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Good point. However another is also that some
states were 'hotbeds' where AMCs sold really well in the 1960s and into early
70s. Therefore more cars were in those regions. Other areas you could not
give away a AMC even if it was a two for one special people didn't want, nor
like them. (Thier loss!). Some of the highest volume states for example were NY,
PA, IL, MI, OH; while some of the lower end were AR, AK, MT, to name a few.
There were about 2200 AMC dealerships in late 60s, and about 1900 in 73, however
those were cranking out more vehicles per dealership.
AMC had large and modern facilities in most key
markets; and in the top 100 metro areas that accounted for 65% of all new cars
sales for say, 1974, AMC owned, or had the prime lease on 129 of those
facilities (that is a LOT of real estate!) and was buying 13 more. And of the
100 largest dealers, of which almost 1/2 of those had been appointed since 1969,
almost 1/2 of them sold not only AMC but the hot selling Jeep series. So 750 AMC
dealers were also handling Jeep.
And the domestic sales rate per passenger car
dealer increased 100% from 1970-74, and the company's dealers had risen from 7th
to 3rd in the industry for average number of units sold. So you had 179 dealers
selling more than 500 cars per year in 1974, compared to 50 selling same in
1969.
AMC was happy to deal with dealers who might have
sold a dozen cars per year. It didn't seem like much, but they made their money
on oil changes, tune ups, suspension, brakes and all the other things that go
bump in the night on vehicles, not just AMC.
For instance one of the dealerships my dad worked
at in Corpus Christi, the service bay areas were always full and lots of work to
be done, or other models like Buick, Ford and ather GM cars, besides AMC. It was
a mixed make dealership. But even at the aMC only dealerships they serviced lots
of brand x cars....and that is true still today. I have a good buddy who is
service manager at a Archer Chrysler (Archer has been around since the 1900's
here in Houston, and several were AMC, like on 59, I-45, 290 ect) but it is not
uncommon to go to that dealership and see cars they don't sell being worked
on.
Anyhows, you will find a ton of this stuf on my
website under "amc dealerships" on the front page. And yes, you also had some
hotbeds of areas where AMCs could not be kept in stock and sold like hotcakes
like Erie and York PA, which were probably #1 and #2 respectively in sales for
AMCs for several years.
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