Last week the QOTD asked which seventies car had the ugliest five MPH bumpers. Daniel M. nominated the Matador sedans, and I’ll concur. Dick Teague developed some interesting federalized bumper designs, and I actually like some of his solutions (in particular, his floating bumpers on the Hornet and Matador Coupe). However, in this case he created a grille designed to distract from the bumper. An interesting concept, but unsuccessful in execution.
This sad silhouette marked the end of the road for the Matador nameplate. Paul wrote of these flanks in his Curbside Classic article “The Stench of Death.” In the article he stated, “Most Americans pined for a new Colonnade coupe, with opera windows, not a dowdy and malformed Matador sedan.”
Before and after
This incendiary language compelled reader Doug Frechette to join our author ranks and write a counterpoint titled “In Defense of the 1974 Matador Sedan.” Doug stated “In addition to the startling Matador coupe, the Matador sedan for 1974 sported a crisp and fresh new nose, as well as a revised rear clip and new colors added to entice buyers into showrooms.”
Okay, it’s hard to argue with “startling Matador Coupe,” and I’ve already weighed in on that “crisp and fresh nose,” so let’s just move on.
This Matador is amazingly complete and it would seem few folk walking through our local Pick Your Part desire these parts. Given the number of Matadors I see on the road during a typical week, that’s awfully hard to believe. Someone did grab the power steering pump off this one, but the Saginaw pump used in this generation Matador could fit any number of other cars.
I should note this fine mesh grille establishes our car as a ’75-’78 Matador. The 1974 Matador Sedan had a unique grille, with a bold (striking?) vertical slat design. Given that this simple fine mesh replaced it and carried on for the Matador’s final four years, we can conclude AMC buyers preferred boring over bold.
This interior shot also emphasizes how few folks are grabbing parts off mid-seventies Matadors. Other than the steering wheel and shaft, pretty much everything’s there. I’m amazed a car at the junkyard has so many quality interior pieces. The dash pad appears complete, and is crack free. It may be the only California car of this vintage possessing a striation free dash pad. This car must have spent a huge part of its life in a covered space to look this good.
Did I say “Looks good”? Perhaps I should go with “looks unmolested.” It’s hard to gaze upon this disco era interior and feel anything but nauseated.
Another noteworthy image: the factory emissions is sticker still on the driver’s window. It’s remarkable it survived through forty years of window winding, but also strange that no owner bothered removing it with a simple swipe of a single edge blade SOMETIME in the car’s life. Perhaps this image most clearly defines AMC four door sedan owners–people with such little emotional investment in their cars that they can ignore a peeling government sticker for four decades.
So concludes this Junkyard review. Sometime in the next six months, this hulk will head for the crusher, marking the end of the road for this end of the road model.
When AMC week is done, I want to see more of the Glamor Bird next to it.
It does seem to be in the Ford section, odd. In my U-Pick yard AMC’s are shoveled into the Mopar section, though they don’t always get it right, there was a bathtub Packard in the GM section once.
This yard has an oldies section full of all the stuff over forty years old. D/S
Why not check out Brendan Saur’s Curbside Classic on it?
’67 Thunderbird Curbside Classic
Oddly enough, there were two fifth generation Thunderbrds in the row, one with two-doors, one with four.
And the Dodge A100 pickup on the other side.
I find it amazing that the sticker endured all those years of window usage. I’ll bet this was a low mileage car meticulously maintained by an elderly owner until their passing. These cars have always made me feel somewhat sad, as they never really received much praise but usually negative criticism. I had a great uncle that owned a 1974 Matador Coupe – (I always remember it being the strange copper colored car) – and loved that car – he had it until the day he died – and his kids sold it for next to nothing. I rode in the backseat a few times and always thought it was cool because it was different looking. He used to brag that it was a reliable workhorse and that no one made engines as good as American Motors. Memories!
One thing I’ve noticed about auto blogs: When a car has been consigned to the “POS” category, man, do the bloggers just love to jump up and down all over it. With golf shoes.
Just like you do every time you see a brougham? 🙂
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
As I recall, the buying public put on some spiked shoes and did some jumping as well.
At least the poor thing gets some attention now. The first time around, hardly anybody noticed them.
