1966 AMC Ambassador 990 Station Wagon Factory 327 Auto With Power Steer

 1966 AMC Ambassador 990 Station Wagon. factory 327 auto with power steer

This is a very rare 1966 AMC Ambassador 990 Station Wagon. I believe this would be the only one available in Australia so this represents a very unique vehicle. It has a factory 327 that is clean with no leaks and is a very peppy and free running motor. with smooth shifting automatic transmission and with power steering it is very easy to drive. There are lots of little surprise appointments for its vintage for example the electric rear window. All electrics are in good order and all interior lights. dials. gauges and switches all work including the original valve radio. It has typical Californian fantastic floors and under-body with absolutely nil rust. This was personally sourced in California so we were always well aware of its value for money for the quality of mechanicals. exterior. interior and overall driveability. This rare and unusual station wagon runs. drives. steers. brakes and cornersvery well - this is not your usual “land yacht” sized USA wagon and is very roomy without feeling like you are parking a Cadillac. It has recently been fitted with a new dual exhaust system that sounds great. Exterior is mostly original paint - front colour is slightly different as previous owner was starting to repaint years ago in sections but decided to leave it alone to keep originality and value to the car. New carpet placed in the front - original shag in good nick in the rear. Sale includes original import documents and import approval and Qld buyers can negotiate for pre-registration compliance to be arranged and we will even get the car registered on your behalf at cost. Interstate buyers talk to us about our offsetting what are affordable car carrier rates. Ring John anytime 0417 733057 to fire any further questions. We have just reduced the price substantially to interest those sitting on the fence so feel free to make an offer. But in the meantime read on with a beer or coffee for a good story.

So now that you have all the cold hard facts on this AMC. take a minute to read the long and interesting history of this car. You may not be interested and you may not believe it at first but here is the story anyway and you be the judge of authenticity. The guy I bought it off told me this was factual and therefore worthy to choose to believe him. He said that he had documentary proof but there is still no actual written verification. If any legitimate document is ever receive it will be posted but for now here below is the story relayed as purported fact before purchase in a Venice Beach bar. The story goes like this….

Apparently the first owner was the AMC designer and this car was indeed the prototype and during testing the car resided in the designer's then California residence of 990 Ambassador Ave Beverley Hills Ca 90210 for the first part of 1965 and hence this car itself actually being responsible for its namesake. Following successful track testing and driven by none other than Steve McQueen it was put back over the factory floor and reappeared out the factory gates as Car Number 1 in late 1965.  

Even though AMC manufacturing lists this as a 1966 model. apparently further proof that it is actually really a 1965 manufacture is the purported and discreet use by AMC as again a track test vehicle ahead of release to the market the following year. Some minor paint crazing on the front end of the car is purportedly testament to the cars only track incident / mishap where it followed too close behind an. at the time. not very famous Lincoln Futura.   The jet flames temporarily mounted on the Lincoln were being track tested at the same time by Metro Golden Mayer. This was apparently the day they purchased the Lincoln and track tested the rear jet flames before trucking it into their studios for the ultimate conversion from every day Lincoln Futura to what became none other than the Batmobile. Those in the know would be aware that this original 1960's Batmobile recently sold for US$4. 6M at a Barrett Jackson Auction. It is a shame that this AMC unit and other AMC motor cars in general aren't appreciated like this notable blue ovaled unit has been.

From there the AMC went straight into the hands of Sherwood Schwartz the creator and producer of a very successful TV show at the time where after some initial usage it lay idle for 2 years. Most fanatical station wagon lovers know a little bit of the history of wagons that Mike & Carol Brady had over the years. All would know that in the first series of 1969-1970 that they drove a light brown 1969 Plymouth Satellite station wagon but very few until now know that ABC ran 5 test shows that didn't make it to air in 1968 and this very car was the Brady Bunch's family wagon. One can attest to this by looking at the few small dents in the front bumper and at the side that were caused in Episode 2 where Mike asked Alice to get some meat from Sam the Butcher and she bumped into Davy Jones and Marcia parked up in the Monkeemobile in the car park.

From a famed dead end here the AMC moved north and passed through a few quick un-notable hands in the Bay Area and eventually in 1968 it fell into the hands of Gerry Garcia whose Grateful Dead Album “American Beauty” of 1970 is reputed to be named after this very motor car at the time owned by Garcia. German pressings of this seminal album show a picture of this AMC on the inside sleeve parked under the infamous Haight and Ashbury street corner sign in San Francisco. Copies of this pressing are reportedly now unfortunately extremely rare adding further to this cars mystique.

From here the car was driven back to LA by the band members of the Flying Burrito Brothers to record a song written for them by the Rolling Stones. Wild Horses. This song was never a big hit for them (maybe they should have been driving a wild Ford Mustang) and to pay the recording studio costs. they were forced to sell the car to none other than Elton John who kept it for most of the early 1970s in the time he spent in California and the black shag pile carpet still evident in the rear sections is reputed to be one of his signature stamps replacement upgrades he placed on the car during his time of ownership.

Reputedly later in the 1970's Edward Woodward got his hands on it and turned it into a full woody but it wasn't well received and the “woody” was reportedly again brought back to the Ambassadors Beverley Hills original 1965 design. All that remains now is the correct and original small amount of understated wood panelling look up the sides.

From there the AMC reputedly became a Route 66 Motel car park hire car before it again changed hands numerous times and then sat in storage for years when like the story of Alan Lomax and friends coming to rediscover forgotten bluesman like Skip James or like a story of a Rodriguez whilst working as a labourer on a Detroit building site being made aware of his continued fame in South Africa and Australia. the Ambassador was reborn again. back in the limelight so to speak. playing its part on the filmset of none the less than Forrest Gump.

The story apparently goes that Bubba bought this car before fame bestowed him via the success of Forrest Gump and he used to arrive to work every day on the filmset in the AMC and reportedly with the Ambassadors superior cargo carrying capacity. every Friday he would bring in kilos of shrimp for everybody on set to enjoy a Friday lunchtime shrimp feast.   Everyone would gather around the tailgate and talk fondly of the Ambassador whilst they ate shrimp…. barbecued shrimp. boiled shrimp. broiled shrimp. baked shrimp. sautéed shrimp and shrimp-kebabs. shrimp creole. shrimp gumbo. pan fried. deep fried and stir-fried shrimp. Sometimes they would even have pineapple shrimp. lemon shrimp. coconut shrimp. pepper shrimp. shrimp soup. shrimp stew. shrimp salad. shrimp and potatoes. shrimp burger or shrimp sandwich.

Reportedly the story goes according to Bubba Gump's family that after his fame and fortune from the success of the movie the AMC was discarded and forgotten about by Bubba. but his family who kept it under cover all these years would once a week place a fresh deodoriser in the rear section. Once the interior smelt fresh again and worthy of re-sale earlier this year it was placed back on the market where the Venice Beach car salesman that bought it relayed all this fabulous history to me. We will keep searching for all the authenticity documents on this fine cars history but at this stage we should all just rely on what was told me as being truth and as the last seller was an honest car salesman we owe him the time of day to believe him. Even if you consider this all to be questionable data and find the whole story a bit of a steal then the car is still a steal at $13990

Also published at eBay.com.au

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