AMC
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 $198,000,000.
American Motors combined the Nash and the Hudson product lines under a common marketing strategy and dealer network beginning in 1955. The fast selling Rambler model was sold under both the Nash and Hudson labels in its first year and would eventually become the mainstay of the company. Although Rambler automobiles were among American Motors' best-known products, company executives attempted to replace the Rambler name with a new name that would better reflect the identity of the parent company. This was a rather dangerous move, replacing a well-known and respected product name for something unknown. Ramblers were best known as economy cars, and top AMC executives wanted to move the company a more up-scale.
Always looking for a way to stretch research and development dollars, American Motors used the Hornet platform and body shell to create one of the first American-built subcompacts — the AMC Gremlin, which arrived in the spring of 1970. The Gremlin went on to become American Motors' best-selling passenger car with well over 700,000 units sold before the end of production in 1978.
The highly successful product launches of the Hornet and Gremlin convinced AMC to continue with new product developments. The new mid-sized AMC Matador arrived for 1971 as a replacement for the Rebel. Starting in 1974, the Matador mutated into two distinctive products with the same name. There were the sedans and station wagons, and the coupes, which looked completely different. After 1974 the Matador sedan and wagon took the place of the discontinued Ambassador as AMCs flagship model. An Ambassador had been made by Nash and AMC from 1932 to 1974, the longest used nameplate of any AMC product.
The AMC Pacer, introduced in 1975, was an innovative gamble and another well-intentioned entry into the market AMC seemed to know best. The development of the Pacer prior to its 1975 introduction coincided with two developments in U.S. Federal passenger auto laws. The first, the reduction in allowed passenger auto engine emissions would have been met by the use of the Wankel type engine whose exterior compactness allowed for extensive engine bay emission control equipment. The second, increases in U.S. passenger auto safety laws was met by the designed-in safety features such as internal door beams and other features related to then newly mandated auto safety features. However, the inclusion of many Federal mandated safety features, the wide exterior and extensive window glass caused the Pacer to be very heavy for its exterior length.
Billed as "the first wide small car", the Pacer was an attempt to build a subcompact car with the comfort of a full-sized one. To this end, the car was as wide as a typical Cadillac of the day, yet no longer than the Gremlin. This provided the same front seat space as a luxury car within the length of a typical compact. Further passenger space was gained through AMC's ingenious "cab forward" design technology, introduced on the Pacer. Nicknamed a "fishbowl on wheels", the Pacer featured bulbous, wrap around window glass, accounting for 35% of the car's surface area, eliminating blind spots. Among other unique features, the passenger door was four inches longer than the driver's door, to facilitate curb-side back seat access.
The Pacer was finally dropped after the 1980 model year. By that time, American Motors was on the brink of bankruptcy, forcing difficult cost-cutting. A whole new line of large prestige cars planned to replace the slow-selling Matador was canceled. The aging Hornet was hastily face-lifted to create the "new" 1978 AMC Concord, the higher trim levels of which were intended to partially compensate for the departed Matador. The Hornet-derived Gremlin was lightly updated to create the 1979 Spirit coupe, while a Spirit sedan was created by tacking new front and back ends onto the Gremlin's 2-door center section. In a last-ditch attempt to relive past glories, the AMX name was revived for a lightly uprated sports version of the Spirit sedan.