DOTS: Ambassador for the Streets Edition

"Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available" (whoistheleader2) 06/05/2020 at 20:57 • Filed to: Dots

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Afternoon Repost

This lovely avocado colored AMC Ambassador Coupe was quite a sight for sore eyes on a particularly slow day for car spotting.

I love this picture. There is a lot of patina but it only adds to this car’s character. I would guess this is an older restoration that sat outside for too long. The chrome is mostly in good shape and everything is here.

I’m not sure why this tarp was taped down on the roof, but maybe the weather sealing was letting in water. I believe this is an old promotional banner for the shop I saw this outside of.

This car wouldn’t have been all that remarkable when new, but very few of these have survived. The only other AMC Ambassador I recall seeing was a sedan and was in pretty rough shape, albeit moving under its own power.

I like the faux vents in the rear that tie the two light clusters together. As you can see, the vinyl is disintegrating before your eyes but everything is present.

Lovely 343 badge right there. Just a V, since the 8 is implied. This also appears to be an SST model. I didn’t find any information about this trim level in a precursory search but I do think I’ve narrowed down the year to 1968.

The interior is present, but clearly in need of some attention. Looks to be a nicely equipped automatic model with sporty color matched two tone seats. I also think that air vent on the passenger side looks more modern than I expected. Mazda used a similar design in the mid 2000s.

Now for what I originally stopped for.

You simply don’t see Ford Country Squires anymore.

The hood ornament is pretty bent up, but the rest of the body appears intact. Lovely wheels too, which seem to be free of curb rash.

This one had some aspirational vinyl woodgrain faded almost beyond recognition.

Unlike the AMC above, Ford just stuck on a cheap reflector. Their cash strapped competitor managed to shell out for recessed reflector 15 years earlier. Where did we go wrong?

I really wanted to look at this very rare old Toyota Van up close but I was on a delivery and someone was looking at me very strangely as I took the picture. I was afraid it might be her van so I left, though I saw her get into a new Maxima on my way out. This one seems pretty solid and even has some fancy rims.

In the same parking lot was this rough but reasonably rare quad cab GMC. It may have belonged to the same person.

I hate to say it, but aren’t wheels supposed to be round? How does this dealer think they are going to sell this tastefully modified 5 speed Dodge Dart with a smashed rim? I actually would rock this, but only if it was cheap.

Bug Eyed Sprite? I don’t know.

And I leave you with some photos of a beautiful sunset.

Well, the sunset was in the other direction but this cone was more interesting to me.

WilliamsSW > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/05/2020 at 12:15

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Neat stuff! Yep that’s a Bugeye. Fun fact - they can fit on at least some sidewalks in Chicago. My dad’s first car was a Bugeye and he told me that. From, umm, personal experience.

Probably window leaks on the Ambassador. GM cars from that era were notorious for trapping water in the trim and rusting that way (again personal experience) - I presume other manufacturers had similar issues.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > WilliamsSW 06/05/2020 at 12:25

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Probably. Build quality was an afterthought for most American cars of that period. The vinyl roof also probably trapped water.

Interesting but about the Bugeye. It looked hilariously tiny next to the massive BMW 5 series to the right. Clearly the driver was having a lot of fun. Why exactly would you want to drive on the sidewalk though?

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/05/2020 at 12:29

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I bet the Ambassador is 100% original. Those are not high value cars, few have been restored.

Squire looks like ~83-86 by the grille. Survived pretty well, all things considered.

I think the wheels on that van might be from an early 80s 280ZX.

WilliamsSW > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/05/2020 at 12:32

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Yeah, vinyl roofs were also terrible for that.

As far as driving on the sidewalk goes, I presume it's because you can?  I'll have to ask my dad.  The fact that he was about 17 years old played a major role I'm sure.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 06/05/2020 at 12:33

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Maybe the AMC wasn’t restored, but probably on its second respray at least. Interior might be original, but it at least has seen some light reconditioning. I was somewhat shocked that it survived at all being worthless for so long. And this was a high trim coupe. The other one I saw was a low trim sedan.

Squire had a fantastic blue vinyl interior that was showing its age but still pretty good. Those wheels in particular have held up great. Try finding another set without curb rash.

The van was clearly a labor of love, since parts are nonexistent. It looked quite good.

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/05/2020 at 12:38

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My theory on the AMC, nice original car that was garaged or cared for for the first ~35 years of its life, then sold on for whatever reason, and has since slept outside. Someone indeed loved it once, but that environment is steadily returning it to the Earth.

Turbine wheels are awesome, and look great on those cars, That Squire would have been considered a bit frumpy when new, but was a nice car no less. That was the time when wagons started to really be seen as unfashionable, and self-conscious suburban drones ran to minivans.

Those vans are uncommon even here.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > WilliamsSW 06/05/2020 at 12:44

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If I had a Bugeye Sprite in Chicago at 17, I would do the same. It’s slow enough that you can only get into minor trouble for doing so!

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 06/05/2020 at 13:01

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Clearly the first owner of the AMC treated it very well. Probably sold from an estate sale and sat outside as a neglected project before winding up at the shop.

The Country Squire is still a bit frumpy, but has nostalgia working in its favor. Especially with those wheels. I suspect it had a similar fate as to the AMC.

The Van (technically a proper noun haha) is basically made from pure unobtainium, so in order for it to survive someone must very much love it. I wish I could have had a better look. 

