Quick: name a car company that made the quirkiest vehicles during the 1970s. I should say an American car company as there were a few making oddball designs, or what a few of us may think of as oddball now. Back then, this 1976 AMC Matador Coupe Brougham wasn’t considered totally off the charts, but looking at them today, yes, yes they are. This example is listed here on eBay in Fraser, Michigan and the seller is asking $17,900. Let’s check it out.
Let’s get the asking price out of the way. As a general reference, Hagerty is at $15,100 for a #2 excellent-condition example, and other than some surface rust showing up under the hood, this one appears to be in that realm. That’s a lot of dough for such an unusual car, not to mention it only has two doors! The humanity! We’ve only seen three 1976 Matador Coupes here on Barn Finds and they’re fairly rare to see today.
How’s that for an angle? I… yeah. I mean, I’m a huge AMC fan but this is one nutty design. The tunneled headlights and unusual tail lights are only the beginning, but somehow, AMC got every part and piece to work together. Designer, Dick Teague, borrowed elements from one of his first projects, the Rambler American, and the headlights are a dead giveaway. The bumpers are usually unfortunate in the mid to late 1970s and that’s the case here, too. I believe this is Firecracker Red with a White vinyl roof. Or is it Sienna Orange? AMC offered the unusual Matador Coupe – different from the two-door Matador – from 1974 through 1978 with around 100,000 of them being sold.
As expected, the interior looks fantatsic. A sea of vinyl, or what AMC called “Sof-Touch” vinyl waits for the leisure suit-clad driver, unless it’s a woman driver and then she’d be wearing a pants suit. Either way, it was very 1976 stylish. The back seat is loaded with more perfect-looking Sof-Touch tan vinyl and we don’t see the trunk but I’m guessing it looks just as nice. The seller didn’t provide underside photos and there’s a bit of surface rust in the engine compartment so I’d want to see underneath this Coupe.
The engine is AMC’s 304-cu.in. OHV V8 with 120 horsepower and 220 lb-ft of torque when new. It’s backed by a Chrysler-sourced three-speed TorqueFlite sending power to the rear wheels. It’s a little worrisome that the seller mentions the new brake lines and hoses, new fuel lines, and a new gas tank. Having grown up in snow country with salty roads, as there are in Michigan, I hope there aren’t any rust issues underneath and it was maybe due to it having been stored, but we don’t know. They say it’s a believed 22k-mile car so there’s that. Any thoughts on this Matador Coupe?
“Quirky “? Perfect description, Scotty. Nothing could be done about the bumpers maybe but the tunneled headlights didn’t help. The 3/4 profile from the rear isn’t bad but AMC needed a home run-and this wasn’t it. Couldn’t find a photo of the 2 Dr vs the coupe but seems many of the AMC cars of this era had a different headlight configuration with the exception of the Pacer.
Didn’t help either that IIRC there was a recall on (all?) the 49 state cars for an emissions issue.
This one looks pretty nice but as you said a 1st hand inspection would be warranted for the price negotiations, especially in light of the lack of underside photos!
Well, the listing has ended, as the item is “no longer available”. I happened to like it, although I’d have preferred to have the “X” model instead! :-)
Scotty, I was and am a fan (along with about everything else with wheels) of the great underdog AMC. Back then, I could have cared less what all the sheeple cool kid motorheads would say, I liked what I liked. That said, I would beg to differ with you about this Kenosha offering’s reception. At least in the general public circles I frequented back then, this styling exercise by the great Dick Teague was considered by most as being a bridge too far…way too far. Terms like garish, confused, bulbous abounded. Though personally I loved the attitude and swagger of the Matador, I remember thinking if I were to buy one of the so-called “personal” coupes, I would have went with one of the GM colonnades. I do agree with Moparman, the best of these was the “X”.
Quirky? Anything French, but I never thought of AMC as quirky. Besides, the 70s were all about being quirky. AMC merely provided vehicles for people that didn’t conform to what the others made. Gremlin, Pacer, Matador, all sold well. It was however, a short burst, and people that bought unusual cars like this, rarely bought another. They faded pretty quick. Some cherished them, like this car here. Pete Malloy would be impressed, wherever you are.
