Funky & Wonky: 1977-78 AMC Matador Barcelona Was Spanish-Style Opulence!

Learn more about this two-year only option, the Barcelona trim on the AMC Matador.

[valengreymoon]

So good to see a nice colorful interior, instead of the depressing million shades of gray in today's cars.

[stevepavey]

I’m currently restoring a Barcelona Red Coupe, Thank You Adam for showing

[DSP]

I think this was an amazingly weird and wonderful '70s decor package for these cars. I love both color interiors, though I have to say the red one looks like an 1880s San Francisco bordello!

[markdc]

I still remember the "That's a Matador?" ads shown on TV then. Odd ball styling but not quite as strange as either the Gremlin or Pacer 😂 As loud as these interiors were, today they're like a breath of fresh air, taking us back to a more carefree time. I'm sure those seats were really comfortable too. 😉

[P.Galore]

You open the door and think " THERE are my beach towels! "

[marcoluoma]

Thanks for a fun video. I graduated from HS in ‘77, and this interior becomes much more reasonable when you look at the clothes we were wearing back then. Thanks again.

[Jack_Stafford]

I LOVED the Matador. As a kid, I always thought they looked so smooth and futuristic, without looking dumpy and ill-proportioned like the Pacer.
Long, flowing, smooth and round.
A lot of these "luxury" touches detract from that pure design, but that's common in any car's production run, they start off with the purest, intended design, then are altered and muddied as they age.
Putthing a vinyl top with small rear windows on this Future Car, well, defeats the purpose, but if their intention was to steal a few Cordoba sales, I guess it succeeded.

Matador, such a great car! (The coupe, the sedan was ALL kinds of wonky!)

[fearsomebeard]

That coupe Matador is fabulous!
One of my favorite cars growing up. Truly inspired design in my opinion.

[LincolnRay]

The interior material gathering was referred to as ‘shirring’. Basically using an elastic-like thread in the sew style to create a textured/gathered look to appearance. Other cars used the same gathered look in varying degrees over the years. Some other cars which used this were the 75-76 Fleetwood Brougham; the 79-87 Mercury Grand Marquis / Grand Marquis LS was a great example of this shirred look of fabric sew style. This look would also be used for both cloth and leather.

[colibri]

Actually, that beige color was more seventies than the claret red. People think of the seventies as having crazy colors, and that was kind of true for the early seventies, but by the time this car came out, earthtones had been the thing for a while, and that beige/tan color was really common. That's the main color I remember those mid-seventies Buick Electra Limited Park Avenues being, too, with their ultra-plush, also loose-fabric upholstery that was part of the same trend that this Matador was following.

[Daniel-]

As a young child, my mom had and early 70’s 4-door AMC Ambassador. If I remember correctly, it was white with blue interior. The one thing that always stood out to me was the suitcase latch door handles.

[Drmcclung]

Love or hate the Barcelona package, it's charming as hell! Dorky trim packages are what make a lot of AMC's so damn charming in the first place. Levi's interior in Gremlins was always my personal favorite (I would love to have a blue denim Levi's interior custom made for a black, red or yellow '79 Spirit AMX Coupe). The Matador Coupe in and of itself, regardless of the interior, I don't understand the hate for it and never did. Thanks for more AMC love :)

[philip]

That one's the same exterior colour too as the '74 Matador coupe that Christopher Lee's character dramatically flew away in to escape James Bond in The Man with the Golden Gun if I'm not mistaken...

[bawintermage]

That plush interior, an 8 track of teddy pentagrass, plus a disco ball must have spawned half of the last generation

[EricResnick]

I agree with your take on the Oleg Cassini, that it was quite nice and would be quite a piece to have today. I also liked the Barcelona a lot. The Matador was an under rated and under appreciated car when new, and I'm glad to see you spotlighting it now.

[woody]

My gosh u have to wear sunglasses on tht crazy red interior....
I enjoy your interesting info on cars..

[mrluckyuncle]

I always liked the Matador body design. It looked good then and it looks good now.

[Godlovethepilot]

Gordon Buehrig Introduced the "Coffin Nose" with the Cord 810 & 812. O Toronados of the
2nd and 3rd gen used it to great affect. Man, that 1:14 Matador defintely deserves a seat at the "Coffin Nosed" History table.

[judsonr]

I have never seen this interior before, but I will forever refer to it as the one with garter belt seats.

[votingcitizen]

Seat fabrics look like pajamas or those peasant dress that hippy chicks were into. The 5 mph bumper standard was not really a safety rule. It was primarily a repair cost rule, although it was framed as the bumper had to protect 'safety' equipment e.g. headlights, turn signals, etc. from damage up to 5 mph impacts. The 5 mph standard saved consumers many, many millions of repair dollars; at some "expense" of styling. Since the standard was sunset and bumpers were integrated behind plastic fascias, the cost to repair relatively minor impacts can easily be a couple thousand bucks.