AMC, ahead of their time or what if (best, mileage, Corvette)

[thunderkat59]

Originally Posted by mikey2

I worked at an AMC dealer in the 70's.

How can I say this nicely.....

......they were terrible cars.

There ....I said it as nicely as I could.

Miikey

Hey Mikey, so did I!!!
It was work-study in high school because I wanted to be a mechanic.
I like them though. I thought the Gremlin X was hot!!! lol
We also had Renaults. Gremlins and Le Cars!! Doesnt get any better than that!



AMC had a very serious, off-the-assembly-line AMX super stock car in the late 60's, that came gutted, aluminum body parts, etc . . . Very cool!

And, who can forget these:

[rbohm]

i too was never a fan of the pacer, until i saw this;

[Design7]

I had a first generation AMC Javelin as my first car. Bought it used for $500. The engine and tranny were very reliable, but the body and cosmetic items were all in various states of decline. I hated when it rained. I would hit a puddle and the floor would flood instantly from bad floorboards. It was fun to drive 'though.

[GnomadAK]

The Pacer was actually a rather innovative car that was intended to have a wankel engine....unfortunately that motor never materialized so back to the old straight six, again. My freids parents had one and three teenagers fit across the back and the weight distribution gave it the traction to handle snowy Alaska winters. Unfortunately you baked in that fishbowl and there was that stellar AMC build quality. That's how it goes when you try a vast new project with half vast resources.

[mikey2]

One memory among many.....

Customer buys a brand new Ambassador and brings it back shortly thereafter says there is a "Scraping noise" when he's driving.

After a whole lot of investigating and much time, the service manager found that someone at the factory actually (and on purpose) welded a metal strip so that it would rub on the driveshaft while it was turning, creating a scraping sound.

.....that summarizes the build quality and quality control often seen at AMC.

Mikey

[victimofGM]

Originally Posted by rbohm

i too was never a fan of the pacer, until i saw this;

That could have been great!

[mdand3boys]

I have had a couple of 1970 Javelin SST's. One was a Mark Donohue.
Fast, cornered much better than the competition (Camaro, Mustang) and were incredibly reliable.
Plus, they look nicer than the Camaro/Mustangs.

What about the 68-70 AMX? That was way ahead of the competition.

[Larry Caldwell]

Originally Posted by outafocus

The "Romney Ramblers" 1954-63 were extremely reliable for American built cars. I had a 1962 Rambler Classic, and a 1961 Rambler American. They both had 196 cubic inch sixes, but the Classic had overhead valves, and the American was a flat head. The ohv 6 was so smooth that when I was at a red light everyone riding with me thought the motor had died, because it was so quiet and smooth. It had seven main bearings as opposed to the four of the Chrysler slant 6, and other sixes of the time. The only thing I didn't like about those cars was that they had vacuum windshield wipers! The American's wipers would stop under the least amount of acceleration. The Classic's weren't as bad because it had a "dual action" fuel pump. The bottom part of the pump got the fuel out of the tank, and the top part gave a vacuum boost to the wipers. The wipers rarely stopped, but they still slowed down on acceleration. AMC was the last manufacturer to abandon the vacuum wipers. They were available into the 70s!

My parents bought a 1962 Rambler Classic that was a really fine car. It was the car I learned to drive on, and it lasted for years and years. They gave it to my younger sister when she married a career military man, and it ran all over North America with no trouble. The unibody welded construction (rare at the time) meant no rattles or tin falling off like the Big 3 vehicles. The standard transmission with overdrive made it very driveable even with the cast iron block 6 cylinder engine. It was a 26 mpg, 6-passenger car in 1962, with seats that made into a double bed, a feature that was dear to my teenage boy heart.

The George Romney years at AMC were good years for the company.

[MrWillys]

Originally Posted by Larry Caldwell

My parents bought a 1962 Rambler Classic that was a really fine car. It was the car I learned to drive on, and it lasted for years and years. They gave it to my younger sister when she married a career military man, and it ran all over North America with no trouble. The unibody welded construction (rare at the time) meant no rattles or tin falling off like the Big 3 vehicles. The standard transmission with overdrive made it very driveable even with the cast iron block 6 cylinder engine. It was a 26 mpg, 6-passenger car in 1962, with seats that made into a double bed, a feature that was dear to my teenage boy heart.

The George Romney years at AMC were good years for the company.

Probably wouldn't matter what car it was, but I now know why I like Ford Pinto wagons so much!

[jazzlover]

I vividly remember the AMC Eagle sedans and wagons. In some ways, they led the way to the much later (and much better) Subaru Outback. Unfortunately for AMC, the Eagles suffered the same quality control and reliability problems that have also plagued Chrysler pretty much since the '70's. In the case of the Eagle, the powertrain was pretty much bulletproof, though not very fuel efficient. Similar to a lot of Chrysler products, it was trim, electrical, and rust issues that plagued the Eagles and other AMC products. The Eagles were a popular vehicle model in snow country, though.

As for the rest of the AMC line, it was forgettable, except for Jeep. The only reason that Chrysler bought AMC was for Jeep. And, today, about the only reasons that Chrysler still exists are because of Jeep and the Cummins diesel Dodge/Ram pickups. Without those, Chrysler would not have survived past about 1990.