You might be aware that American Motors would likely have died even earlier than they ultimately did had they not been bailed out by the French. Renault bought a chunk of the company back in the seventies, which gave AMC a needed infusion of cash and also gave the French firm an outlet to sell their cars, such as the Renault 5 with ‘Le Car’ branding often emblazoned on the rocker panels.
sources: Autoweek and Consumer Guide The alternate universe story is that while visiting American Center in Southfield, the French executives got a close look at the existing American Motors products like the Gremlin and Matador. Instead of running away in horror saying “Mon Dieu! What did we just buy?“, these Renault kingpins thought that buyers in France would lose their shit over these unique designs.
sources: Driveshare, Curbside Classic, and Curbside Classic Plus, the execs figured that the boats carrying over the little subcompacts from Europe could just be loaded up with Kenosha’s finest products to shill on the people that let their kids drink wine. I mean, you’ve seen French cars of the mid-century era right? If anyone would like these rather bizarre AMC cars, it might be them.
source: Renault 5.net, Classic Cars.com and Global Village There’s one catch of course. The execs needed to have changes to the cars made before they could be shipped. There are plenty of park benches in Paris so they don’t need the bumpers of their cars to serve that purpose. Also, the blunt front ends with sealed beam lights need to be replaced with items that illuminate the road about three times brighter, and in a yellow urine-on-the-moon kind of tint which was inexplicably required in France at the time. No problem! This can be done, and the end results might not even be that bad. Time to bust out Photoshop and give this a shot.
It’s amazing how removing those thick bumper transforms the cars. I mean, we saw countless European cars saddled with giant steel beams and ill-fitting round headlights to allow them to legally roam the streets of Wichita, but how many times has there been an opportunity for a malaise American production car to have all of the safety and emissions equipment ripped off and see what it really looks like underneath? Of course, you know that I’m not a person with the time or ability to photo realistic illustrations of automotive light fixtures, so I must have gotten these items that I stuck on the French spec Ramblers from somewhere, right? Indeed I did, but can you tell me what cars they’re from? This is an unofficial Parts Bin Puzzle, though legally I can’t call it that unless I want an Autopian writer and her attorney to appear at my door in an RTS bus with a cease and desist order. Whatever you want to call it, Where my sixties/seventies Euro car design detail ninjas at? When you’re ready you can click here for the answers. Can you please design/create a asymmetric Small Size SUV? I love the wonderful bonkers designs of Gene Winfield Strip Car or Nardi-Giannini Bisiluro Damolnar as the next autopian, but what if I need to transport my family (3 people)? Thank you! PS In case this is seen and created by The Bishop, I have “NO RAGRETS” regarding the possible abomination my request will bring upon the world. /me dies laughing. American Motors lost an estimated $65 million on its conventional (non-Jeep) cars for the fiscal year ended September 30, 1978, but strong Jeep sales helped the company to an overall $36.7 million profit on sales of $2.6 billion. Also do some better research next time: The license plates are, though black, with the new number system. They should have been with the old one, like the Lincoln Continental in French Connection.. The headlights themselves should have yellow bulbs or glass and not just have extra yellow lights beside them. And the turn indicators were in the 70ies usually close to the headlights, for instance right under them like on the Peugeot 504 or the Citroën CX. And substitute the fat white stripe tyres with some slim black Michelins. A big car like the DS ran on 180R15s. Yes, I did try more of an R14 face on the Gremlin and it just didn’t cut it. I don’t think the Cavalier looks particularly British anyway, likely since it was designed by Wayne Cherry, who comes from Indiana. And I have always wondered if 18 LU 13 (French Connection Mark III) had yellow lights under those covers…. Good choice with the Granada lights! They are so generic that they’ll suit almost anything. At least De Tomaso also thought so: https://hips.hearstapps.com/autoweek/assets/longchamp-1.jpg Their ad for the Pacer is worth a Bing The sedan is not realy helped, though. That jutting front grill never worked for me. The Gremlin is improved, but still looks stubby. And shouldn’t it be called “Le Diablotin?”
