Upstart Fastback With Room For Six

By Tony Barthel

© 2021, curbside.tv

In the early 1960s there was a sudden rush by the major auto manufacturers to create fastback-styled smaller cars. Not to be outdone by the Big Three, the much smaller AMC car company decided to challenge the major players, and set out to create a new sporty fastback coupe. This was of particular interest to the company brass, as the brand, then known as Rambler, appealed to an older crowd. But they needed a product that would have an impact with more youthful car buyers.

Stylist Dick Teague created a fastback design on the compact Rambler American platform, which would have been a bit smaller than the wildly popular Ford Mustang. The car, then called the Tarpon, was shown as a concept at a variety of auto shows and tested very well, but the smaller platform meant that AMC didn’t have a V8 that would fit into the engine bay.

The decision was made to go to the mid-size Rambler Classic chassis, which would mean that the company’s V8 engines would fit nicely, and this car would be a different animal than what the rest of the industry was going with. The predictions were correct, and Plymouth dropped the Barracuda in April of 1964. Later that year Ford’s Mustang came out with a fastback style. And AMC was ready with the car that would now be know as the Marlin.

The history of the automobile is full of great ideas that are upended, thanks to mismanagement by the corporate suits. The Marlin was no exception. While Dick Teague was highly regarded as a brilliant stylist (he also is credited with the AMC Pacer), upper management couldn’t stay away from meddling with the car.

Roy Abernathy, AMC’s new boss with an itch to stir the pot, decided that the car should be a six-seater - just what youthful buyers did not want. Then, with designer Dick Teague, in Europe, Abernathy demanded that the car’s roof be raised by an inch, so he could fit his 6’3” frame comfortably in the back seat. Again, something youthful buyers of the time had no interest in (the back seat was of interest, but for a more sporting purpose). So the car’s styling suffered greatly because of these decisions.

First-year sales were a paltry 14,874 units compared to the Mustang selling almost half a million units. On the positive side, the Marlin helped usher in the era of mid-size “personal luxury” cars that would arrive later, such as the Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

Up front there were optional dual reclining seats and front and rear arm rests when buckets were fitted to the car, an option that proved popular with many buyers. Overall the interior was quite lavish for the time. To the car’s credit, a standard dual braking system with front disc brakes was introduced, not at all a common feature for American cars at the time.

In retrospect, Vincent Geraci who stayed with AMC through the Chrysler buyout, said that the Marlin was an exciting project, but Abernathy’s meddling with the design really hurt the program, which might be why younger buyers shied away in large numbers.

There would be two more production years for the Marlin, with the corporate brand changing from Rambler to AMC in 1966, following Abernathy’s quest to move the whole company up market. Finding a good vintage Marlin can be a challenge, but it’s a reliable car that stands out as much today as it did when it originally sat in the showroom.