American Motors
From Freepedia
Image:AMCLogo.png American Motors Corporation (AMC) was an American automobile company, formed in 1954 by the merger of Nash-Kelvinator and Hudson. At the time, it was the largest corporate merger in U.S. history, valued at $197,793,366. It was bought out by Chrysler on March 2, 1987.
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History
Formation
The company traced its history to 1897 when Thomas B. Jeffery built his first automobile prototype, and acquired the former Sterlin Bicycle Factory in Kenosha, Wisconsin in 1900 to produce "Rambler" cars. The first production Rambler rolled out of the factory in March 1902, making it the second passenger car to be mass produced (over 1500 of the same make and model) in the U.S., one year after Oldsmobile and one year ahead of Ford.
The name of the car was changed to "Jeffery" in 1914 to honor its founder, who died in 1910. Charles T. Jeffery, his son, assumed control of the company. Charles Jeffery went on to survive the sinking of the RMS Lusitania (a British luxury liner torpedoed by the Germans in WWI) in 1915 and subsequently resolved to spend the rest of his life in a more enjoyable manner. Charles W. Nash resigned from General Motors and purchased the Thomas B. Jeffery Company in August of 1916, renaming it Nash Motors Company.
Nash Motors survived until the its 1954 merger with Hudson to form AMC, merging with Kelvinator Appliance along the way. The original plan was for Nash and Hudson to merge into American Motors, while Studebaker and Packard joined forces, and then, after the companies had settled down, for the two combined companies to merge into one under the American Motors banner. Nash-Kelvinator Corp. president George Mason, the architect of the merger scheme, believed that the only chance of survival for America's remaining independent automakers was for them to join forces in one large, mutibrand auto giant, able to challenge GM, Ford, and Chrysler as an equal.
Following Mason's untimely death, however, the plan was called off. Packard Motor Car Company used its vast cash reserves to acquire Studebaker as planned, and the resulting Studebaker-Packard Corporation cooperated with American Motors for a year or two, selling Packard engines to its would-be partner until a contractual dispute ended the alliance in mid-1956.
Studebaker-Packard reverted to Studebaker Corporation in 1962, 4 years after dropping the Packard brand from automobiles. The company ceased car production entirely in 1966, and following a series of reorganizations, demergers, and ownership changes became the present-day Studebaker-Worthington Leasing.
American Motors managed to survive until 1987, when the company was bought out and absorbed by Chrysler Corporation.
Products
American Motors combined the Nash and the Hudson product lines under a common marketing strategy and dealer network beginning in 1955. The fast selling Rambler model was sold under both the Nash and Hudson labels in its first year and would eventually become the basis of the company. The preexisting Nash product line was continued and the Nash Statesman and Ambassador were lightly restyled to become the "new" Hudson Wasp and Hornet. Hudson aficionados disliked the soft handling and ride of the "Hash" models and sales quickly plummeted. The uniquely Hudson on the badge-engineered Nash cars were the instrument cluster and engines. Hudson models continued to use Hudson L-head sixes except for V-8 cars, which used the same Packard (and later American Motors designed) V-8 engines as their Nash counterparts.
For the 1958 model year the Nash and Hudson names were dropped in favor of the ever popular Rambler badge, which now became a marque in its own right. The slow-selling, British-built Nash Metropolitan subcompact became its own stand-alone brand and struggled on for a few more years sharing showroom space with Rambler. The prototype Nash Ambassador/Hudson Hornet, built on a stretched Rambler platform, was renamed at the last minute to the "Ambassador by Rambler". To round out the model line American Motors did something totally unheard of and never successfully duplicated to this day — they reintroduced the old 1955 100" wheelbase Nash Rambler as the new Rambler American. This gave Rambler a neat compact line-up with 100" (American), 108" (Classic and Rebel), and 117" (Ambassador) wheelbase vehicles. Although it was one of American Motors' best-known products, the Rambler brand was dropped after the 1970 model year in the U.S, although the Rambler name continued to be used in several overseas markets as either a model name or brand. The last use was in Mexico in 1983.
