The Ambassador began with Nash Motors way back in the day. And became the consolidated American Motors’ top-of-the-line product from 1958 to 1974. During that time, it rode on either mid-size or full-size platforms and was the big brother to models like the Classic, Rebel, and Matador. Located in North Jackson, Ohio, this running project needs some work but is still willing to put in the effort. It’s available here on Facebook Marketplace for $2,000 (trades considered). Thanks to JDC for this Kenosha tip!
After a redesign in 1969, the 1972 Ambassadors were little changed from the prior year. The big AMC sales pitch that year was the company’s new bumper-to-bumper warranty that guaranteed everything but the tires for the first year or 12,000 miles (seems kind of tame by today’s standards). The idea behind the campaign was that AMC built better cars than the other guys. The base engine in the Ambassador was a 304 cubic inch V8, the same one as in the seller’s car. And automatic transmissions were now sourced from Chrysler rather than Borg-Warner. Other than police units, the SST was the base trim level on ’72 Ambassadors.
The seller’s car looks like, well, a used car. It has a number of bumps, bruises, and rust, as you would expect in the Midwest after 54 years. The primary paint (was it orange or red?) is well-worn, and there is surface rust on the contrasting white top. The interior will need attention, at least in terms of new upholstery up front and carpeting. The odometer reads 62,000 miles. You could work on restoring the car or decide that a daily driver is the better route and just focus on mechanical needs.
Recent work includes the carburetor, fuel lines, and a patched-up fuel tank. The alternator and starter solenoid are new, and the exhaust has been converted to dual pipes from the pre-catalytic converter days (1975). While the car runs well enough, stopping is an issue, and the brakes need some work. The seller will entertain all sorts of trades, including commercial restaurant equipment, of all things. Considering what $2,000 brings these days, is this AMC a good buy?
Aha! Tis’ the “Burnout King”. Some may remember my old mans 1970 Ambassador ( green) ex-forest ranger car. It had full police interceptor package,390 AMX motor, HD suspension, posi, cop this and that, did wicked burnouts, both tires for a block. Oh, I was BIG MAN at the high school parking lot then. Since the air cleaner lid is flipped for the blistering increase in power( cough), we can’t see what the motor is. I didn’t think a 304 had dual exhaust. They were okay cars, certainly not the Ramblers of previous years, despite their police duty, it wasn’t our finest hour. The 70s were a tough time for AMC, and while kooky renditions like the Pacer, Gremlin, Matador, got attention, it was clear, AMC sorely needed a whole re-do, and that’s when Renault stepped in.
Again( and again), for any appeal, these have to be nicer than this. As is, I don’t see much interest.
It’s a safe bet the reason this particular car with the 304 has dual exhaust is the crossover pipe for the single exhaust is probably now made of “unobtanium.” ;)
I have owned a 1971 Ambassador “SST” for over 30 years now so am pretty familiar with these. The 1972 model is more desirable since it came with standard electric windshield wipers, more rational HVAC controls, and the excellent Torqueflite transmission which is far superior to the old Borg Warner unit, and much easier to repair today when necessary. (Heaven help you if you need a vacuum modulator for the Borg-Warner slushbox!)
Air conditioning was standard on these but this example appears to have had its AC compressor removed, or possibly it was originally a fleet car where the delete option was selected. (Can’t quite tell from the interior photo whether AC vents are present in the dashboard.) The heater core has also been bypassed.
AMC’s Buyer Protection Plan might seem lame by today’s standards but back in the day (we’re talking over half a century!) car warranties didn’t cover a host of items and things like loaner cars and trip interruption coverage were virtually unheard of back then. So it was actually a pretty big deal at the time. Back then my parents bought a new 1973 Hornet which had to spend overnight at the dealer for some now forgotten issue and they were given an Ambassador as a loaner, so they were certainly happy with the warranty.
When this AMC large car platform debuted in 1967 it was fairly competitive, aside from still having some Rambler engineering holdovers such as trunnion front suspension and vacuum wipers. Legendary automotive journalist Tom McCahill even gave the ’67 Rebel a big thumbs up:
https://macsmotorcitygarage.com/american-motors-gets-normal-the-1967-rebel/
In any event, by the time this car was built for 1972 those old engineering limitations were gone but the competition had moved on and AMC was stuck with this platform until the last of their large cars in 1978. (As we all know the Company spent the last of their scarce development funds on the Matador Coupe and Pacer adventures which did not even pay back their tooling costs let alone make a profit.)