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/05/2020 at 14:48

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I had the same vibe with the AMC. Estate car, one longtime owner, sold for little money to people who aren’t up on maintenance, and here we are, circling the drain.

The Squire is now retro enough to be cool again (and for those of us who like wagons, it was never uncool). Probably an old person’s car for a long time, yeah. Would have been a beauty when new, and one of the better domestic cars one could have bought in that era.

Those vans were everywhere here until the early 2000s, then finally faded away.  Quite popular back in the day, I remember a bakery in town had a panel version as a delivery vehicle, and a teacher at my grade school had a pop top camper conversion one that I think might have also been 4x4 - Toyota was much more interesting in olden days.

Rufant > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/05/2020 at 15:35

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Good work.

I need to learn more about AMC cars. 

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Rufant 06/05/2020 at 16:23

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I do too, but they never had enough money to develop new platforms so it's easier than you may think. 

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 06/05/2020 at 16:27

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I agree with your assessment of the AMC. Probably a similar story with the Ford. There is a certain kind of buyer that buys a top trim car new and then drives it until it is uneconomical to repair even when they could afford an upgrade. I wonder how many people of my generation will be like that. I suspect not many. I don’t even know many people who would change their oil at a regular intervals, much less do enough preventative maintenance to keep a car running that long.

Didn't those Toyota Vans have some sort of reliability issues that took most of them off the road? I wonder what was the last car sold in America that wasn't named? I'm thinking the Toyota Truck might have been the last.

ranwhenparked > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/05/2020 at 17:08

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AMC did go to some lengths to market that generation of Ambassador as a proper luxury car. W hen it first launched, they had a deal where your local AMC/Rambler dealer would send a uniformed chauffeur (probably just the salesman who didn’t meet quota the previous month) over to your house to pick you up in the car and bring you over to the showroom, so it makes sense that they put a little cash into some of the small details.

American Motors also did often add some thoughtful touches that the bigger companies didn’t. They framed all their doors with some nicely formed polished  extruded aluminum, so even their downmarket models had a little extra brightwork, something inherited from Nash, and their Weather-Eye heat/ventilation system was the best in the industry for years. 

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > ranwhenparked 06/05/2020 at 17:15

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I love how plucky AMC was. They didn’t have the massive development resources of the big three but they did a remarkable job of keeping up on a budget. The Ambassador Coupe did look a little fancy but also understated.

Interesting bit about the chauffeur. That must have been pretty impressive, especially in contrast to a typical dealer experience.

Ive heard of We ather-Eye but I never knew it was just a climate control system. Neat.

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/05/2020 at 17:32

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There will be few like that of your (and my) generation. To most, cars are like toasters or phones - drive them til they wear out, toss and replace, or lease and replace every given interval.

I don’t recall the Toyota having mechanical issues, but I think they can suffer from the same structural rot and decomposing plastics as other period Toyotas, and that design probably leads to handling instability, so I’d not be surprised if they had higher casualty rates, so to speak.

Un-named vehicles - named by the factory or badged on the car? Period Toyota trucks are technically Hilux, right? And I think the USDM van was a LiteAce derivative. The old Nissan pickups were “hardbody” I think - but not badged as such. The Toyota vans were marketed as the “Wonderwagon”, but not badged as such:

ranwhenparked > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/05/2020 at 17:34

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For a while, they not only kept up, they almost dominated. In the early ‘60s, Rambler overtook Oldsmobile, Buick, Pontiac, Dodge, and Plymouth to become the #3 selling brand in America after Ford and Chevy. Then George Romney quit to pursue a new career in politics, and they just kind of gradually lost their way. 

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 06/05/2020 at 19:44

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The Toyota trucks were never called Hilux in marketing materials in the US. Hardbody was also more of a chassis name so that's a contender too. I'm referring to vehicles never called a specific proper noun by the manufacturer on the car or marketing materials. Didn't know those were called the wonderwagon.  

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > ranwhenparked 06/05/2020 at 19:47

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I forgot Rambler was its own brand. I am fascinated by how the remnants of Nash became AMC and then Jeep and Renault complicate everything. Ultimately their shoestring budget couldnt stretch their platforms any further and they couldn’t comp ete

ranwhenparked > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/05/2020 at 20:35

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A lot of people thought their fate was sealed when they gave up their niche as a builder of sensible, economical, small cars and starting trying to directly match the Big Three product for product, category for category. But, on the other hand, sensible, frugal, small cars were kind of on the way out in the ‘60s, and Rambler’s image as a car brand for middle aged high school principals and old church ladies probably meant some sort of drastic shift was necessary.

Still, would be kind of cool if they found a way to survive as kind of an American Daihatsu, branded themselves as  “AMC: America’s Small Car Leader”, or something like that. 

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > ranwhenparked 06/05/2020 at 20:43

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Big and extravagant was the thing to be in the 60s and that Ambassador was not it. Understated to a fault. Even if they survived that lull in the sensible car market, there were lots more that might have taken them out. I really won der what would have happened if they had stayed solvent long enough to see the Jeep Cherokees success and to engineer a replacement. 

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/05/2020 at 21:12

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Toyota truck was just truck until Tacoma for the 1995 MY, that could be it.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 06/05/2020 at 21:16

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I might want to do an entire article on cars that weren't given a name. It's interesting.

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/05/2020 at 21:19

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Do it!

onlytwowheels > ranwhenparked 06/05/2020 at 22:10

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