This has to be one of the nicest 1975 AMC Matador Coupes that I’ve seen, at least in photos. I can’t imagine being disappointed when this car shows up on a trailer as I’ve been so ridiculously many times in the past. The seller has this low-mile beauty listed here on eBay in beautiful Cottonwood, Arizona and they’re asking $11,500 or you can make an offer.
I don’t know about you, but buying cars, trucks, and motorcycles online can be frustrating. I’ve gotten so many in the last few years and more often than not, it’s been a disappointing experience. The vehicles are rarely as nice as they look in the online photos and I’ve been disappointed so, so, so many times. Not that I’m bitter. I just don’t see that happening with this car, it looks nicer than anything that I’ve gotten in the 2010s and I would love to have it, yes, even sight unseen. They do say that the hood has been repainted due to rocks chips having been touched up with incorrect color touch-up paint. It now matches perfectly according to the seller.
The Matador Coupe is an iconic car to those crazed fanatics of the old TV show Adam-12 as Marty Milner drove one in his role as Officer Pete Malloy later in the series. They were made for five years, from 1974 until the end of the 1978 model year and about 100,000 of them were sold. This particular example looks fantastic. The seller has done a lot of maintenance and other work on this car, including adding a “rust-free undamaged” rear bumper.
This car is rust-free according to the seller and it has just 55,449 miles on it and it sure looks like a low-mile car, doesn’t it? It’s mostly original, they say, but the front seat bottom and driver’s side seatback have been reupholstered in the correct material and it looks great. The back seat looks like new and that center light back there is as cool as it gets. The trunk, well, it looks great but I’m not sure what the story on the passenger back there is, there’s no mention of that.
The engine and engine bay are as clean as it gets and it’s unusual to not see a 304 V8 here. This engine is AMC’s tried-and-true 258 cubic-inch inline-six which had 110 horsepower. The transmission is a Chrysler-sourced TorqueFlite three-speed automatic with a column shifter and the seller has done a lot of work including having the fuel system cleaned out, upper and lower ball joints, struts, bushings, and shocks in the front, a new power brake booster, a new battery and much more. Hagerty is at $11,800 for a #2 excellent condition car, coincidentally enough. Are there any Matador Coupe fans or owners out there?
Yes! I fall into the “like it” category. I agree that this appears to be a very nice example, and sensibly priced. To be honest, though, I prefer my Matador in “X” trim, with Magnums and a V-8, LOL! GLWTA!! :-)
Haven’t seen one that looks this nice in a long time! It’ll be a real slug though with the emissions-strangled six cylinder engine. Fortunately there are hop-up parts available thanks to the Jeep crowd.
I had a 1974, pre catalytic converter, with this 6 popper in it, mine was a stick shift too (3 on the tree), and it was slow as a sloth.
This would be terrible to drive, just because it would be scary slow.
I dont remember ever seeing one of these with the I6. It would have a hard time getting out of its own way. Looks really nice though. Cant remember the last time I saw one driving around, maybe not since the 90’s at least. GLWTA.
In stock form, I think these are very awkward looking. However, the 1975 Matador that Team Penske ran in NASCAR in 1975 is killer. With a lowered stance, some wide tires, and added ponies under the hood, it’s a really distinctive machine: https://www.teampenske.com/news/index.cfm/c/709/54466/Bobby_Allison_Recalls_his_Magical_1975_Darlington_Sweep
Nice to finally see one of these without the awkwardly-applied vinyl top. Always seemed to me that Dick Teague never anticipated they’d offer that on this model, or maybe even designed it to be difficult to integrate harmoniously and deter them from the whole idea, only to see the marketing guys demand it anyway, to his likely chagrin.
Put wings on it, holster your golden gun, get in and fly away to your island.
The 304 was a slug. I’m sure the 6 cyl. is even worse. Find a older 343 or 390 and you might have something.
If money were no concern, I’d see your AMC 390 and raise you a “stroked to 440 inches with 515 hp and 589 ft/lb” with tubbed wheels for a sleeper that would make people lose their minds!
https://www.motortrend.com/how-to/dyno-tested-440ci-amc-390?galleryimageid=c9535279-5dde-4765-a212-1da8a730db01
I’d prefer keeping it as an inline six and installing a Jeep 4.0 to improve performance while keeping it in the family.
There was a surprisingly extensive list of speed parts available back then. It would be fun to source out a lot of period-correct parts to hop up the engine. It still wouldn’t be FAST but it would have a great sound and gather a lot of attention when the hood is popped.
El matadòr
Nice link Ken 👌 thanks that Penske Allison matador was a runner. Didnt teamPenske just win Daytona other day ?
