By Jim Brennan
Hello and Welcome to another Weekend Edition of Quick Hits, where I take you on a short journey into, well wherever I plan on taking you. This is a posting about two American Motors Vehicles that were manufactured twenty years from each other. We will discover a relatively rare American Motors built Hudson Wasp (with Twin-H Power no less) that was built in 1956. Then I will showcase an astonishing 1976 AMC Matador Brougham with an interior you won’t want to miss… 
Let’s start with the Hudson. The AMC Hudsons were only built for three years before American Motors decided to build exclusively Ramblers (which was actually a wise move at that time…) and this particular Hudson is rather rare. According to the eBay listing:
es this is one GORGEOUS 1956 Hudson Wasp 4-Door Sedan and it only has 72,540 ACTUAL – ORIGINAL MILES since brand new. This car has always been garaged and it shows! We are selling this car for a collector friend of ours that is moving into a new house and it will only fit 20 of his 40+ cars, so he is thinning his herd. (Poor baby, but lucky you). It’s hard to describe how NICE this 1956 Hudson Wasp 4-Door Sedan really is. Survivor Classic cars this nice don’t come along very often! As you can see in the pictures it comes with its ORIGINAL 1956 Hudson Wasp owner’s manual and the ORIGINAL 1956 Hudson line-up marketing brochure. The color combination of – Code “82-81-82” – Light Blue and Dark Blue exterior paint with a PRISTINE – ORIGINAL style – Code “661” – two tone Blue Vinyl and cloth interior on this car is Beautiful to say the least! Even all of the ORIGINAL light lenses and reflectors are still clear, bright and in NICE shape. This is a tight and solid 1956 Hudson Wasp 4-Door Sedan that runs very well. If you can make it to Boise Idaho in the next ten days you really need to come and look at this BEAUTY for yourself, you won’t be disappointed.
It still retains its VERY STRONG – ORIGINAL – 202 CID High Torque Twin H-Power 130 HP 6 Cylinder motor and it runs GREAT. The Original Twin H-Power Air Cleaner housings and OEM Aluminum Head are still on the engine. The engine is backed by a smooth Four speed – HydraMatic transmission with Overdrive which also functions very well. The ORIGINAL style- Code “661” – Two Tone Blue vinyl and cloth interior is what I would call PRISTINE, shows very little to no wear, with a VERY NICE ORIGINAL Tweed cloth front bench seat, VERY NICE ORIGINAL Tweed Cloth rear bench seat, That Paired-up together fold INTO A BED, VERY NICE ORIGINAL dash, VERY NICE ORIGINAL gauge cluster (All Working), Nice ORIGINAL Blue padded dash pad with a couple very small cracks, VERY NICE Deluxe steering wheel, VERY NICE ORIGINAL matching two tone blue door panels, NICE ORIGINAL Blue floormats, VERY NICE ORIGINAL sunvisors, VERY NICE ORIGINAL headliner. All the interior window crank and door handle chrome is very nice. In my opinion you’re not going to find a nicer ORIGINAL interior on a 58 year old car than the one in this Jewel!
This is an extremely detailed listing, and I’ve only highlighted some of the five paragraph description, so you will have to look at the listing for yourself. With a day and 1/2, the bidding is currently up to $6,950, with an unmet reserve. How much do you think this two-tone stunner will go for? See the listing here: [sc:ebay itemid=”151310349249″ linktext=”1956 Hudson Wasp 4-Door Sedan Twin-H Power ” ] 
Now, let’s set the wayback machine to step twenty years into the future to discover this 1976 AMC Matador Coupe, one of the more arresting designs created by AMC Designer, Dick Teague. This car is dripping in most of the kitsch produced during the 1970’s, and according to the listing:
1976 AMC Matador, V-8 Automatic Transmission 41,470 original miles, Factory Air Conditioning, AM/FM Stereo, ALL Original Car, STUNNING Retro 70’s Plaid Interior, AMC Rally Wheels, Folks this is the best original AMC to be found.
Let’s review some of the features you would only find in an AMC vehicle during this time period. The instrument panel had fake woodgrain of course, but AMC decided to have the instruments themselves in woodgrain! The seats recline (as did most AMC Cars) while many of the competitors cars did not, but look at the head restraints… when fully lowered, they were flush with the seat backs! Oh, and the rear windows actually roll down! 
With a full five days to go, this unique slice of AMC heaven is currently at $4,150, with no reserve… I would almost call that a bargain, but what do you think? Seethe listing here: [sc:ebay itemid=”111368248916″ linktext=”1976 AMC Matador Brougham ” ]
Jeff Glucker