(first posted 9/11/2013) By the early seventies, AMC’s Matador and Ambassador were the equivalent of the Studebaker Lark ten years earlier: you just knew they were not long for this earth. They were the driving dead, and driven by the same cast of characters who had still been buying Studes in the sixties: old folks who were either loyal to a fault, or still held to some belief that Ramblers (or Studes) were truly superior in some way, like AMC’s devotion to those extruded aluminum window surrounds. Yes, when car companies are dying, it’s all about the little practical details. That’s because practical folks are the only ones who actually care about those details while everyone else is buying the hot new thing.
The aluminum window surrounds were a great idea actually, like so many AMC innovations (folding seats, etc.). They never rusted, and it meant that even the cheapest American 220 had a bright window trim, unlike the dismal painted window surrounds of everyone else’s strippers.
But by the seventies, folks didn’t give a rat’s ass about practical details like that. That is, those that hadn’t already drifted off to Toyotas. Most Americans pined for a new Colonnade coupe with opera windows, not a dowdy and malformed Matador sedan.
In 1973, I saw plenty of new Matador sedans just like this in Iowa City, but it was the police who were driving them. I forget what they were driving before, but suddenly this whole fleet of various pastel colored unmarked Matadors arrived replacing the black and whites. Pretty sneaky, or not actually, since nobody else was buying them except for one or two old retired farmers. We called them the rainbow patrol.
I assume AMC was cutting pretty aggressive deals with the police departments then, out of desperation to keep the the lines moving. Because suddenly Matador cop cars were everywhere. And a year or two earlier, who had ever seen a Rambler cop car? Never.
This generation Matador arrived as the 1967 Rebel, and was AMC’s last shot at a competitive mid-size line. A rather nice and clean design for the times, it just got swamped by the Big Three despite its many virtues. Love that 1967 vintage art direction in the brochure shots.
Even the sedan was a decent-looking car, comparing well against the competition. But in 1970, if memory serves me right, the Rebel morphed into the Matador, with a hip-ectomy. It just didn’t come off right, like a botched buttocks-augmentation surgery.
Of course, I wish I had found the famous 1974 Matador, with its truly mind-boggling second plastic surgery malpractice. It sprouted one of the most bizarre lip or nose extensions, and assured that everyone now knew the game was truly up for AMC’s sedans. I mean, did they do that on purpose to make sure Renault really did keep buying AMC stock on the cheap? Dick Teague; what where you thinking? I know you were pretty preoccupied with your last-gasp Matador coupe, but maybe you should have delegated the Matador face lift to someone other than the janitor.
Of course, I’m still holding out for the coupe, but it’s been a while since I saw one. But I’ve said that about so many cars I never expected to find again, so I know it’s just a matter of time. Truly one of the most remarkable cars of the era.
Perhaps you’ve noticed that I ‘m not really saying much about this actual Matador sedan. And it’s not just because it’s late and I’m tired. Believe me if, if this were the ’74 coupe, I’d be buzzing.
Instead I’m falling asleep. Beats the alternative.
You could make a pot of coffee lol. I am curious, is that gray original, or is it a primer? It’s hard for me to tell for sure.
Hi,
I have a 1973 Madator, What the hell do I do with it? She was giving to me yes I might love her but she has to go. HOGGGGGING up my driveway, I can barely get my barrels by it on trash day. I must she is lovely and its fawn color and back seats are the best trunk too. that being said I live in the city and already drive and love my jeep. and don’t have a clue what to ask or start. You seem to know a bunch and I can see your humor in this car. Any suggestions where to start would be great.
Thanks
Barb
Barb, this is a fairly old posting, so he may not see your reply. You might look into the AMC Rambler Club (http://www.amcrc.com/). There may be a local chapter in your area and if you have a quality car, this may be a place to try and sell it. Good luck.
Barbie, when she gets a loving home, let us know. Whatever you do, don’t send her to the scrapyard for someone will want her if the price is good.
My email is jma91122@aol.com can u let me no the info on the matador if you stilll have her thanks john
a 1973 Matador was my first blk and wht police car in LAPD PK
Barbie—
I’m an AMC fan from way back and I’m STILL looking for a Matador Wagon that I can “pair-up” with my ’74 Coupe and ’87 Eagle Wagon… Being in the okanagan, It’ll be tended well and get a good home amongst the other AMC’s that I’ve inherited from my late Uncle. So if you’re still looking for someone to care for it right, I’m your man! Just email me @ valiantlogan65@outlook.com, or ring me @ 360-972-8347. Thanx!!
