Memories, AMC Matador

[Bullet Bob]

Jag312 wins.

 

[oldfella]

Re-visit the AMC history line-up:

A Picture review of American Motors From1957 to 1987. The End of an Era.


Pete

 

[Old 44 Guy]

Drove a couple Nash Rambler cross country station wagons when I first married in 1960. One was a '56 the other a '58. Put 149,000 miles on the first & 103,000 on the other. Both straight OHV sixes with overdrive. Good little cars for a young couple starting out.

 

[CW Spook]

'Never owned one of the AMC cars, but I had both a new Vega and a used Pinto and never had any real problems with either of them...maybe because at that time I was trading cars about every 2 years, but I have no bad memories. The Vega was the "Kammback GT", i.e. a tricked out station wagon, taupe brown with a deluxe tan vinyl interior, 4-speed and mag-style wheels. The car I had the most problems with was also one of the cooler cars I owned; a 1953 Ford Victoria, flathead V-8 with the 3-spd overdrive tranny. I bought it for $200 in 1966 while I was in college.

 

[mkk41]

I must be the only person in the world who thinks the Matador is a cool looking car! Paint it black , leave the ugly chrome trim off , out in a nice 390 or 401 AMC motor and ya got one cool sleeper. The late , great Mark Donohue even won a few races with one for Penske.

 

[DeathGrip]

All of the AMC V8's were the same block,Just different bore/stroke combo's.You could get faactory V8 Gremlins and hornets.You couldn't get that in a Pinto or Vega,Scary little cars when uncorked.My friend had the Gremlin V8 4speed with the Levi interior.He let is rust out in the swamp and wouldn't sell it to anyone.

Merry Christmas,D.G.

 

[2152hq]

I had an AMC Hornet wagon with the back hatchback door. A straight 6 (looked like a Chevy engine) and a floor 3 speed standard keep the old girl going to 103,000 miles. Needed cardboard in front of the rad in the winter to get it even lukewarm.

Went through water pumps quite frequently IIRC. I did alot of 'jack it up in the driveway' repairs on it to keep it going but it was easy to work on, just not fun especially in the winter months. Lots of busted knuckles over that one.
The hindges on the hatchback broke right off when they got stuffed with ice one winter. I tore the remnents off and bolted some spiffy galvanized tool shed type hasp hinges on there with bolts going right through into the inside. A bit of roof tar did the sealing against the elements.
Gave the car away to a co-worker who needed wheels and he ran it to just shy of 150,000 when it finally gave it up.
A beautiful paper bag brown color. Oh,,I can still see it. What a babe magnet it was...

Someone actually broke into it one time at a mall,,and never stole anything. Must have felt sorry for the owner of such a thing once they actually looked around inside.

 

[goldenlight]

This is embarrassing, but I have to defend the Gremlin.

I had one in the later 70's when I was young and poor. It was not the most dashing car, but it was completely reliable. M1Gunner is right; that straight six was a very good engine. I took it camping and SCUBA diving, driving it on dirt roads, through fields, and over many campgrounds. Between the folded down rear seat the roof rack I could carry a respectable amount of gear. They were really underrated little cars.

I remember seeing ads on TV, sometime in the 70's for the Gremlin. It's big selling point was that is was the LOWEST PRICED car available in America. Cheaper than a Datsun or a Honda. And, AMC sold LOT of them.

One of my buddies had one. He said it wasn't a very exciting car, but that it WAS reliable, with 180K on it, when most American cars would not come anywhere NEAR 200K. He sold it not too long after it hit 180K, and the guy he sold it to drove it for at least 2 years, that I know of.

I remember he said that aside from maintenance, he drove it for 10 years, and the only thing he had to replace was the battery; twice.

He had to do the brakes and shocks, but those are wear items. And, back than, batteries weren't nearly as good as they are now, so replacing the battery really is 'maintenance', too.

I can't remember the gas mileage; it wasn't that great. But gasoline was only 50 cents a gallon, back then. I was driving an air cooled VW Super Beetle. It only got 22MPG, in town; and that was during the summer. I would bet the Gremlin wasn't much worse, and it was a MUCH bigger car, with a 6 banger.

The relatively larger Gremlins were vastly safer than the tin can Hondas and Datsuns of the day. The extra mass of the Gremlin saved many people, when the only safety equipment was the seat belts; often never used.

 

[C/O]

Man, no love for the Matador.

It may have not looked that great to some, but I liked the looks of it. When I got rid of it, it had over 110K miles on it. Never had any issues with it. The only thing I ever had to do to it in the two and half years I owned it was regular oil changes and a tune up. I can't say the same for some of my friends Pontiacs and others. I wrecked it right before going to the Air force is the only reason I junked it.

 

[BobK]

My wife bought a Matador just like that one. Not for long though.......she totaled it one night coming home from the bar. She went off the highway to avoid a deer, less than a mile from home. This was way before I met her........so you can't blame me!!!!

I used to joke about it, saying "That car was so butt ugly...... you put it out of it's misery!" Bob

 

[mkk41]

All of the AMC V8's were the same block,Just different bore/stroke combo's.You could get faactory V8 Gremlins and hornets.You couldn't get that in a Pinto or Vega,Scary little cars when uncorked.My friend had the Gremlin V8 4speed with the Levi interior.He let is rust out in the swamp and wouldn't sell it to anyone.

