The Ambassador was American Motors’ flagship luxury automobile from 1957 to 1974. It competed with the likes of the Chevrolet Caprice and Ford LTD during much of that time. By the 1970s, the car’s prominence dwindled as even more emphasis was placed on smaller, more economical forms of transportation. The seller’s 1973 Ambassador Brougham was once a regal machine, but it’s apparently been sitting outside for the better part of a decade, and Mother Nature has been in charge. Located in Plymouth, Indiana, this “Rambler” awaits the first bid of $1,400 here on eBay (no reserve either).
Upon its retirement, the Ambassador name had been in use over a span of 47 years, making it the longest continuously used car nameplate at the time. The redesign of 1969 carried the car through to the end of the line in 1974. With its demise coming, AMC changed that product little in 1973, dropping the SST secondary name in favor of Brougham. The “Extended Buyer Protection Plan” (an AMC exclusive) was upgraded to two years or 24,000 miles. Perhaps the latter helped with sales as overall company results grew by 25%.
Cars like the seller’s Ambassador got bigger bumpers fore and aft to make the Feds happy (increased safety standards). But at least they weren’t in “cowcatcher” proportions that some 1970s automobiles would take on. The seller’s Ambassador has a 360 cubic inch V8, which may have been an upgrade from the 304. An automatic transmission was standard, as were power accessories befitting a car with such a moniker.
The motor turns over, but that’s as far as the engine will go. We’re told that rust has been held to a minimum, but patina is evident from every angle. The interior has undoubtedly been exposed to extended periods of daylight, resulting in worn-out upholstery. Any car can be saved with the proper investment in time and money, but a 52-year-old 4-door sedan like this might find an afterlife as a donor for another AMC project at 62,000 miles.
Aha, das burnout king! Very similar to the old mans ex-forest ranger car. Someone informed me that it was the Matador that was used in police duties, and that’s true, and made me wonder if the old memory clutches aren’t holding the grip, but I did look up 1970 Ambassadors and apparently, the police package was offered in the Ambassador, and were green and used by the forest dept., so memory okay, for now. To be clear, it was nothing like this, police equipment in every way. The “special 390 AMX engine, positraction, even a spotlight, and did wicked burnouts. In fact, the old man never knew why there were no back seat door handles. For all practical purposes, it rode like a police car, went like one, and was a pretty lackluster car compared to this. This was the best we had, and were very proud of the Ambassador. Has a snowballs chance in Hades of being saved. For such an oddball, they have to be nicer than this.
Where I live, a large police service did use some Ambassadors in the early 70s. They tended to “spread the wealth”, and buy some from GM, Mopar, Ford, and AMC. The official reason was that, they did not want to have only one make/model, in case there were problems (this proved to be a good idea over the years). The unspoken reason was more political, as all were manufactured in the jurisdiction.
All the Ambassadors came standard with air-conditioning, which was still considered somewhat of a luxury option on most other similar cars. Our police service management thought so too, and removed the A/C from the patrol cars before issuing them. BTW, they also removed AM/FM radios too, until the late 90s.
Donor car!
Assuming everything works like they should, this looks like a great project. I like the asking price. You’d have enough money to work on the car or have someone help with restoring the car.
Ended with no buyers.
Relisted, ended with 0 buyers.
Don’t give up. Someone’s bound to want it bad enough to pony up the money.