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Detroit, 8:53 PM
Sun Nov 29
14 posts in the last 24 hours
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09/07/09
I'd probably lean towards the Chevette - it's crap, but charming crap. It's light, RWD, and has no power steering, no power brakes, no... power (at least the several I drove). I figure, drop in a Miata engine and upgrade the suspension, and you'd have a fun, practical little car.
09/06/09
I would have picked the Spirit only to have a little bit more room.
That question is kind of like saying "What would you like to die from? Heart attack or plane crash?
09/06/09
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09/06/09
/only partly kidding
Were it an independent rear suspension, and not merely independent of your ass, then I can see it. Otherwise...just not a good idea.
What the AMC commercial doesn't tell you is the Chevette could be had with a diesel. Woo-Hoo!
/sarcasm
09/06/09
09/06/09
Good point.
I thought it was '80, but I have no idea why.
09/06/09
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09/06/09
I take issue with Murilee's statement that AMC was perceived as "obviously doomed" in 1979. Yeah, the Matador was gone and the Pacer was sinking fast. However, 1978 and 1979 were pretty decent sales years for AMC after dismal '76-'77, when AMC really did seem about to go under. The new-for-'78 Concord was selling pretty well despite being a rehashed Hornet and Spirit got a lot of positive notices. Jeep sales were also rolling merrily along. We also mustn't forget that AMC looked like a terminal case back in 1957-1958 and 1966-1967. AMC had acquired a reputation of somehow managing to pop back to life just when things were looking their worst. This time, however, the euphoria didn't last. 1981 was a terrible year with collapsing Jeep sales and it was obvious that AMC couldn't squeeze any more life out of a 1970-vintage platform. The Renault takeover was doomed from the start with the horrendous Alliance.
Oh, and given the choice in 1979 between the Chevette and Spirit? That's easy - the Spirit. However, I was driving a recently-purchased 1975 Duster 360 at that time, which was far more entertaining (if thirsty) than either of these two.
09/06/09
1976 -- 283,000
1977 -- 213,000
1978 -- 138,000
1979 -- 169,439
The key year was 1977, when passenger car sales fell way below breakeven point after AMC had spent a fortune on the Matador coupe and Pacer -- both of which ultimately flopped.
It's true that up through 1979 Jeep sales kept the company afloat, but not enough to pay for major passenger car redesigns. That's why AMC embraced Renault.
The Concord was too little, too late. It was an overly cautious "me too" redesign, and it sold accordingly.
09/06/09
1976 Hornet - 71,576
1977 Hornet - 77,843
1978 Concord - 117,513
1979 Concord - 96,498
Also important was that a large part of Hornet sales in these years were low-profit fleet sales. Most Concord sales were well-optioned cars to private buyers at much higher per-unit profits (the Concord was marketed as a "luxury" model). The Concord didn't address the basic problem of an aging platform, but for a few years it was a modest success. The Spirit also sold at much higher numbers than the '77-'78 Gremlin, and also as better-equipped and more profitable cars. As I said, the truly terminal problem of lack of new product didn't really rear its head until 1980 and beyond, when the 4WD Eagle sold far less than expected.
09/06/09
09/06/09
Once the Matador and Pacer flopped, the Hornet/Gremlin platform had to really pick up the volume. It didn't. Almost 120,000 units for the Concord was not nearly enough. Comparing sales to the 1976-77 Hornet is pretty meaningless, because those numbers were terrible (understandably; the Hornet hadn't received much of an update since 1973-74).
The tragedy of the Concord was that although the body was old, it still had quite contemporary fuselage styling that lent itself to a more European, sport-sedan approach than the boxy Granada or Volare.
In the past AMC's success had always been trying something different. This time they slavishly copied. The results were predictable.
09/06/09
One selling point.
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09/06/09
Yes, I am one of those people who doesn't own an iPod, Portable Cd player, or even a generic MP3 player.
On another topic, there are collectors on the look out for radio delete cars, so I must not be the only one.
09/06/09
09/06/09
But this ad should be studied in marketing classes. The pitch is, hey, it's a tiny bit bigger and it has A/C. If they had pitched "faster" that would have captured it. Add in unnecessary but interesting image of cars standing on end and voila! A 30 second traditional masterpiece of advertising.
09/06/09
So AMC essentially "wasted" 30% of their ad buy.
Of course, given today's ADHD-riddled ads, it's almost a refreshing change. Got my attention! Makes want to head on over to my local AM-....
...ah, crap.
09/06/09
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09/06/09
The nice thing about the Malaise Era is that there were some bland, even ugly cars that could be fantastic sleepers 25-35 years later.
09/06/09
09/06/09
Every buyer tries to negotiate off the sticker price, but most never thought that they could negotiate the price of the A/C or stereo, and as long as they packaged it in at the time of purchase, the buyer could finance that as part of the price of the vehicle. "It's 500 bucks & it'll be ready for you to pick up on Tuesday". "Oh, ok, well go ahead & do it."
09/06/09
09/06/09
The only useful dealer installed option that comes to mind currently is a block heater.
Is there anything else that only a dealer can do?
Of note a family Protege (in 2001) had as a dealer option a tape deck inserted as an add on to the standard CD player.
09/06/09
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09/06/09
"...He's never done this before, but seein' as how it's special circumstances an' all, he says I can knock a hundred bucks off that Tru-Coat."
09/06/09
Also, my find memories of AMC was my fathers '68 390 AMX. Red w/Black racing stripes. So awesome.
I also rolled in a 73 Javelin/AMX w/ a 401 in it during high school. White with a dark (can't recall the color) T-stripe on the hood. Sloppy steering and enough power to peel the rubber of the rear tires was a (in retrospect) a bad idea from my parents point of view.
I would go to the Salvation Army and buy 8 track tapes for the factory head unit in it. Amazing what you could find for under a buck as everyone had started moving on to CD's.
/memory lane
09/06/09
[cgi.ebay.com]
...or this one:
[cgi.ebay.com]
Or, perhaps...
[cgi.ebay.com]
I like the first pic on the third one... it's always encouraging when there's overgrown grass in the very first shot of the car on an e-bay listing.
09/07/09
09/07/09
The 68-70 Jav is actually my favorite AMC body-style, with the 70's hood scoops closely edging out the 69's Big-Bad styles. As much as I love the 68-70 AMX body-style, I always felt they were a bit too short looking, and that the Javelin's extra 12" helped that.
I bet there is a joke in there somewhere. :)
01/14/09
Hey, a V6 Chevette? That's dumb. I'll take it!