I remember Ramblers around in the 60s and 70s. One guy showed me a modification where he ran an oil line to cool the valve train. Can’t remember what model that was but the 4-door red sedan above looks about right. A little later I knew someone with a Javelin, his dream car.
Through acquisitions AMC ended up owning the Studebaker Co. which had roots all the way back to the horse drawn era of covered wagons, and now AMC has been pass through corporate line to Chrysler, finally making it part of the big three.
My parents had a 1976 Pacer when I was growing up (a yellow one, looking much like the one on the Wikipedia page).
It was the first car my parents bought new, and I have very vague memories of going to the dealership to buy it, and seeing all the Pacers and Gremlins in their bright primary reds and blues and yellows and greens. I remember getting to ride in the way-back. I remember it being a pretty solid, heavy car for its size, and having big heavy doors. We still had it years later when I learned to drive, so it was one of the first cars I ever drove (along with our 1979 Chevy van, and whatever kind of car they used in Driver’s Ed).
The main thing I remember about my 1973 Gremlin was - if it was raining, stay home. Driving in the rain for more than 30 minutes or so allowed either surface water splashing up from the tires or condensation to form on the inside of the distributor. The result was horrible misfiring until you stopped, removed the distributor cap and attempted to dry it. I bought the car new based on favorable Consumer Reports reviews and traded it in in less than a year.
Willy took up the whole back seat of our Ford sedan, forcing my brother and I to stand if she went places with us, so my dad went out and got a '59 Rambler wagon, giving her her own space in the back. Naturally, it pink with a salmon accent, because what else would one get. I think we had that car quite a while, only finally trading out of it when the PRNDL buttons started to fall out of the dash.
We haven’t discussed the “Renault Era” of AMC, after Renault bailed them out circa 1979, and bought a controlling share of the company. There were of course the Renault Alliance and Encore, Americanized versions of the Renault 9 and 11 that were built by AMC. But besides that, I think a lot of people don’t realize how much Renault was involved in the design of the Jeep Cherokee (XJ series). From what I’ve read, some parts of the Cherokee were straight up Renault parts. The front seats, for example, were taken straight from some other Renault model.
My family had two Ramblers when I was a kid. The first was a 1960 Rambler Super. It was white over pink, exactly like the one in this Wiki article. It ended up being the car that I drove through high school. Not exactly a chick magnet. The six cylinder engine could be balky, but the positraction rear end was great for driving in snow. The front seats reclined fully, which meant that two people could sleep in it on a camping trip. I drove that thing up unimproved mountain roads, off-road, etc. and never got stuck.
The second one was a 1965 Rambler Classic, which, as mentioned, looked a lot sleeker than earlier models. I didn’t get to drive that one much, as I was in college by then, but it was a significant improvement.
My first car was a mid 70s AMC Hornet. I got it around 1979 and loved it. Took it cross country once, and a lot of other places. Huge gas tank, According to google, almost 22 gallons.
Kept it until it died, 1985 or so. Who wouldn’t be nostalgic about a car they owned when they were 18 to 24 years old? Not a great car, but I sure was glad to have it.
In the 1960’s, some of the US brands made drag race versions of their muscle cars. Typically, they’d only produce a few, usually around 50. They were expensive to make so you’d think little AMC wouldn’t bother. But they did. They made a souped-up, lightweight version of the little AMX, called the AMX SS. Really cool cars.
It seems like I heard that originally the Pacer was supposed to be front wheel drive, and use a Wankel rotary engine sourced from General Motors. When GM canceled their rotary engine AMC was forced to use their venerable inline six. But that engine wouldn’t fit in a front wheel drive configuration, so they had to make it rear wheel drive, which required widening the car to make room for the transmission and driveshaft. And then AMC’s marketing people decided to call it a feature.
And regarding Japanese card and their width, I don’t know about Japanese taxes, but from what I understand the version of the Corolla sold in Japan is actually narrower than the one sold in the US.
At one time Japanese cars were taxed based on dimensions and engine size. The smallest ones, known as Kei were taxed at a lower rate. But the Kei cars were much smaller than the Pacer (or even the Gremlin.)
I don’t know if it’s confirmation bias, but I started looking at Japanese cars and thinking, ‘They seem as long as American cars…but yeah, considering at proportions they seem more narrow.’
I think the Celica was trying to take on the pony cars. A quick google…
1976 Toyota Celica width: 1620mm
1976 Ford Mustang width: 1783mm
Difference, 163mm. That’s about 6.4 inches.
The other thing I noticed was that the tires seemed more narrow. When gasoline cost was low, fat tires made more sense—traction, control, etc. But if MPG matters, where is the sweet spot?
I don’t know how true this is, but I have heard some stories saying that the former AMC design team was highly influential on the direction Chrysler went in the 1990s. So it could be that the Dodge Neon and Intrepid are the kinds of cars AMC would have built if they’d survived.
Back when every other kid’s mom drove a station wagon, my mom bought a brand new AMC Javelin AMX.
That was one sweet ride. Hers was in a deep metallic green. She once took it cross country and earned a ticket in Oklahoma for a number well north of 100…she didn’t tell us that little detail for many years.
Then one fine day something happened and she traded it in on a Pacer .
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