Once again, it’s time to look at the wacky creations of the last independent American auto manufacturer. With this AMC What If? series, I’m looking at some strange alternate reality scenarios from this defunct brand. Actually, this is really sort of two posts in one, since I’ve inadvertently created a bonus Parts Bin Puzzle with my creations. Torch is getting Yugo-level value for his money from me today, in every sense of that description.
You might be aware that American Motors would likely have died even earlier than they ultimately did had they not been bailed out by the French. Renault bought a chunk of the company back in the seventies, which gave AMC a needed infusion of cash and also gave the French firm an outlet to sell their cars, such as the Renault 5 with ‘Le Car’ branding often emblazoned on the rocker panels.
sources: Autoweek and Consumer Guide
The alternate universe story is that while visiting American Center in Southfield, the French executives got a close look at the existing American Motors products like the Gremlin and Matador. Instead of running away in horror saying “Mon Dieu! What did we just buy?“, these Renault kingpins thought that buyers in France would lose their shit over these unique designs.
sources: Driveshare, Curbside Classic, and Curbside Classic
Plus, the execs figured that the boats carrying over the little subcompacts from Europe could just be loaded up with Kenosha’s finest products to shill on the people that let their kids drink wine. I mean, you’ve seen French cars of the mid-century era right? If anyone would like these rather bizarre AMC cars, it might be them.
source: Renault 5.net, Classic Cars.com and Global Village
There’s one catch of course. The execs needed to have changes to the cars made before they could be shipped. There are plenty of park benches in Paris so they don’t need the bumpers of their cars to serve that purpose. Also, the blunt front ends with sealed beam lights need to be replaced with items that illuminate the road about three times brighter, and in a yellow urine-on-the-moon kind of tint which was inexplicably required in France at the time.
No problem! This can be done, and the end results might not even be that bad. Time to bust out Photoshop and give this a shot.
It’s amazing how removing those thick bumper transforms the cars. I mean, we saw countless European cars saddled with giant steel beams and ill-fitting round headlights to allow them to legally roam the streets of Wichita, but how many times has there been an opportunity for a malaise American production car to have all of the safety and emissions equipment ripped off and see what it really looks like underneath?
Of course, you know that I’m not a person with the time or ability to photo realistic illustrations of automotive light fixtures, so I must have gotten these items that I stuck on the French spec Ramblers from somewhere, right? Indeed I did, but can you tell me what cars they’re from? This is an unofficial Parts Bin Puzzle, though legally I can’t call it that unless I want an Autopian writer and her attorney to appear at my door in an RTS bus with a cease and desist order.
Whatever you want to call it, Where my sixties/seventies Euro car design detail ninjas at? When you’re ready you can click here for the answers.
Hello mister Bishop – not sure this is the right way to reach out to you, with a small innocent request.
Can you please design/create a asymmetric Small Size SUV?
I love the wonderful bonkers designs of Gene Winfield Strip Car or Nardi-Giannini Bisiluro Damolnar as the next autopian, but what if I need to transport my family (3 people)?
Thank you!
PS In case this is seen and created by The Bishop, I have “NO RAGRETS” regarding the possible abomination my request will bring upon the world.
That Matador looks like a Jag with those lamps.
Renault did import one AMC product, namely Jeep Wranglers, to France in the 1980s. Most curiously, the AMC-Renault link started well before Renault bought up AMC: back in the 1960s, Renault imported Rambler CKD kits to Europe, assembling them in a plant in Belgium, and selling them in several European countries under the Renault brand. A similar arrangement was also in place in Argentina, where AMC’s local subsidiary IKA was eventually bought up by Renault and kept selling the IKA Torino (a Pininfarina-styled rebodied Rambler) under the Renault brand.
The also bizarre but actually real French-Australian equivalent of this came about as a result of Chrysler buying Simca in the early 60s.
The Chrysler 180 was built between 1970 and 1975 with a variety of 4 cylinder engines between 1.6 and 2 litres, (including diesels, but only in Spain). Chrysler Australia imported them to Australia as Chrysler Centuras, and wanted to offer them with the Hemi six. The engineers modified 2 cars, one with the firewall modified to accommodate the longer engine, and another with a stretched centre grille reminiscent of the Matador to move the radiator forward to make room. The second option won out due to lower cost, so all Centuras (4 and 6 cylinder) were restyled with a protruding nose. The engineers preferred the first option, as the weight of the engine would have been further back in the chassis. For that reason, Centuras with aftermarket V8 swaps actually have better weight distribution and handling than the 6 cylinder versions, as the centre of gravity of the engine is behind the front wheels.
Wow, that Matador coupe is legit gorgeous.
It was along time ago but I swear I saw one of them Matador Coupes turn into an airplane. I ain’t lyin’!
Family had a Hornet in the early seventies. I thought I had PTSD from smelling the off gassing from the horrible interior plastics, but adding the smell of Gitanes has got me really triggered now. Must go throw u..
American Motors products were sold in France, albeit in limited numbers – their licensed French importer/distributor was Jean-Charles Automobiles, with a showroom on Rue Claude-Terrasse in Paris.