Logan Chrysler
a 1973 AMC Matador was my first Blk and Wht LAPD Policecar,it was a great driving Car,very fast with the 401 Engine,like to hav eone now
All through high school (1975 to 1979), I had the pure unadulterated pleasure of campaigning one of, if not the best ever, street sleeper. A 401 AMC EX-COP MATADOR. Yes, the car was indeed lack luster in its profile, but that front end looked pretty good and I do have to say that a lot of 396 chevelles and 289 or 351 Mustangs only got to see the back bumper (a couple of mopar 6 pack cars did see the grill!!) . The 1973 COP cars came with the 401, a 4 barrel carb, something akin to a mid rise intake (stock), dual exhausts, a Chrysler 727 transmission. Huge sway bars front and rear and a trailing arm coil spring rear suspension. Of course, there were a few things I did to make if “work” better. I changed the distributor advance springs, added a shift kit (which I didn’t get set exactly right. First day after the shift kit was installed, Dad drove it work, he did ask why it didn’t shift to second until 65 mph. LOL). I also added a underdash control that created a vacuum leak when I pulled it out… This made the car run really ruff at a stop light and all the way into the nearest parking lot, where money was discussed, thus the would be victim would think it was not running well. At one point I installed an extra windshield wiper pump and water supply in the rear wheel wells, for burnouts that really heated the tires up, for, aaaaa,,, traction, yea traction (read: impressed the chicks back then). I also added a small tach on the column and even made burl wood contact paper overlays for the dash faces (like the ambasador had) Officially, the car did an on track 1/4 mile at Beeline raceway with a 12.46 at 128 mph, through the traps. believe it or not. The total secret to that car was to stomp the brakes hard, slowly run the rpms up to 2500, pump the brakes once, really fast. This allowed the trailing arms to “setup” the rear end about 2 inches. Then when you mashed the peddle and let off the brakes, the car squatted down in the rear and hooked up hard. The weight transfer and collapse of the springs, kept the back tires from spinning and off you went! of course the flipped over air cleaner sounded like you were lowering the barometric pressure over the entire state, but that was half the fun! of course the most fun was to insult the chevelles and mustangs by commenting that my Dads crappy car can beat that Chrome POS your driving. I believe that the phrase all show and no go was mentioned to those owners once in a while and it made them a tad angry. Again, believe it or not, Dads crappy car did indeed beat them. I am not ashamed to say that I cried when that car died an untimely death due to a fuel line failure and a resulting fire.
Many many years latter when I was in my 40s and had kids of my own, I told my Father a few of my best Matador stories. He commented ” No wonder I could not keep tires on that car”, followed by, “Come over here, I am about to give you a good whoopin for being a sneaky punk kid !!”
1973 AMC Matador 4 door sedan, I salute you!!!!
Not surprised. The CHP used Matadors for a while, and they DEMANDED performance. The only police car that could run with a 401 Matador was…a 440 Mopar. (Though an E58 360 in a relatively-light Aspen wouldn’t be far behind.) I had a 74 briefly as a parts car…sadly, it was way too rotted to save.
Gotta ask: it wasn’t a CHP car, was it?
Sargeant Stadenko’s car.
That’s Hardhat!!
Lots of ’em were LAPD cars on The Rockford Files.
Also Adam 12 had lots of LAPD Matadors.
I don’t think the lines of the featured car are all that terrible, especially when compared to the grotesque, bloated pigs that GM and Ford were producing at the same time and in the same category. I have a pretty strong distaste for almost every generic domestic family car from this era, but this car doesn’t make my stomach churn nearly as hard as a Chevelle from the same year.
Hey, you know what it needs? I needs a shit ton more chrome, more emblems with scripts and crests and swirly decorative doodads, more wood-flavored tape on the dash, a vinyl top, a 4″ high hood ornament, and tufted velour loose pillow seating. In a word: Brougham.
AMC did make an Ambassador Brougham in ’73 with basically all the items you mentioned. The Ambassador even had fake wood on the gauges. I’m not kidding!
Buyers wanted the big car looks of the 70’s Mid Sized cars. The 72 GM’s, while now considered the last classic ‘muscle cars’, were considered ‘outdated and too small’ compared to the 72 Torino by Motor Trend. So, the big GM colonnades hit the market sweet spot.
Was this like what Chrysler did when they phased out the Imperial? The Imperial was gone, but the following year The New Yorker was basically it.
What exactly was the difference in This car and the 72 Ambassador? Actually this is a dead ringer behind the grill of My Dad’s Hileah Yellow 70 Ambassador (Base Model) not a D/L or SST.
These were truly Embarrassing to be seen in. How uncool could your Dad be?
His was a company car, sedan I believe. In 72 he drove home in it’s replacement. A Grasshopper Green Ambassador Brogham IIRC, it had a darker green roof & matching Brokade Upolstery. It was a definite improvement as it blended into the scenery better.
In our House It was that or my Mother’s 63 Grand Prix in Marimba red at the time. A 9 year old car was rather passe in those days, so having AC the company car was slightly less
ghastly to be seen in as a young teen.
They felt like they were styled aftyer the fuselage 69 Plymouth makeover. I liked how the radio was on its side, well within reach of the driver.
Geez these are rather dull to speak of.
Your mother had a 1963 Grand Prix? And you didn’t bow down before it every morning? Shame on you.
Honestly…I’d rather have an Ambassador.
We had locally assembled Rebels here good cars by all accounts I test flew a Matador in Sydney many years ago it was cheap but unimpressive I bought the Holden next to it for $600 or so and it was a bomb too but easier to fix
The Ambassador had a 4 inch longer wheelbase. Contrary to convention, the stretch was in front of the firewall instead of the usual rearward pull of the rear axle.The same was done when GM stretched the A-body to make the Monte Carlo and Grand Prix.
I really liked the Rebel when it came out – a perfect counterpart to the Chevelle and to me, better looking than the Torino.
