[Amc-list] Ugly cars OR Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

["John Elle" <johnelle@xxxxxxxxx>]

One man's opinion. 

I have been an AMC fan since I was 10 years old I guess when we moved into a
small rural town that had a Desoto/Plymouth dealer and a Nash/Jeep dealer. I
have owned some AMC cars when they were late model used cars and since that
time I have purchased AMC cars to enjoy in the hobby, but to be sure! As far
as I am concerned AMC manufactured a few butt ugly cars, specialized in
really ugly colors and despite what some people loudly proclaim, I do not
think that they were ahead of their time or in some cases particularly well
built. That however does not detract me from enjoying the products. 

For example. 

A model that I think was particularly pretty from when viewed from any
direction was the Motor Trend car of the Year 1963 Rambler in any guise. It
was contemporary in design and could be considered a style leader of it's
time. However the modification to distinguish the 1964 model from the 1963
model with its particularly ugly pooched out grill turned a graceful design
into a lump! I would still like to find a nice '63. I would not spend the
money to own a 64. 

But keep in mind, design in and of itself will have fans and detractors.
That is what makes design. 

The opposite of that, in my opinion could be the entire GM line in the 70's
where they put a lot of effort to make all large car models a variation of
the Chevy Impala or Caprice by changing end caps and grills and trying to
make them generic or possibly UNI-Sex in order to not offend the design
taste of the buying public in any area. This could be defined as making them
all universally acceptable or all universally offensive to taste depending
on the view point. As this area may be considered the beginnings of GM down
turn in market acceptance, I think universally offensive is a better
description. 

Other AMC cars that I feel went wrong were the later Hornets. The grills are
certainly lacking in beauty as compared to the simplicity and graceful
design of the very first Hornets. And I own two of them, a Hatch Back and a
Sportabout, both models that I really desired to own. Although the Hatch
Back will be sold when I finish it.  I realy would like to back fit a 70
style grill in both of them. 

The original Gremlin with it's 13" wheels and tires looked as if a truncated
Hornet was sitting on top of a Pregnant Roller Skate. I can in no way say
that the Gremlin equipped with little bitty wheels with dog dish hub caps
looked anything but Fugly!!!! But with wheels and tires that were big enough
to fill the wheel well opening the looks transformed into something that
defiantly looked aggressive and purposeful. My late model 71 Gremlin X was
an eye catching road warrior rather than a an automotive cartoon caricature.


As far as Pacers go, I wanted one when they were new. I could not afford
one, but I wanted one, as a coupe. The station wagon made no sense to me at
all and as far as looks went it had very little good looks to it. And I like
station wagons, but I like hatch backs better. The car had the appearance of
what is now referred to as a bottom breather and it had stylish design that
would not quit excepts for the wagon in my opinion. But when they uglied up
the front end to put that funky grill in it any illusion of style and looks
disappeared completely. 

Another version of ugly that I also own is a Spirit. That cheesy looking
flat black painted egg crate grill or what ever color it happened to be is
in my opinion one of the ugliest monstrosities that ever hit the front of an
automobile. When I started with this car it was because I had been unable to
find a Hornet Hatch Back that was in any kind of shape that had a clear
title to it and this was a viable alternative. I was able to solve what I
considered the "ugly grill problem" by obtaining a '79 Concord horizontal
chrome bar grill and an 80 Concord Water Fall chrome bar grill, both of
which I like far better and would co-ordinate with the aluminum side trim.
One grill picks up the vertical lines next to the doors, the other picks up
the horizontal trim just above the rocker panels. I think it is a great
improvement on the looks and I change the grills when I want a different
appearance. However I must point out that my 80 Spirit and my 80 AMX are
both keepers!

This does not include the big chrome chunk that is on the front of the hood.
That is fugly! I keep the simple small stylish piece that was used on the
Spirit.

What is the point of this? I like my AMC cars, I own 5, 2 unfinished. They
are show winners. They are fun to drive! I am proud of them and support the
hobby! But this does not mean that all versions of AMC cars are wunnerfull
in my opinion, some were not, some in my opinion were arguably damned poor
in design, execution and color, personally I place the Eagle and most
Concords in that category. None were "ahead of their time" most were equal
to their time and some out dated 'specially the Concord. But they're mine
and whether some one agrees with me or not is irrelevant. That is what makes
the world go round. 

So if there is a poll some where that picks up an AMC car as ugly, well so
what! Ignorance or lack of knowledge is part of the problem, the same can be
said for an Edsel , I thought the '58 was quite a striking automobile when
they were new. But as long as the same poll picks up on an Aztec then I
would have to believe that really ugly has been identified and after all GM
sold an awful lot of Vega's and there was a true lousy car. And today what
is popular, a 4 door sedan in almost all guises and made in Korea is not a
determent. Go Figure! 

John

 

 

 

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