Their ad for the Pacer is worth a Bing
Ranwhenparked- they were sold in numerous parts of Europe, even converted to right hand drive for the UK. However, in all cases the bumpers and lights remained. In some cases they made hamfisted modifications to adapt to regulations such as stick-on auto parts store amber rear signals.
I think the Gremlin is the only car out of those three that could actually fit on a European street…
CivoLee- yes, but it fit on the streets of Thailand…and it flew, too
Just sticking a Vauxhall Cavalier nose on a Gremlin seems a little lazy. Where is the french in that?
-But I do like The Voiture! 🙂
Also do some better research next time:
The license plates are, though black, with the new number system. They should have been with the old one, like the Lincoln Continental in French Connection..
The headlights themselves should have yellow bulbs or glass and not just have extra yellow lights beside them. And the turn indicators were in the 70ies usually close to the headlights, for instance right under them like on the Peugeot 504 or the Citroën CX.
And substitute the fat white stripe tyres with some slim black Michelins. A big car like the DS ran on 180R15s.
ah, but Jakob, it’s not supposed to BE a French car! What the Renault execs fell in love with (in my twisted mind at least) was the American-ness of the things. White walls and all.
Yes, I did try more of an R14 face on the Gremlin and it just didn’t cut it. I don’t think the Cavalier looks particularly British anyway, likely since it was designed by Wayne Cherry, who comes from Indiana.
And I have always wondered if 18 LU 13 (French Connection Mark III) had yellow lights under those covers….
OK, I saw them as used cars that had been in France for quite a while, hence my need seeing old plates and local tyres on them.
Good choice with the Granada lights! They are so generic that they’ll suit almost anything. At least De Tomaso also thought so:
https://hips.hearstapps.com/autoweek/assets/longchamp-1.jpg
The 2-door Matador is already one of my all-time favorite 70’s cars out there. If a French version existed with a non-slab bumper and whatever those cool-looking headlights are (they remind me of an early Brazilian VW Variant), I’d have an absolute holy-grail version to go track down.
Gremlin would have been a natural for the streamlined plastic bumpers that the Euro R5 got.
I think the Gremlin looks better with the original sealed beams but the other two look much better.
The Matador sort of looks like a first generation Maserati Quattroporte with those headlights.
“This is not an edit button”
An AM 107 coincidentally
And just like that the Matador qualifies as a Two Face Car
Lew Schiller- I think Jason says that the ‘second grille’ has to be surrounded by another frame to fit the description, and this one isn’t, but the fact that it’s poking out that far means I would give this one a pass. Two Face Certified.
I disagree i see the new inside face but it lost the outside face. More like a car wearing those magnifying headset jeweler things.
I’m not religious and they look better with export lighting, but I still felt the need to cross myself looking at those Matadors. I don’t understand how AMC lasted as long as they did. Must have been almost entirely Jeep that kept them alive.
Cerberus- according to Wikipedia, what you said is true:
American Motors lost an estimated $65 million on its conventional (non-Jeep) cars for the fiscal year ended September 30, 1978, but strong Jeep sales helped the company to an overall $36.7 million profit on sales of $2.6 billion.
Exactly then like any good business they sold off Jeep to keep the dogs alive a little longer. Was this a bonehead management thing or a union thing? AMC made few good looking cars but they were the best built cars in the 70s. Give me a Javelin or an Eagle over anything else in the price range. Also they made the best small cars in house.
They did have the best build quality of the domestics in the ’70s, and were the first to start galvanizing rockers and also introduced factory Ziebart treatments as standard in the late ’70s
They didn’t sell off Jeep, they had to sell off AM General as a US military supplier couldn’t be foreign owned. AMC/Renault kept Jeep until the Franc crashed in 1986-87ish and Chrysler stepped in to take over Renaults stake and bought 1% of AMC just to get Jeep. With 51% stake in AMC/Jeep, Chrysler did away with AMC (they were required keep some AMC/Renault vehicles on the US market for awhile as a condition of the deal). If the Franc wouldn’t have collapsed it was possible AMC/Renault may have ended up buying Chrysler as both were struggling in the 1970s and early 1980s.
This is good stuff. I got those all right. Those Matador Coupe headlights look a lot larger than the original units, but they sure do work somehow. And “The Voiture” is perfect. The French did have a brief affair with the Pacer, of course.
https://i0.wp.com/www.curbsideclassic.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AMC-Pacer-ad-french.jpg
Jonee- yes, they’re bigger. Original size was a bit too small, likely since the Ami is a FAR smaller car
“The Voiture”
/me dies laughing.
RockyRoll- no, we’re reversing the French/English. It would be ‘THE Diablotin”
I never liked the Matador coupe, but the Euro version fixes everything that bothered me about the styling. I’ll take it!
The sedan is not realy helped, though. That jutting front grill never worked for me. The Gremlin is improved, but still looks stubby. And shouldn’t it be called “Le Diablotin?”
You should see the coupe done over with Bumper Delete.
Stunning.
Whatever fishbowl translates to.
It would come standard with “The Aquarium” by Camille Saint-Saëns in the 8-track player!