Here’s a pair recently posted at the Cohort by J.C. A rather unlikely duo, which share a few traits. First, both vehicles reflect their parent companies’ answer to shifting markets. And second, both have rather star-crossed fates.
The 2-seater AMX was part of AMC’s efforts to shake off its old-man Rambler image, which along the Javelin pony car, was to cater to the burgeoning muscle car market of the ’60s. The Javelin did an OK business in revitalizing the automaker’s image and sold rather decently; with AMC earning a few nickles out of the effort. The AMX did enough of a PR stunt for the carmaker though its sales were lackluster. No matter, the whole muscle car business was rather short-lived before the Brougham epoch took over.
With the M-Class, Mercedes correctly saw the shifting trends of the luxury market, as it was moving towards ‘an active lifestyle’ image. It was considered a bold move for conservative Mercedes to make, and the press was rather excited when the AAVision concept was revealed in 1995 (above). By the time the production model was released in 1998, the M-Class was highly anticipated and was eagerly received by upscale customers. As told before at CC, its star-crossed fate comes from tarnishing Mercedes’ vaulted reputation for top-notch quality and engineering; signs that MB was becoming a different kind of company.
Just the paint damage on this 1st gen M-Class is a sign that MB’s quality had suffered. No old Mercedes paint would decay as such, even decades after. My old German mechanic would have been in conniptions if he ever saw the day (trust me). But well, the M-Class is here to stay, rechristened as the GLE. AMC is no longer, but its Jeep division is. Seeing them together just goes to show that as markets shift, one never knows what turns carmakers will take. Also the muscle car period was a flash in the pan, but the ‘active lifestyle’ seems to be a perpetual condition.
Further reading:
Automotive History: Mercedes W163 – Conceived In Germany, Born In America
CC Home Delivery: 1969 AMC AMX – The Two Seat Pony Car Pays A Visit
Several friends and associates eagerly awaited the M-class, jumping in with both feet when they arrived. They were a hot item for 2-3 years. Until the maladies hit (and they always hit). Every one jumped out within 3 years of buying one…..
In the “good ol’ days” Mercedes-Benz automobiles were painted with a Glasurit (now part of BASF) paint that held up like porcelain. It’s apparent the ML has a basecoat/clearcoat system that is no match for the Nevada sun, or probably any other place in the southern or southwestern part of the United States.
I have owned ten Mercedes-Benz automobiles from a 1966 230S to a 2016 SLK 350 and noted a marked diminishing in quality starting around the beginning of the millennium.
My wife did drive a 2003 ML 350 (virtually new dealer demo) for five years and put well over 100,000 miles on it. It was relatively trouble-free but I did have to replace a sensor on top of the transmission three times that gave a faulty message about the 4-wheel drive system. The dealer never charged for the repair even after the car was out of warranty. MBUSA probably knew they had a design flaw.
After Christmas of 1982 I was about to enter my last semester of college, and needed some money to get myself through. I took a delivering pizzas with my 71 Scamp. The only person I ever knew with one of these early AMXs was the night manager of the pizza place. The car was old and pretty ratty, but he said that it would really scoot. I found it more intriguing than appealing at the time. I still have the same mindset towards these.
These Mercedes SUVs were a hot commodity in the tonier suburbs – for awhile. I have not seen one in ages.
Those sold in Europe too and my impression is that – just like certain malaise-era Mopars – once the initial problems are sorted they can live a very long life. This Romanian-registered example was seen last year here in Austria, about to start a 600 mile trip to Transylvania or whereabouts to deliver another “modern” vehicle to a happy buyer.
When these landed here there had been the A class failure on the moose test already anyhow Mercedes NZ invited current Merc drivers and partners to a test drive at Manfield race track one of the partners in my sisters company invited her alom
ng for the day his wife wasnt intereste anyhow they had fun powersliding these SUVs around on the race track none fell over so a good day had by all oh and the partner in the firm bought a Porsche my sister bought Vauxhall oops sorry Holden Vectra and had lots of problems with it.
I’m not old enough to have gotten the memo that AMC’s were supposed to be uncool and second rate. While many of their cars from the Romney Rambler era looked a bit frumpy to my young eyes, the majority of products that came about due to the Abernethy shakeup looked like they were batting with the big guys. Stuff like this AMX looks first class (save for the interiors being a tad sparse), and later offerings were either two thumbs up: 1971-74 Javelin (hand over the Cardin please!) or innovative/unique enough to be worth checking out… Pacer, Gremlin, Matador coupé, Spirit, Eagle, plus the Jeeps. The latter two of those fit into the “active lifestyle bracket”, with the Eagle paralleling many of qualities applied to the CUV’s that are so popular today.
I’ve now got an appreciation for the older Mercedes vehicles that earned them their reputation in the US, but have never been a Mercedes person so to speak. As such, most of their vehicles from the last 30 years or so have just existed in the periphery for me. From this vantage point, I thought the first generation ML320 was a lower end, front wheel drive based crossover; it looked a little bit like it was trying to straddle the middle ground between a minivan and a SUV, not entirely unlike a Mitsubishi Expo or a Nissan Stanza Van. Like the Jeep Liberty, it appears to have hidden a fairly capable vehicle under the shell of a “cute ute”. And that first impression of ho hum quality sounds like it was at least somewhat accurate. Bummer.