When in the air force, all staff cars were Matadors in air force ultramarine blue with yellow lettering in the appropriate places. Black or blue interiors. That dash? Talk about all the hard, plastic-y surfaces on cars nowadays, check one of these out – nary a soft touch anywhere on the dash! When in Okinawa in the fall of 1970, I was assigned to wash and wax the staff car assigned to our group. Washing went fine, but using the greasy G.I.-issue wax was awful. It took what seemed like hours to buff the stuff off. I kind of got it done, but sure had lots of swirls on it!
I was “ordered” to take that car to the mess hall one morning while suffering the most horrible hangover I have ever had – I was carrying my stomach slung over my shoulder and told to get something to eat. That didn’t go too well. Later, after a near-disastrous pre-flight briefing I assisted on, I was ordered to get out of there and get some sleep and don’t come back ’til the next morning! Good times back then! Yeah – lots of Matadors and little Chevy C-10 short bed, stepside pickups and a few Dodge Power Wagons. No Jeeps/MUTTS for the USAF where I was.
My wife’s aunt and uncle also owned a Matador – a very “nice” school-bus yellow with black interior! It was visible from the air! They had that car for years.
“extruded aluminum window surrounds”
Yes, those spelled cheap, cheap, cheap. For that matter, everything about the car spelled cheap, cheap, cheap!
Wifey’s aunt & uncle had a school bus yellow Matador sedan. It worked OK, but it was such an outdated car in 1978. It was an outdated car in 1973!
Sorry, but after all these years, there’s nothing I like about these.
I call foul!
I think the 71-73 Matadors are quite handsome, and the last gasp of sanity before AMC plunged headlong into the malaise era. The sedan is frumpy, but the 2 door hardtop lines flowed much better, was raced in NASCAR by Mark Donohue and known as “The Flying Brick” because of it’s poor aerodynamics. They even managed to win a race.
Of course I’m biased here, because a 72 hardtop was my first car. Dad bought it new because the enormous trunk was just the thing for a family with three kids. I got it 14 years later and kept it on the road until 1991 on a shoestring.
It was a fun car. Fun because nobody knew what it was even then, most guessed a 1967 Dodge. Fun because you could seatbelt two kegs of beer into the back, fill the trunk with ice at the hockey rink, and park on the front lawn of a house party. Fun because the torquey 258 could pull a 17.7 quarter mile, which is not great but it would beat 5.0 Mustangs to 60 feet. Total Matador production was only something like 40,000 per year, so it’s very uncommon to see one today.
If I’d found a coupe, especially like yours’, I would have been a bit more enthused. I haven’t seen that style in ages either.
Actually, this Matador sedan isn’t all that bad looking, especially compared to the bloated barges the Big Boys were building. Did I say it was? Maybe it came across that way…
Came off a little harsh, but some of it was deserved. AMC’s designs were bi-polar to put it nicely. The “Coffin nose” cars may have been the strangest ones of all.
Here’s a custom job that blew my mind, I’m not sure if I like it or not..
I like it but it looks like it inspired the styling of the front end of 1980s Mercury Grand Marquis.
Birddog: Eagle head lights on that “custom”, or so it looks. Is it a proto of a last gasp?
That was just a pic from an Eagle forum from a few years back.
It does have an odd Grand Marq vibe..
Oh my god, it does look like a proto-Grand Marquis! And it does look like Eagle or Concord headlight clusters were faired in, rather nicely, as a matter of fact.
That’s a lot of work. It begs the question, WHY?
Looks like a ’74 Matador sedan with Concord headlights.
I prefer the single headlights and turn signal. It looks fine on the Eagle and the Spirit, but not this. I do like the protruding nose and the divided grille of the 1974 Matador. It’s too bad it didn’t continue to the end of production.
I’ve always loved the “coffin nose” AMC Matador sedan and wagon. My favourite year is 1974, with the “divided” grille, like the one in the photo. I’m not too crazy about the double headlamps, but the grille itself is nice. It goes well with the protruding front end. 🙂
I like it, too, also confirming the Grand M. look. As fine a looking brougham as any of this era.
That’s a gorgeous car.
I agree totally. I’ve never owned a Matador, either in sedan form, station wagon, or coupe form, but I’ve always found the Matador to be a handsome looking vehicle. It may be dated, but so what? If it’s been properly maintained, any car can give you reliable enjoyment. I particularly like the 1974 and later Matador sedan and wagon, with its protruding nose. It may not be to EVERYONEs tastes, and I’m sure people have their reasons, but I like the car.
I watched Bobby Allison Race one of these at a USAC stock car event at the Wisconsin State Fair Park – painted in the Donahue red/white/blue livery. He won. I owned a 1972 4-dr. example in the early 80’s – i fondly remember that car – rock solid dependable, comfortable, good performance and handling. My mother had one too – mom and dad racked up over 200,000 miles before they traded it on a (urg!) 1984 Chevette! Mom got a big surprise at the local county fair that August, as her old 6-cyl. Matador drove out onto the track for the annual demolition derby! She could have cried…
My 73 Matador 401
This is one of the fastest cars I’ve ever owned!
