As we have seen, in 1956, American Motors chairman George Romney decided to bet the company's future on the compact Rambler, abandoning the venerable Nash and Hudson brands and launching a vaguely messianic (if mercifully tongue-in-cheek) crusade against oversize, gas-guzzling "Detroit dinosaurs."

In 1958, AMC's first model year following the demise of Nash and Hudson, Romney hedged his bets with two additional Rambler models: the subcompact Rambler American and the big Ambassador. This put AMC in the novel position of offering cars in three distinct sizes, something many of its competitors wouldn't match until the mid-1960s.

Despite that variety, AMC's bread and butter was the midsize Rambler; the American sold only half as many copies, and the Ambassador was at best a niche item. About the same size as a modern Toyota Camry, the "standard" Rambler accounted for nearly 117,000 sales in 1958, about 259,000 in 1959, and nearly 315,000 in 1960.


The midsize Rambler was available with either a 196 cu. in. (3.2 L) six or a 250 cu. in. (4.1 L) V8. V8 cars were called Rambler Rebel; the sixes were simply Rambler 6. Low demand led to the cancellation of the Rebel after 1960, at which point the 6 was renamed Rambler Classic.

Even after the Big Three introduced their first compacts in 1960, the Rambler occupied a unique niche. It was bigger than most of the domestic compacts, but still much smaller than any contemporary full-size car. Renamed Rambler Classic in 1961, it continued to sell strongly through 1963, briefly elevating AMC to the number-three slot in total domestic sales.

By 1964, the Big Three had bracketed the Classic with an array of compacts and intermediates. The Classic was smaller than new midsize rivals like the Ford Fairlane and Chevrolet Chevelle, and AMC couldn't match those competitors' larger dealer networks or marketing budgets. Furthermore, by the mid-sixties, buyers were losing interest in economy cars and turning back to performance and luxury. Classic sales began to slide. AMC's market share was shrinking at a similar rate.

George Romney left AMC in January 1962 to pursue a political career. His replacement, former sales VP Roy Abernethy, did not share Romney's enthusiasm for compacts. "He was at heart a big-car man," recalled former AMC advertising manager Barney Brogan in a 2009 conversation with the author.

Under Abernerthy's auspices, AMC moved away from its previous niche-market focus, back toward the mainstream. Each of the company's offerings grew larger, gained a convertible model, and received attractive, if bland styling, courtesy of Dick Teague's design staff. In 1965, AMC stretched the Classic by 5 inches (127 mm), bringing it closer to the size of its intermediate rivals. It also added an optional 327 cu. in. (5.4 L) V8, which hadn't been offered in the midsize Rambler since 1957.


AMC revived the Rebel badge in 1966 as a sub-series of the Classic line, offered only in two-door hardtop form. This car has the optional 327 (5.4 L) V8, with 270 gross horsepower (201 kW), linked to the rare four-speed manual transmission.


The 1965-1966 Rambler Classic still rode the 112-inch (2,845-mm) wheelbase introduced in 1963, but it was about 5 inches (127 mm) longer than before, thanks mostly to a longer tail. Equipped like this one, it weighed around 3,500 pounds (1,575 kg).

Despite those moves, Classic sales continued to fall, sinking to about 126,000 by 1966. The intermediate market was booming -- Ford sold more than 317,000 Fairlanes in 1966 -- but AMC, which had essentially pioneered the genre, was in danger of being shut out. The Classic was competent and pleasantly styled, but it was no longer particularly compact or economical. AMC was moving away from the values established by Romney, but it had yet to find any other defining virtues. Resale values were not robust, and an increasing number of buyers didn't look at Ramblers twice.

AMC's first attempt to address its image problem became one of its most memorable blunders: the Marlin.

