(EXPANDED FROM 9/11/2020)
Readers of Indie Auto can offer feedback either by commenting or by sending a direct message here. A few years ago a reader used the latter route to vigorously defend the looks of the 1974 AMC Ambassador, calling it a “very handsome front end.” He went on to suggest comparing the car to its competitors — all of whom were also required to meet new 5-mph bumper rules.
That’s a good idea. However, before doing so let’s talk about subjectivity. Automotive styling is ultimately a matter of personal taste. If a reader really likes how a given car looks, it doesn’t matter if other people don’t. We like what we like, particularly in the cars we choose to collect.
The challenge is that our personal taste and how an automobile did in the marketplace can diverge. Being a 1958 Edsel fan does not give one the license to rewrite history and insist that the car sold well.
Indie Auto is not a collector’s website; we focus on analyzing why automakers did or did not succeed. Those who consider any resulting criticism a sign of disloyalty might be happier elsewhere (check out our “Bibliography of Links”).
Ambassador gets longer nose to go with new bumper
The Ambassador grew more than any other full-sized low-priced car when adding 5-mph bumpers. The 1974 sedan was 8.2 inches longer than in 1972, which was the last year before the feds began phasing in the new bumper rules (go here for further discussion).
As with its competition, the Ambassador’s growth partly reflected a bigger rear bumper. However, the addition of an unusually long nose contributed to the car’s extra length. Up through 1973 the AMC had a fairly flat front end.
The design team managed by Richard Teague had to work around one limitation not shared by most of its competitors. For 1974 the Ambassador shared the same front bumper with the Matador sedan and wagon. Up until then the Matador had a modest nose, but for 1974 it got much bigger. Even with a cleaner grille beginning in 1975 it still looked exceptionally long.
The front end of the 1974 Ambassador and Matador were similar in size to an aborted reskinning slated for 1972 or 1973 (Foster, 2013). I wonder whether that redesign had advanced far enough that AMC tried to salvage the basic look — and even some inner-fascia tooling (go here for further discussion). If so, I don’t think it came off nearly as well as the aborted reskinning.
Chevrolet grew less than half as much as Ambassador
One could argue that AMC designers were at an additional disadvantage because they had to somehow integrate beefier bumpers with old sheetmetal. However, Chevrolet was in the same boat, yet the length of its cars only grew 2.8 inches between 1972 and 1974.
One advantage the full-sized Chevrolet arguably had over the Ambassador was that its front bumper already extended fairly far out from the sheetmetal, which allowed the beefier bumpers to better absorb impacts.
In addition, Chevrolet designers made only evolutionary changes to the car’s basic look, which included a modest V-shaped front end. In contrast, the 1974 Ambassador’s front end represented a major shift in stylistic direction.
Ford and Plymouth get a new look with 5-mph bumpers
For 1973 the big Ford received a reskinning. That allowed designers to come up with a more angular look that would better fit with 5-mph bumpers. Even so, the car’s overall length grew by 6.3 inches. That was the second largest increase aside from the Ambassador.
Meanwhile, the Plymouth Fury was the only full-sized entry that offered a brand new body for 1974. This resulted in 5-mph bumpers that looked better integrated than any of its competition.
Even though the Fury had the flattest front end, the car’s overall length still went up 5.6 inches over 1972 models. However, the Plymouth showed how a longer snout wasn’t required to comply with the new regulations. Indeed, the car’s modest power dome grille was similar in shape to the 1971-73 Matador’s.
The Plymouth shared one stylistic disadvantage with the Ambassador. The 1974 Fury appears to have used the same front bumper as the big Dodge. That arguably undercut the individuality of each car’s styling.
So how well the 1974 Ambassador do?
If we go by how well the Ambassador sold in 1974, the redesign was not successful. Output for the entire full-sized, low-priced field dropped by 37 percent but the Ambassador fell by 49 percent.
The Fury saw an even steeper decline — 55 percent. That was eye-opening given the Plymouth’s new body. Nevertheless, I don’t think AMC had a whole lot to brag about. Ambassador production was already so low that it didn’t have much farther to drop. In 1973 only 49,000 units left the factory compared to 261,000 units for the Fury.
Are we thus surprised that the Ambassador was discontinued for 1975 and Matador sedans and wagons were given a new top-end Brougham model to fill the resulting gap in AMC’s lineup?
The Ambassador needed to be downsized
How much did the Ambassador’s styling contribute to its untimely demise? Indie Auto commentator Henry Alfred Duryea (2020) quite rightly suggested that the car’s front end looked better than the Matador’s.
