts like Cadillacs of the time.
I think that the “standard” Amby would be the car available with 304 2V V8, 3 speed auto and a single exhaust. Sway bars optional with F78 15 whitewall tires, regular ratio power steering. The Grand Ambassador would be available with a similar “fuel saver” (don’t say economy) powertrain, but this would be the killer option: The Grand would be powered by the optional 360 4V with Ford’s AOD 4 speed autobox (pulled up by a couple of years, obviously)(hey, we’re dreaming here!). H70-15 white wall radial tires, tasteful aluminum wheels, sway bars standard, limited slip differential and quick ratio recirculating ball power steering.
The standard Amby would have the regular features of the day, power steering, brakes and automatic transmission. Of course the Grand would have an extensive list of standard options, power windows, locks, seat, mirrors, a/c, heated leather seats and a killer 200 watt am/fm quad stereo, with 8 track standard, cassette optional. The standard Ambassador would be offered in the normal palette of colors, but the Grand would only be available in Black, white, silver, presidential dark blue, claret (cranberry) red and bronze all with an optional camera grain vinyl roof.
For the wagons, there would be the standard Ambassador wagon, with equipment and options to reflect the regular Ambassador sedan in all of the standard color schemes. One would be able to come close to the Grand Ambassador sedan’s level of equipment, but not become a “Grand Ambassador wagon”.
There would be an Airstream Ambassador wagon, a car with the 360 *2V / TorqueFlite automatic* standard, along with quick ratio power steering, sway bars, limited slip diff, on board air compressor for the air shocks in the rear and beefed up rear suspension springs for trailering. H78-15 tires with steel wheels and full disc wheel covers only. In addition, it would be wired for trailering connections and a subframe connector for the hitch. It would come in limited colors and interior choices, but the Di-Noc woodgrain would be standard (delete for credit).
The overall idea is to out-Buick Buick, overpower Chrysler with a value proposition that is second to none and take a chunk out of Lincoln and Cadillac. Become the alternative to the mid/high luxury cars of the time. Be the Lexus LS400 of 1978…
I like your thinking.
I would have saved the Ambassador nameplate by putting it to bed at the end of 1957 model year with the end of Nash. The first AMC Ambassador(the 1958-1959) looked like an abortion on wheels(what the hell was up with the wagon’s looks anyway?)
The rest were better looking then the first generation 58-59 but still medicare looking and not good enough to wear the Ambassador name plate.
The Nash Ambassador was a stately looking car that even though the years went on and several generations went by still seemed to convey style and an air of respectability.
This was the Ambassador AMC was working on when they finally pulled the plug. Although interesting in an AMC weird kind of way I doubt if it would have changed the inevitable
Too much “Monte Carlo/Cordoba Sedan” in that one.
And too much “Super Fly” with those crazy oversize-headlights. Yikes!
Be a great car to take to the local, weekend cruise-in, though.
Or to the local Filet of Soul…..
Makes me think of the fish-faced version of the Ford Scorpio.
I wouldn’t use the words retarded on a mentally challenged person, but Jesus that car looks retarded….
Billets are getting ridiculously oversized, wristwatches are getting ridiculously oversized. And now this. hm.
One of these guys really liked the AMC….
hehehe. Or the one guy who answered that phone earlier in the movie.
That US spec Fiat 500 featured in the commentary of Jana Lingo’s recent post and this are the most super motherfreakingly ugly cars I have ever seen. Except, of course, the X6 and Panamera.
It looks as though AMC was attempting to make the headlights look huge by placing them in oversized nacelles – much as Plymouth did with the outer headlights on its 1962 “standard” cars.
Wow… what’d AMC expect to do, buy NOS Dodge A100 van headlight doors? Damn thing looks like it just got a surprise rectal exam…
How about the Gremlin they were working on
Those look like first gen Corvair hubcaps….
Kind of looks like a fat Ford Anglia or Citroen Ami!
Did it come with a
“Superfly” package?
How about this?
I think your skirt is a little crooked there Tom
Kill it. Kill it now in a very painful way. These things deserved to die.
The roof extension is a little to edgy. Why not setting the angles and transition from roof to rear window so they parallel the angles and transition (radius) of the deck lid to the rear fascia? I think that would look more elegant.
Would that have saved the Ambassador? I doubt it.
You could say that what killed AMC was that they tried to play the Big Three’s game (annual styling changes, catering to the latest styling fads) without the resources.
It would have been nice to see at least one North American car company go more firmly in the other direction – focussing on mechanical improvement, reliability, value, and a more conservative evolution in the styling field. The marketing model was already there (Volvo, VW), and I like to think that there could have been a market for that type of approach by a US manufacturer (AMC being the obvious candidate in the 1960’s). But perhaps not. And probably by 1974 it was already too late.
The Ambassador’s platform dated from 1967, If you look at an Ambi in the flesh, you notice how the tires look sunken deep inside the wheelwells. These were not “wide tracked” by any means. Time to start over
1-the cheap way: combine the coil sprung rear suspension from the old senior platform with the rack and pinion steering and front suspension of the Pacer, use off the shelf drive train and size it to compete with the Granada. So the AMC line becomes luxo compact Ambassador, sporty compact Hornet, cheap Gremlin and weird Pacer.
2-the expensive and risky way: keep the ex-Buick V6 they inherited whey they bought Jeep and do what GM did with it: offset the rod journals to smooth the timing and adopt to transverse installation. Hook up the transverse version of the Borg Warner Type 35 that Austin was using and build the equal of an 82 Buick Century around it.
