"H" is for hard top......
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"H" is for hard top......



I know that there were some plain hardtops in 1963 that did not carry the "H" emblems, but the hardtop "H" cars were specially dressed up to appeal to a more youthful market. More on that later. These cars had a package that included bucket seats, a more powerful 138 hp engine, special exterior side panel color and a new roof design. It was classified as a four passenger car as opposed to the bottom line six capacity car.
1963 was a big year for AMC in many ways. To make a long story short, Romney was going, and Abernethy was taking over. Some good new things had taken place in the past year or so under Romney even though he did not want to build racy cars. He had been persuaded to allow many updates to the lineup, many of which were award winning. Heck, the whole 1963 AMC lineup was declared Motor Trend Magazines' Car Of The Year Award. There was now for example, curved side glass in a low cost vehicle. The company had received awards just a couple of years prior for new innovations in the successful casting of aluminum engine blocks with contained steel reinforcement as in the crank web area. The company was relatively lean and mean and Abernethy wanted to introduce cars that were less sedate, cars that would attract more younger buyers. He allowed the styling executives to address a younger market and this is why many of our more beloved models were born. You could surmise that the model was produced to celebrate the advancements of AMC in terms of technology and style.
................. and as Dennis Miller used to say on tv, "Sorry about the rant, I could be wrong."
Your AMC friend,
Gary Walker, owner of some old stuff ( not junk )








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