Pity poor American Motors! Tried to compete with GM, Ford, and Chrysler toe to toe but is commonly remembered for its failures greater than its successes! However, gross sales figures alone should not a great way to guage a product. Our Decide of the Day is a kind of loser AMCs which will merely want one other look to understand how the corporate from Kenosha was heading to the highest of its recreation: this 1966 Marlin. It’s listed on the market on ClassicCars.com by a dealership in Celina, Ohio. (Click on the hyperlink to view the itemizing)

The Marlin had its basis within the Tarpon, an American-based present automotive with a fastback roofline. The American was Rambler’s all-new compact for 1964, and it received the Motor Pattern Automobile of the 12 months award for an inventory of strengths that included high quality styling, options, and economic system. Whereas Rambler had been considerably of a stubbornly wise model, it was nonetheless trendy because the Nineteen Fifties wore on, although nobody within the fanatic world waxes poetic about that. Then, with a change of management, there was an acknowledgement that one thing was brewing in America: children, and people who wished to be youthful like children. Options like bucket seats, consoles, and different sporty gadgets extra generally related to European producers have been popping up on American automobiles, and American Motors wanted to rise to the event and embrace what the market was dictating if it have been to outlive.

An enormous drawback not within the Tarpon’s favor was that the AMC’s V8 wouldn’t slot in its engine bay, and the brand new V8 AMC was creating wouldn’t be prepared for the American till 1966. With market calls for suggesting solely providing a six could be a waste, AMC answered this drawback by making use of the fastback roofline to the mid-size Basic. This new Rambler was renamed Marlin and was launched for the 1965 mannequin 12 months. Nevertheless, the smooth fastback design of the Tarpon was considerably compromised as a result of Roy Abernathy – AMC’s boss – was six-foot-four and wished to have the ability to sit comfortably within the again. That adjustment seemingly modified the trajectory of the Marlin and probably led to the general public not embracing the Marlin as a lot because it may have.

For 1966, the Rambler Marlin grew to become the AMC Marlin as the corporate continued to distance itself from its pure economic system origins into one thing extra modern, all of the whereas exploiting the wise nature of its vehicles. That will not have been sufficient to endear the Marlin to the car-buying public because the introduction of the 1966 Dodge Charger introduced a competitor with personal-luxury options in a mid-size fastback bundle, however its styling was a bit much less polarizing. Dodge additionally supplied efficiency choices properly above AMC’s 327 V8, if not a regular V8 (Marlin began with the 232cid six).

AMC moved the Marlin to the full-size Ambassador platform for 1967. The brand new platform lent itself higher to the proportions of the fastback roofline and fulfilled the design promise that began with the Tarpon, a automotive two levels separated from the Ambassador. By that point, it was too late as beneath 18,000 have been constructed among the many three years, however there was youthful hope on the horizon because the Javelin and AMX have been scheduled for 1968.

This Marlin Silver and Antigua Purple 1966 AMC Marlin is one in all 4,547 constructed, however much more attention-grabbing is that it’s powered by the 232 Torque Command 6. The interiors may get fairly fancy with Marlins, however for 1966 AMC decontented the Marlin, making most of the fancy stuff non-obligatory, with this one showing to have pink twin reclining buckets with a column-shifted automated. The vendor doesn’t say a lot concerning the automotive apart from it has energy steering and brakes and is “serviced and road-ready.” To invoke an previous advertising and marketing thought, $27,500 will get you a household automotive large enough to hold all the children and sporty sufficient for dad.

Click on right here for this ClassicCars.com Decide of the Day.