I would still argue that AMC designers jumped the shark. That snout was too big. The 1971-73 Matador’s more modest shape would have nicely captured the brougham look without being overwrought.
Also see ‘The 1967-74 AMC Ambassador didn’t measure up in roominess or quality’
That said, the Ambassador’s styling was arguably not the key factor in its demise. As discussed here, the bigger problem was that AMC was vainly trying to compete in the full-sized field with a stretched mid-sized body.
The Ambassador might have sold better if it had been repositioned as a mid-sized car and shifted to the Matador’s 118-inch wheelbase. The venerable nameplate could have either replaced the Matador sedans and wagons or relegated to a top-end model.
NOTES:
This story was originally posted on Sept. 11., 2020 and expanded on July 15, 2024. Market share and production figures were calculated from base data from the auto editors of Consumer Guide (2002) and Gunnell (2002). Dimensions are from Gunnell, Automobile Catalog (2020) and automaker marketing materials.
Share your reactions to this post with a comment below or a note to the editor.
RE:SOURCES
- Auto editors of Consumer Guide. 2002. ; 2006. Encyclopedia of American Cars. Publications International, Lincolnwood, Ill.
- Automobile Catalog; 2020. “Search Automobile Catalog.” Accessed September 9.
- Duryea, Henry Alfred; 2020. Commentator in “1974 AMC Ambassador: GM envy to the ZiL degree.” Indie Auto. Posted 7:24 p.m., August 22.
- Foster, Patrick R.; 2013. American Motors Corporation: The Rise and Fall of America’s Last Independent Automaker. MBI Publishing Co., Minneapolis, MN.
- Gunnell, John; 2002. Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1946-1975. Revised 4th Ed. Krause Publications, Iola, WI.
ADVERTISING & BROCHURES:
- oldcaradvertising.com: Ford LTD (1972)
- oldcarbrochures.org: AMC Ambassador (1972, 1974); AMC Matador (1972, 1975); Chevrolet (1972, 1974); Dodge (1974); Ford (1974)
PHOTOGRAPHY:
- Banner image of 1974 AMC Matador by Cristopher Ziemnowicz (CZmarlin) via Wikipedia’s Creative Commons 4.0. The image was taken at the Rambler Ranch collection in Elizabeth, Colorado.
I thought of the same thing, Ambassador would have been a better nameplate for the Matador sedan and wagon. We could wonder if AMC would have been more lucky with the “small Ambassador” than Plymouth was with its “small Fury” who replaced the Satellite monicker while the full-size Fury was rebranded Gran Fury?
Two points: First, I understand (I could be wrong) that the designers were trying cut costs by reusing the ‘71-73 front fenders, which dictated the long ungainly snouts on the Amb/Mat, and:
Second, (I agree with Pat Foster on this one) IF AMC had designed the ‘74 Matador not specifically as a sporty coupe and instead as a common body (sedan, coupe and wagon models), the Amb/Mat could have done a much better job integrating the bumpers into the new design. Moreover, the existing sedan/wagon dated all the way back to 1967 and was WAY overdue for a redesign already…
There was some sketches once showing proposed Matador sedan and wagons using the front end of the coupe. https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2022/01/rare-rides-icons-the-amc-matador-medium-large-and-personal-part-iii/
Stéphane, do you know where TTAC found the images of the proposed Matador sedan and wagon? I vaguely recall that Motor Trend ran a story (with sketches by Harry Bradley?) but haven’t been able to find it. Perhaps you’ve even linked to it before and I just don’t remember. Please help my poor, tired brain.
I wish I knew, if it wasn’t Motor Trend perhaps some other car magazine.
And to add more mystery about the Matador sedan, there was once a 1978 Matador with a customized front end with squared headlights who was sold since. https://jalopnik.com/theres-something-different-about-this-1978-amc-matador-1847958425
And in Mexico, the Matador coupe was sold as Classic AMX. VAM in Mexico (who built AMC vehicules there), keeped the Classic monicker instead of changing it for Rebel and Matador.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/32167597@N06/3011784200
Even though I was a fan of the 1974 Matador coupe, I think in retrospect, that the 1963-1967 Dodge Darts and Dodge / Fargo Trucks killed the big-eyed single headlight look. The Dodge / Fargo truck of that era made things worse be enclosing the headlight with big chrome reflectors. Were the reflectors purely for decoration ?