Mines faster….tunnel ram 401 manual valve body 727 and 4.10s. I have owned every body style of Gen 1 Matador and a Gen 2 sedan and 76 Coupe. This ones a keeper
That car is a real beauty; you did a fabulous job on it. Many of AMC’s products were underrated and just overshadowed by the big three.
My grandfather drove one of these. A ’70, I think. Base model with no options.
My grandfather was very frugal, so he always bought one of the last cars from the old model year once the new models were out. So his cars always were hued with that year’s least-desirable color, in this case a hideous sea-foam green. Other than a low price, his only requirement was a trunk big enough for four golf bags. The Matador swallowed them easily.
He got almost a decade of reliable service out of it and then traded it in for the last ’78 Le Mans on the Pontiac dealer’s lot. In this case a dreadful baby blue that looked chalky and faded even fresh off the lot. Another stripper, but it had the Chevy 305, which made it much more fun to drive than our ’79 Cutlass with the wheezing Olds 260.
“but it had the Chevy 305, which made it much more fun to drive than our ’79 Cutlass with the wheezing Olds 260.”
Careful what you say about anything Olds – Educator Dan will have your head!
Well, the 260 had a two-barrel carb, and I think the 305 had a four-barrel. So, technically, the Chevy had better breathing, which does make the Olds engine wheezy by comparison.
I admire Olds’ gumption to attempt such a small displacement V8. That is all I have to say on the subject. (Although with the rarely seen 4-speed manual the 260 might have been drive-able.)
I don’t think anything could help the 260. I sold auto parts over a NAPA store counter from ’83 to ’89, and I never heard a good word about the 260. The 307, by comparison, was well-regarded, except that it had a puzzling tendency to blow its valley-pan gasket. We could not keep them in stock.
It must be that you can only push a given engine architecture so far. On the face of it, there’s no reason that the 260 should have been a dud, but it was. Ford had similar problems with the 255. In Ford’s case that seems less forgivable, since the small-block had begun its life at 221cid, and there was a perfectly good version in the early ’60s at 260cid. IIRC, Ford engineers had carved a lot of metal out of the block to make it even more flyweight, and that led to unanticipated block strength issues.
Olds had a beautiful small displacement V8. It was all aluminum. It was 215 cubic inches. GM is so STOOPID
http://goldenrod-garage.com/DETAIL.ASP?DT=1&CI=6&UI=483&MI=1&DH=0
I once owned a ’78 Cutlass Salon “aero sedan” with the 260 at 140,000 it chewed up a valve rocker and bent the adjoining pushrod; pretty easy fix. At 180,000 the front seal began to pour oil, I didn’t have the machanical skill to fix it and sold it to someone who did. Overall, I was happy with the engine, it was slow but smooth. On the advise of a friend’s dad who had the same car, I did my best to nurse it along with no jackrabbit starts, he said the transmissions were for a six cylinder and too weak for the 260 and easy to fry if abused.
A 1978 Lemans equipped with the 305 Chevy would have been a 2BBL dualjet. The Olds 260 came with the same carb but was severely handicapped with dime sized valves and heads that came with tiny ports that quit flowing past 4400 RPM. The Hp and torque tell much about why the Chevy 305 performed so much better than the 260 Olds in the A-G body cars. 145 HP and 240 torque compared to 110 Hp and 205 torque at very low RPM’s. The 305 also had a 8.4:1 compression ratio vs the 260’s 7.5:1.
The 4BBl version of the 305 was rated up to 165 Hp in certain aplications such as the Regal and Cutlass of the same year. The Malibu and Lemans just came equipped with the 2BBl carb of the 305 option.
The 260 Olds was a smooth reliable engine but severely under powered in stock setup, especially during the 80-82 time frame when GM introduced there C-3/C-4 emissions system which conspired to reduce this poor strangled engine down to a mere 100 HP and 190 torque. Even Fords lamented 255 made 15 more horses than that!
A lightly optioned A body from the 1978 redesign would have been a very fun and lively car for the era, if it were equipped with the 305. I recall these cars were very nice to drive and the SBC worked really well, since they made huge torque and the cars were not that heavy.
They were not nearly as much fun with the 260, which was heavier than the SBC. I have never really understood why the 260 existed, since it was no more powerful than the 3.8 V-8 and a lot heavier.
Here in Canada almost all the A/G bodies built by GM Canada had the 305 and many with four barrel carb.
My parents would wait to buy a last of line in an unpopular colour,Ludlow green Mk1 Cortina, a ,dog turd brown Mk3 Cortina,hearing aid beige Allegro Mk1 Granada in the same awful brown are just a few examples.
Have to say that not all owners of these cars were golden agers. I bought a medium green 73 Matador Station Wagon in 1976 when I was 33 years old. Paid $2700 for it and drove it about 4 years till rust and the automatic transmission put an end to it. The vinyl interior was attractive and durable, seats were very comfortable, plenty of leg room everywhere, nice riding, and I still recall that this car was one of the quickest cars I have ever owned. I did not know in those days that automatic transmissions should be serviced periodically and a trip from Ohio to Long Island to pick up a load of printed catalogs for a customer pretty well fried it at 98,000 miles.
