Texas Field Finds: Stash of AMC Cars
If you’re a fan of American Motors products from the 1960s and 1970s, there seems to be an abundance of them in a field in Taylor, Texas. At least five are there (three Gremlins, a Pacer, and an Ambassador), but we see a few others plus those from competing manufacturers. We assume this in a junkyard, and someone is trying to tidy up the landscape’s appearance. Available here on Facebook Marketplace, these wayward automobiles are available for $400 and up. Kudos to T.J. for another cool tip!
The most photogenic (perhaps) of the collection is what appears to be a 1968 or 1969 Ambassador hardtop. Like the other cars, there is no description or any indication of completeness. You shouldn’t have any confidence that the Ambassador (or any of the others) is viable enough for a restoration. So perhaps these machines are best used as donors for other compatible projects.
There are at least a trio of Gremlins in the mixed, a quirky car built by AMC from 1970 to 1978. AMC designers essentially took a Hornet compact, cut out 12 inches in the wheelbase, gave it a slanted hatch area in the back, and proceeded to sell 671,000 of them. The car was AMC’s answer to the onslaught of imported and domestic subcompacts, and the Gremlin was the only one sold with your choices of an inline-6 or V8 engine.
A Pacer is in the mix, too, a strange, shaped car AMC built from 1975 to 1980. More than a third of the vehicles were made of glass, so seeing out of one of them had to be easy. The Pacer was the butt of many jokes, but we understand it was a decent automobile. It played a key role in the Mike Myers/Dana Carvey films, Wayne’s World. If any of these cars are of interest, chances are you’ll have to make a trip to Taylor to inspect any of them in person.
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Comments
I see lots and lots of crushables. ;-)
Don’t stash’em, smash’em.
Taylor Texas is pretty remote, the prices, starting at $400 and up, likely means anything with decent potential won’t be worth the hassle for anyone that isn’t local to incur the cost in both time and money to purchase. The seller needs to write a better ad, take pictures that show the condition of specific cars and price them individually if he wants to sell them in volume. More effort on his part will mean more money, with his current effort he’s not likely to find many takers.
Agree…saw this and his other ads – some prices are just out of this idea for the conditions. It looks like an old junk yard and they messed alot of them up moving them around. Ad has been up for months…..
When they don’t show an effort, it usually means they really don’t want to sell.
Quick Batman, the Rustoleum !!!!
The Ambassador is a 1969. The only year of that rear.
The cars that time forgot.
the real “gold” is the 60s-70s Chev and GMC pickup remnants on the backside of the AMCs. Probably the bones have been picked clean otherwise would have been the target for a few last bucks.
I too am always amazed at the enormity of these “collections”, especially in such a remote area, and a make like AMC, that wasn’t particularly prevalent, somebody did some hauling and remember, all pre-internet, so a lot of leg work here. I did look up the “Rambler Ranch”, in Elizabeth, Co. ( about 1 hr SE of Denver), and by the looks of their website, are very dedicated, but not sure how dedicated. I don’t think they deal much with parts cars, and about all you have here. This is just what’s left and just not enough nice AMC cars to justify keeping this. Here comes the mobile grinder,,,may as well cue “Taps” while we’re at it.
I know of two people that have acquired cars that need restoration from Rambler Ranch. One is a Bittersweet Javelin that Steve Magnante profiled on his show. That car is now running & driving. The engine had suffered a coolant leak due to corrosion of the timing cover. That eventually resulted in the distributor seizing. A spare timing cover and distributor fixed the problem.
Field of Screams.
Well, I suppose that this is one way to try to clear out the field.