At the same time, [it’s evident that] Romney has made great progress in shaving operating expenses”. Incredibly, these cars which had once been ridiculed now “forced Chrysler, Ford and General Motors to change their tune and produce their own ranges of small cars”.
Little wonder AMC decided to discontinue the flagging Nash and Hudson lines and bet everything on Rambler as a brand in its own right. Now there were not only compact six-pot Ramblers but also whacking great V8 ones, with UK imports and sales-all right-hand drive – handled at the site of the old Hudson factory in Chiswick.
Not that there were many to handle: around 200 a year from AMC’s global exports total of just under 4500. UK sales were split evenly between sixes and eights – rather surprisingly, given the 4.7-litre V8-powered Classic Convertible that we tested in 1966 averaged a dire 15mpg.
We did like this car, though, saying: “Owners wanting a roomy convertible for business and family use would do well to consider it. Its willingness and versatility quickly become apparent in everyday use.
Enthusiast appeal arrived shortly after, in the muscular shape of the AMC Javelin coupé, a 5.6-litre V8 response to the wild popularity of the newly invented Ford Mustang – even if it did “lack the precise handling and good brakes that we in Europe have come to expect”.
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