From what I have read about a scarcity of AMC parts, CC readers everywhere may be making a beeline for this car.
I keep obsessing about this front end. As nearly as I can figure, the whole thing is about the difference between the long wb Ambassador and the short wb Matador. The front fenders seem to have been shortened at the back, and an additional stamping operation on the hood would shorten the areas outside of the protruding nose. However, there must have been some sort of engineering or manufacturing reason to keep the latch mechanism in the same place in both cars, which would require a full Ambassador-length hood at the latch point. Anyhow, this is the best I can come up with.
And I still think that the back half of the post 1969 sedans is awful.
A friend has a 67 SST and has no problems obtaining parts even rolls of new upholstery material there a very active club in the US for these cars.
I recall reading somewhere that this was pretty much the case – making aspects of the hood work with both the Ambassador’s longer front fenders and the shorter Matador nose. It’s a shame they couldn’t have somehow adapted the ’74 Ambassador grille to the ’75-’78 cars, which is reasonably attractive with only a small protrusion and quad headlamps.
I keep obsessing about this front end.
To me, it looks like the 74 Ambassador had the same extension on the front. It doesn’t look quite as objectionable as the Amb has the quad headlights and some bright trim in the grill.
Another reason for the why occurs to me. This was the brougham era, when cars started having protruding “formal” grills. Maybe this was the cheapest way AMC could get that look with the raised center area in the hood and the required hood ornament.
In the early 1970s, many police agencies like the LAPD ran the Matador police car with 401 engines.
If you watch the old movies you will notice the LAPD ran a lot of Nash vehicles in days gone by.
As did the Metropolis Police Department in the old Superman show with George Reeve. 🙂
Which is why my dad, in his youth, could outrun the cops in his Ford.
Not just police, but I remember many California state agencies running white Matadors. My friend Bob bought one at auction with rear end damage, and grafted on a Ford pickup bed from a yellow government truck. Thus was born the MataFord. Unfortunately, no pictures remain. He also had a somewhat bent green Gremlin.
Just sad. Wish I wasn’t on the other side of the country or I would be trying to buy it.
Platydor. Or is it Matapus?
Either term is brilliant 🙂
Hopefully this thing will be reduced to a hull by some AMC enthusiasts. It would be a shame to see any part of this car left behind since parts are so hard to come by. Too bad these yards won’t relent and sell whole vehicles back to the public but I understand their reasoning.
I’m not sure there’s any AMC enthusiasts in LA. I saw far more Hornets, Gremlins and Eagles back in Denver than I do here. Of course, the cars are ten years older now than during my time in Denver.
In the getaway plane scene in ‘Argo’, the Iranian cops are in 73 and 74-8 Matador cop cars, trying to stop a 747. This didn’t really happen in the true story.
AMC did sell to Iran before the fall of the Shah, so these leftover ’74-8 cop cars were authentic in the scene. Iran would have had outdated cop cars, and not brand new 1979 Impalas.
the Iranian cops are in 73 and 74-8 Matador cop cars,
Yup, noticed that. Seems the take off speed of a 747 is about 150. I’m not sure a Matador could do 150, even with a police option 401, then there was the 4X4 army truck that was also in the chase. Back in the 60s, I used to pass a lot of National Guard deuce and a halfs on the freeway, and those things couldn’t even top 60.
Too bad. Looks like the original owner took care of it, stopped driving or passed away, and his stupid kids sold it for beer money.
Not a beautiful car but I do have a soft spot for them, and this would have been a nice car to take to shows and watch people try to figure out what it is.
At least it wasn’t a wagon!
Old, AMC engine (preferably I6), and valueless.
I can dig it.
The very first cop car I remember growing up was the Matador squad in Adam 12. It was an actual police package car the show bought from the City of Los Angeles. The next cop car I remember was the big square ’74 Dodge Monacos on CHiPs, and all of the squad cars (especially the Monacos and Plymouth Furys) in the opening credits of Hill Street Blues.
The very first cop car I remember growing up was the Matador squad in Adam 12.
*Gasp!* You don’t remember Dan Mathews and his Buick on “Highway Patrol”
The LAPD Matadors weren’t just low bid specials either. The LASD was renowned for it’s yearly testing program, and the Matador simply beat out other entries on a wide range of rigorous criteria.