(first posted 1/17/2013) We haven’t had any AMCs on CC for a while, so I had to share this nice ’75 Matador wagon, posted to the Cohort by GGH06. Looks pretty good with the Road Wheels and dark red paint, doesn’t it?
Although the Matador coupe was the, ahem, most distinctive member of the family, I always liked the Matador sedans and wagons–maybe from watching “Police Academy” too many times as a kid. I think the wagon has the edge over the sedan, as it did not get the humpy rear quarters and upswept rear door that the Rebel sedans got in 1970 and were carried over on the 1971 and later Matadors.
The wagon’s roofline, last revised in 1967, carried on–and was all the better for it. It aged much better than the sedan’s as the ’70s progressed. And although the Broughamiest neighbors on your block would have gotten the fake-woodgrain model, a Matador wagon with plain sides was also available. The Matadors carried on through the 1978 model year with only minor changes. Sadly, only the ’78 sedan was available with the Broughamy Barcelona package: No two-tone brown or maroon wagons with crushed velveteen upholstery were ever made.
But wait, folks, there’s more–this wagon is a Brougham! AMC typically showed the Brougham wagons with the plastiwood siding, but apparently at least one of them came off the line with painted body sides. It’s hard to see, but that is indeed a Brougham emblem on the C-pillar.
As you’d expect, the Brougham consisted primarily of a fancier interior (shown at the lower right of the brochure pic above). And check out that bright green interior! What can I say, it was the ’70s.
According to GGH06, this Matador “was found on the used car lot run by a close relative, although it’s become more of a pet than actual merchandise.” Maybe if you’re good, he’ll share more info–and pictures-on it! What a nice old wagon.
I likes me some AMC and I likes me some wagons. Guess I like this.
By this time I always felt that AMC had left their slimmer/lighter roots but they were still good cars. Hated it when they died but it was probably worse when they were dying. Out of their misery now.
Well then G.G. I’ve got to ask:
Stats? (what’s under the hood, interior color, etc.)
Does it run? (I do see the tires are holding air)
Rust free?
How much?
I’m currently about 1600 milles away from the Matador wagon, but I’ll get what info I can within the next 72 hours. She is a runner, and a V8. Maroon interior. I probably can scare up some more pix as well.
Oops! I confused you with another CC commenter, G.G.–he provided the Cohort pics for the ’71 T-Bird CC. I’ll amend the text. Beg your pardon.
GG,
did you ever get the additional info? Is it still up for grabs?
This is actually a Matador that I could take home and love. I agree that the wagon was the best looking of the lot by this time, but that was not saying much. I could even love the front end – it is so horrifying that it is hard to believe that they actually built it – but they did, and here it is!
Totally agree. I can’t believe how drawn I am to it. The ridiculous schnozz has become infinitely cool after all these decades. Maybe because our own noses are getting bigger? Finally, a Brougham that I could see myself in 🙂
I just can’t abide that stupid nose, sorry. But the rest of the car… very nice looking. Ever notice how many AMC designs still looked reasonably contemporary even after 8, 10, 12 model years?
Even better – a ’61 Plymouth Belvedere hardtop wagon. Wickedly cool.
Front end is pretty tame compared to modern cars. By MrWalkr – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0
photo didn’t attach
There was a di-noc wood version in the “Eyes of Laura Mars” with Faye Dunnaway and Tommy Lee Jones,
Right you are. Here’s a pic from imcdb.org. I really like the wheels on this one!
What a time capsule. It looks awesome sans the fake wood! Love me all the AMC you can find!!!
I would try to make that snow permanent – it hides the coffin being smuggled under the hood. 🙂
I agree…that protrusion in front ruins the looks for me. The deep red-brown paint does help though – it looks far better in that color than in typical 70’s AMC green.
AMC did try product placement of Matador wagons in some failed TV pilots and series around 74-75.
One was ‘Sierra’ about Park Rangers in Sierra Nat’l Park, produced by same folks as ‘Adam-12’ and ‘Emergency’. Another short lived show was about a TV Investigative Report team, tooling around LA in a Matador wagon with Satellite dish on top.
I vaugely remember ‘Sierra’ but it seemed like the scenes with the Mat wagons were wedged into the show. It would have worked better with real Jeep Wagoneers or pickups.
We can’t forget the first season of ‘Quincy, M.E.” -the M.E.-mobile was a Matador wagon.
I remember that series, it was called “Mobile ONE” and it ran on both ABC and CTV in the mid-70’s I fell head over heels in love with the Matador wagon, even with the “K-ONE TV1” markings…
That front end spoils the car,I could live with a woodie though.The wagon is definitely the best looker of the Matador family.
