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May 27, 2008
Hey! I Was Totally Going To Do This…
By Jen Dunnaway
Editor
…but someone beat me to it! My latest junk-car pipe-dream involves finding one of these rare mid-70’s AMC Matador coupes and building a Bobby Allison tribute car based on the one I saw at the Hall of Fame in Talladega. These controversially-styled rides were purpose-built for stock-car racing, and Allison drove this very car to multiple Winston Cup victories in ‘74 and ‘75. Turns out, though, there’s a replica of this car already up for sale on eBay! Is it tempting to just pick up one that’s already done and call it good? Well, this one’s got the small AMC V8, and is more-or-less stock aside from the paint scheme. Plus it appears to be plagued by rust. I’d be looking for a sound-body car, preferably with the AMC 360 or 401 already in it, and I’d be doing a full suspension overhaul and setting it up as a track car so it could run in One Lap of America. Know of any decent candidates for this project, or is this as good as it gets?
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Dave
May 29, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Man,
That’s not a tribute, that’s an old pile. Find another one and do it right! Use George Poteet’s ‘68 Charger as inspiration.
Maybe by the time you get your Matador done, I’ll have my stock car vibe ‘73 Roadrunner done.
Anonymous
May 27, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Jen,
I’ll keep an eye open for you. Actually I’ve seen quite a few clean Matador coupes show up on eBay over the years so there’s no reason to settle for a rust bucket. I have a friend in Arizona, a real AMC guy (I’ll see him this weekend at the big AMC show here in SoCal) and make sure he knows to keep an eye open for you. He owns the bad ass SC/Rambler that was featured three months ago in Musclecar Enthusiast; if anyone can find you a clean Matador coupe, Mark’s the guy.
You’ll be hard pressed to find one with a 401…much more likely to find one with a 304 or a 360, which is no big deal as the blocks are almost all the same except for bore and stroke and since you’ll have to build it anyway, don’t get hung up on a 401. Many AMC purists believe that the early 390 blocks are the best.
Rich Truesdell
Contributing Editor, CarDomain.com
Editorial Director, Automotive Traveler and Musclecar Enthusiast
Stewart
May 27, 2008 at 2:39 pm
You had better be IN LOVE with this car Jen…
.
That is a lot of rust to fix.
.
It is pretty cool.
.
The sad part is that there is so much rust, you’d
be repainting all the custom paint anyways…
.
So, you might as well start with a cleaner car, and
do it right, from scratch…
.
Just my .02
.
Stewart