Out of sheer necessity, little American Motors was often the most creative of the Motor City carmakers in the 1960s. Here’s another great example: the 1966 AMC Cavalier prototype.
As we’ve often said here at Mac’s Motor City Garage, we’re big admirers of American Motors, the little car company (1954-1987) that always went its own way. Unable to compete head-to-head against the Detroit Three in volume and engineering resources, the carmaker survived by inventing its own market segments with ingenious products including the Gremlin, the Pacer, and the two-seat AMX sports car. And while this example, the 1965-66 Cavalier project, never made it to production, it’s another fascinating example of AMC’s imaginative approach to design.
Created by Richard A. Teague, AMC’s prolific vice-president of design, the Cavalier was a study in symmetrical design. The fenders were diagonally interchangeable, left front to right rear and right front to left rear. Hood and deck lid were also identical stampings, and the bumpers and four doors were symmetrical as well. By reducing the the number of sheet metal pressings required, tooling and production costs were likewise reduced—all the better for little AMC to compete with the Detroit Three and their enormous economies of scale. While interchangeable sheet metal parts were hardly a new idea (AMC’s own Metropolitan used some) we can’t think of a more handsome example of the manufacturing strategy.
No roadworthy Cavalier prototypes were built, just the one lone display glider shown here, riding on a 108-inch wheelbase chassis. The red sedan made the car show rounds in ’66 as part of AMC’s Project IV design ensemble, which also featured the Vixen and the AMX I and AMX II concept vehicles. Note the Cavalier’s snazzy Cragar Super Sport five-spoke wheels. And if you look closely in the photos, you can see the Cavalier doesn’t have a full interior, just a simple silhouette cockpit.
AMC next planned to use the Cavalier badge on its new pony car model for 1968, but General Motors registered the name for its Chevrolet and Vauxhall divisions, so the AMC pony car took the name Javelin. And while the Cavalier never made it into the showrooms, unfortunately, we can find many of its finely chiseled angles and surfaces on AMC’s stylish 1971 Hornet.
~ pretty close to a suicide door Hornet sedan.
I think you’ve highlighted a Studebaker that took the same approach. Although it’s good looking, it also is a bit bland and basic. It may not immediately be apparent that panels are duplicated, but I still get a utilitarian vibe. The proportions of the hood/trunk to the greenhouse remind me of the 1st gen Corvair and the overall design looks like an upscale European Opel model.
the rear window treatment is clever and similar to the then current GM A-body coupes — a wagon variant would have been good looking, just as the Hornet ‘Sport’wagon was.