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Why shop AMC auto parts at DIYautoparts.com?
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The History of AMC
In January 1954, the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation acquired the Hudson Motor Car Company to form American Motors. When the merger was completed in the spring of 1954, Hudson’s CEO, A.E. Barit was retained as a consultant and given a Board seat in the new company. Nash’s George Mason was made President and CEO of the new American Motors company.
Mason, who planned the merger, believed that the only chance of survival for America’s remaining independent automakers was for them to join forces in one large, muti-brand auto giant—able to challenge General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler as an equal. Mason outlined his vision to James Nance of Packard. Nance saw value in the concept, and plans were made for AMC to buy Packard Ultramatic automatic transmissions and Packard V8 engines for certain AMC products.
Packard acquired Studebaker as planned, in 1954, and the resulting Studebaker-Packard Corporation (S-P) cooperated with AMC by making the 352 cubic inch Packard V8 engine available to AMC. Mason also committed AMC to buy Packard’s Ultramatic automatic transmissions for its Ambassador and Rambler models. However, Mason’s death in 1954 placed George Romney at the helm of AMC. One week after Mason’s death, in the October 25, 1954, issue of Time Magazine, Romney’s first official statement was to announce that there would be no merger talks with Studebaker-Packard "at this time or in the foreseeable future." Romney disagreed with Mason’s commitment to buy S-P products. Romney, determined to keep AMC’s future as an independent under its own control, ordered AMC engineers to begin development of the company’s own V8 engine. For better or worse, both companies determined to go it alone in the ever competitive automotive market. By 1964, Studebaker production in the United States ended, leaving only the Big Three, AMC, and Kaiser Jeep remaining in the North American auto business.
American Motors combined the Nash and the Hudson product lines under a common marketing strategy 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. The Nash Statesman and Ambassador were lightly restyled to become the "new" Hudson Wasp and Hudson Hornet. Hudson aficionados disliked the soft handling and ride of the nicknamed "Hash" models. The only Hudson parts on the badge-engineered Nashes were the instrument cluster and engines. Hudsons continued to use the Hudson L-head six, with the exception of sharing the same Packard designed V8 engines as their Nash counterparts.
For the 1958 model year, the Nash and Hudson brands were dropped in favor of the popular Rambler name, which now became a marque in its own right. The slow-selling, British-built Nash Metropolitan subcompact became its own standalone brand and continued on for a few more years, sharing showroom space with Rambler—was finally being dropped after 1962. The prototype 1958 Nash Ambassador / Hudson Hornet, built on a stretched Rambler platform, was renamed at the last minute to "Ambassador by Rambler".
Although Rambler automobiles were among American Motors’ best-known products, the 1966 Marlin and Ambassador lost their Rambler nameplates, and were badged as "American Motors" products. The Rambler brand was completely dropped after the 1969 model year in the U.S. and Canada, although it continued to be used in several overseas markets as either a model or brand name, with the last use in Mexico in 1983. From 1970 on, "AMC" was the brand used for all American Motors passenger cars.
The company developed some exciting entries for the 60’s muscle car boom, most notably the AMX; while the Javelin served as competition to the Ford Mustang. One bold move of AMC made air-conditioning standard on all 1968 Ambassador models. This made AMC the first U.S. auto maker to make air conditioning standard equipment on its cars, beating out all other makes, including luxury makes Lincoln, Imperial, and Cadillac.
AMC also expanded American Motors product line in 1970, through the purchase of the Kaiser-Jeep Corporation from Kaiser Industries. This added the iconic Jeep brand of light trucks and SUVs, as well as Kaiser-Jeep’s lucrative government contracts, notably the M151 line of military Jeeps and the DJ-Series postal Jeeps.
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. After 1974, the Matador sedan and wagon took the place of the discontinued Ambassador as AMC’s flagship model.
The AMC Pacer, introduced in 1975, was an innovative gamble and another well-intentioned entry into the market AMC seemed to know well. 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. The car was as wide as a typical Cadillac of the day and no longer than the Gremlin. This provided the same front seat space as a luxury car with 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.
Search for AMC parts at DIYautoparts.com
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