Bigger was better
W
hen people are willing to spend money on big cars, why try to sell them something smaller? age where excess wasn’t actually seen as excessive, so the market for small and thrifty cars was indeed thin. And if an automaker didn’t build big cars, it was missing out on both sales and huge profits.
Sleek and stylish, the redesigned American Motors Ambassador had everything going for it when it first - ship fashion statement, the car seemed – on paper, at least – to be the equal of its Big Three competition.
The Ambassador also represented a fundamental shift in corporate ideology. The Kenosha, Wis.-based automaker would move its focus away from primarily fuel-efficient vehicles, instead turning out bigger, faster and potentially more profitable cars.
The cost of competing with General Motors, Ford and Chrysler had always been difficult for the company. A mid- ’50s merger between Nash Motors and Hudson Motors to form American Motors Corporation (AMC) helped a bit, but still left the newly combined venture in a distant fourth place. Lacking sufficient sales volume and the resulting financial muscle meant that the retooling and development costs necessary to create new products was always a profit-zapping proposition. Product change was not only an expensive gamble, but getting it wrong was the sure-fire way to financial disaster.
Back in those days, the top-of-the-line Nash (later Rambler) Ambassador was a prime example of right-car-wrong-de- soap dish shape and pioneering unitbody construction ran counter to the flashier but overwrought excesses built by the Big Three. Even after hiring famed Italian stylist Battista Pininfarina to help reshape the sheetmetal, the Ambassador could not shake its bloated look and stodgy character.
Following the Hudson merger, the Ambassador brand finally began showing signs of life, eventually sprouting a modest set of tailfins and generating decent sales results as it helped AMC stay in the black. on building three specific vehicle lines: the compact Rambler American; midsize Rambler Classic; and full-size Rambler Ambassador. The thrifty American maintained its connection with a small but determined group of car buyers that prized fuel economy above all else while the Classic and Ambassador catered to roomier and more luxurious tastes. Both of these cars also caught the attention of bestowed its Car-of-the-Year honors on the duo.
Under the leadership of company president Roy Abernathy and chief stylist Dick Teague, AMC began charting a very different course, with the Ambassador leading the way. The all-new in length while maintaining an understated appearance (advertising of the day referred to the Ambassador line as the “sensible spectaculars”). Although the base Ambassador 880 or better a 232-cubic-inch inline six-cylinder powerplant, many versions featured a 327-cubic-inch V-8 that delivered up to 270 horsepower.
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