Hi Do, yes, more than 12 were built. AMC was hemmoraging on the late
convertibles in 67, especially the Ambassador, and then took a real beating
on convertibles in 68. The last year for the convertible series for
Ambassador was however 1967, and only 1260 (some records indicate 1267)
found buyers, a extremely small number when you consider the Ambassador was
AMC's 'premier' car, at a difficult time for AMC, which was struggling
financially (gee, they always seemed to be struggling dammit) but some years
were worse than others. Total production of Ambassadors in 1967 was 62615, a
good run of them, with the Ambassador 990 4door leading the way with 17809
units and right behind it was the Ambassador DPL 2door with 12552 units
made.
Since we are talking about convertibles I guess, 1967 was the last year for
the Rambler convertibles and only 921 found homes, a pathetic number when
you consider total Rambler production (including American and Rogues, all
921 convertibles were Rogues)
saw total production of 62680 units made. One thing I enjoy is customizing
AMCs and here is something I will add to my garage one day, a convertible
SC/Rambler to go with my convertible Rebel Machine.
As for Rebel, the Rebel was a strong seller, as AMC was focusing more on
performance remember just a few years earlier, AMC had been telling the
world the only race they cared about was the 'human race' (this is off my
website):
The car that the press release lives in infamy about how 'the only race we
care about is the human race' then AMC would do a 360 and crank out
performance models like AMX, Javelin & SC/Rambler only a few years after
saying they frowned upon performance (read: muscle
cars!!) in the memo. A copy of the five page memo comes with photo!
http://www.planethoustonamx.com/parts%20&%20Literature/64_Typhoon.JPG
But the 67 Rebel saw some good sale and only 1686 67 Rebel convertibles were
made:
http://www.planethoustonamx.com/parts%20&%20Literature/67_rebel_cv_pr.JPG
A beautiful bodystyle if I say so myself. Total Rebel production in 1967 saw
95170 units, surpassing the Ambassador Series! Of these Rebels the two
biggest sellers were the Rebel 770 4door with 24057 made and the Rebel 770
Wagon with 18240 made. I may add also right on it's tail was the Rebel SST
2door with 15287 units produced! Now while I believe the 20 can of Coke just
kicked in, here is a website off my links ya'll have to go look at, only a
few of these 'speciality wagons' were made for 1967 and a friend of mine
owns all three of them:
http://www.netwiz.net/~tcar/amc.html Mariner, Briarcliffe and Westerner. To
have one person own all three (I would say less than 10 exist of each in
2004) is awesome.
And finally. 1968. This would be the LAST YEAR a convertible would be
produced by AMC. You can't count the Griffth Eagles and Concords from 81-83
as they were NOT production convertibles, they were modified in Florida, and
didn't roll off the line in Kenosha as a ragtop. The Rambler Series no
longer offered a convertible, neither did the Ambassador....only
Rebel.....and only 823 were made. I estimate less than 100 of these exist.
Not sure some of ya'll saw the 68 Rebel ragtop on lasy month's SUAD list for
sale in AR, it was the one that was on ebay for $600 and no bites. Hell, I
just want the top frame. Not sure who made the call at AMC to do
continuation Rebel line as convertibles either. They are beautiful cars:
http://www.planethoustonamx.com/parts%20&%20Literature/68_Rebel_CV_PR.JPG
and total production of ALL Rebels in 1968 was 79325, down from the 1967
year. Leading the way was the Rebel 770 four door with 22938 made and Rebel
550 4door with 14712. At the bottom of production was the Rebel 550
convertible only 377 made and of course the SST convertible mentioned above.
Something I have preached about thru the years, and will continue to do so,
is that many people get a hard on over things like 68-70 AMX, 69 SC/Rambler,
70 Rebel Machine and 71 SC/360. These are NOT, repeat NOT the cars that kept
AMC in business, they were eye candy to lure people into showrooms then
'sell them from stock' other AMCs like Javelin, Rebel, Rambler and so forth.
The "bread and butter" cars were indeed the wagons and four doors, and
smaller Ramblers, Gremlins, Concords, Hornets, Spirits and later Eagles. 90%
of the people you will ever talk to at a swap meet, and many AMC fans,
forget this fact, thinking AMC made money off convertibles (they didn't) or
musclecars (they did but barely). So be sure to point that out to everyone
that Gremlin (this is a Gremlin list) put up some serious numbers in the 9
years of it's existence! And next time you are at a car show, please take
the time to look over that AMC station wagon or four door. This is what kept
AMC alive so we could have the, uh, other stuff!
Finally, and hope some of you are still awake, this is not, repeat, not a
long post, my longest printed out to 17 pages, could have saved a damned
forest, but the 68 Rebel convertible I own has 38 options. AMC had these bad
hibits of loading up cars with options then sending them to dealerships even
though no one ordered them, just send it, and display it, as it is a
billboard to again, lure people in. Here is the origianl build sheet of my
car:
http://www.planethoustonamx.com/parts%20&%20Literature/american_motors_build_sheets.htm
This particular car ended up at longtime Nash, Rambler, AMC dealership here
in Houston Vance & Sons AMC, click below to view the dealership it is
awesome photos from my archives:
http://www.planethoustonamx.com/bodyAMC.htm
The car SAT at the dealership until mid 1970 as no one wanted the damned
thing, it was supposed to sell for $2999.00 but as optioned, this one's
window sticker was a staggering $4500.00 a LOT OF MONEY in 1968, you could
have bought a hemi something. The V&S Parts Manager, Richard Brumgardt,
bought it in late 1970 at 'his price, as he worked at V&S, and I would buy
it from him in 1986-87 and go completely thru it, this is fromt he Houston
Astrodome Autorama:
http://www.planethoustonamx.com/Photo_Gallery_My/images/mycars10_jpg.jpg
and
http://www.planethoustonamx.com/rebinterior.jpg
So I can say out of all 292 and counting AMCs I have personally owned, there
is absolutely nothing like a AMC convertible, and this Rebel is one of my
top three favorites I have ever owned.
So to answer Doc's original question, no, there were more than 12 67 Ambo's
made and I would say less than 100 of them are still known to exist......
Eddie Stakes
www.planethoustonamx.com
*Note volume of email is
extremely heavy, expect
5-12 day responses
----- Original Message -----
From: "amc74hornet" <AMC74HORNET@xxxx>
To: <BaadAssGremlins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, July 03, 2004 6:35 AM
Subject: [BaadAssGremlins] Hey Eddie
My brother in Arizona called me up yesterday to say he ran into a guy that
has a 67 Ambo convert and claims that only 12 were built. Got any production
no# on that bit of trivia? Just courious if it was true or one of those
urban legends that keep floating around.
"Doc"
> ATTACHMENT part 2 image/jpeg name=scrambler conv terry grow 1.jpg
> ATTACHMENT part 3 image/jpeg name=scrambler conv terry grow.jpg
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