LAPD was the big customer for Matador squads.They were driving Plymouth Belvedere’s before that. AMC actually won the bid on performance, not just price. LAPD had its own test track in San Pedro. The 401 in a lighter car outperformed the CA smog-control strangled Mopar 400. The hideous 1974 Matador Coupe was a favorite of the Studebaker Lark set.
Reed and Malloy drove one of these that magically morphed into an older Satellite when it was about to be involved in a collision.
That scene rings a bell to me
Wonder how Reed and Malloy felt about the Studebaker Lark????
Hdeous? How dare you, sir!
I confess that even after reading several articles in various places about how obviously dreadful that styling was I still don’t see it when I look at that car. I see a serious contender to the Colonnades. Maybe it’s geographical/cultural? In small town NE PA in 1974 AMC was still a very popular choice, lots of people historically bought Nashes and Ramblers, then went on to Hornets, Gremlins, Pacers, Eagles, and even Jeeps.
Our next door neighbor in 1974 bought one of the Matador coupes in a periwinkle blue with the white striping and interior. It was extremely glamorous, at least to me and to the couple that bought it. 🙂
Oh, I forgot to mention — http://arcticboy.com has a wealth of info on AMC/Nash/Hudson and more. Not affiliated, just an enthusiastic reader.
I’ve been meaning to ask you if you son was dumped by a swede or something in high school, given his hatred of saabs. But once he posted about his significant other driving a suburu wagon, it all kind of made sense.
How to tie it into your post? Trying to convince my dad that a new 9-5 wagon was worth waiting for. after all it’s a wagon — with a stick. And so practical. Then you tore my heart out with the aluminum window surrounds this morning.
Let’s just say there are a number of reasons why each of the Niedermeyers is at their respective websites; one wasn’t big enough for both of us. Family harmony restored.
I like the clean lines of this car but I see how it got lost compared to the baroque excesses of GM.
A kid I went to high school with had one of these, the ’71 Matador SST Sedan. He was what we would call today a nerd, and super religious on top of it. But he was no dummy, got one of those cars for well under $1000 in 1979, while kids like me were trying to scrape together the $1500-$2000+ for a V8 Chevelle or Cutlass.
Like other AMCs, there was no frakin’ room under the hood, and IIRC this car had the 360. I helped him do a tune up with new plugs and points. The nice thing about these cars, is they blended parts from all of the manufacturers. I remember setting the points on this car because the distributor was up front, but it was a GM distributor with the little window on the side so you could stick the allen wrench in there and adjust the dwell on the points very easily. One of the few niceties on that car. EVERYTHING else in the engine bay was a b*tch!
I also remember riding around with him in the car, the seats were very comfortable and the car had a very smooth ride, with what seemed to me as much room as the then current LTD. Lots of room to spread out gangly 18 year old legs. But wow, did we look like dweebs!
Oddly enough, I’d love to have one those old beasts now. Mostly for the room and the smooth ride, plus the weirdness of the styling appeals to me now more than ever. It sure didn’t back in high school, though.
Oddly 72 or 73 would have been around the the time my grandfather moved from Brooklyn to New Jersey and traded in his Ambassador for a Hornet, skipping the intermediate step of a Matador. Grandpa was a Nash man from way back so he was staying loyal. My strongest memories of those cars were the dozen rubber bands hanging from the column shift (storage), the “weather eye” air conditioner and how flat the seats in the Hornet were. Also my grandfather and parents were unusually strong on seat belt use after a relative went through a windshield. Coincidentally my other grandparents had a Colonnade style Cutlass sedan and previous gen Cutlass Supreme.
As for fleet sales, by the mid 70s AMC dominated the Federal motor pools, and every time a I saw a Hornet or Matador with GSA or DOD markings the first thought in my head was “low bid on the contract”. I felt the same about the hordes of government K cars in the 80s after AMC cratered.
Speaking of AMC innovations: I remember finding the recessed door handles on my grandfather’s Matator to be very futuristic. Was this another trail blazed by AMC? It seems the Big Three all still used protruding door handles with the thumb button in those days.
Answering my own question. This old Popular Science article by (Parnelli Jones!) indicates that the recessed door handles were an AMC innovation for the ’68 model year.
http://books.google.com/books?id=lCYDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA78#v=onepage&q&f=false
Chrysler used exterior door handles that were almost completely recessed on the 1957 Dodges, DeSotos, Chryslers and Imperials.
That makes sense Roger, TY. I can picture that as being a visual difference as well, now that you point it out.
As for the 74′ I remember thinking that as well about the front end, They can’t think that is an improvement!
The State of New Hampshire used AMCs in the 70’s (at least the Dept. of Safety did). My father had the joy (???) of driving a ’72 Ambassador for four years. In ’76 it was replaced by a Matador wagon, which hauled his state equipment better. He doesn’t have much to say about them other than that they were better than the Fairmont and the Omni he had later.
Who ever owns Jeep seems doomed to extinction
…The Jeep Curse.
It’s taken down:
American Bantam
Willys
Kaiser (not exactly; Kaiser survived in several permutations, finally to engineer sale of its own automotive interests to AMC at inflated prices; but it’s now gone)
American Motors
Chrysler
…and now, perhaps Fiat is next.
The curse of that humble GP recon car, born of government money; borne by independent after independent. Always profitable but always to an operation doomed to fail for other reasons.
