The AMC Matador was never exactly a styling tour de force, although in the context of its era the car was pretty bold. Hell, magazines declared the very car you are looking at below the best styled car of 1974. To say that the looks haven’t exactly held up over time may be kind of mean…but it is wrong? This eBay seller has the car listed as a 1975 model but everything we have read and found suggests that 1974 was the only year that someone could pony up for a Matador X coupe because the X model was dropped after that year’s production came to a close. What made an X and X? There were a couple of optional engines, starting with the two barrel 304 and moving into a pair of 360s available with either two or four barrel carbs and at the top of the heap was a 235hp 401ci V8 that made a pretty decent torque number in the mid-300 lb/ft range. It was strong enough to run into the 15s at 95mph at the drags in 1974 which was a lot more than most other stuff of that era could do. Were not sure what engine is powering this example but the owner states in the ad that he did swap an Edelbrock four barrel in place of the factory carb so it must be a 360 or 401, which is an upside.
The one inescapable downside is the styling. Is there anything more 1970s looking than this car? With the protruding round headlights, the long sloping fastback, and six foot long doors, this baby screams 1974 louder than virtually anything else on the market. Compare the styling of a 1974 Firebird and this car. We know that they were not direct competitors but it gives an example of both ends of the spectrum. We think that this car was given styling accolades in ’74 because of just how far off into the cabbage it was as compared to everything else. Dare to be weird? There were just 10,000 X-package Matadors sold in 1974. Clicking that option box got you a blacked out grill, a three spoke sport steering wheel, slotted wheels, side stripes, floor shifter and high buckets. The X represented the most expensive Matador package as pricing started just shy of $3,700 with the little 304 and went up from there.
Before running across this ad, we had never seen a Matador X outside of the hotted up NASCAR Mark Donohue drove at about this time in history. We’re not going to be seeking any more of them out any time soon but we do have a question for you. Is the 1974 Matador X so weird that it is cool or so weird that it CAN’T be cool? Tell us below!
SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE PHOTOS AND THE EBAY LINK TO THIS 1974 AMC MATADOR X –
CLICK HERE to get the skinny on this 1974 AMC Matador X Coupe
Ditching the bumpers helped, for sure. It’s not the prettiest thing, but you have to admit that at least AMC was at least creative.
when that stoner dude Mikey from that chopper styling / dysfunctional family show on Discovery got one of these, I think it forever sealed the Matador’s fate as a “mirthmobile” and weed storage device.
I’d drive one anyway, sans the weed, cuz you KNOW you’re gonna get profiled in it. It’s just funky enough to love.
That thing is bitchin’ the absolute best example of a car that screams 70s is the Mustang 2. This shares more cues to a 68-69 Chevelle then it does most things from the 70s.
The comparison against a trans am, well they both have 6 foot doors, a hood that goes on forever, and a slopped back. Pretty similar if you ask me, one just has a bit more style.
For me I’ll stick to the AMC, if the women don’t find you handsome, they should at least find you handy or something like that…
The car that spelled the beginning of the end for what once was AMC from the day the first one hit the showroom floors … despite all the delusional positive press . AMC’s styling department having gone about 300 steps too far with the Matador …
Jeeze Brian … thanks a ___ of a lot for once again reminding me what a hideous and tasteless era the 70’s were for the most part .. especially when it came to cars … specifically the Big Three + 1’s cars 😉
Damn ! I can already envision the nightmares I’ll be having thanks to you over the next three days ….
You owe me Brian ! Big time !
GuitarSlinger, since it is obvious to all of us true American gearheads that you don’t like American cars, why don’t you just leave this website?
Or better yet create a website of your own dedicated to the Euro Crap you like.
Many Bangshifters besides myself are sick of your bullshit and total disrespect for American cars.
By the way, Brian and Bangshift don’t owe you shit you pompous asshole!
Why the hell not!!!! It would make people look
I love these “ugly ducklings” alond with the Econoline & A-100 pick ups. Then again I am a bit weird, but I would drive the hell out of this thing.
Its still too weird for me but I must say it looks a heck of a lot better without the monster bumpers it must have had on it. Those five mph bumpers were the worst thing that ever happened to those cars of the seventies. Well at least in the looks department.
Call me crazy, but I kind of like it.
Yeah it’s so weird that it’s kind of cool. Needs more power and I’m not talking LS swap, just way more AMC power.
The car was such a joke it became Al Bundy’s ride.