The wagon is a rather nice looking vehicle, but it would look a lot better with the front end from the 2dr sport coupe. I never could figure out why AMC put that awful front on the sedan and wagon>
I test drove a well worn Matador it was cheap I bought the Holden next to it both were gunna breakdown guarenteed, but parts for Holdens were everywhere for Ramblers nowhere.
In 1976 I was in the 4th grade at a catholic elementary school. The nuns drove a black (what other color would you expect nuns to like LOL) 1976 Matador Brougham wagon with the woodgrain paneling. It even had the road wheels like the featured car! I thought it was a beautiful car but it always seemed old to me, even when it was new. I remember peeking in the window and seeing that Brougham interior – it was a very loaded car too!! I always thought that car was so rare as you hardly ever saw them. They drove that thing into the ground – if I’m not mistaken it was replaced in the mid 80’s by a Dodge Caravan (black, of course!!!!)
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I had a 73 Matador wagon in light green with a dark green leather like interior and it was one of the most pleasant cars I have ever owned. Seats were comfortable, tons of room everywhere, the V-8 engine was smooth and fast, and the car handled very well. I love my Volvo V70 but compared to the Matador the Volvo is a turtle with a limited amount of space within the shell. The Volvo rides and handles better but I do love those seventies’ Matador wagons.
AMC offered center armrests in the freakish and unloved Pacer, but never saw fit to put them in their flagship big cars like the Matador? Never understood that. And no power windows available on the uber-strange Matador coupe. What was the logic behind this?
I like the Matador wagons too .What do you think of this front end? The headlights are from an AMC Spirit.
Looks like an interesting “what if?” about if they had let the Matador continuing one more year. However it would had look better without that divided grille. Where did you find that picture?
I agree the grille would look better without that central divider. The owner must have used a ’74 Matador grille, as that was the only year it had the central split. I like the quad headlights; it looks like they belong.
Someone is trying to sell this car on facebook in Elmira, NY: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2287977171297892/
It’s amazing how much better the quad headlights of the ’74 Ambassador made that stupid coffin nose lock. It’s still ugly, but not nearly as ugly as the cheap-looking Matador front end.
I’m a total sucker for most things AMC, but not this.
Now then you mention it, strange they didn’t recycled the ’74 Ambassador quad headlights for the ’75 Matador sedan. Chrysler menaged to recycle the ’74-’75 Imperial front end for the ’76 New Yorker.
That certainly would have looked better. Alas, one issue with quads is they did not have a family resemblance to the Matador coupe. But perhaps the bigger issue was cost: The grille likely would not have fit neatly without sheetmetal changes to the hood and fender corners.
As an alternative, when they restyled the Matador sedan and wagon’s grille in 1975 they could have added quads.
Then, AMC could had taken a cue from Chrysler who rechristined the 1974 Plymouth Satellite as the 1975 “small” Plymouth Fury. The Matador sedan and wagon could had been the “small Ambassador” while Matador is still used for the coupe.
If they were going to do a coffin nose…….do a Coffin NOSE! I lifted it straight off a 37 Cord. lol
Now it looks like a Dodge Magnum!
Looks like an interesting “what if?” about if they had let the Matador continuing one more year. However it would had look better without that divided grille. Where did you find that picture?
Where else do you find anything? Google images. But that picture is from a car show somewhere in Pa.
I like that orange one from the brochure pic. Can’t imagine many were built that way though.
CAFE started for MY 1978, so for 1979, AMC had to drop the Matadors, or else only have I6 versions. Reason why Mopar dropped their big cars, too.
I didn’t put it in the post (it is a Capsule, after all) but the Brougham itself was essentially the ’74 Ambassador interior, installed in a Matador. Why they didn’t just continue the Ambassador is beyond me; they would have made more per unit. Because of fleet sales, maybe?
I’m in the market for a Matador Wagon, and the Red Brougham intrigues me… Is it for sale? I’m willing to pay top dollar for it, and can travel to its location. If there are any questions, please feel free to email me for further info. my address is loganchrysler@yahoo.com
I’m in the market for a Matador Wagon, and I like the red one! Is it for sale? I’m willing to buy if it is.
A friend from high school bought one of these brand new. I couldn’t begin to understand why a single guy, in his twenties, would want a car like this, so I never asked. No one in his family owned, or to my knowledge would ever own an AMC product, so I always figured he got a terrific deal…or thought he did. His was a medium blue over medium blue.
As everyone always asks, it’s hard to understand the rationale behind that front end design.
The 1972 and 1973 Matadors nose, while elongated, doesn’t protrude quite as much due to the loop bumper, and looks quite nice. Saw lots of them on TV as cop cruisers in police shows (helped that the LAPD was a big user of them IRL at the time).
