My childhood chum Brian Dittmar gave me his Consumer Guide Complete Guide to Used Cars books (one covering 1969-78, the other 1971-80) many years ago. They were a nice complement to one of the first car books I bought when I was a kid (1970-79, which means I bought it when I was seven). We know that American cars had issues with reliability compared to their Japanese competitors back in the day, but how bad were they really? Let’s start this serial looking at American Motors Corporation.
Perhaps due to my age at the time, I wasn’t bored reading Consumer Guide’s opinion on the reliability of my favorite cars, nor was I offended if the writers had bad things to say about the cars that I liked. I simply was a kid into cars; this book had pictures that showed me the vehicles I saw on the street daily.
One thing that Brian’s 1971-80 book had over mine was a table that listed every engine and the fuel mileage of each. Did you know that the 426 Hemi achieved 6.4 miles per gallon? Though written in an era when fuel economy was a primary consideration for many shoppers, this series of books gives insights on other considerations car shoppers may have—especially reliability. Let’s revisit AMC’s roster from the era and see how they fared as used cars. Please note the CG rating scale of 5 being Excellent and 1 being Poor.
American Motors Corporation
“If you’re in the market for an older used car that will get you where you’re going without frills or flashy finery, and at a low price, an automobile from American Motors Corporation may be what you’re looking for.” Yet “AMC’s workmanship was spotty in the early ‘70s …”
- Ambassador: “… was one of the roomiest and most economical cars of the full-size class.” CG rating: 3
- Hornet/Concord: “… is a solid transportation vehicle that can be bought at a decent price. But it is not equal to the totally new Ford Fairmont/Mercury Zephyr.” CG rating: 3-4
- Gremlin: “A clever bit of engineering with too many shortcomings to be an attractive buy.” CG rating: 2-3
- Javelin: “The Javelin has more strong points than most sporty compacts.” CG rating: 2
- Rebel/Matador: “… probably the most practical all-around intermediate on the used-car market today.” CG rating: 3 (Rebel), 4-5 (Matador)
- Pacer: “The car has big windows but still has a side vision problem because of the extra-wide side pillars right where most drivers look when passing in traffic.” CG rating: 2
- Rambler American: “… is no slouch either when it comes to low-speed city driving.” CG rating: 3