As the Rambler brand waned in popularity in the mid-1960's, American Motors executives attempted to replace it with a new name that would better reflect the identity of the parent company. A satisfactory solution was never reached. The 1966 Marlin and Ambassador were badged as "American Motors" products, then as "AMs" for 1967, and finally as "AMCs" for 1968. AMC is generally thought of as the brand used for all American Motors passenger cars following the demise of Rambler, but the names "American Motors" and "AMC" seem to have been used interchangably in corporate literature and on the cars themselves well into the 1980's. The branding issue becomes more complicated still, as the company's legendary all wheel drive passenger cars were marketed, at least initially as the "American Eagle", not AMC.
American Motors produced a wide range of products during the 1960's, which for the most part were relatively unremarkable. In a continuing quest to match the Big Three at every turn, American Motors produced totally conventional cars that were solidly-built and provided good value, but were purely average as far as styling and engineering were concerned. The company did develop some exciting entries for the decades muscle car boom, most notable the AMX; while the Javelin served as the company's entrant into the pseudo-sporty "pony car" market created by the Ford Mustang. Sales were strong during the 1960's, and the company posted healthy profits year after year. American Motors seemed poised to ride the wave of prosperity into the 70's. Flush with cash after a highly successful decade, American Motors expanded its product line in 1970, through the purchase of Kaiser-Jeep Corporation (formerly Willys Overland) from Kaiser Industries. This added the iconic Jeep brand of light trucks and 4X4s, as well as Kaiser-Jeep's lucrative government contracts- notably the M151 line of military jeeps and the DJ-Series postal jeeps. The military and special products business was reconstituted as American Motors General Products Division, later reorganized as AM General Corporation.
The decade of the 1970's started off on a high note indeed, yet things quickly went sour for American Motors. 1970 marked the end of Rambler and the consolidation of all passenger cars one distinct brand identity (more or less). It also marked the debut of the smartly styled AMC Hornet range of compact sedans, coupes, and wagons.
Always looking for a way to stretch research and development dollars, American Motors used the Hornet platform and body shell to create the first American-built subcompact- the AMC Gremlin- which arrived in the spring of 1970 as an early 1971 model. The Gremlin went on to become American Motors' best selling passenger car with well over 700,000 sold before the end of production in 1978.
The highly successful product launches of the Hornet and Gremlin convinced AMC to continue with new product development. The all-new full-sized AMC Matador arrived for 1971 as a replacement for the aging Ambassador inherited from Rambler. Starting in 1974, the Matador mutated into two distinctive products with the same name. There were the sedans and station wagons, and the coupes, which looked much different. Although an attractive, well-packaged product, Matador sales never lived up to expectations and the line was dropped after 1978. There is some speculation that the lukewarm performance of the Matador in the marketplace may have contributed to American Motors' demise as the tooling costs for the new car were never recovered. This is far from indisputable however, as AMC's own figures regarding the Matador's development a tooling costs are contradictory, ranging anwhere from $350 to over $600 per car sold. This discepancy makes it impossible to determine how much money, if any, AMC actually lost on the Matador.
