This 1976 AMC Matador is fascinating, primarily because I’m trying to spot the builder’s inspiration, and I keep coming back to Bobby Allison’s Penske Matador from the mid-1970s. No, this bad, all-black Matador doesn’t have Penske’s distinctive red, white, and blue paint job, but it does have (in some of the pictures) side-exiting exhaust, headers, black wheels with 1960s Plymouth Valiant hubcaps, and a general moonshine-running vibe. I like it, and if you like those offbeat cars from Kenosha, I think you’ll like it, too. I found it here on Marketplace in Bolivar, Ohio, where the seller is asking $11,995 for his menacing Matador.
We can pass by the gloom-and-doom talk about how the Matador was really not selling well in either coupe or sedan form, and move on to the drivetrain. The seller says that this car has the optional 360, which was available as a 140-horsepower two-barrel (as a $150 option) or the 180-horsepower “Power Package” four-barrel, which came with dual exhausts and cost $266. Both had Motorcraft carburetors, and based on what little I can see under the air cleaner, I’d argue for the four-barrel, which was a Motorcraft 4350. It looks like you’ll get power steering and brakes (both of which were optional), and even air conditioning, although the rusty pulleys and lack of belts tell you what you probably need to know about that system. The seller says that the radiator is a “fresh three-row,” and the water pump is new.
The interior has the optional bucket seats and console, and the transmission is the Torque-Command three-speed automatic, which was actually Chrysler’s tough TorqueFlite, a transmission that AMC started using in 1972. This car has a console and floor shifter, and the bucket seats have been reupholstered with covers from Legendary Auto Interiors. It even has cruise control.
Finding the little details that each automaker called their own is one of the most rewarding parts of the car hobby. American Motors used fake woodgraining on the Matador’s dashboard, as almost everyone was doing in the 1970s, but someone, somewhere in the interior-design department decided to get the jump on the rest of the industry and use woodgraining on the gauges. Why not? Unfortunately, nobody seemed to follow their lead, but what a neat idea. I also like the general design of the gauge pods themselves, wide and chunky with needles that don’t seem as if they’d follow the numbers all the way around (yet they do!).
As I mentioned earlier, some of the Matador’s pictures show side-exiting exhaust, while others (like this one) show a traditional dual-exhaust system. The ad’s text does say that the car has new dual exhaust, so perhaps the owner got tired of the full NASCAR experience right under his left ear. Either way, this is a tough-looking coupe (with redline tires—nice touch!) that some AMC fan will enjoy driving, pretending that they’re Bobby Allison, taking the Southern 500 at Darlington. What a way to make a daydream real.
I realize the coincidence of a city called “Beer City” and the wacky car designs that came from that city, but I can assure you, these designs were not alcohol fueled, like say that car/boat thing, designers actually thought they had a chance. Gremlin, Pacer, Matador,,,all a bit out there, but believe it or not, they had a following. Now, whether stout AMC/Rambler fans merely accepted these designs, like early 60s Mopars, in order to get a wonderful car, can be debated, but the ones that did buy them, had no regrets. While Marty Milner may have been paid well, some say $1250/ episode, some like Archie Bunker almost $30grand/episode, to list the accolades of his new Matador, that had a 401, btw, I think he actually liked AMC cars. I don’t see much in the line of NASCAR inspired, they looked pretty much like this from new. Wasn’t so much a flop, as I read over 110,000 Matador coupes were sold, the 1st year, 1974, was the best, with 62,000 sold, ironically just as they were being featured on Adam-12. Go figure, huh? They were nice cars, the NASCAR thing did little for sales.
I like it, and would love it even more in “X” trim! Personally, I’d change the wheels (maybe Magnums) and drive this one proudly! GLWTS!! :-)
I like the “X” trim too. Kind of funny, in that Adam-12 episode, titled “Krash’ aired Feb.5, 1974, in the driveway the car is clearly an “X”, but when on the street, it was a different car without the “X” trim. Dat’s Hollywood, thinking nobody noticed, HA!