AMC said that their 1972 Matador gave you “most of the things you’d want in a family house.” That’s a pretty strong claim, even for 1972. This one has been sitting in a garage in a non-running state for “some time” and certainly looks like it could use some love. It’s located in West Haven, Connecticut and is listed for sale here on craigslist for $2,500. The ad’s been up for a while so I suspect a cash offer lower than that might be successful. Thanks to AMXBrian for submitting this dusty find!
See, I wasn’t kidding; AMC did compare the Matador to a house! Complete with comfortable chairs and wall to wall carpeting — although what you would do with a “built-in sway bar” in the front of your house I don’t know. Maybe some unusual type of hurricane/tornado protection? It’s unclear whether or not this Matador was ordered with the optional palace features as the seller doesn’t tell us much about it (or picture it well).
The interior doesn’t look bad at all, especially given the possible of a good valet job. The seller doesn’t tell us how many miles are on the car either, just that it’s been off the road for a while.
I believe this is the standard 232 cubic inch inline six-cylinder that is one of my favorite classic car engines despite having only around 100 horsepower. Seven main bearings mean it’s exceptionally smooth and long-lived. I wish I saw an air conditioning compressor under there but I suppose you could always add it. Ultimately, I don’t think this is a $2,500 car, but for a figure somewhat lower than it it could make someone a good and versatile entry-level classic. What do you readers think?
So that’s a Matador…
that’s no bull
after chevy designed the 2.5 liter 4 for the chevy II in 62 the 194 six had the same design and was 7 main bearings as in 65 did the 230 and 250 Six cylinders…
the bottom end on this AMC six ,which i think was done in the late sixties, resulted in a very strong bottom end that was used as the basis for an INDY 500 engine in 69……
Subtract $2k for the 2 extra doors too.
I’ll pass.
This always gets me. Just because a classic car has just two doors, its automatically worth its weight in gold. To me a muscle car is defined through its ‘attitude’ in styling and powerplant. Case in point with today’s Dodge Charger or Supernatural’s Chevy Imapala 4 door; Muscular panel lines, strong engines in a 4 door format. Same amount of sheet metal as a 2 door, just extra door hinges and window buttons/handles. Besides, any buyer be hard pressed to find a decent 2 door muscle car for less than a kings ransom and that’s ven without motor and trans, and God forbid a straight panel. I’ll pass on those.
Just the right number of doors! How boring would the world of classic cars be if it was nothing but 2 doors and convertibles. Hope it gets restored.
Right on RoKo…. where’s the love for sedans and wagons!
One Adam 12, one Adam 12…a 211 silent. One Adam 12 handle code 3.
All kidding aside, these Matadors were
great family haulers if the iron termites
didn’t eat them first! They were roomy
good looking cars that are all but gone
now. Being a Connecticut car, I suspect
that rust is the main issue here as most
AMC and Mopar products will rust to pieces in one winter or less up there.
Add in a lack of repair/ replacement parts, and you may have found the
reason this poor car was parked in
the first place. Hope you all enjoyed
the 4th! I certainly did. My neice laid
out a picnic spread to die for. Hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad,
cole slaw, the whole 9 yards!! And yes,
she’s single too!! Happy 4th to all and
to all a good night!
Funny what an influence TV had on us. It’s the 1st thing I thought of, except Malloy and Reed had a 401. One of my favorite shows. It helped sell a lot of Matadors.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPHWdx0TG2g
balpert@TravelMate-4670:~$ cat temp.txt
Might be worth it if not rusty and if it can be coaxed back to life easily but the seller might be motivated to take a lower offer. You won’t be going anywhere in a hurry though with the six under the hood. No power brakes, probably drums all the way around too. (AMC did offer non-power discs on Gremlin and Hornet, not sure about Matador.) Can’t tell if it has power steering. If not you’ll get a nice workout going around corners.
I think I see a radio to the right of the steering wheel. The upper blank spot on the left is where a clock would go. The larger blank spot is where in previous years the multi-lever HVAC controls would go. In 1972 those controls were modernized and moved over to the right, under the radio.
On the plus side these are very practical cars, comfortable with lots of space. It’s a desirable year since AMC moved to TorqueFlite transmission and standard electric wipers but emission controls hadn’t totally strangled the engine yet.