Scenario #1 would have had to be implemented by 72 to make the 75 model intro. They would have almost had to have spies at Ford to know that Ford was moving to luxo compacts by 74. If they waited until the Mustang II and Granada came out, they would not have gotten the new Ambi to market until 77, and the auto market was so bad in 74 that they may not have trusted the sales numbers the MII and Granada were putting up, so more delay until 78-79 and by then they had no money for anything.
Scenario #2 would have required Roy Chapin tell Dick Teague that the Pacer would only cannabalize Hornet and Gremlin sales, so redirect the Pacer budget to applying the “maximim interior space, minimum footprint” thinking of the Pacer to a family sedan.
The scenario #1 car is essentually a Ford Fox body, and would have only been competitive into the early 80s
The scenario #2 car is essentually an 82 GM A body, and that platform survived in the market until 96
I would not have saved it. I would have focused on doing what Chrysler ended up doing, but instead of a K car, it would have been a Hornet/Concorde. Instead of a small FWD vehicle, the new AMC compact would have been 4WD. There would have been a new compact wagon. I would have focused on building a competitive compact and subcompact while folding those car lines in with Jeep.
I would have brought back Romney after his years with the Nixon administration.
A nose job was a definite must.If they had a better looking “face” they might have sold more.I think it would have (and should have but the money was fast running out at AMC) kept pace with the big 3’s full size sedans and would today look like a Chrysler 300/Chevy/Holden/Vauxhall or the last Crown Vics.
Maybe I need to go on some meds, but I like the Ambassador as it is in the first photo! One improvement I would suggest though would be a pillarless hardtop version!
I am surprised it hasn’t been mentioned…….Colonnade styling, AMC style via Richard Teague.
I seem to remember some Motor Trend sketches of a Matador sedan and wagon with Matador coupe styling that did just that. I think they were better off having not gone that way though. The Colonnade era was pretty short lived.
AMC should have taken the money spent/blown on the Matador coupe and produced an upgraded version of the Hornet. It would come complete with a longer wheelbase (with the stretch in the back seat area), an all-new interior and a greenhouse design much like that finally adopted for the 1980 Concord. It would only be available in the two-door and four-door sedan body styles, and with a standard high level of interior and exterior trim (think Concord Limited models of 1979-80).
AMC should have used the Ambassador name on this car. The old Hornet would continue, but with a better interior (get rid of that clunky dashboard), more standard equipment (front disc brakes, please!) and a slight facelift. Keep the hatchback and Sportabout body styles in the Hornet line.
If this Ambassador had debuted for 1975, AMC could have crowed about how it had “downsized” its former full-size offering before the Big Three did, while retaining all of the luxury features (including standard air conditioning) of the old Ambassador.
Then I would have taken the front used on the 1974 Ambassador and put it on the Matador sedan and wagon…and slowly run out that body style for a few more years. The dual headlights used on the Ambassador, along with its grille design, made the protruding center section much less objectionable.
You think you hate it now. Wait’ll you drive it.
I’d have killed the Matador sedan and wagon (that way the coupe would have kept the Matador name exclusively, like Grand Prix, Monte Carlo, Thunderbird, Cordoba), “downsized” the Ambassador sedan and wagon to the original Rebel 114″ wheelbase for 1975, and kept all the luxuries standard, along with a revised grille pattern retaining the coffin nose and quad tunneled headlights up front. I’d have reverted back to the ’67-69 rear fenders and doors, with revised window frames that were slimmer and crisper. The sedan’s C-pillar would be more upright to reflect the styling of the times. For ’76, I’d make the headlights rectangular, relocate the signal lenses to horizontal strips under the headlights, and probably switch the grille to a more stand-up type Rolls-like grille and cut back the protrusion. Moderate styling changes could continue through the late ’70s and early 80s. For 1979, I’d do a major facelift, dump the Matador coupe, and reintroduce a 2-door Ambassador with a special rear roof line. In 1982, I’d reskin the lineup and add an Eagle Cross Country 4WD version of the wagon. It’d be a Suburban competitor at a lower price, with better economy.
By 1983, the pent-up demand for larger RWD family cars grew in popularity, so the ’82 facelift would be just fine for that. By 1988, I’d replace it with what became the Eagle Premier, but include a wagon version (and a 4WD version of the wagon) and make the cars RWD-based instead of FWD, since the engine was pointed that way already.
AMC should have followed the Japanese. Ultimately they came out on top in the ensuing decades.
Should have taken the AMX 3 concept platform reworked and extended it to a sedan (aka put the seats behind the engine) and disguised it under conservative bodywork, like the original one in the pic but cleaned up the back and that awkward c pillar hump revert to the cleaner 69. It would have been ahead of it’s time-RWD w/all independent suspension. Yeah I know this is some 6-7 yrs later but I guess there’s still interest. Ah what it coulda been had it survived to this day-using their early 4,1 l v8 with 4 v/cyl direct efi and vvt making it a screamer.
AMC failed to make inroads in the larger marketplace because of its quirky looking new product offerings during the 70s – the Matador, the Gremlin and the Pacer. Its only real success during this time period was the Hornet which morphed into the Concord. The Ambassador could have been pretty much left alone, save for that crazy looking front bumper as mandated by the bumper mandates of that era. Hard to believe at the time but now a Hornet hatchback seems like it would have been a better choice than a Vega or a Pinto.