In early 1963, stylist Robert Nixon penned a compact fastback coupe called Tarpon, based on the Rambler American platform. AMC showed a mock-up at conventions in Detroit and Chicago in early 1964, to generally good response. Dick Teague lobbied hard to build the Tarpon, which would have been AMC's rival to the Ford Mustang and Plymouth Barracuda, both of which debuted a few months later. Roy Abernethy, however, was concerned that AMC did not have a V8 that would fit in the Rambler American's engine bay, which would put the Tarpon at a competitive disadvantage. Furthermore, Abernethy thought the Tarpon was just too small, particularly when he discovered that he couldn't wear his hat in the back seat. Rather than simply vetoing the Tarpon, he suggested transferring it to the bigger Rambler Classic platform. Teague was hardly thrilled, but he reluctantly scaled up the design for the larger platform, which went on sale in early 1965 as the Rambler Marlin.


A 1965 Rambler Marlin. (Photo © 2008 Christopher Ziemnowicz; released to the public domain by the photographer)

Like the contemporary Dodge Charger, which was similarly based on the intermediate Dodge Coronet, the Marlin was essentially a Classic with a fastback hardtop roof. It looked sleek from some angles, gawky and odd from others. Even Dick Teague and his stylists didn't like it much.

The public was not enthralled, either. First-year sales were an uninspiring 10,327, and the second year was less than half that figure. Teague persuaded Abernethy to switch the Marlin to the even-bigger Ambassador platform for 1967, which at least gave it better proportions, but sales sank even further. The Marlin disappeared for good at the end of the 1967 model year.

Although it could be politely described as an interesting failure, the Marlin was at least distinctive, which could not be said for the contemporary Classic. In 1967, AMC transformed it into a cut-down version of the Ambassador, which brought its dimensions very close to those of the contemporary Chevrolet Chevelle. AMC also dropped the Classic name in favor of Rebel, and began to phase out the Rambler nameplate. (It disappeared from Rebels in 1968.) It didn't help: sales fell to less than 101,000 units in 1967 and just under 74,000 units in 1968. By comparison, in 1967 alone, Pontiac sold nearly 220,000 Tempests and Le Mans, plus 81,722 GTOs.


Believe it or not, this is the original upholstery, and the throw pillow was standard equipment. Many mid-sixties AMC products, including both the Rebel and the Ambassador, had wild, rococo trim, complete with throw pillows.

Roy Chapin, Jr., who replaced Roy Abernethy as chairman and CEO in January 1967, was trying hard to change AMC's frumpy image, launching the sporty Javelin and AMX and initiating an aggressive racing program. He even gave the green light to the Hurst SC/Rambler, a hot rod version of the Rambler American. These efforts did nothing to help sales of the Rebel, which fell to a depressing 60,000 for 1969. Neither did the high-performance Rebel Machine, added in 1970, which arrived just as the market for intermediate Supercars was collapsing. Rebel sales were dismal, and a model that had once been AMC's core product was now nearly invisible.

Chapin and Gerry Meyers, who by that time was AMC's VP of product development, were well aware of the Rebel's shortcomings. The problem -- which was becoming AMC's perennial curse -- was a lack of capital. The company's scant resources were focused on the desperately needed Hornet compact and its wacky subcompact derivative, the Gremlin, both of which debuted in 1970. The moribund Rebel would have to wait.


The late-sixties Rebel was an attractive car in two-door hardtop form, although you could argue that it was a stylistic goulash, borrowing themes from the Ford Fairlane, Pontiac Le Mans, and Dodge Coronet. The SST was the sportiest model, with a 343 cu. in. (5.6 L) version of AMC's small V8, launched in mid-1966. With only 280 gross horsepower (209 kW), even the most powerful Rebel SST was no match for a Fairlane GTA, let alone a GTO; in June 1967, Car Life's Rebel SST with automatic took nine seconds to go from 0-60 mph (0-97 kph), with a top speed of 110 mph (176 kph). (Photo © 2009 William Hamilton; used by permission)

The Rebel's replacement finally bowed for the 1971 model year. For the second time in five years, it had a new name: Matador. The new moniker did not go over well in some Spanish-speaking export markets; while "Matador" usually implies a bullfighter, it more literally means "killer."

