AMC Ambassador Optional Interior - Very distracted driving.

AMC used to be a car company. They spent their entire existence in the role of "industry underdog", and they wore the mantle with a certain pride, as you can tell from this ad. Because they always had to try extra hard to get customers' attention, they did lots of kooky stuff, like the Gremlin, the car whose width was the same as it's length, and Pacer, the car with different-length doors. Let's not forget the Eagle, which was a four-wheel-drive car that was available decades before anyone wanted one. They also offered a houndstooth check interior on their otherwise-sensible Ambassador model. Think that sounds nice? Tilt your eyes ten millimeters downward and ask yourself again.

Flipping the page to this ad made me literally jump and blink a few times. It's a startling feast for the eyes. It almost looks like a magic-eye picture. If you stare long enough at the seats, you may be lucky enough to see a picture of Tommy Smothers.

This interior was available on the top-line version of the Ambassador- the "DPL" which, according to Wikipedia, was an abbreviation of "diplomat". I can only imagine picking up Indira Gandhi from the airport in a car like this, to take her to the U.N. She'd decide right then and there to invade the U.S.

AMC Ambassador DPL. Business on the outside, party inside.

If you got the Ambassador with the special houndstooth interior, it came with two matching pillows, presumably for the back seat. Pillows in a car. This is new to me. We can assume these pillows are for general luxuriousness, and not for sleeping. As if anyone could sleep with this fabric just outside your shuttered eyeballs.

None of this is to say that this interior option should not have been made available, or that AMC should not have done so much crazy stuff. The auto industry has, for as long as I can remember, been burdened with laziness and stagnant ideas. Change happens slowly from one model year to the next. Arguably, this is because cars are so expensive to produce, manufacturers only make the most conservative decisions whenever possible, for fear of not sucking up to the most average and boring consumer segment. Notable exceptions are things like the Nissan Cube.

We needed AMC, and we still do. We need a car company that makes rash decisions and releases batshit-crazy products. I would probably never buy a car with this interior, but I want to think I might. I'm glad AMC manufactured a car like this, and that some people did buy it. Of course, AMC paid the price of craziness, and that's obscurity and death. Too bad the vast majority of consumers are too dull to enjoy a weird car... reliability aside. There are far too many beige Toyotas on the road.

"A little nonsense now and then is treasured by the wisest men."   -William Wonka

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