Whatever the problems with the Matador, the AMC Pacer, introduced in 1975, was most certainly a flop. The subcompact Pacer was another well-intentioned entry into the market AMC seemed to know best, yet this was no Gremlin. Billed as "the first wide small car", the Pacer was an attempt to build a subcompact car with the comfort of a full-size. To this end, the car was as wide as a typical Cadillac of the day, yet no longer than the Gremlin. This provided the same front seat space as a luxury car with the economy of a compact. Further passenger space was gained through AMC's ingenius "cab-forward" design technology, introduced on the Pacer. Somwhat degradingly niknamed a "fishbowl on wheels", the Pacer featured bulbous, wrap around window glass accounting for 35% of the car's surface area that eliminated dangerous blind spots. The car was planned to use a General Motors-builtWankel rotary engine, American Motors was ultimately forced to use their existing 208 CID inline six cylinder when GM aborted their rotary engine development program. The six resulted in poor fuel economy for the car's size, largely defeating the purpose of a compact. In addition, the Pacer was all-new except for the drive train, sharing very few components with other AMC cars. This made it relatively expensive to produce, and when sales took an almost imediate fall, cost per vehicle skyrocketed. The failure of the Pacer literally doomed AMC, as development and production costs drained corporate accounts of much needed capital which could have been used to update and modernize the already popular Hornet and Gremlin lines. The Pacer was finally dropped during the 1980 model year. By that time, American Motors was poised on the brink of bankruptcy, forcing difficult cost-cutting. A whole new line of large prestige cars planned to replace the slow-selling Matador was cancelled, resulting in that car ceasing production in 1978 with no direct replacement. The aging Hornet was hastily face-lifted to create the "new" 1979 AMC Concord, the higher trim levels of which were intended to partially compensate for the Matador. The Hornet-derived Gremlin was lightly updated to create the 1979 Spirit Coupe, while a Spirit "Sedan" was created by tacking new front and back ends onto the Gremlin's 2-door center section. In a last-ditch attempt to relive past glories, the AMX name was revived for a lightly uprated sports version of the Spirit Sedan.
This round of face-lifts and rebranding of outdated cars was hardly a permanent fix, American Motors desperately needed truely new, modern products but lacked the capital and resources to develop them. The only alternative was to seek a foreign partner to invest in the business. In 1979, American Motors found a ready partner in the Franch automaker Renault. Under the terms of the American Motors-Renault alliance, the French company purchased a 5% interest in American Motors and provided $135 million in the form of a loan to help shore up the business. In exchange, American Motors would act as the North American importer and distributor of Renault products, which would be sold through the existing AMC-Jeep dealer network. A new line of Renault-designed modern, front-wheel drive compact cars would be produced by American Motors at their Kenosha plant. The first new product resulting from this partnership was the 1983 Alliance, a compact sedan sold under the joint Renault/AMC brand. A virtually identical coupe version was also produced, badged as the Renault Encore. Due to the ever-worsening financial situation at American Motors, Renault was forced to increase their stake in the company several times to keep it solvent, arriving at a 49% plurality interest by 1983. Following the 1983 model year, the AMC brand was pared down to a single model- the revolutionary Eagle. From that point on, the focus of the company would be on the Renault and Jeep brands.
Introduced in 1980, the Eagle, was a trend-setting four-wheel drive passenger car consisting of a warmed-over Hornet body shell mounted on an all-new platform developed by American Motors engineers during the late 1970's. The Eagle become one of AMC's best-known products, predated the Subaru Outback by over a decade and possibly pioneered the "crossover" automotive segment. Under its all-too familiar body, the Eagle featured some truely revolutionary engineering. The drivetrain was, infact, the world's first true full-time all wheel drive system, that is, a system capable of remaining in four wheel drive under all conditions without undue wear on the components. Not suprisingly, most Eagles were sold in snow-prone states. Per AMC tradition, sales were strong for the first year or two, then tapered off dramatically. Whatever the Eagle's merits, it may be that customers had simply grown tired of AMC's styling, which dated all the way back to the 1970 Hornet.
Fall
By 1982, AMC was on its last legs. Because AMC's profitable AM General subsidiary was a major defense contractor, American Motors was forced to sell the business following the alliance with Renault, as for reasons of national security, the US Government would not allow a foreign government to own a portion of an important defense supplier (Renault was partially owned by the French government). AM General continued to operate through several ownership changes, and survives to this day. In 1992, the company entered the civilian marketplace with the launch of the Hummer brand.
Its merger with Renault ended its run as a truely American car company, in the same way that Chryler's merger with Daimler would technically make it a German car company. However, the American Motors Company's woes did not end there.