But the 1974 and later models – it’s just too much…
Plus quad headlamps as well, Silverkris. They made a difference.
I really like these wagons, esp. in dark blue or dark red with wood. They look nicest with the deep-dish AMC wheels too! I believe the Matador trim pkg was extended to the sedan for MY ’78 but not the wagons.
An impact bumper wasn’t needed with a snout like that. As for the Matador coupe, sans opera windows, I thought it clean lined and sharply styled, with the horror of the 5 mph bumpers minimised as much as possible.
The front end treatment was a bit much on the 74 and up Matadors….
AMC did a similar though more restrained front end treatment upsate when they updated the front ends of their Jeep truck and Wagoneer lineup in 1979….adding a somewhat protruding center portion of the grille.
I never made that connection! And being AMC, it was done on the cheap, with the original 1963 sheetmetal unchanged underneath. And Chrysler made a similarly cheap styling change with the Fifth Avenue roofline “cap” underneath the landau roof.
Time for a QOTD about cheap but clever styling kludges?
Or about recycled lights, grilles, wheels, etc. as mentioned above?
Like the roof line change on the ’79-’80 Lincoln Versailles, done on the cheap and covered with “cavalry twill” fabric. There’s lots of material for a QOTD – great idea!
I always thought GM got a lot of brand differentiation on the cheap just by putting the Pontiac (T)1000’s body side molding in the orthodox location running between the wheelarches rather than high up running just under the door handles as on the Chevette.
Always controversial, the coupe. 1. When optioned with at least the Brougham or “X” package, optional wheels, larger tires and a dark color, very nice. 2. Most coupes were base, little tires, etc. 3. AMC’s Studebaker Avanti. Most Studebaker and AMC cars were on the square old fashioned side. Anything curvaceous was , ahem, fround upon as too “new fangled.
But then came the Pacer!
Happy Motoring, Mark
Interesting that in the pictures of the different interiors all the other interiors had power windows except for the bottom right that was the brougham wagons interior. The wagons usually received all the bells and whistles back in the day and you’d think that power windows would be standard on a brougham edition.
What was weird was that the coupe wasn’t available with power windows. You could get a Matador sedan or wagon, or even a Pacer with power windows, but not a Matador coupe. Did not understand that.
Best movie ever using Matadors as sheriif’s squad cars was Convoy in 1978. Ernest Borgnine driving a Matador sedan chasing Kris Kristofferson’s semi is unforgettable.
Best movie ever using a Matador coupe is 1974’s Man With the Golden Gun. Christopher Lee driving a Matador coupe that turns in to an airplane was really far out as well as Roger Moore driving a Hornet X during a chase scene.
Oh yes. Man with the Golden Gun is iconic for the AMC product placement; it followed Live and Let Die the previous year with all the 1973 Chevrolets in it.
http://images51.fotki.com/v1563/photos/4/438439/4293861/74lapdvi-vi.jpg
Looks like the front end was built with police duty in mind. Built in pushbar. Saw quite a few of these in LAPD trim back in the day.
I’ve read that while the 71-73 (1st gen) Matadors were used as police cars, and lots of 74s were as well (first year of 2nd gen coffin nose),less of the 75-78 model years were used because of interior handling, though I suspect the story may have been also related to cost, more competitive fleet rates, and the rapidly shrinking relevance of AMC.
I own a 74 Matador sedan, and speaking from experience, FOR ITS CLASS AND ERA it’s not a bad handling car – pretty responsive steering, stable on the highway, predictable corning and not a lot of slop. The curb weight is also well under 4000lbs, so not that heavy either. Again this is within the context of a 19 foot long 42 year old sedan.
I’ve also owned not long ago a 70 Rebel sedan (basically a 1st gen Matador) and it certainly didn’t handle better, though I pushed neither to the limit, and the lack of PS/PB on the Rebel makes the comparison a bit harder.
The original Adam-12 TV show used Matadors as police cars in later seasons.
I’ve always loved the 1974 through 78 AMC Matador. I also love the divided grille of the 1974 Matador.
This would’ve been a good place for a faux-Mercedes/Rolls-type “center defined” grille to make that snout look a bit more intentional.
I can’t believe I actually like the look of the Matador wagon. These must have been very rare way back when. Just remember them. To me, the Matador will always be remembered as a very capable cop car. Especially the 71 to 73 models.
Came across this lovely sedan in Edmonton just a few years ago. Other than a tattered vinyl roof its in amazing condition. The car was for sale before I took my picture. Perhaps the owner gave up. Hope its in good hands now. Certainly not a base model.
This is another model name Stellantis should revive. Could be good on largeish midsize crossover or sport-tourer.
I assume AMC’s finances precluded these being redesigned or replaced after ’78?