Of the many autos that seem to have little middle ground between love-it-or-hate-it styling, the second-generation AMC Matador coupe is one that could easily be considered as a top-level contender for that list. Bearing little resemblance and sharing few body parts with its sedan and station wagon counterparts, the 2-door Matador took on a shape entirely its own, beginning in 1974 and lasting until production ended after the 1978 model. It’s also one of those designs that hasn’t particularly aged well, with those who loved it then probably still feeling the same level of affection, and vice versa. If you’re digging the rounded appearance and unusual curves, this 1975 Matador is located in Winchester, Kentucky, and can be spotted here on Facebook, with an asking price of $5,800. Our thanks go out to reader Pnuts for sending us the tip here!
I’ve been a fan of AMC products since childhood, but even so, I’m still one of those strange people who are sort of on the fence about the styling here. I can certainly appreciate how distinctly different the design was from any other offering of the period, and I dig how the car seems to own its unusual appearance, as if not making any apologies for being a nonconformist. Even the blue paint this one’s wearing is an odd shade, and the exterior could use a fresh coat of it after a few minor rust issues are addressed, such as the lower quarter areas and one section on the bottom right fender. On the other hand, a Matador hasn’t been on my bucket list of cars to own in the past, and I doubt it’ll graduate to that level in the future.
That same hue of blue adorns almost the entire interior, and fortunately, most of the components inside still look pretty good. There are some unusual features inside as well, with one from the factory being the placement of the entry light. It’s interesting how AMC chose to shape the rear seat so the lamp can be located beneath the package tray near the top center, not that this is particularly innovative, but it is cool and different. A couple of user add-ons include a makeshift console sitting on the front seat, and I finally figured out that’s a speaker lying on the passenger-side floorboard.
The base engine here was a 258 inline-six, but this one’s got the entry-level V8, measuring in at 304 cubic inches. The seller includes a video of it starting and running, with the motor firing right up and appearing to be operating capably. It’s also mentioned that this car can be bought for less cash if the owner keeps the mag wheels, but I’d probably still try to negotiate the price a bit with them remaining on. What are your thoughts about this one, and the 1974 through 1978 AMC Matador coupe in general?
Don’t see too many of these are your Circle K, 7-11 or local Stop And Rob-probably for good reason.
Certainly has unusual styling for the time, it’s not nearly as ugly as some of their other products of that era (and you know which ones we’re talking about here). And though unusual it’s kind of bland-until you get to the front and see the headlight nacelles! It probably was supposed to just taper forward but a couple of the engineers put their coffee cups down on the drawings and left saucer rings there-voilà! Headlights.
The interior actually looks in fairly decent condition but the exterior is probably gonna need a lot of paint prep.
To you few that will have their trigger tripped when you see this, GLWTA.
I still like them, repaint, source and apply the “X” model stripe in white, substitute Magnums for the mags and cruise! I’d prefer that the bumpers were chrome, but I could live with the body color. GLWTS!! :-)
An X model clone? I’m in…
Another one of those “So weird they’re cool” cars.
My dad had this when we were kids it was brown with beige vinyl roof and a brown beige tweed interior. as kids we hated it. My dad always had caddys but I think he wanted a second car. Many memories but to me i still dont like the style…
My brother had one of these. It was extremely unimpressive. It was beige with a beige interior and a half vinyl top. This is the model that sucked cash out of AMC. It never turned a profit after the first year. It was not a nice looking car in 1974. It was out of step. Dick Teague didn’t design a winner here. This is one of the reasons why AMC is no longer with us. The money spent on this vehicle should’ve gone to a new generation of Hornet. That was their bread and butter. I had one, and really liked it. I miss AMC!
A running classic for $5800? The body and interior look to be serviceable for a driver with little if any work. When this style Matador came out I considered it one of the AMC too ugly to be seen in cars along with the Pacer and Gremlin.
Nowadays I consider them very unique and would almost drive one pridefully. I bet they would get more attention and interest than a lot of other cars at cruises and shows.
You got to admit that AMC was pretty ballsy and bold when these were designed and marketed. Also…Lose the Cragars, I love em but, not on this car!
Sorry, but when these came out the car mags praised the styling as beautiful and ahead of the other luxury coupes.
I always had a love for some AMC products and owned an ’82 Eagle station wagon in black and really loved that car. This one was not one of AMC’s best looking large sedans but it has possibilities if you can manage the rust issues.
I may be in the minority, but the again I’m a “boulevard cruiser” kinda guy. I love the the look. I’ve seen one at a show with that dark look lowered stance or maybe just bigger wheels, and it grabbed my eye.
I’ve always liked these, along with most Nash/Rambler/AMC products. However, I think they should have given these a different name so it wouldn’t be confused with its boxy 4 door brethren. If AMC had sold these with a 360 base engine with a 401 option and a good suspension, I think they would have had a winner.
Poor timing that few foresaw. The gas crunch of ’73-’74 rang a death knell for large cars, and I’d bet this Matador was the longest, largest model AMC ever made and tried to sell.
Surprisingly, these don’t look bad, once you lose the front bumper. Penske altered the quarter window for less wind resistance running NASCAR. Think Bobby Alison won a race or two in these.
AMC inflicted two death blows on itself in the 1970s. The Matador Coupe was the first, the 2nd and truly fatal blow was the Pacer. Both failed in the marketplace after a short initial period of good sales. Then everybody who wanted one had one and sales dropped like the proverbial stone. Neither model even paid back the tooling costs, let alone made a profit. The resulting cash black hole deprived AMC’s core products of desperately needed updating which ultimately led to the disastrous partnership and takeover by Renault.
This is the car that effectively killed AMC. They wasted a huge portion of their limited development budget on the creation of a car that sold in such limited quantities that they never got their money out of it. The company never really recovered from this loss.
A friend of mine had a 74 version of this in red. It was not a very good looking car. She was killed by some POS drag racing while making a turn on a very busy street. RIP Chris
I think there was one of these on the James Bond ,” The man with the golden gun”.
I think it flew or something. Really cool.
In the 70’s, AMC must have believed that the only way they could draw attention to their brand, was by releasing cars that made people point and laugh. My favorite was the Oleg Cassini version, with the interior that looked like he dropped acid while designing it.
I never realized until now that these have the door lock in the armrest like a Barracuda. They are easy to unlock with a coat hanger. Yep, I locked the keys in my car more than once.
Correct about the Matador flying in The Man With the Golden Gun. Some other much cooler AMCs in that movie…didn’t James Bond do a river jump including rotation in a Hornet after crashing through the window of a showroom floor during a car chase? Fun stuff, just an old Bond fan here, not so much AMC. Although a guy in high school did have a cool dark green Hornet with Cragars and a 304 that I liked…
My mother’s cousin Joan had one that she bought new. 304, orange with white interior. As an 8 or 9 year old I thought it was pretty cool.
I was 10 years old when these came out. I actually built a 1/24 scale plastic model of this car back then, painted it blue…I, however, left the bumpers off my model car. I thought it looked better that way!
These were not popular cars.
They were less popular than the Pacer.
I liked the Gremlin.
I also built a model of one; the kit was on sale for 25 cents, only reason I got it.
Like the Ambassador; AMC went wrong with their designs of the period.