Love it. Someone else did, too, as the listing has ended. For everyone who complains about the prices of collectible cars, this one offered the opposite argument.
While I agree this car could be on the quirky list my only comment on the design would be the headlights not doing anything for the aerodynamics/gas mileage.
It needs a pair of wings.
Flying Matador in the Man With The Golden Gun. Also the famous spiral Hornet river jump.
Yup. Doing that for real would have made AMC number one. So many missed opportunities.
I owned the same car, but blue / blue back in the mid 90’s
Even then I’d be stopped by someone curious about it; styling was subjective but it ran and drove really well. A/C was amazing, here in AZ a must.
This one looks like it was well taken care of, not a fan of the vinyl top, and agree that a Matador X would be preferred
Our family had a 76 Brougham in dark cocoa poly, gold pinstripes, two tone brown/tan interior with plaid fabric inserts (seats and door panels!). Full wheel covers, 304 V8, white stripe 14″ bias ply tires, AC, rear defog, tilt wheel and stereo.
My earned it as an award for being “manager of the month” for Howard Johnson’s. Free car is a free car although we may have been the unwitting butt of a joke in the neighborhood…we did have a neighbor with an exploding Pinto. The Matador was kicked down to me for my junior/senior years in college. A friend in the Senior dorm had a white Oleg Casino Matador coupe…added some interest to the parking lot.
Great memories…I remember the rear quarter windows getting stuck/slightly off track.
I was a AMC guy, I owned 2 AMX’s and a Hornet. I always thought these were super wierd/ugly. Still do……….but they also look really KOOL. GLWTA
In the mid 70s, there were too many other cars, much more interesting than these to choose from. We never even discussed these let considered going out and buying one.
What do you expect from the decade where people were flocking to stores to buy a Pet Rock! Seriously, I dont quite get why so much mocking, and hate on this car. It was the seventies, and this car screams ’70’s.
Lovely looking car. If only interior pics were posted. I would also have loved seeing the engine and trunk.
Do the rear side windows roll down?
Yes, they roll down.
It looks like Citroen was involved in the design of this thing!
10-15 years earlier and those frenched tunneled headlights and round taillights would have envoked the Jet age and been cutting edge. in the 70’s they were just a tired design by a low budget struggling car company. Although the fuselage-ish sides did resemble the Chrysler products of the time, and this was more upscale than the Pacer, Hornet, or Gremlin.
Grand prize for the worst wheel well / tire ratio. Ever.
It is late 1978, into 1979. A refugee student – me – is hired by a family friend to help operate (hopefully) or liquidate a store that has been in operation since 1913 and just assumed by American Motors management and ownership. I had been going there for almost 20 years with my parents for various zone meetings and parts pickup, etc. etc. Wentworth and Irwin had been in business since before my Father was born, so it was ANCIENT. The world now knows the location as Powell’s Books. It was such a sprawling operation that occupied one city block as well as pieces of two other buildings, complete with car elevators. There was a hope that the large income of parts and service would allow a declining retail AMC-Jeep sales to limp along and keep the almost 300 employees.Alas, it was not to be and I was out of a job by ,I think February 1980. One of the very last vehicles was a brand new 1978 Matador in two tone blue that was some kind of signature edition, but my brain fails me on less onerous recall these days. It was a beautiful car, and my forever looking at a bargain (or a steal) Father offered $4500 for a car that I think had an invoice of around $7500(?). It would have probably been inherited by me along with the 3000 mile 1967 DPL Ambassador hardtop in 2010. The hints of vague memory and nostalgia are part and parcel of this website. I thank you. It made me remember the smell of that car.
Yes, they roll down.
Amazing.
Thanks.
I really want this car, but I may be too old to paralel park it without curb feelers.
Thanks.
That’s a complex shape.
Coming from a American Motors family I found the Matador two door coup refreshing compared to every other car on the market at that time.
as i get older (53) i like cars now that i didnt when i was younger but ive always thought these matadors were really ugly and unfortunately that opinion hasn’t changed
I’m gonna call it the Nash of the 70’s