AMC's struggles continued after its partnership with Renault. In the early 1980s, the Jeep Division popularized the compact sport-utility vehicle with its introduction of the downsized Jeep XJ Cherokee and Jeep XJ Wagoneer in 1983. These vehicles initially used the AMC four-cylinder engine and the General Motors 2.8 Liter V-6. The 1987 models used the "new" 4.0 liter engine, derived from the 258 in-line six with an electronic fuel injection system designed with help from Renault utilizing Renault-Bendix (Renix) parts.
One older design was kept- the Grand Wagoneer full-size luxury SUV and the related J-Series pickups continued to be built on the same chassis as the earlier SJ model Wagoneers and Cherokees, with the now discontinued AMC 360 V-8 (engine and Grand Wagoneer ceased production after 1991). As mentioned above, the AMC Concord, Spirit, and AMX were dropped after 1983, with no attempts at replacement. The AMC Eagle was continued, and in station wagon form lasted through the 1988 model year.
Renault itself was experiencing financial troubles of its own back in France. The massive investment in American Motors (including construction of a new Canadian plant) forced cuts at home, resulting the the closure of several French plants and mass layoffs. Public anger built against Renault's president, who believed strongly in the importance of the North American market. This was undoutedly the primary motive behind his 1986 assassination. The company's new president set out to repair employee relations and put the company back on a sound financial footing through the divestiture of American Motors.
In March 1987, Renault's stake in AMC was purchased by Chrysler. Following a small run of 1988 Eagle station wagons, the AMC brand was dropped. As a replacement for AMC, Chrysler created the Eagle brand, taking the name from AMC's last product. The remains of American Motors were consolidated into the Jeep-Eagle Division of Chrysler Corporation. There were other remnants- the XJ jeeps were continued with the 4.0-liter engine (which is still used by Daimler-Chrysler in the Wrangler models). The Spirit name, which was discontinued in 1983, was placed on one of the "K" platform cars and was sold as the Dodge Spirit. The Renault Medallion was sold as the Eagle Medallion for 1989. A Renault/AMC concept, the Summit (which was to replace the Eagle station wagon) was produced by Chrysler, and the Grand Wagoneer with the 360 AMC V-8 was produced until 1991 (the AMC 360 was never fitted with electronic smog controls and was one of the most polluting engines on the road by the late 1980s). The sale of American Motors came at an ironic time — the automotive press was very enthusiastic about the proposed 1988 line-up of Renault and Jeep vehicles, some even speculating that AMC/Renault finally had a winning hand that could turn the company around.
Legacy
The American Motors Corporation has left little impact on the world some twenty years after its death. It simply never managed to effectively compete in the U.S. auto market after the early seventies and is now largely forgotten by the general public.
There are some traces remaining within present-day DaimlerChrysler, however. AMC's Toledo, Ohio plants continue to turn out Jeep Wranglers and Libertys as well as parts and components for Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep vehicles (although Toledo Machining and Forge is slated for closure as of 2005). AMC's main plant in Wisconsin is still active, albeit heavily downsized as the Kenosha Engine Plant, producing engines for several Chrysler Group products, including the Wrangler. AMC's technologically advanced Bramalea Assembly and Stamping Plants in Ontario (recentley completed at the the time of the Chrysler takeover) are still active, and now produce the best-selling LX-Series cars- Dodge Charger, Dodge Magnum, and Chrysler 300.
The planned all-new 1988 Renault Premier, a joint development effort between American Motors and Renault, and for which the Bramalea plant was built, was sold by Chrysler as the 1988-1993 Eagle Premier with a badge-engineered Dodge Monaco variant for 1991-1993. Incorporation AMC's Cab Forward design introduced on the 1975 Pacer, the Premier's platform was far more advanced than anything Chrysler was building at the time, and after some reengineering and a redesignation to LH, the Renault/AMC Premier went on to form the backbone of Chrysler's passenger car lineup during the 1990's as the Chrysler Concorde (a revived AMC model name), Chrysler New Yorker, Chrysler LHS, Dodge Intrepid, and Eagle Vision. The Chrysler 300M was likewise a Premier/LH derived car and was initially to have been the next-generation Eagle Vision until the Eagle brand was dropped.