If the power steering pump were there, it’d be near the top, because of the need to add fluid. Quick GIS suggests that top left was the usual location in AMC products. If it were there, we’d see it in the photo of the engine bay. It’s not there. Believe it or not, with drums all around, you can actually stop a car this big with nonpower brakes. One of my best friends in high school had a full-sized Mercury of about this vintage with manual brakes and they worked okay.
Bottom line: a car this heavy with an inline six, plus Armstrong steering and no A/C, would be a hard pass, unless I were buying it as a candidate to resto-mod.
Not to worry, front disc brakes were standard.
Power brakes only mean hydraulic boost to add ease of use not stopping ability.
Sorry. I was wrong. power disc brakes were standard on the Ambassador only. Discs manual or powered optional on everything else.
The Ambassador was the only one of AMC’s products that came decently equipped in standard form back then. (In fact better equipped than almost any other base model from the Big Three.) By 1972 the list of standard Ambassador features included V8 engine, front power disc brakes, and air conditioning. Every other AMC model was a real stripper in base form.
Other than standard equipment and a different front clip with stretched wheelbase the Ambassador and Matador were the same car.
I’m not sure when the AMC made front discs standard, aside from the ’65 Marlin which was an anomaly. As I recall the base Pacer still came with drums all around when it debuted in 1975 so probably in the late 1970s.
It’s not running and “has rust in certain areas” and no pictures of areas that are rust prone such as rockers, quarter panels, floors, telegraph it has a problem. These may not be on every corner, but they aren’t valuable either. Someone would be wise to wait for a nicer one to show up.
Steve R
You could wait for unicorns too!
My dad had a new 1972 Matador wagon, yuck brown. It has a 304 V8 and we pulled a trailer with a boat on the roof and mom and 3 kits and a scotty dog. That car went like a trooper and never gave an once of trouble. If only dad had gotten the nice red one with the wood grain sides. That one was the dealer’s personal car and it had all the options!
The 232 six by the way came out in 1964 on the Rambler Typhoon and lasted into the 2000’s.
The 232 morphed into the 258, and then become the 4.0L, and it lasted until 2006 in the Jeep lineup.
Lovely looking Matador. I hope someone buys it, cleans it up, and enjoys it.
So where is Marty Milner?
Martin Milner went EOW (End Of Watch).
KMA
Nice. Especially with the six.
People miss out on a lot of interesting machinery because of that “two many doors” nonsense.
Interior held up better than my parent’s 72 Ambassador Brougham. Started shredding after a few years, even in the back seat which never carried many passengers.
Quote Bill D: ‘Believe it or not, with drums all around, you can actually stop a car this big with nonpower brakes. One of my best friends in high school had a full-sized Mercury of about this vintage with manual brakes and they worked okay.’
So true. Our 66 Montclair had standard drums. Millions of people covered hundreds of millions of miles with the drums of the day and never experienced a problem.
They are inferior compared to discs, yes, less chance of fading and being affected by water, last longer, but drums are not the death trap devices people claim them to be.
Many large size cars were under tired and under braked from the factory, but most went to the crusher or simply rotted or wore out.
Power boosted or not they’re superior and I will be making the conversion on my 63 Valiant when I have pooled some money together. Until that time and during the pre disc period I have driven, they’re perfectly adequate.
A driver will adapt to what he’s driving and know the limitations of his machinery.
Yes, drums can work OK as long as they’re big enough and kept adjusted. Problem is in those days brakes tended to be seriously undersized from the factory. Also over time the self-adjusters tend to get out of whack.
I’m old enough to have driven many cars of all sizes with manual drum brakes and know how to deal with them but would still make front disc conversion a high priority for a car driven regularly. It’s really not a tough job. You could scrounge up the OEM stuff, or Scarebird makes a nice kit for AMC that uses commonly-available major manufacturers’ parts.
Yes, my AMX shares it’s disc brake components with the Challengers. I bought replacements from Rock Auto.
When all the cars had drum brakes,it wasn’t as much of a problem.Back then you could stop as quick as anything else .Nowdays when that Lexus in front of you stops quick you are going to rear end him because you can’t stop near as quick as he can.
West Havens a two and a half hour drive from Brooklyn. always had a soft spot for AMC. Wish I had a place to put it.
Love the color.