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American
Motors (AMC) was formed in 1954 from the merger of Nash and Hudson car
companies. It sold cars under the name Rambler in the 1950's and 1960's.
In the late 1960's the company started selling its cars under the name
American Motors and then later AMC. In 1970 AMC purchased Jeep from Kaiser.
By 1980, AMC was in financial trouble and the French car maker Renault
bought a controlling interest in the company. AMC continued to sell it
line of cars and Jeeps, at the same time building version of the French
designed Renaults. Chrysler in 1987 bought the entire AMC company from
Renault. Chrysler bought the company for one reason, it wanted Jeep. Chrysler
continued to sell the old AMC Eagle wagons at it Jeep/Eagle dealerships
for a short time, before fazing it out. Chrysler used the name "Eagle"
for it new line of cars to sell along side the Jeeps. The Eagle brand did
not do well and Chrysler discontinued it after a few years.
AMC sold police models begining in the
1960's. The most popular AMC police vehicles were the AMC Ambassador and
Matador of the early 1970's. The Matador was very popular as a police car
in Southern California in the early to mid 1970's. The Los Angeles County
Sheriff Dept and Los Angeles Police Dept were large users of the Matador.
The 1970's AMC Hornet also saw a small amount of use as a police vehicle. |
