American Motors Showed At the Pumpkin Run

 Following the end of World War II, the American automobile industry, which had been using its resources to manufacture military items, returned to doing what they naturally did. Detroit's Big Three, Chrysler, Ford and General Motors, were all flush with money paid them by the government for their military machinery. And while the smaller car makers had made money as well, it was nothing compared to those Big Three. That capital allowed them to lower their prices and essentially send a death knell to independents such as Studebaker, Packard, Kaiser, Willys-Overland and others. Packard and Studebaker did something of a merge in order to help hang around for a couple of years but eventually that failed. Nash Kelvinator and the Hudson Motor Car Company merged as well, pooling their resources to form the American Motors Corporation or AMC. The company was created starting in 1954 and unlike all of the others, they had a secret weapon. In addition to Hudson, Nash and Rambler lines, they also had acquired the Jeep and began making a civilian version, the CJ line. Despite having minor success with small cars such as the Gremlin and Pacer as well as some larger cars such as the Hornet and Matador, AMC was always pinched for cash. They looked to France and Renault for an influx of capital. But that only went so far. By the 1980s they were totally scrapped and the banks refused them any credit. They filed for bankruptcy and Chrysler essentially bought them primarily for the Jeep line. Though they aren't seen all that often at old car events there were a nice selection on hand of non-Jeep AMC cars at the Pumpkin Run Nationals. Among them was a 1966 Rambler Rogue, a 1971 Javelin, a 1969 Javelin, a Rambler American station wagon, a Rambler Classic station wagon, a 1965 Rambler American station wagon, and an Ambassador.