Like the Rebel, the Matador shared much of its body structure with the Ambassador, distinguished by a different front clip and a shorter wheelbase, 118 inches (2,997 mm) versus 122 inches (3,099 mm). In overall dimensions, it was only slightly smaller than the "Detroit dinosaurs" George Romney had decried a decade earlier, and it was wholly undistinguished in both design and engineering. AMC, with a flash of bemused self-awareness reminiscent of Doyle Dane Bernbach's famous Volkswagen ads, made a joke of the Matador's anonymity, launching a series of TV commercials asking, "What's a Matador?"

VIDEO #1

This video, offered courtesy of the Torq-O Archives, is a rare clip from from an AMC promotional film for the 1973 Matador.

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Whatever else the Matador was, it was not a strong seller. The 1971 tally was less than 46,000 sales, rising to just under 55,000 for 1972. Sales for many intermediates were down in the early seventies, as buyers gravitated to compacts and subcompacts, and AMC, which had never firmly established itself in the intermediate market, was hit particularly hard. Fortunately, American's investment in the Hornet and Gremlin was paying off, allowing the company to post a modest profit for 1971 and even better numbers for 1972 and 1973. AMC's market share climbed from 3.3% in 1972 to 4.2% in 1973, and the company reported profits of $44.5 million.

Nevertheless, Gerry Meyers was not happy about AMC's lack of presence in the intermediate market, which was starting to grow again by 1972, reaching nearly 20% of the market the following year. AMC didn't have an entry in the popular and lucrative personal luxury class, either. In fact, the hardtop coupe was the slowest-selling Matador, in a segment where two-door hardtops were customarily the most popular (and profitable) models. Customers were not taken with the Matador's blocky styling and peculiar, protruding snout. Even NASCAR driver Mark Donohue, who drove Matador stock cars for Roger Penske, dubbed it "the flying brick."


The Matador hardtop's roofline and rear fenders bear a striking resemblance to those of the late-sixties Chrysler C-body hardtops, but its bulging grille reminded one critic of big-nosed comedian Jimmy Durante. A few -- perhaps 50 -- 1971 Matadors were Machines, similar to the previous year's Rebel Machine, but without its gaudy paint and ostentatious hood scoop. They had either a 360 cu. in. (5.9 L) engine with 285 gross horsepower (213 kW), shared with the rare Hornet SC/360, or a 401 (6.6 L) with 330 hp (246 kW). (Photo © 2008 Improbcat; used by permission)

Fortunately, thanks to the profits the company had earned in 1971 and 1972, AMC finally had the money to do something about it. Meyers asked Dick Teague to develop a better-looking Matador coupe for the 1974 model year.

Bob Nixon, who had styled the 1964 Rambler American, the Tarpon, and the Gremlin, became AMC's Director of Design for Exteriors in the late sixties. He led the exterior design of the new Matador coupe, while his friend and colleague Vince Geraci, who had previously headed large-car design, developed the interior.


By 1974, the former dinosaur hunter had become a dinosaur. The Matador coupe was a Brobdingnagian 209.3 in (5,316 mm) long on a 114-in (2,896-mm) wheelbase, weighing around two tons. Although it was the shortest of the 1974 intermediates, it was actually 1.3 inches (33 mm) longer than a full-size 1959 Ford Galaxie. Some of its size and bulk was attributable to the federally mandated 5-mph (8-kph bumpers), but even without them, the Matador was no compact.

Unlike the previous Matador hardtop, the new coupe shared no sheet metal with the sedan and wagon. It also had a shorter wheelbase, 114 inches (2,896 mm), compared to 118 inches (2,997 mm) for the four-doors. GM had used a similar split-wheelbase strategy for its intermediate coupes and sedans since 1968, but it was new for AMC, which seldom had the money for such extravagances. While the coupe broke no new ground mechanically, it was different enough from the sedan to make it expensive to build. AMC spent around $40 million on development and tooling, not a vast amount by GM or Ford standards, but a lot for the cash-strapped independent.

Like GM's 1973 intermediates, the Matador coupe abandoned the customary pillarless hardtop style for fixed B-pillars and wide rear quarter windows. The B-pillars were linked by a steel hoop through the headliner, in anticipation of federal rollover crash standards that were never actually enacted. Like the old Rambler Marlin, the coupe had a steeply sloping fastback roof, flowing smoothly into the flared rear fenders and drooping tail.


