1978 AMC Matador

1978 was the last year for the Matador. I know this design has few fans on the forum.

1978 AMC Matador | eBay''

 

I'm glad there are people who like them, but I could never get over the huge bump in the grill on these. If it wasn't for that I think they're a pretty nice looking wagon overall. However, I always thought the 1969-'73 Ambassador wagon was pretty sleek looking.

 

Looks like a coffin protruding through the header panel! Must of hit the brakes a wee bit too hard?

 

Yep. That is pretty much the consensus on the 1974-78 Matador front end design. Not many (any?) fans.

 

I read they used that nose so they could save money by using the earlier front fenders. Is that true?

 

I don’t know of anyone who likes that front end design. I agree with other posters here, not a bad looking wagon except for that horrible Shahnaz

 

It doesn't appear so. The Matador front fenders are flatter on top and are angled downward above the headlights, whereas the Ambassador's fenders were straighter and had a raised crease on its top edge...




However, the rest of the wagon looks virtually the same as the earlier Ambassador. Particularly the glass and side sheetmetal.

Sadly, AMC just didn't have the revenue to freshen their designs very often and were forced to recycle the same body panels from year to year and even model to model. Just like how the 1980-'88 AMC Eagle was virtually a re-badged 1978-'83 Concord wagon, just as the Concord was essentially a re-badged Hornet. Same body panels, different name (and 4-wheel drive of course).

 

But if you compare the 1973 Matador, the fender does look more comparable.

 

Ohhhhh, I thought you were comparing the big-nosed Matador with the earlier Ambassador. My bad. But yes, in that case I would have to agree that they did reuse those fenders on the later model. Sadly, that's all AMC was able to do at that point. They just couldn't afford a complete refreshening of the sheetmetal.

 

AMC's last all-new car was the 1975 Pacer. And we know how that turned out.

 

i think they were all repurposed as gum-ball machines.

 

Or in the case of Wayne's World: a licorice dispenser.

 

Yeah after the Pacer GM Rotory engine fiasco, I was surprised that AMC bought Iron Dukes from GM a few years later.

 

They were probably dirt cheap and they would do the job. Had the iron Duke in a 86 Pontiac 6000. Slow, easy on gas, and reliably lasted forever but sounded like a bag of rocks. What I needed/wanted at the time. My guess is AMC made same decision.

 

Well if there was anyone that could keep using warmed over parts it was AMC. Dick Teague cut his teeth early at Packard trying to cobble together “fresh designs” from 2 day old bread. Albeit the 1974 Matador coupe was certainly a departure from that, but hey when you could get 6-7 year stretches out of the same sheet metal, when brothers in Michigan were flipping total redos every 2-3 years you have to give the man some credit, even though it didn’t work out in the end.