Coffin Nose: 1978 AMC Matador
Not having anything to lose at the time, calling a car something that means ‘one who kills’ and giving it a nose shaped like the end of a coffin was something only AMC could pull off. Find this omen to their own demise, a 1978 AMC Matador, for sale in Elizabethton, TN for a very reasonable $4,000 via craigslist. Tip from Rock On
The 14″ Pacer wheels, though visible only through a telescope, still keep it in the family as factory AMC goodies from something much smaller. The coffin-nosed Matador was still very similar to the very pretty early cars, however, it was getting quite long in the tooth in just about every way by the late 70’s.
Hopefully the 11-year-backdated time stamp on the motor picture is incorrect. We deserve something more recent as an engine can spit up and bake all kinds of fluids on itself in a decade. The 360 shown in this picture looks as good as one could hope to find, even in a restored car which this claims not to be. A 1978 AMC 360 nearly gets the coveted Lowest Specific Output of the 1970’s Award but they’re strong motors nevertheless.
With seats the color of a blue raspberry slushie, the interior is a sea of velour and Naugahyde calm. As you’d expect for a garaged 60,000 mile car, the soft bits are in top nick. I was expecting a bit more tufting, but vinyl accents with buttons stitched over fuzz works just fine.
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Matt, a self-proclaimed bottom-feeder of the classic car market, spends half of his time buying cars, half of his time retrieving them, and the remaining third on keeping them on the road.
I had one as a company car. Blah!
The 1974-78 Matador may be lots of things, but ugly it ain't. I've always found its "coffin nose" appearance one of the sedan and wagon's endearing appearance qualities. As the saying goes, "beauty is in the eyes of the beholder." And in the eyes of this "beholder", it's actually quite handsome. So there. 🙂
Calling AMC a company that demised is really misguided and wrong, they didn't close their doors, they didn't go bankrupt, they didn't cease production, Jeep, one of AMC brands are still produced today, many of their factories are still open. AMC Was a prime candidate for a takeover due to their future prospects of profitability. The only reason Renault sold it's minority share was due to political unrest in France. Chrysler bought AMC and integrated it into Chrysler because of their success, not their failures. Renualt even made a profit on the deal.