This has to be the ugliest car ever made…. we had one on our used car lot.. I remember it well… we had to practically give it away it was so ugly
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. AMC was, like Studebaker and other names now gone, innovators in pushing the style envelope.
Well said, Chuck. I’m guessing some people just prefer the cookie-cutter designs of today’s cars.
The colonade Chevy Malibu is no beauty queen either!
Odd on the above Matador coupe that the windshield, front roof, & doors look like they were copied from a ’70-74 firebird!
I think this car is beautiful, exterior and interior. As far as the engine goes, it seems to me underpowered indeed. Maybe not a slug, but pretty close to it. It means however, it originally was bought by a conservative type, meaning it was not abused, as most all muscle cars were.
Had a 74 like this one ,color and all but I had a vinyl roof, got it cause of the fuel crisis back then,,like were going to have again, drove a 73 olds 88 before it 2 dr HT ,,I like the body style but I thought the interior was cheap ,,lotsa plastic and the 6 (in my opinion) was to small for a car this size, if I had it yet probably turbo it, If i were to get another a V8 and buckets but actually the Marlin is growing on me so that will come first
Nice car,I would leave this car bone stock, simply because it’s a survivor and I like my cars original.i would park it in my garage right beside my original 1967 Camaro SS/RS 396/325 HP and enjoy for what it is
I would trick this thing out hard! Drop a Hemi in this, new trans, drop it a little lower and stiffen up or replace suspension as needed, heavy duty discs all around, French in the bumpers, satin black and carbon fiber on the body, all leather interior, black with dark grey piping. I’d even keep the first gen Kindig door handles!
I’m surprised these bumpers do not stick out as far as most others of the period. I doubt they are 5mph ones.
Car looks quite different without any bumpers …
https://m.cdn.blog.hu/ri/ritkanlathatotortenelem/image/AUT%C3%93K/AMC/1975_amc-matador-coupe-photo-305353-s-1280×782.jpg
&
https://m.cdn.blog.hu/ri/ritkanlathatotortenelem/image/AUT%C3%93K/AMC/1975AMC-Matador-07.jpg
joenywf64…
I like that one alot!
I also like how they used a 70 AMX hood scoop. They can be made to look good as proven by this excellent example and Penske. His NASCAR racers were the most radical on the ovals at the time.
Federal law required ALL cars from 74 up have 5 mph bumpers front and rear.
But have these bumpers been moved in? It’s hard telling for sure from photos, but it looks like the bumpers have been pushed in against their compression struts–or whatever you call the telescoping pillars the bumpers are mounted on…if indeed the bumpers are mounted that way.
The bumpers don’t seem as prominent as they have to me in the past, and I looked at other pictures on the web and…I can’t tell for sure. But that would certainly be one way of making the Matador Coupe look much better. The standard 5-mph bumpers really ruined the cohesiveness to the Dick Teague design which was surely locked in before the law was even proposed.
I’ve wondered what it would take to make the front end of the Matador coupe look better…and that would seem to help.
A very strange-looking design, but that is one of the things that I liked about AMC products.
I had a seventy six matador with the same color,except my had a 304 engine,I park it next to my 1970 amx,miss both of them.
Why soup this car up? You can,nt get good gas to run it on. I,d leave it like it is and if I had to be at a certain time. I,d leave earlier. Some one took car of this car and I,d say it is a good car and hasn,nt been abused like the chargers,comarro,s ,mustangs or firebirds.
One of the ugliest cars EVER made! And I own a 1949 Nash Airflyte. What were they thinking!?
Unique but dependable grocery-getter with all that has been replaced on it and everything works. Easy to maintain and gas isn’t getting any cheaper so this would be an economical alternative to $20k used cars with 100k miles on them. I’d much rather have this.
I bought a new one similar to this in January 1975, with the six, because, more so than today, gasoline had just doubled in price and was going to become less and less available. Because the six had to work so hard, it wasn’t very economical, maybe 17 mpg if you were careful. I had the Brougham model with fancier upholstery and interior door panels. Made the mistake of not ordering it with air conditioning. All of that glass in the summertime made the interior very hot.
I’m surprised back then you didn’t buy a new Hornet or even a Gremlin with the smallest 6 – tho older used ones without the heavy 5 mph bumpers & cat conv & with smallest 6 would be even better for mpg, as they & the ’60s novas, camaros & falcons were quite peppy & simple as pie with the inlines.
Not sure tho how peppy & torquey the 225 slant 6s compact cars were.
The gold 1962 Falcon I drove, with the 170 cid six and two-speed automatic, was a hit with the gals.
I owned a 77 Matador Barcelona II edition, I hated to trade it but needed a wagon at the start of my DJ business. Loved the car though.