1974 AMC Matador X Test Drive
1974 AMC Matador X is long on style but short on economy
As if to answer its “what’s a Matador” TV spots, AMC unwrapped this swollen coupe to replace the pillarless hardtop’s for 1974. Despite a shorter 114inch wheelbase, it was styled partly for high speed aerodynamics in stock car racing, but did little there or for Matador sales. For $3699 the sporty “X” coupe had a 255bhp 401 as its top engine!
The Car and Track complaints about the Matador X didn’t stop there though. In Lindemann’s words the Matador was “thirsty”, averaging a dismal 11.3 MPG while Car and Track had the car. This road test ends with the host wondering why “in an era of shortages, of which fuel heads the list, that so much emphasis was placed on styling and so little on economy”. Jalopnik
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man its almost painful watching these 70s slug wagons wallow through corners.
painful, yet interesting!
I had a 77 Barcelona coupe in the dark claret red/burgundy two tone coboinatimn with 360cub inch loaded. I fell in love with that car in 1980 it was affordable for me at the time for a 4yr old used car-a lot cheaper than the comparable Monte Carlos Cougars etc of the day. Sadly, I only had it 5 months had to sell it when I moved in to Wash DC. It was not the most reliable car but had a nice 8track sterio, road very nicely looked like nothing else on the highway..crank windows all!
I was never a big fan of these strange looking cars, but I’d still want one in my dream museum.
That body roll is epic, at 2:15!!
OK reality check. The 1974 Matador Coupe sold over 62,000 ciepos for the first year production. Then the gas crisis hit and sales slumped as for all the automakers. The coupes final total production was just under 100,000 units in 1978. It was not style that killed it.. It was the 13mpg with the 360 amc v8. I currently own one as a everyday car and it is reliable and comfortable. What a beauty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
it sounds like the car was designed with a 60s attitude rather than a 70s attitude
well, that time period sort of melded together!
My father had a brand new Oleg Cassini Coupe with a 360CID fourbarrel and dual exhausts form 1974 to 1989. In this time he put about 90’000 kilometers on the odo here in Switzerland.
During its time, this was really a quick, very comfy car with good handling compared to all those Opels, Volkswagens and Simcas sneaking over the road with a trail of smoke and rust particles out back…
1978 a master mechanic and a good friend of my parents installed a Bosch injection system with electronic ignition, increasing gas milage by almost 1/3 !!! A set of Monroe Shocks and 245 Good Year GT Radials (yeah, same as on Corvettes that year) made the car also a far better handler. Serviced every year by the local AMC Main Dealer, the Matador never let us hang, not with -15 degrees Celsius nor 35 plus… I loved that car, a pity my father traded it for a Honda rice cooker…
Judged by the standards of today, the ’74 Matador sucked. Against its peers it was a pretty competitive car. Yes, they all sucked to one degree or another, but it’s what we had to live with. The Matador was recognized as a style leader in 1974, which was unusual for AMC. Performance was pretty good, fuel economy was average for the day. No one cared about 11 mpg until the Arabs turned off the tap in late 1973 and the 30 cent gas we were used to became 60 cent gas overnight, when we could find it. And yes, the Matador handled like a pig. Most American intermediates did. Fords and Mopars especially, GMs not as badly. That poor outside front tire in the photo tells the whole story. Grinding understeer reigned supreme. Solution? Don’t drive that fast, at least not in corners. Simple.