I heard about the “Jeep curse” on Allpar forums, we wonder sometimes if there’s a way to break the curse like the Boston Red Sox break the “curse of the Bambino”?
Those extruded aluminum window frames were a talking point in AMC’s annual “X-ray” car brochure of the 50s and 60s, which “dared to compare” AMC models with their competitors, selectively of course. Unusual for the times, the competitors were named and illustrated/photographed, no Brand C or Brand F here!
Other 4-door sedans had exposed, fixed B-pillars between the window frames, giving them a “stodgy” look, according to X-ray. Come to think of it, so did my ’80 Volvo 240 2-door.
And did you know in 1966, the Rambler Classic had a sturdy (stainless steel?) grille while the Plymouth Barracuda’s was a weak die-cast, the Ford Galaxie had aluminum bars that you could bend with your fingers, and the Pontiac Tempest had the audacity to offer only a plastic grille?
(BTW, are there any cars today WITHOUT stock plastic grilles?)
Whose brilliant idea at AMC was it to name the vehicle after a guy who wears a funny suit and dances around in a ring with a ton of angry pot roast?
I am willing to bet that bullfighting has an absolutely microcosmic following in the United States. Having the car graced with that poor choice of a name certainly wouldn’t have helped sales any.
The first use of the name “Matador” was by Dodge in 1960, when it introduced the full-size, Plymouth-based Dodge Dart in the low-price field.
The “senior” Dodges in the medium-priced field were continued and given new model names. The lower-level model was dubbed “Matador,” while the top-of-the-line Dodge was called “Polara.”
It’s worse than that. “Matador” actually translates literally as “killer”.
The coffin face wasn’t that bad, considering all the other styling silliness going on around the industry.
AMC could still smack a single or double back in those days – the Jeeps were doing quite well, and personally I loved the simplicity of my Hornet hatchback.
Always though the Hornet hatch was a nice, clean looking car.
That’s a good photo of a Hornet coupe. I agree with you–it was one of the cleanest designs of the time, and still looks good today. I could see that in my driveway. How old is this photo?
Always loved the Hornet!
When I had my Eagles I really wanted to find a way to scrimp the money together to Frankenstien a Hornet and Eagle. The floor pan is really the only major difference. 401 and all wheel drive? Oh Yeah!
I always considered the 70-73 2 door hardtops to be pretty attractive cars back in the day. But then I always preferred the squarer mid 60s styling to the liquigel look that hit the industry in the late 60s/early 70s. I appreciated anachronisms like the big AMC 2 doors (as well as the Dart/Valiant Swinger/Scamp that soldiered through 1976).
It was harder to work up any enthusiasm for the sedans. Something about the greenhouse in the rear door/sail panel area just never worked for me. But the 74 nose job took a good idea (a bit of a protrusion to give the flat face some character) but ruined it by supersizing. That was when the Matator started to sing like a (Studebaker) Lark for me.
Final note – I remember that in the mid-late 70s, the AMC Matador was the police car of choice on TV and in the movies. The production companies must have made a heckuva deal on these, because they sure had a lot of them. The big or small screen was the only place I ever saw a Matador police car.
If you’ve ever seen “The Man With the Golden Gun”, the 1974 James Bond offering, you’ll notice that just about every vehicle is an AMC. In Hong Kong, of all places. Completely implausible for James Bond to be driving an AMC, but I think that may have been the movie that introduced Roger Moore as James Bond, so implausibility must have been par for the course.
Just for the record, “Live and Let Die” was Moore’s first Bond film. As for “MWGG”, I’d love to see a modern movie barrel roll a car from a ramp and land it perfectly without the aid of CGI.
My dad had a 69 Ambassador SST coupe when I turned 16. It was fully loaded, including the 390 big block. I lusted for an AMX, and when he brought that home and I lifted the hood, I couldn’t believe what I saw. The air cleaner said “AMX 390”.
With that big block engine it would really launch. I used to steal the keys and do burnouts with it when he went out and left it home.
I quit that after I scared myself trying to stop it. It had pitiful four wheel drum brakes. I had it up to about 95, and then lifted and laid on the brakes about an 1/8 mile from a railroad crossing. I had both feet on the brake and my rear end a foot off the seat at 50 mph when I hit the crossing. The brakes were almost gone, and it was about 200 feet to the end of the road. Miss that stop, and you’re in some treetops; someone had died there doing that the year before. It finally pulled up with a few feet to spare.
The next year he traded it for the exact same matador as in the top photo. What a letdown. He did it to save money with the smaller engine (304), and picked up about 1 MPG. He never owned another interesting car.
Here’s a photo of a 69 that I found; something to remind us of what once was. It was a fine looking car with great lines.
my name is John adams and am looking for a 71 72 ex amc 4dr ambassador or matador sedan police car to fix up with my dad and my 6 year old son,my dad allways told us what cool cars there where,I would really like to find a running one,i am grateful for any help,I have adaughter in college and i support my mom and dad so i dont have a lot of money but would really like to find one,thanks john,,i think is great that you have a site just for ex police cars,they are still great cars,all of them, I would love to perserve one and hopefully soon cause my dad is very sick and would love to find one running and ride my dad around with his 6 year old grandson,it was my dads fav car and its was an american made car compant witch he so believed in,thanks ja jma91122@aol.com
Stench of death? If you pictured a 1977 Matador, sure. But in 1973 AMC was still riding high on compact car sales spurred by the oil embargo. And this was before AMC sunk a fortune into the ill-fated 1974 Matador coupe and the 1975 1/2 Pacer. Ironically, if AMC had taken a more conservative approach to its mid-70s redesigns it would have survived longer as an independent automaker.
