AMC Cars
Classic · 2 models
AMC: American Motors, the Underdog That Bought Jeep
ClassicAmerican Motors Corporation, or AMC, was formed when Nash-Kelvinator merged with the Hudson Motor Car Company on May 1, 1954, at the time the largest corporate merger in U.S. history. It built everything from the Rambler to the Javelin and AMX until Chrysler bought it in 1987.
AMC models we cover
Nash's George W. Mason engineered the merger. He believed America's remaining independent automakers had to join forces to take on the Big Three of Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler. AMC's lineup ran from small cars like the Rambler American, Hornet, Gremlin, and Pacer to the larger Ambassador and Matador, and chief stylist Dick Teague was known for making a lot out of a much tighter budget than Detroit's big studios had.
In the 1960s AMC answered the muscle car boom with the AMX, and the Javelin was its entry in the pony car market started by the Plymouth Barracuda and Ford Mustang. The Gremlin, the first North American-built subcompact, sold more than 670,000 from 1970 through 1978, and for a time the Hornet and Gremlin could be ordered with Levi's denim interiors. The Pacer arrived in March 1975, marketed as "the first wide small car." It had been designed around a General Motors Wankel rotary engine that GM dropped after the 1973 oil embargo, so AMC fitted its own straight-six engines instead.
In February 1970 AMC bought Kaiser Jeep for $70 million and gained the Jeep brand. For 1980 it added four-wheel drive to the Spirit and Concord to create the AMC Eagle, an early crossover. Renault took a significant stake in 1979, and on March 9, 1987, Chrysler agreed to buy Renault's share and all remaining shares for about $1.5 billion. Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca mainly wanted Jeep. The last AMC Eagle was built on December 14, 1987.