Incorrect. Al was a Mopar man.
http://www.bundyology.com/dodge.html
This would have been to costly for a shoe salesman.
I guess I’m getting old and my memory is failing. 🙂
At least you can find it in a parking lot . Not like the bland turds from europe and japan we have today. They had the balls to build them and they were definatly different. Rip amc.
A front air dam, rear deck spoiler, and wide ass tires. Would make this car look bad ass!!!
I always liked the Matador styling. It’s got some pretty neat lines. And built to vintage NASCAR trim with some radiused wheel wells, fat steelies and the old red/white/blue paint, it’d look pretty cool.
This thing’s cool. How many Chevelles, Mustangs and Cudas can you see before you’re starving for something different? This would be a bad ass pro touring type car, but not with all those ugly 18″ wheels and rubber band tires so popular today. I mean with 15″, maybe 16″ at the most ten spoke Minilites of five spoke Americans, vintage NASCAR style front and rear spoilers, maybe some vintage Trans Am series style flares, and of course you gotta keep it AMC under the hood.
Looks like you could shove some huge meats up in those wheel wells. Move the front whelks forward 3 or four inces and you’d have a great looking car.
There is one of these for sale about 10 minutes down the road from me, I stopped for a look the other day. $3000 was the asking price, and I could see that the rear quarters (and probably more) are pretty bondo’d up ,,, pass.
If I had the money, that car or any Matador would be in my driveway.
It would make a very unique Pro-Touring car!
They are so ugly its beautiful!
Oh no! Don’t inform all the lemmings out there about Matadors, then I won’t have my favorite “What’s a Matador” (it was an AMC ad tagline when they came out) moment when the 10 people ask me what it is. I love driving mine, the quarter windows roll down, and the ride is great. Plus I wanted a challenge after building my second F Body, talk about culture shock. The Matador guys are even outsiders in the AMC community. I had two AMX owners tell me how crazy I was one time for spending money on my “Dory” meanwhile the guys across the road in the red Camaro were mocking the AMXers. Dare to be Different.
Man I had one in high school in the early 90’s. Bought it with the bumpers in the trunk and my Mom made me put them back on, looks way better without. Mine was Poo Poo brown with brown on brown plaid cloth / vinyl interior but it had a 401 and Sure-grip rear. That car taught me the merits of parking at the farthest corner of the parking lot as those doors would swing right out to the car next to you and I still couldn’t squeeze out the opening and I had a 30 waist then. I made the Relaxed Atmosphere (local lowrider club) guys stop and stare one night doing a 2 ½ block long burnout (it was spitting rain) when all the kids were out on Friday night pulling “Mainer’s” (round & round downtown over & over). Bought it for $200 sold it for $450, man I miss that car.
This might sound weird, particularly since you mention you don’t see many of them in the US, but these were around a reasonable amount in Australia in the 70’s. I mean, not common, but you’d see them now and again (AMC had a deal with an Australian company who assembled a whole bunch of different company vehicles from knocked down kits – might have been AMI? cant remember)
Anyway, there was one of these, same colour too, across the road from our house and I used to stare at it trying to pin down why it looked weird and what would fix it…I thought at the time, if you were to shave off those headlight pod / eyebrow lumps from the hood and grille, so that the hood and grille were just continuations of whats there already if you follow me, then maybe some more discreet headlights in the grille like square or maybe 5″ ones, it’d actually look quite nice. Lose the big weird taillights and replace them with, again, something a bit more subtle and I reckon you’d be there!!
Cant be cool because its an amc. period.
I like it. It really does look good minus the bumpers, and I’d take this styling over many of the bland econoboxes offered today
I have been looking for a decent Matador Coupe for sale. Impossible..people did the worst modifications on them and they were prone to rust..I know from experience. My parents bought a 75 brougham (sp) version. I fell in love with the look. I would have one. At 18, in 1978, I bought a silver grey with black interior with a 360. What most people don’t know that this was a radical Nascar design by AMC which was hit by the fuel crunch and small cars. I filled my rear wheel wells with L 60’s and the front with slightly more narrow tires. There was not much you could do with suspension. AMC bombed on that when it became a cruiser. An edelbrock hi rise and holley 850 and headers brought back some of that failed Nascar dream. It was my overgrown Camero with coffee can headlights. She was beautiful, quick, and powerful..not so great in the turn. I would give an arm and leg to get my hands on a half decent one now…so rare..such a memory.