The American Motors-developed Jeeps survived for some time under Chrysler. The Comanche pickup lasted until 1993, while the Cherokee and Grand Cherokee SUVs remained until 2001 and 2003 respectively. The current Jeep Wrangler, in production since 1997, is really a lightly updated development of the oringinal American Motors-designed Wrangler introduced in 1988.
The AM-General Corporation, sold by American Motors in 1982, is still in business building the likewise American Motors-designed High Mobility Multi-Wheel Vehicle (HMMWV) for US and allied militaries. AM General also builds the civilian variant - the H1 - and a Chevrolet Suburban-derived companion, the H2, under contract to General Motors, new owners of the civilian Hummer brand.
The American Motors Corporation's death was recent enough that a handful of AMC Eagles are still on the roads under their original owners. Their numbers dwindle with each passing year, however, and since most AMC vehicles never really attained 'collector' status, cars fully restored by auto enthusiasts are also quite rare.
As the numbers dwindle and prices for more popular collector cars continue to rise, some collectors are starting to pay more attention to AMC vehicles. Prices for the more popular collector models (Javelin, AMX, and a few specials such as the 1957 Nash and Hudson Rebels, 1969 Rambler Marlin SC/Rambler, and 1970 Javelin Machine), which have always had a small but enthusiastic following, are already rising at a rapid pace. It will be a long time before the "bread and butter" Hornets, Gremlins, Concords, and Pacers will be very collectible, but many AMC models are now considered "future collectibles" and often appear on collectible bargain lists in American collector car magazines such as "Hemmings" and "Collectible Automobile".
A truely bizarre footnote to the death of the company is that at least one of its dealerships, Collier Motors of Pikeville, North Carolina, is still in business - although at this point it is largely overgrown with weeds and its cars are rusting where they sit. Its continued existance, albeit in this diminished form, is surprising.
Epilogue
The Eagle brand, created to replace AMC, is now gone from the marketplace, killed off by DaimlerChrysler in 1999. The Jeep marque, however, is still going strong and is now an important part of DaimlerChrysler's strategy. The decades-long hand-over from Willys Overland to Kaiser Industries to American Motors to Chrysler to DaimlerChrysler has, somewhat ironically, put a German manufacturer in charge of the descendents of the vehicle used to help defeat the Nazis in World War II.
Kelvinator, the largely ignored half of Nash-Kelvinator, is the essentially the last man standing. Sold off by American Motors in 1958 and now owned by Electrolux, the Kelvinator company is still in business.
The Kelvinator Division also produced appliances under other brand names. A look on the back of a Leonard refrigerator from the 50's, for example, will reveal tags that indicates it was "manufactured by American Motors Corporation".
Other components of American Motors and "where they are today":
- Jeep (now part of Chrysler-Jeep Division of Chrysler Group, a unit of DaimlerChrysler A.G.)
- AM General Corporation (now owned by McAndrews & Forbes Holdings and Renco)
- Hummer (created by AM General in 1992 and now owned by General Motors)
- Kelvinator (owned by Electrolux)
- Wheel Horse Products Division - now owned by Toro Lawnmower Products.
- Toledo North & South Assembly Plants - still in use by DaimlerChrysler
- Toledo Machining and Forge - still in use by DaimlerChrysler
- Brampton (formerly Bramalea) Assembly and Satellite Stamping Plants - still in use by DaimlerChrysler
- Kenosha Engine Plant - still in use by DaimlerChrysler
AMC models (including some Nash models)
Sub-Compact
- 1954–1962*: Nash Metropolitan**
- 1970–1978: AMC Gremlin — a cut-down Hornet with the trunk removed in favor of a top hinged rear window (not quite a hatch) and shorter wheelbase.
- 1979–1983: AMC Spirit — fastback/hatchback version of the Gremlin. Spirit Sedan was a restyled Gremlin with larger rear windows.
- 1981–1983: Eagle SX/4 (including Kammback based on the Spirit Sedan)
- 1983–1988: Renault Alliance — two- and four-door compact models based on the Renault 9.