Unlike GM's contemporary "Colonnade" hardtops, which had fixed quarter windows, the Matador coupe's rear windows do roll down, a boon to rear-seat passengers. The rear seat is not really suitable for adults, however, a consequence of the sloping roof.

Many contemporary observers assumed the sleek styling was dictated by the need for better aerodynamics on the high-speed NASCAR ovals -- Mark Donohue hadn't called the old Matador a brick simply because he didn't like its looks. However, Bob Nixon said that racing had little to with the design; the bigger concern was creating some semblance of design continuity between the swoopy new coupe and previous AMC models. Nixon was also struggling to integrate the now-mandatory 5-mph (8-kph) bumpers in an aesthetically satisfying way, something few automakers managed during this period.


One of the Matador coupe's many interesting styling features are its freestanding bumpers, standing out from the body on telescoping hydraulic struts (which were concealed by articulated plastic boots). Omitting the usual vanity panel between the body and the bumper reduced the visual mass of the bumper, helping to avoid the battering-ram effect of many of its contemporaries. The Matador X was the sporty model, priced $504 above the basic V8 coupe; there was also a plusher Brougham model. In 1975, both became option packages, rather than models.

When the Matador coupe went on sale in the fall of 1973, it was not only a striking departure for AMC; it defied the contemporary trend toward feverish neo-Classical design, embodied by the Lincoln Continental Mark series and Chevrolet Monte Carlo. In November 1973, Car and Driver compared it to the work of Charles Eames, praising its lack of ersatz Rolls-Royce grilles and opera windows. On the latter point, they spoke too soon -- opera windows and a padded vinyl roof become optional on the top-of-the-line Brougham coupe in January 1974. There was also a rather gaudy Oleg Cassini decor package, with copper trim inside and out.


The Matador coupe's round headlights were intended to evoke the 1964-1965 Rambler American, lending a touch of styling continuity to the new car. The flat nose and recessed grille (blacked out on sporty X models) bears no resemblance to the contemporary Matador sedan and wagon. This car originally had the basic 304 (5.0 L) V8, with 150 hp (112 kW), linked to a three-speed Torque-Command automatic (actually a Chrysler TorqueFlite 904). Its present owner has retrofitted it with a 360 (5.9 L) and dual exhausts, making about 200 hp (149 kW).

Beyond its radical styling, the Matador's virtues were modest. With a full load of options, it weighed 4,050 lb (1,837 kg), which meant that even with the biggest engine, AMC's 401 (6.6 L) V8, performance was far from overwhelming. Car and Driver clocked a 401 Matador X from 0-60 mph (0-97 kph) in just over eight seconds; Road & Track's March 1974 test car, with the smaller 360 (5.9 L) V8, managed the same in just under nine seconds, with a top speed of 116 mph (187 kph). The Matador's handling was no worse than most intermediate rivals, but with nearly 60% of its static weight on the front wheels, it was hardly agile. The interior was cramped, more of a 2+2 than a true four-seater, and there was more noise and harshness than a contemporary Torino or Chevelle. Fuel economy, once AMC's great strength, was dismal, a consequence of the hefty curb weight and primitive emissions controls. AMC had a come a long way since the days of George Romney, not necessarily for the better.


The Matador coupe's interior differed little from that of the sedan and wagon. A tachometer was not available, but the dash does feature a primitive fuel economy gauge, located above the fuel gauge on the right side of the wheel. The sport steering wheel was standard on the Matador X; Broughams had fake woodgrain on the dash.This car has bucket seats, a $68.50 option on the Matador X, but not the optional center console and floor shifter.

The Matador coupe's sales, like those of those of the industry at large, took a nasty hit from the OPEC oil embargo, which began shortly after its introduction. When the dust settled, AMC had sold just under 100,000 Matadors, more than 62,000 of which were the new coupe. Compared to the dismal sales of the previous Matador and Rebel hardtops, that was decent, and it even beat out a few competitors, like the Plymouth Satellite Sebring and Mercury Montego. On the other hand, Oldsmobile sold nearly 240,000 Cutlass coupes in 1974, while Chevrolet sold 240,000 Chevelle, Malibu, and Laguna two-doors and 312,000 Monte Carlos.

