Auto-Savvy People: What was AMC? Was that owned by one of the big three?

[Mike 03]

Some of these great threads about cars are taking me way back down memory lane to my very first car, handed down to me from my dad when I moved off the college: a 1976 AMC Pacer. Yes, I am completely aware that for many people that car was a laughingstock, but I tell you I LOVED THAT CAR, and it served me for almost four years, including two Summers of doing nothing but driving all over Los Angeles five days a week delivering and picking up film. As I said in another thread, it really broke my heart when I found out that my father had sold it and was "upgrading" me to a car my grandparents had owned.

I know that AMC no longer exists, and I supposed I should research this, but sentimentality just got the better of me. I wonder what became of AMC and it would be interesting to know if that was a brand by GM, Ford or Chrysler or what it was. I was a teenager at the time and not very much of a car person.

Anyway, what's so damned funny/bad about the Pacer? I thought it was the cat's meow.

EDITED for spellcheck "savvy"

[Captain Hilts]

1. Man, NOTHING would kill a Hornet. AMC General was an offshoot of Rambler, I think...

and somehow related to Jeep.

[libnnc]

30. My first car was a '77 AMC Hornet station wagon

it was a tank with lots of bells and whistles

had a great factory radio too

[Captain Hilts]

33. Okay, YOU brought up the radio, the Hornet 'sportabout' near and dear to me...

was a '71 and had a drive-in movie theatre speaker for the radio!!!!! A radio that included European-style long wave!!!

[libnnc]

37. mine had great reception

FM stereo, man!

It had factory tinted windows too. A little old lady had owned it. It was a cream puff when I got it.

[Captain Hilts]

38. Isiah Thomas drove one all through his years at Indiana U. nt

[SharonRB]

2. Here's the history

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Motors


American Motors Corporation (AMC) was an American automobile company formed on January 14, 1954 by the merger of the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and the Hudson Motor Car Company. At the time, it was the largest corporate merger in U.S. history, valued at US$198 million ($1.44 billion in 2006 dollars). When declining sales and the competitiveness of the United States auto market forced AMC to seek a partner in the late 1970s, the company formed an alliance with France's Renault. This lasted until March 2, 1987, when the Chrysler Corporation purchased AMC. Use of the AMC and Renault brand names ceased in the United States. The Jeep line continued; also some Eagle models.

[Mike 03]

6. Whoa, weird! Thank you, but I didn't expect that. I just assumed it had to be

one of the big three.

Sheesh, this is interesting.

Thanks for the link!

I wonder if they were a union friendly manufacturer?

[FarCenter]

11. In 1970, AMC also acquired Kaiser-Jeep

Which is how the Jeep brand eventually became part of Chrysler.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willys-Overland

[IndianaJones]

3. don't know...I looked all over the web and couldn't find anything. nt.

[SharonRB]

4. It was in Wikipedia

All I did was Google it. Not hard to find at all.

[IndianaJones]

5. whats that....I was using alta vista. nt.

[JVS]

7. What is bad about the pacer is that it was a small car that managed to get bad mileage and low speed

[Mike 03]

19. That's true. I had to fill it up every day when I was driving for a living.

But people made fun of how it looked, and I thought it looked very, very cool, like something out of "Logan's Run."

It had some issues, especially with the air system. What ultimately killed it was an exploding radiator. I wanted to fix it but my dad said, "No..., time to get rid of her."

[rcsl1998]

8. AMC Stood For American Motors Corp. nt

[RaleighNCDUer]

9. AMC was #4 of the Big 4,

before they became the Big 3.

[Avalux]

10. My mom owned a Hornet. The floor boards rusted out -

you could see the ground through the floor. Damn thing kept going though; she drove it forever.

[AndyTiedye]

13. That's the Moon Floor

Opposite of a sun roof.

[SharonRB]

16. My mom had a Nash Rambler

I remember when she learned how to drive when I was a kid (she grew up in New York and never had to drive before she married my dad and moved to Detroit). I also remember how cool we thought it was that the front seats folded all the way back and went flat.

I picture hers being smaller than this (maybe it was a two-door), but this was the closest I could find.



Another point of note: Mittens Romney's father was CEO of AMC before he was governor of Michigan.