- 1984–1987: Renault Encore — three- and five-door compact hatchbacks based on the Renault 11.
^* - Badges as Nash 1954-55, Nash/Hudson 1955-57, and as Rambler 1958-62. Production ceased in 1961, but there were leftovers numbered and sold as 1962 models.
** - The Gremlin was the company's first true subcompact; the Metro was simply a fantastically small car.
Compact
- 1950–1955: Nash Rambler (100-inch wheelbase)
- 1955–1962: Rambler (108 inch wheelbase, first just Rambler, with V8 power Rambler Rebel, then in 1961, finally Rambler Classic)
- 1958–1969: Rambler American
- 1968–1970: AMC AMX — two-seater sports car. Later, a Javelin sub-brand and also used on a sporty version of the Hornet in 1977, the Concord in 1978, and the Spirit in 1979-80.
- 1968–1974: AMC Javelin — five passenger pony car-type sports car derived from the AMX. Basically a lengthened version of the original 2-Seater AMX. (includes 1971 Javelin AMX trim group)
- 1970–1977: AMC Hornet — small sedan. Also came as station wagon (known as the Sportabout)
- 1975–1980: AMC Pacer — its two doors were not the same length — an unusual touch. Also came as station wagon.
- 1978–1983: AMC Concord — facelifted, renamed AMC Hornet. Market as a "luxury compact".
- 1980–1988: AMC Eagle — four-wheel-drive vehicle; available as sedan and wagon (Concord chassis), SX-4 (Spirit chassis), and Kammback (Spirit/Gremlin sedan chassis). Last Kenosha design put on the market in the U.S.
- 1988–1989:Renault Medallion — four-door sedan and station wagon range based on the Renault 21.
Mid Size
- 1952–1957: Nash Ambassador
- 1958–1964: Rambler Ambassador (1958–1962 was known as "Ambassador by Rambler")
- 1963–1966: Rambler Classic
- 1965–1966: Marlin (Rambler Marlin 1965 only)
- 1967–1970: Rebel (Rambler Rebel 1967 only)
- 1971–1978: AMC Matador — middle-of-the-line car. Successor to Rambler Classic. Came as station wagon, sedan, and coupe (coupe was used as a NASCAR racer).
- 1988–1992: AMC Premier — large four-door sedan based on the Renault 25., Renamed Eagle Premier
Full size
- 1965–1974: AMC Ambassador — top of the line car. Also previously marketed under Nash, Rambler makes. Also came as station wagon.
- 1967: Marlin (Only 2,547 models produced)
Engines used by AMC
- 1953-1956:
- 1956-1966:
- 287 in³ (4.7 L) AMC V8
- 327 in³ (5.4 L) AMC V8 (used by Kaiser until its acquisition in 1970)
- 196 in³ (3.2 L) Rambler I6 (L head and OHV version)
- 199 in³ (3.3 L) Typhoon Six I6
- 1967–1970:
- 199 in³ (3.3 L) Typhoon Six I6
- 232 in³ (3.8 L) Typhoon Six I6
- 290 in³ (4.8 L) AMC V8
- 343 in³ (5.6 L) AMC V8
- 390 in³ (6.4 L) AMC V8
- 1971–1980:
(In cars, 401 discontinued in 1974, 360 in 1978, 304 and 232 in 1980)
- 1980–1983:
- 1984-1986:
- 1987:
Also: Kaiser Jeeps used the AMC 327, Buick 225 ("Dauntless V6"), Buick 350 ("Dauntless V8"), Willys 134 I4 ("Hurricane").
1 AMC contracted with VW to buy tooling for the Audi 2.0L OHC I-4. Major parts (block, crankshaft, head assembly) were initially purchased from Audi and shipped to the U.S. where final assembly was accomplished by AMC at a plant purchased specifically for production of this engine. Sales never reached numbers to justify taking over total production. AMC made several changes to the engine. They were prevented from using the VW or Audi name in association with the AMC assembled version by contractual agreement.
External links
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