From JM (c)

Forty years ago,

http://mclellansautomotive.com/photos/B6302.jpg

was new on view.

Forty years now,

http://www.manager-magazin.de/img/0,1020,205629,00.jpg

is "the" machine.

"It is hands-down the sexiest car on the planet..."

"Buyers wait seven to twelve months to get into what is certainly the
hottest car of the 2005 model year..."

"We have people walking in here all the time offering $50,000 over
sticker..."

http://www.autoweek.nl/images/Articles/1697/bentley2.jpg

http://autohobbypage.com/cgi-bin/image.pl?/photo/super/65mar01.jpg

A different day in a different America, indeed. 

And for an encore, why not add two more doors?

http://autobzor.com/photo/bentley_by611_1.jpg

Did you ever ask what -else- AMC had planned for the 118" 1967 Marlin? 

Could it have been American Motors' answer to yesterday's Chevy?

http://www.fedrelandsvennen.no/amcar/brochures/chevy/65cvle.html

Or could it have been its answer to questions newly-asked today?

http://www.rareads.com/scans/12404.jpg

(Squint slightly and you'll see a need for better scanning; I don't have
time to find a better photo to point where the new four-door AMC hardtop was
going --- whether badged as "Marlin" or "Ambassador," it would have been
big, beautiful and competitive...) 

Forty years ago, few knew that AMC hoped to amortize a "one-off" bumper or
to again try to match the Big-3: in freedom, fresh air and success.

http://www.computersupport.ca/Restoration/1967ImpalaSS427Ad.jpg

Today, fewer still realize that AMC wanted to build what is still new, what
would be built by "better" brands and what would pull higher profit from
production through sleight-of-sheet-metal-design hand.  Who knew?

http://www.fedrelandsvennen.no/amcar/brochures/others/05mbcls2/11.html
http://www.fedrelandsvennen.no/amcar/brochures/others/05mbcls2/25.html

(Complete brochures offered; where are complete AMC brochures today?)

No one knew that M-B would need to design cars for today's "swingers" so it,
too, wouldn't become a fifty-plus-year-later "failure."  Who knows?

Awhile back, when I wrote that carmakers could survive ["some via sales
exclusivity (A M), some via selling performance (Lamborghini)"], I saw AMC
too simply.  Lamborghini, as fast farm equipment fighting Ferraris, may once
have sold only performance; Aston Martin, as "F-body Mustang" fighting
Jaguars and Ferraris, might once have sold as much wood-and- hide as
styling-and-speed, but many makers try to survive by selling both --- as the
following three pages (flip through all fifty-two to realize where hobby AMC
-should- be) from one's '05 brochure clearly show.

http://www.fedrelandsvennen.no/amcar/brochures/others/05maserati/8.html
http://www.fedrelandsvennen.no/amcar/brochures/others/05maserati/9.html
http://www.fedrelandsvennen.no/amcar/brochures/others/05maserati/10.html


(Is there any valid reason for -every- AMC document not to be online?)