1976 AMC Matador Barcelona.

July 31, 2011

8 comments





8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rust is pretty nasty on the front fenders. I would assume you weren't pulling on the fenders to break the rust loose. But it sure looks like someone was.

Aside from that it looks like a very clean and original car. I cant remember ever seeing one of those on the road.

Ben Piff said...

Your assumption is correct Anon, I look but don't touch (well, I thought touching the rust pile would help provide perspective on the volume). People are already wary enough of a stranger with a camera.

I've never seen rust piled up like this, but it looked like a very organic and horrifying process. That's Wisconsin for you though, and I saw plenty of 90s or newer cars with more visible rust than this.

It was especially sad because from 10 feet away, the thing looks awesome! I'm thinking original paint?

Tony Piff said...

bringatrailer featured one of these in the past month, and it was the first I'd ever heard of the model, and it reaffirmed my appreciation of amc design for the millionth time.

I am VERY pleased to see one on opc. its sad state is truly sad, but ben's documentation of the rust is satisfying in a way I haven't felt with anything ever felt before, and actually redeems the post in a powerful way, if not redeeming the car itself.

a best-of 2011.

Mikael said...

LOL @ that 3rd picture! The metal has turned into Cream Cracker...

Anonymous said...

AMC had a way to make really odd looking cars. :)

This is a goond example: Change the headlights to something more ordinary and this car looks quite pretty.

Rust? Pfft, I had a Beetle which shed that kind of pieces to road every other week until I repaired it, basically replacing the lowest 10 inches of the chassis/body ;)

CSS said...

Nice car, nice design!

Justin said...

Love the out of space styling.
Wow at the rust chips, that's something else.

David said...

When Motor Trend first saw it they declared the Matadore X the car of the year...They later referred to it as the car with the extra chromosome!