After George Romney's departure from American Motors on February 12, 1962, Roy Abernathy took the helm as Prsident and CEO and began a program to compete with the big three. The result was the Ambassador, a big car built to compete with the likes of the Chevy Impala and the Ford Galaxy.
Big cars had never been AMC's forte, and Roy Abernathy a former Packard executive didn't car for small cars. Abernathy's ambitious plan to compete with the big three led to $300 million in new tooling and facilities.
Dick Teague was the chief designer for Rambler and for 1965 his Ambassador design drew a clear distinction from the less luxurious Classic and American models. Teague began by extending the Ambassadors wheel base from 112 to 116 inches. Body shells were still shared with the Classic series, with the 4 inch difference appearing in the length of the Ambassadors impressive hood.
The grill design was bold yet pleasing extruded aluminum vee'd slightly forward and bordered by stacked quad headlights. Full length chrome trim capped the crown of the side and fender panels extending from the front fenders to the full height vertical tail lights. The roofline was crisp and the sculpted sides accentuated the length of the car. The all new design prompted Motor Trend to call the Ambassador a "strikingly handsome automobile."
The powerplant for the Ambassador included an all new 232 cubic inch six cylinder engine which developed 155 horsepower. More popular were the optional V8's which had displacements of 287 and 327 cubic inches and developed horsepower of 198 and 270 respectfully.
Transmission options included the standard 3 speed column shift manual, but most Ambassador owners opted for the Flash-O-Matic, a three speed automatic supplied by Borg-Warner.
Other options included air conditioning at $327.65, power brakes, tachometer, speed control, Adjust-O-Tilt steering wheel, Vibra-Tone rear speakers and power windows and seats. The famous reclining seat that converted to a bed was standard!
Two trim levels were offered, the Ambassador 990 and the less expensive 880. The 990 trim level proved more popular, outselling the 880 trim at a margin of 4 to 1.
There were only subtle changes for the 1966 Ambassadors: the grill texture was changed and the front fenders adopted tasteful chrome trim.
The newly designed Ambassadors were a sales success. In 1964 18,647 Ambassadors were produced, In 1965 that number soared to 64,145 units only to be outdone by the 1966 models that sold 71,692 units
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