1967 AMC American Motors Ambassador Wagon Commercial Worst Commercials

[somewhatlongdong]

Mitt Romney's dad was the head of AMC at this time.

[OsbornTramain]

@somewhatlongdong No, Roy Abernathy was the President of American Motors. George Romney left in 1961, He was the Governor of Michigan at this point and running for President of the USA. You would be incorrect

[somewhatlongdong]

@OsbornTramain Oh, sorry about that. Thanks for the correction.

[OldcarsNmusic]

Is it just me or were the '62-64 Ambassadors, with wheelbases identical to the Classic, the best-sellers in their history? It seems to me that whenever AMC made the Amby bigger than the Classic/Rebel, sales tanked. That extra 3-9 inches between the front axle and the scuttle appeared to be bad juju for the Ambassador. The '67s and '68s were nice-looking, though.

[OsbornTramain]

@OldcarsNmusic They were the same in those 3 model years. Actually, 1960 and 1961 were their best years ever. When the Ambassador became larger, sales increased for the Ambassador each year from 1965 to 1970. Ambassadors were always bigger pre 1962 back to the Nash Days, Nash's were always considered an upper priced car, in the Mercury/Buick/Chrysler range. After 64, the issue more related to the decreasing sales of the American Compact car and competing with Dart's, Nova's and Falcons.

[OldcarsNmusic]

@OsbornTramain I'm glad you pointed all that out to me because all the other accounts I've read, especially Consumer Guide's "Cars Of The Fifties", portrayed the longer Ambassadors as poor sellers. Thanks again, Frank for setting the record straight!

[OsbornTramain]

@OldcarsNmusic Here are Ambassador Sales from 1960 thru 1974, In Thousands: 1960 - 23K, 1961 - 19 K, 1962 - 20 K, 1963 - 36 K, 1964 -19 K, 1965 - 63 K, 1966 - 34.2 K, 1967 - 63 K, 1968 - 60 K, 1969 - 60 K, 1970 - 60 K, 1971 - 41.7 K 1972 - 44.4 K 1973 - 43.7 K and finally, the last year, 1974 24.0 K you can see that there was a dip in 1966 but they sold consistently more Ambassadors after the increased wheel base. It was the compact car who's sales really suffered, the American.

[OldcarsNmusic]

@OsbornTramain It's interesting that the first year it was longer again, 1965, was it's best-selling year. Looks like another bit of my old man's advice bore itself out: "Believe none of what you hear, and half of what you see!"

[OsbornTramain]

@OldcarsNmusic Yes, the sales were greater but again, the overall point you make may indeed be correct. Because it took valuable resources away from the Development of the American to spend on the Rebel/Ambassador. Had they focused on the American which had been selling extremely well, they could have stayed more competitive to the Dart and Nova. The Rebel and Ambassadors were very good cars. The 1964 American was only updated moderately thru 1969. The Hornet of 1970 was a very good car.

[OsbornTramain]

@OldcarsNmusic I know people get mad at saying this, but it was the Pacer and the 74 Matador Coupe which took so many funds away for developement that never came back in the way of sales. And frankly, discontinuing the Javelin which was the third best selling Pony car in 1974 behind Firebird and Camaro that was a real bad move. Javelin out sold Barracuda every year from 68 to 74 and even beat the Challenger in sales in 74 They could have cornered that market with GM had they stuck to it.

[OldcarsNmusic]

@OsbornTramain I'd say by the end of the '70s AMC was wishing they could have that one back!

[OsbornTramain]

@OldcarsNmusic They still had a chance but then Renault really messed them up by doing away almost completely the AMC brand. By 1987 when Chrysler bought them, It was down to simply the AMC Eagle Wagon with only about 2400 being made for the 1988 model year (I own an 88 Eagle and 73 Ambassador, and Javelin AMX and a 61 Ambassador er and an 89 Eagle Premier)

[matt69scrambler]

Why was the car a pile of grap? I own one that has a super rare factory 343v8,4bl and four on the floor. I look forward to getting this wagon back on the road and enjoying it.

[OsbornTramain]

@matt69scrambler some people have no clue. They were wonderful cars and extremely high quality for the day. I remember as a child how my father was so impressed with the 70 Rebel Wagon. One of our family friends bought one and my Dad never stopped talking about what a great car it was.

[takoma5]

It was a goodlookin car..indeed!!

[64098]

Is that Denny Miller as Noah? Beautiful car, I was thinking this ad would be more like the ones that don't even show a snapshot of the product. Sorry, I gotta like this one!

[474TFW]

@64098 The car was a pile of shit. The ad however; was great.

[OldcarsNmusic]

@64098 No, Denny was only 32 at the time this commercial was produced. He played "Tonga" on "Gilligan's Island" the following year. Denny does look a lot like that guy now, though!

[64098]

@OldcarsNmusic I should have known that, LOL! I just know if that car drove up here and the passenger door opened, I'd get in without asking any questions. I had a '67 Ambassador 2dr hardtop, it left me with unpleasant memories, but not because of the design or performance. It was six years old at the time, and not too well cared for by the previous owner. It was a weird time for me.

[OldcarsNmusic]

@64098 Say you like this vid? Check out the one for the '69 Amby SST that OsbornTramain has posted. The legshot at 0:44-0:46 is a nice bonus!