The Oil Embargo was in Oct 1973, right when the 74 models came out, and not “before”. AMC compacts sold greatly, but the brand new Matador tanked and started the red ink that Renault had to clean up in a few years.
Why oh why did they stick that little upkick on the C pillar? It really made the cars look ugly. The coupes fared little better with their ransomed 68 Mopar full-size formal hardtop styling either. Sometimes I wonder if someone put LSD in the cafeteria at AMC. From the 70s on, they were in a free-fall and did some really dumb shit stylistically.
+1 but AMC weren’t the only guilty ones making the new car worse looking.The 71 bloated B body Mopars and the 71 Mustang spring to mind
I have to add, the Rebel and Ambassador Coupes 67-69 were downright beautiful. They really botched things up, word.
Nice looking car. I’ve always preferred the Matador sedan than the coupe. Although the extended nose of the 1974 and later sedan and station wagon are obviously not to everyone’s tastes, I actually like it.
The 1974 Matador coupe was AMC’s ‘Deadly Sin #1″, per an AMC History Book. It was a clear attempt to match GM’s colonnade fastbacks [and Torinos], but GM’s formal roofed mid-sizers ended up hits, instead. Trying to compete with the Big 3, car for car, hurt them badly. While the ’74 Hornet and Gremlin sold great, they needed more profits, AMC blew its bank on the Matador’s tooling and then came Renault.
BTW, Pacer was “deadly sin #2”.
This looks just like the one I got out of the GSA motor pool in Chicago during 73 or 74. It was new, but extremely noisey, perhaps from a drive train malfunction. It was an incredibly crude vehicle. At the time I wondered if it were made that way because it was the low bid on a goverment contract.
I rate this article two middle fingers up, to the writer, Paul. and that just for your harsh comments on this car.
Stench of death? Bullshit! I disagree wholeheartedly. No car is perfect. But in the automotive world, neglect and abuse is the key to an early death. Maintenance and care is the key to long and enjoyable life.
I know some Windstar owners who would quibble with you 🙂
I believe that the author was referring more to the company’s declining health than to the particular car. By 1973, the Matador was in the 7th year of a design cycle in one of the most competitive segments in the industry, and it was not doing all that well. I really can recall very few diehard AMC apologists back in the 70s, and those I did know were high on the Hornet. I never really heard the Matador get a lot of love, and they did not seem to be particularly long-lived cars.
We always welcome passionate fans of any kind of car, and are always happy to see a thoughtful defense when a piece is less than enthusiastic about a vehicle. Our motto is that every car has a story, and it is usually more than one. So, welcome to the discussion. We are all friends here, even when we disagree with another’s take on a given car.
Did some AMC fansite get a whiff of the stench?
To me, it’s like vanilla pudding. I wouldn’t order it but won’t turn it down if it’s free!
I know that American Motors (AMC) was on the decline by the 1970s. Unfortunately, the 70s were a trying time for the auto industry as a whole. With govt. regulations bombarding companies left and right. It’s a wonder any of the car companies lived through the 70s.
I recall reading a 1973 Consumer Reports comparison between the Matador sedan and a few competitors, and they really couldn’t find much nice to say about it–despite having been very much on board with AMC’s pragmatic and conservative mission. Ride, handling, braking, room and seat comfort were all panned IIRC.
They also noted the awkwardness of using the Spanish word for ‘killer’ or ‘murderer’ to name a family sedan…
It looks like a giant Morris Marina, a vehicle that also signified the death of it’s maker and also has the dubious distinction of spawning the worst ever British car. It aslo had the dubious distinction of using a 1948 platform into the 80s.
Possibly BLs worst sin,at one time it was Britain’s most scrapped car.My ex BIL had one which dissolved in 5 years.
Like most AMCs, the styling of this car looks disproportionate to me. I do like the front-end styling on this featured car though.
Glad someone mentioned the police fleets. LAPD had a fleet of them in the early 70s and since I was into cop shows, saw a lot of them on TV.
I don’t know. In hindsight, it seems like the only thing AMC has going for it in the late sixties and seventies is nostalgia and absurdity, particularly for those of us who were of age during that time period. My driver’s ed car was a ’76 Matador fleet special. Lame? Yeah, but because I learned how to drive in that car (and for absolutely no other reason), it’s forever etched in my memory. So, I swoon (just the tiniest bit) whenever I see one of those mangy seventies’ beasts.
I actually like this one and i mean the whole design. It reminds me of Chrysler’s fuselage styling and I really love the styling of those. And for 1973 it’s really not a huge luxobarge. However, the color of the car is really dull and unattractive.
I love these. Full stop. Don’t know why. Don’t care.