[OneBlueSky]

24. after college, I was looking for both a job and a cheap car . . .

and by dad found someone selling an old Rambler Ambassador for a hundred bucks or so . . . used to be a high-end vehicle, but by the time I got it it had seen better days . . . still, the ride was smooth, and it never failed to start . . . I drove it for about a year before I could afford something a little more sensible . . .

it looked something like this . . .

[louis-t]

25. I'm sorry, but that is one cool looking car.

Maybe I'm just in love with cars from the '50s. I remember the day my father pulled in the drive in a 1958 Edsel. I was 4 and the sight of that horse-collar grille scared me half to death. The car was only 2 years old, but had several rusted areas, a convertible hard top that didn't work, and an electric window motor that lay on the floor of the back seat as long as we had the car. It also had a push-button shifter that glowed green at night. We got hit broadside in that car, I was in the backseat and barely felt it. I do remember the sound of the crash and the big, metal moldings clanking to the pavement. What a tank.

[SharonRB]

26. I love 50s cars, too

I had a piano teacher who had a '56 T-bird and I just loved looking at her car whenever she came to my house for my lessons.

[Auggie]

12. My grandfather had a Javelin -- AMC's muscle car

Very fast...

[Fumesucker]

34. And then there was the AMX

I had a 69 390 AMX for a while..

[tilsammans]

36. I had a '69 Javelin

That machine could MOVE like nobody's business.

[90-percent]

14. Mitt's daddy

Mitt's daddy was president of AMC back in the 50's and 60's.

Can we bring back Studebaker, Hudson and Packard while we're at it?


-90% jimmy

[GoesTo11]

15. AMC was where the Romney dynasty started.

George Romney, Mitt's dad, made his fortune as CEO there. Then off to the national stage and the rest is history, we hope.

[Mike 03]

20. No way, really?

Wow, I had no clue. That's one strike against AMC, I guess.

[Mike 03]

21. Did AMC employ UAW people? Knowing what I know today, that is important

to me.

[NoPasaran]

22. Yes, AMC was unionized

But I wouldn't call it a "union friendly" company, since labor and capital have opposing interests.

[onenote]

17. a Nash Rambler and a Nash American: my family's cars when I was a little kid

I always referred to the Rambler as the "bathtub" because that's what it looked like to me. The American was a weirdly shaped, oddly-colored (green and yellow, I recall) car that ended up with a hole in its floor that allowed me to watch the road go by beneath my feet.

[SharonRB]

18. This might be closer to what my mom had

[catnhatnh]

23. That's a Nash Metropolitan...

Two of my uncles had a pair-one Aqua as above and the other Red and White two-toned. As an aside on disappearing brands, my grandfather had a garage in the 20's and his business card read that he was a "Whippet and Willys Knight" specialist...a later card identified him as a "Chevrolet and Willys Knight" specialist although both cards advertised "cement mixers overhauled".

[SharonRB]

28. That's what I thought, but it was labelled "Nash Rambler"

I love the Metropolitans. I picture my mom's car as being somewhere in between what I posted upthread and the Metro. I couldn't find a picture of what I'm envisioning, so maybe my memory is fault. After all, it was only about 50 years ago!

[On the Road]

27. My First Car Was a 1968 Rambler American

No comment on the quality. I abused it.

As far as AMC itself, they pulled a Studebaker.

[WePurrsevere]

29. What no other Gremlin lovers? They were an amazing car! AMCs made some great cars...

even Pacers. ;) It was a shame that Chrysler ditched most of the AMC models. :(

From what my DH said part of the problem the Pacer was that it was designed for a front wheel drive Wankel engine and in their hurry to get it on the market they changed the engine to a normal in-line 6.

[Waiting For Everyman]

31. There was a Studebaker once, too.

[Lerrad]

32. My first car was a 1976 AMC Hornet.

Lots of people harassed me about it, but like you it was the best car I ever owned. But of course the first one always is the greatest.

It had a straight six in it when I bought it. I remember this guy that had a Dodge Dart always wanting to race me, and I never did because I new he would win. At the time I was working for a manufacturing plant, that had access to engines, and the guys in the prototype shop drop a Chevy V8 400, 4 barrel in it for me one Saturday afternoon free of charge. I blow that guys doors of and he never wanted to race again.

[Rockholm]

35. Stood for "Awful 'Merican Car."