The slick new body also failed to make the Matador a serious contender on the racetrack. Roger Penske's Matadors scored only a single victory in 1974. Bobby Allison managed three wins in 1975, which was respectable, but the 1976 season was a disaster. Plagued with technical failures, the Matador scored no victories, and AMC terminated its support of NASCAR at the end of the season. The following year, Roger Penske switched to Mercury.


The jarring discontinuity between the rear quarter window and the backlight is one of the minor elements that make the Matador coupe's intriguing shape less than satisfactory, as is the awkward crease near the trailing edge of the decklid. Note the substantial tumblehome (inward curvature of the roof sides), which combines with the curving fenders to make the Matador unusually curvaceous for an American car of this era. All these complex curves made the Matador expensive to build; it ultimately lost money for AMC.

If the Matador had continued to sell at its 1974 volume, AMC probably would have deemed it a success. Unfortunately, once the initial demand was sated, customers were few and far between. Matador coupe sales fell to less than 23,000 in 1975, despite the car's featured role in the James Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun, in which the villainous Scaramanga (portrayed by Christopher Lee) transforms his Matador into an airplane to escape from 007. Buyers were not impressed; AMC lost $27.5 million in 1975.


The trim-and-tape-stripe Matador X model sold around 10,000 copies in 1974, became an option package in 1975, and disappeared after that. Intermediate buyers of the time were no longer very interested in sportiness, particularly since there was now very little to back it up. Many buyers were content with the basic 304 (5.0 L) V8, which provided leisurely acceleration.

The following year was even worse. Although the domestic auto market was starting to recover, the Matador still sold poorly, leading AMC to offer rebates of up to $600 per car. A problem with emissions control sensors also forced the company to recall nearly all non-California Matadors, which cost American more than $3 million. AMC's losses for 1976 totaled $46.3 million.

In 1977, NASCAR driver Bobby Allison, no longer affiliated with Roger Penske, persuaded AMC to back another run at the Winston Cup. Allison's Matador failed to win a single race, however, and the publicity value was minimal. Matador coupe sales totaled less than 7,000 for 1977 and just over 2,000 for 1978, its final year. As with the contemporary Pacer, the Matador coupe's novelty wore off quickly, and we suspect the only reason AMC kept it alive was to minimize the losses it was going to take on the coupe's tooling. Sales of sedans and wagons weren't much better, and AMC canceled the entire line in 1978. Gerry Meyers, who became chairman in the fall of 1977, decided there wasn't enough demand to merit a replacement. By 1979, AMC's biggest car was the compact Concord, introduced in 1977.

VIDEO #3

Our third video clip, again courtesy the Torq-O Archives, is an excerpt from AMC's 1977 Dealer Introduction Show. Todd Ruel describes the show as "a full-blown Broadway-style musical to inform and excite dealers about AMC's new product line for 1977." (The Torq-O Archives have the only known print of the show, which Todd calls "a fascinating artifact from an innovative but struggling car company.")

This video introduces a new 1977 trim package called Barcelona II. AMC tried to spark interest in the Matador coupe (and other seventies models) with a series of these special trim packages and designer editions. The first of these in the Matador line was the 1974-1975 Oleg Cassini package, followed in 1976 by the two-tone Barcelona and then the even-gaudier Barcelona II.

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AMC's special designer editions, which also included a Levi's Edition Gremlin, were among the first such cross-promotions, but they were definitely not the last. In 1976, Lincoln launched designer editions of its popular Continental Mark series by Cartier, Emilio Pucci, Givenchy, and Bill Blass, to great success. Later examples include Eddie Bauer editions of the Ford Explorer and Expedition, the Mercury Villager Nautica, the Subaru Outback and Legacy L.L. Bean editions, and the Lexus ES350 and RX350 Coach Editions.