From what I’ve read, these cars were very popular with the police officer that drove them. Apparently the proformance was very good as was the comfort. I read someplace that AMC was the first to include A/C as part of the police package. Cop gotta luv that!
AMC and Chrysler would have been about the same time…I think Chrysler stopped offering non-A/C C-bodies in 1971 or 1972. (I recall it was whatever year the RB motor front accessories got changed.)
They were indeed the first LAPD squads to have AC. The prior year cars were Satellites with PS, but no AC.
I gotta ask, WTF were the AdMen thinking with the 1967 Rebel rollout print campaign?? Looks like the coupe suddenly drove itself into a Reinaissance Festival from Hell and the creepy, wacked-out, psychopaths in the background are doing some kind of bizarre AMC interpretative dance. I want to scream at them, “GET A JOB!” Did this sell cars in the ’60s?? Or was its purpose to pack the Hooka, drop the needle on some Frank Zappa, and gaze some kinda meaning into promoting what could possibly be the most boring car until the glorious advent of the K-car?
A few pic of my wagon
http://theamcforum.com/forum/topic60206_post541300.html#541300
AMC made fun of themselves with the “What’s a Matador?” ads. My long-standing observation is that the more attractive dual headlamp nose of the 1974 Ambassador should have been continued on the Matador. About 1975, one of the car rags ran some renderings of a hoped-for Matador SEDAN based on the ’74 Coupe. They were exquisite and timeless. AMC would’ve sold twice as many sedans in that form versus the Coupe or Rebel-based sedans. Too bad AMC spent the tooling costs on the Pacer.
I agree. While I like the protruding nose and the grille of the 74-78 Matador sedan, the Ambassador had a better looking headlamp arrangement.
I have no love for anything AMC ever built, but I do admire AMC enthusiasts. They are the most grimly determined & unwaveringly loyal car fanatics in the hobby. The odds are stacked so far against them. Yet somehow, this small but vocal group of enthusiasts manage to keep their Ramblers ramblin’!
My parents had a 1974-75 Matador when I was a small boy. It was a pile of shit. It was underpowered. It seemed to be running on four cylinders rather than the eight it came with. Unfortunately, the 70s were a trying time for car makers. And American Motors was no exception.
Actually the most grimly determined are Landrover & Leyland P -76 enthusiasts.
In my experience at least.
Just because it’s cliche, I have to ask this:
What’s a Matador?
I like it. It’s a bit gaudy in the front but still looks like a staunch 70’s American car.
The Australian and New Zealand built Matadors were externally identical to the U.S ones but had the dash of the 1967 Rebel and instrument dials of the 1967 Ambassador for every year through to 1975, in other words 8 years of the same interior. Then in 1976 they’re still using the 67 dash binnacle with U.S 76 dials. Why did AMC manufacture the same dash year after year for the RHD market? Seats, headlining, visors and door cards were all made locally for tariff concessions and were a bit different from their U.S counterparts. In fact the 1971 U.S Matador front seat with the twin fold down centre arm rests were reused every year in Australia until 1976. The door cards were also exactly the same from 71-78. That’s a lot of years of the same interior! AMC even cost-cut its international market!
Pic is of a 1976 Australian Matador with 1967 dash + 1976 U.S cluster mash up. Also note the U.S 1971 Matador front seat
The Matador was a big car in the Australian market. You didn’t see that many Ramblers around. AMI would have been making its profits on Triumph and especially Toyota sales in the late sixties/early seventies; Rambler assembly was almost something of a sideline. Local sales of Matadors would have been so small it wouldn’t have made economic sense to change parts just because the US parent company did.
Good grief that looks like the one I drove it did look quite Rebelish inside I never knew it was all Rebel, havent seen another in a long time.
Wow! That’s quite a dashboard. I fail to see how anyone can build a RHD car like that.
Interior picture shows exactly how they came from the factory: ill fitting plastic pieces, cost cut to the bone.
I once saw a brand new one on a dealers lot with the right hand trim piece laying on the floor.
That fancy aluminum trim on the armrests of my parent’s 72 Ambassador were all loosely fitted and never did stay in the armrest. The wind lacing never met the corners of the doors. You could almost get a finger between it and the door frame. Looks like the one in the 73 picture was assembled better.
The Ambassador, and I suspect the Matador as well used a cheap single braided mesh strap to hold the glove box, same as on the Gremlin.
The parents had their Ambassador for 8 years, front end needed rebuilding before 50,000 miles, rear seat simply shredded apart, even though it rarely had passengers, vinyl top started rusting underneath in year two, thin carpeting [more like flocking] was shot early on. And this on a bloody BROUGHAM.
I loved the Gremlin and Ambassador my parents bought, mostly after hearing me talking about them so much. Parents are wise not to listen to their kids when it comes to vehicle purchases.
What disappointments those cars were, but I would still love to have both today. And even the 74 Rondo Hatton Matador.
The problem with the design of the 71-73 Matador in profile, is the forward top of the hood before the wheel well to the bottom of the front fender is way too short and unbalanced with the rest of the body. Something I don’t like on mid 60s Rovers either.
The 74 had that outrageous grille and round turn signals that looked a lot like bull’s eyes.
I love em, but AMC in the early 70s was feeding off their reputation from the 50s and early 60s.