There's a good cross-section of Kenosha advertising style here, from the 60s muscle cars and penny-pinching economy sedans to the Malaise Era favorites and into the Members Only 80s. When you're done here, you might enjoy our favorite VW ads, then continue your car-advertising overdose with the Datsun, Toyota, Renault, General Motors, British Leyland, Ford/Lincoln/Mercury, Honda, Citroën, and Chevrolet ads.

1979 Jeep Cherokee	1983 Jeep CJ-7	1987 Jeep Comanche
1976 Jeep CJ-5 Levis	1975 AMC Pacer	1969 AMC Rambler Rebel
1967 AMC Rebel	1967 AMC Ambassador Wagon	1981 AMC Eagle
1969 AMC Javelin	1969 AMC Ambassador	1969 AMC AMX
1973 AMC Gremlin	1979 AMC Spirit

We've just discovered that our server hamsters now refuse to run on their wheels when a gallery has more than 50 images, so here's the complete set of photos in the old format:

First off, it's got the 343 engine. You don't see many 343s; AMC made them for just a few years. Of course, if I owned this car it would have a 401 under the hood (but I'd keep the 343 emblems).
The '69 Ambassador SST wagon went for $3998, a fairly steep price when you consider that the '69 Ford Country Squire went for $3644 and the Chevy Kingswood Estate carried a $3678 price tag.
But when you went with the AMC, you got a bunch of cool little details. Check out this beautiful side mirror!
Or the fancy tiedowns by the roof rack!
The big Wisconsin wagon definitely had more style than your typical late-60s Detroit wagon. Weird Rambler-y style, sure, but that counts too.
A little hint of fin for the tailight lets the world know you haven't sold out just because you're driving a family hauler; this must have been the wagon to bring to swingin' suburban key parties.
That distinctive Kenosha grille might as well have big neon letters spelling out A-M-C.
The SST was the top trim level for the Ambassador in '69. For $168 extra, you could get the 315-horse 390 engine; unfortunately, the 4-speed wasn't an available factory option in the Ambassador that year (but an agreeable AMC dealership may have been able to find a way to get one for you).
Other than the taped-up taillight lens, this wagon is in great original condition.

Let's face it, Indians take the whole driving deal to a level most of us never dream of. First of all, a lot of them manage to blingify a car based on the Morris Oxford and somehow pull it off without looking like idiots. And, of course, there's the whole share-the-road-with-oxcarts thing. Here's an informative article aimed at the foreigner who wishes to take the wheel on the subcontinent; it includes such handy bits of info as "Official speed limits are seldom posted or, indeed, obeyed" and "Buses habitually carry passengers on the roof rack." Hey, give us an Amby with a loud horn and some sequined Ganesha murals and we're ready to roll. – Murilee Martin

Go left at the elephant [telegraph.co.uk]

Related:
Ambassador Adventure: Calcutta to Haldia [internal]

Rich velour seats, air conditioning, and a longer wheelbase for that posh limousine ride! Nobody will be confusing this car with that other Ambassador, no sirree. Seems strange that the rear would be sagging so much from the load of two passengers (also odd to see a car ad in the post-Nader era in which the passengers don't even pretend to wear seat belts) but maybe that's all part of the posh thing. Most importantly, we wonder how many Ambassador buyers went for the available 390/4-speed option. Definitely not enough of them. – Murilee Martin

Related:
Classic Ad Watch: 1969 AMX [internal]

We soft Americans talk pretty big about hoonage and crazy driving in general, but how about the folks in India who drive Hindustan Motors Ambassadors (which are basically mid-50s Morris Oxfords) every day on brain-rattling roads choked with swerving buses, wrong-way drivers, herds of cows, bicyclists, etc? How many of us would be willing to pass a semi uphill on a crowded road in a tin-can Morris clone with 40 horsepower on tap? These guys are, and they don't even blink an eye while doing it. – Murilee Martin

Related:
Saalam Both Ways: Driving in India [internal]

So here we have a Peugeot ad for the Indian market, showing an ambitious young fella who, smitten by the overwhelming beauty of the Peugeot 206, smashes and bashes his Hindustan Motors Ambassador into a crude parody of the 206, then proceeds to wow the local babes with that incredible Peugeot-itude (I can only assume that this ad offended the living crap out of millions of Indians, who feel quite patriotic about their beloved Ambys; imagine how you'd feel if Hyundai came out with an ad showing some American savagely beating his Dodge Dart into a facsimile of a Sonata). This one gets the "Best Use Of An Elephant When Performing Automotive Bodywork" award for, hell, the entire decade. – Murilee Martin

Related:
Toughness, Roominess, Serves The Country: The Hindustan Motors Ambassador [internal]

When you let your crew know you're rolling down the ave in your Ambassador, chances are they'll assume you mean the Kenosha-built variety driven by the Government Agents in Repo Man (and then they'll diss your crummy two-barrel 304 and roar off in their 390-powered Javelins, most likely, leaving behind nothing but the echoes of their cruel laughter and a gnawing sense of emptiness in your soul). But if your homeboys happen to number among the billion souls living in India, they'll know right off that you're talking about the mighty Hindustan Motors Ambassador and they'll give you the honor of first swig from the Kingfisher forty they're passing around.

Based on that pinnacle of British automotive-engineering genius, the 1956 Morris Oxford, approximately 29 trillion Ambys have been pop-riveted together since 1958. Much beloved by Indians for its ubiquity, tolerance for less-than-smooth roads, and sheer staggering volume of available spare parts (and, as the HM site boasts, "It's repairable!"), Hindustan Motors continues to churn them out like Bollywood churns out musicals. Check out the Hindustani Motors site and study each of the ten somewhat bewildering (and occasionally redundant) reasons to whip out your roll of rupees and hand it over to the friendly Hindustan Motors salesman. And oh yeah- sure as Vishnu has four arms, you just know some enterprising Bangalore mechanic has put a pickup bed on one. – Murilee Martin

Ten Reasons To Own An Ambassador [Hindustan Motors]

Related:
Tata Taxi: India's First Stretch Limousine [internal]