THE COMPLETE BOOK OF AMC CARS: American Motors Corporation 1954-1988
TOM GLATCH & PATRICK R. FOSTER (foreword by Vincent Geraci)
Motorbooks International (non-affiliate Amazon link)
$50.00 hardcover, available now
Rating: 5* of five
The Publisher Says: The Complete Book of AMC Cars is a thorough reference covering all of the production cars offered by American Motors Corporation from its founding in 1954 to its demise in 1988.
Get an inside look at the American automaker that rose from the decline of a once-thriving independent auto industry to put up a valiant fight against Detroit’s Big Three automakers.
In The Complete Book of AMC Cars: American Motors Corporation 1954-1988, authors Patrick Foster and Tom Glatch provide a thorough and fully illustrated review of all the production cars offered by AMC from its founding in 1954 to its demise in 1988, including:
Born from the ashes of Hudson and Nash, AMC represented a last attempt at survival for an independent automobile company. Thanks to the capable leadership of CEO George Romney, the company not only survived but thrived, riding on the success of the firm’s small, economical cars like the Rambler. As the market began to shift more toward performance and luxury cars in the 1960s, AMC found itself challenged to compete with the output from Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors.
The fuel crisis of the 1970s positioned AMC’s smaller cars to refill corporate coffers. The firm’s purchase of the Jeep brand also generated profits, but ultimately it was too little, too late. Even a partnership with French automaker Renault and the introduction of the all-wheel-drive Eagle couldn’t save AMC. In 1987, Chrysler Corporation purchased AMC and the story of the last independent automaker came to an end.
Foster and Glatch’s engaging book covers all of the AMC models, as well as racing exploits, from its inception to its ultimate demise. Whether you are an AMC enthusiast or are simply intrigued by cars and the stories behind them, this volume is a must-have for your bookshelf.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: The first brand-new car I ever bought for myself was a 1977 Gremlin.
Yuk it up. I'll wait. It was small outside and big inside because it was the front two-thirds of the family sedan, the Hornet, with a teeny little shelf of a seat in back...and a big cargo area. It was fine for one person who took the occasional passenger, which after years of wagging huge loads of kids in my 1968 Bonneville felt *marvelous*. So, of course, being a typical male in at least a few regards, I developed a slightly proprietorial interest in the history of the idea of AMC. I expect there are a few car guys scattered among my acquaintance, so here's a handsomely designed, factually informative resource and pleasure-read for them.
The table of contents, as always, starts us as we are meant to go on:
The remaining sample spreads will tell the giver little enough; but if he's said the words "Nash" or "Hornet" in your hearing, and likes looking at Collectible Automobile magazine, this will not be a high-risk gift.
Organized chronologically, this is an overview of an era-defining also-ran in the car market, that I'll wager a lot of us would prefer to have back instead of mourning another industry lost to the appalling greed of the banksters.
As a gift book, it's going to delight the well-targeted recipient. As a radicalization tool, I'm guessing its dreadful story of betrayal and extinguishment might work on some more resistant male minds.
