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The
strange tale of the last independent auto manufacturer in America. |
American Motors was formed
from the merger of Nash and Hudson in 1954, and ended
with the merger of AMC into Chrysler in 1987. Most
people, if they think of American Motors at all, remember
it as a failure that couldn't compete effectively with
the Big 3 and the imports. But it is perhaps more
accurate to think of AMC as a scrappy survivor: the last
American Independent, the company that outlived Packard,
Studebaker, Kaiser, Auburn, Cord, Dusenberg, and all the
rest. |
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AMC went through many changes of fortune
and focus in its 33 years. After a very rocky start that
saw the old Nash and Hudson brands fade away, the company
found its niche as a specialty maker of small, practical
Ramblers, and sales quadrupled in just a few years. |
The early 60's were AMC's glory years,
when Rambler twice took third place in model year sales
and the whole line earned Motor Trend's "Car of the
Year" award. But the company soon lost its focus,
and sales tumbled. The Rambler name was phased out,
replaced by "American Motors" as the brand, and
later "AMC". |
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Part 3:
Kenosha Muscle |
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In the late 60's and
early 70's AMC had a brief but memorable
flirtation with high performance and racing that
produced collectible classics like the Javelin,
AMX, SC/Rambler, and Machine and brought younger
customers into the showrooms. |
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The company enjoyed another brief heyday
in the economic recessions of the 70's, again because of
its reputation for practicality. AMC's two most unusual
cars of that decade, the Gremlin and Pacer, have become
pop-culture symbols of the era of arena rock and disco. |
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AMC ultimately couldn't cope with the
double whammy of foreign competition and federal safety
and environmental regulations, and it had to evolve yet
again to survive. In its final years, AMC was primarily a
manufacturer of non-AMC vehicles: cars designed by
Renault, which bought a controlling interest in the
company, and the Jeep line, acquired from Kaiser in 1970.
Finally, Renault sold out to Chrysler in 1987, and the
Last Independent was history. |