The Oleg Cassini Matador was an optional trim package, offered only in 1974 and 1975. In 1974, it cost $299, and was available only on the Matador Brougham. In 1975, the Brougham itself became an option package, rather than a model, but you still had to order it to get the Cassini package, which cost an extra $236. AMC sold 6,165 Oleg Cassini packages in 1974, an additional 1,817 in 1975. (Photo © 2007 Tigersnarl; used by permission)

AFTERMATH

AMC had high hopes for the Matador coupe; if it had been a hit, it would have brightened the company's financial picture considerably, especially given the commercial failure of the Pacer. Bob Nixon's team even did some design studies for sedan and wagon derivatives of the coupe (click here to see them), which could have replaced the existing four-doors. As it was, AMC lost a lot of money on the coupe. Total production was something less than 110,000 for five model years (no precise figures are available for 1976), which was not nearly enough to recoup its tooling costs.

The Matador's failure only exacerbated AMC's financial problems. Paul Tippett, who became president in 1977, joked grimly to Time in 1979 that the company should change its name to "Ailing American Motors," since the press so often described it that way. AMC did recover somewhat in 1979-1980, thanks mostly to robust Jeep sales and good business for its truck and bus subsidiary, AM General, but even so, it remained dangerously under-capitalized. With the company's long-term future still in doubt, the AMC board opted for a merger with the French automaker Renault. The marriage was not successful for either side, and Renault finally sold AMC to Chrysler in 1987. By the time of the Chrysler buyout, AMC's survival had become increasingly dependent on the Jeep brand, which is the only part of the company that still survives today. (We should note that designer Bob Nixon, who eventually replaced Dick Teague as VP of styling, also led the design of the extremely successful Jeep XJ Cherokee and ZJ Grand Cherokee. He joined Chrysler styling after the merger, and retired in 1992.)


The Matador wagon survived with few changes through 1978; by the end, it sold better than the coupe, even though it was more expensive. A 1975 V8 wagon, like this one, had a base price of just under $4,000, nearly $400 more than a V8 coupe. It accounted for just over 8,100 sales that year. (Photo © 2009 The Gremlin72; used by permission)

Thirty-five years on, the Matador coupe remains a polarizing design. Like its Pacer cousin, it has become something of a cult object. There are fans who still insist it was the best-looking domestic car of the seventies, a judgment that in our view says more about contemporary American design than it does about the Matador. To our eyes, the Matador coupe is an agglomeration of interesting details that don't quite add up to a pleasing whole. It's fascinating to look at, but not pretty.

Dick Teague himself claimed that no big fastback had ever really succeeded, and sales figures tend to support that conclusion. The early Barracuda and Charger weren't much more successful than the Marlin and Matador. Even the Mustang fastback, beloved of so many modern collectors, didn't sell nearly as well as the notchback hardtop.

More to the point, the clean, sleek, space-capsule lines so praised by contemporary critics were not what coupe buyers were after in the mid-seventies. What the market wanted, for better or worse, was upright grilles, padded formal roofs, opera windows, coach lights, stand-up hood ornaments; the comparative sales of the Matador and Chevy Monte Carlo make that clear enough. True, Chevrolet had something like three times as many dealers as AMC, and its annual advertising budget exceeded the Matador coupe's total development costs, but the Matador was significantly cheaper than the Monte, and we would expect that to count for something. The fact that the Monte Carlo outsold the Matador by around 10 to one suggests that buyers just didn't care much for the Matador's looks.

On the other hand, we're not sure that a cookie-cutter Continental Mark IV knock-off would have sold much better. AMC generally did best when it went its own way; whenever the company tried to follow the herd, it usually got trampled.

When the Gremlin came out in 1970, Dick Teague told Motor Trend that AMC had made it different on purpose, to give it character and attract attention. Odd as it was, we doubt that the Gremlin would have sold nearly as well if it had been more orthodox. The Matador coupe was a similar calculated risk, and even though it didn't quite pay off, it was a commendably bold effort. Indeed, if AMC hadn't been willing to take such chances, the company would not have survived half as long as it did. For that reason, we kind of like the Matador, even if we do find the styling a little cross-eyed.

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