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Roy D. Chapin Jr.
Readings
Charles Hyde’s AMC book doesn’t get why automaker failed
(UPDATED FROM 10/16/2020) Charles K. Hyde’s history of American Motors and its constituent companies is a valuable scholarly addition to the literature. His book, Storied Independent Automakers: Nash, Hudson and American Motors, offers considerably more […]
Satire
The untold story of how Dick Teague designed the 1974 AMC Matador coupe
Dick Teague nervously checked his fly and centered his tie as he heard the entourage of AMC executives march down the hallway toward his design studio. He’d made many presentations over two decades but had […]
Media Analysis
The downside of auto historians writing about their friends
(EXPANDED FROM 7/17/2020) One of the hazards of any kind of writing is that you can get too close to your subjects. In anthropology this has been called “going native.” Because we are human, we […]
History
Would AMC have done better if George Romney had stayed longer?
Would American Motors have continued to be successful in the second-half of the 1960s if George Romney had stuck around? He stepped down as CEO in 1962 to successfully run for governor of Michigan. This […]
Auto Paedia
Counterfactuals and whether AMC had a chance of survival
(UPATED 3/9/2023) A few years ago Lotus Rebel (2021) drew upon our AMC Pacer story to suggest alternative approaches for that car’s design in a comment at Ate Up With Motor. That website’s publisher, Aaron […]
History
AMC’s Roy D. Chapin Jr. succumbed to the illusion of bigness
When writing a story about the 1974 AMC Ambassador, I came across American Motors car brochures for 1979 and 1980 that took the unusual step of picturing the company’s headquarters in Southfield, Michigan. In the 1979 […]
Fake Design
1974 AMC Ambassador: GM envy to the ZiL degree
The 1974 Ambassador’s ZiL-like styling shows how AMC had succumbed to “GM envy” in the 1970s. This car was so big and ugly that it was doomed to failure. Yet American Motors wasted scarce resources […]
History
How American Motors abandoned its uniqueness in the second half of the 1960s
The most strikingly quality of American Motors’ car designs developed in the mid-60s was how quickly the automaker ditched the Rambler look in favor of styling mostly indistinguishable from the Big Three. This was a […]