Merry Christmas,D.G.

Yep , replace that little 304 with a well built 401 and look out. Friend of mine plucked the stock 304 out of his Jeep and put in a 401 with Edelbrock Performer package (aluminum heads , intake , carb and cam).

 

[DeathGrip]

Yep , replace that little 304 with a well built 401 and look out. Friend of mine plucked the stock 304 out of his Jeep and put in a 401 with Edelbrock Performer package (aluminum heads , intake , carb and cam).

Yep, Common swap.Did it have the Dana's?Ahhhh.The good ones that people thought less of because of AMC.What wasn't to like?

Merry Christmas,D.G.

 

[Superflywimpy]

I'm sad to admit I had a Gremlin....

My first car was a green gremlin,even had a funny character namesake on it,My friends laughed but it ran great.Funny,it turned out to be collectable ,but I sold it for 300 bucks when I went to the service.........wished I still had it.

 

[JcMack]

There's a lot of "wish I still had it" cars/trucks I can name. They are all vehicles that with the hood open you see the ground on both sides of the engine, and you could work on it under the "shade tree" without a degree in rocket science.

 

[Lobo_79]

Re-visit the AMC history line-up:...
Pete

That was great. Thank you for that link.

 

[Lobo_79]

Not many were made, but the AMX was a true performance car. Available with a high output V8 and a tricked out auto transmission or a beefy 4 speed...

I remember the AMX well. They used to give my GTO fits. LOL.

 

[walnutred]

I owned an AMC Hornet and like others have said those straight 6's were great. My Dad actually liked the AMC Pacer. He said the bubble top configuration reminded him of the PBYs he flew in during WW2 and Korea.

One thing that most people don't remember ios that Chrysler bought AMC for two things. First was the Jeep line but second was the mini van. The Mini Van was going to the the vehicle that saved AMC, instead it saved Chrysler.

 

[cowboy117]

AMC site-click on the films.




The Cog Blog

 

[elcruisr]

Knew a guy in high school with an AMX and a pile of speeding tickets that kept him hovering on the edge of loosing his lisence! One day he told me he'd figured out what his problem was. He couldn't stand people in front of him and he had a car that could do something about it!

Teenage country boy wisdom....

 

[mstuhr]

Pacer

Howdy,
Here is a little known bit of info on the Pacer. The passenger door is two inches longer than the driver door to help get all the pretty girls they attract in and out of the back seat.
I know the door is longer. I cant say if it works or not?
Thanks
Mike

 

[67 GTO]

I remember the AMX well. They used to give my GTO fits. LOL.

Did someone say GTO?
I got mine in '73.

 

[sigp220.45]

The first car I ever totalled out was a 74 Gremlin. I was a junior in high school, on my way to my after school job at Woolworth's, when a nice lady in a 1976 Cadillac Seville ran a yield sign and T-boned me. I broke the windshield with my forehead, but still had to go to work.

 

[Landpimp]

I hoped to never see one of those again, I was hit by one in my 69 Z-28.....

 

[Titan]

My brother started out with a '54 Nash Metropolitan.

A butt ugly little car.

.

 

[mkk41]

I remember the AMX well. They used to give my GTO fits. LOL.

There's a very nicely built Pro Street '70 AMX running around here that has a healthy Buick 455 w/Edelbrock aluminum heads transplanted onto it. GM TH-400 trans and Dana 60 rear. Supposedly runs low 9s.

 

[rcnixon]

My first car was a '75 Vega wagon. Not sure how good of a car it was, one month after I picked it up a Ford LTD ened it's life at an intersection. So sad. Next up was a '76 AMC Gremlin. You can say what you want about the looks, that was one tough car. If I remember, it had an in-line 6 cyclinder (260 c.i.?) and had plenty of tourque. I sold it to a friend's mother in 1983 when I had a chance at a nicer car ('75 Old's Cutlass) and she drove it up until about 1990.

By the way, AMC did race the Gremlins in the Trans-Am series. I didn't know that until many years later. Still strikes me as kind of funny.

Nah, it wasn't the Gremlin in Trans-Am, it was the Javelin. Penske ran them and they were a darn good race car. In fact, owner Roy Woods and driver George Follmer won the championship in '72. I was heavily involved in SCCA racing back then as a mech and crew chief and many National weekends shared the venue with the Trans-Am and Can-Am series'. Lucky Russell had pit passes valid for the entire weekend! Now, the Can-Am cars were some scary-ass racing cars. Chevy 500 cid elephant motors in a 2500 pound chassis held the absolute lap record at many tracks. Does anyone remember the Trans-Am 2.5 series; BMW 2002's, Alfa-Romeo Giulietta's and Datsun 510's. John Morton took the series in his first year driving the BRE car. We had it on the showroom floor for a couple of weeks at a Datsun dealership where I worked. Good times; thanks for the memories.

Russ

 

[tomhenry]

My first was a Triumph Spitfire just like this. My father gave it to me when I was 15. Four cylinder; two one barrel carbs. Slow as Xmas but the girls liked it. The convertible top lifted off and you put it in the trunk. The wire wheels came off if you took off the spinner.

I totalled it and my father gave me a crappy '62 (?) Olds Cutlass. Like this, only black.

I have no idea what happened to it but man, I hated that car.