AMC Dealers In The 1970s – A Matador Barcelona Coupe, Plus Tame And Wild Hornets

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– Posted on September 24, 2025
B&W photo of new AMC cars parked in front of Mickey's Motor Sales
Mickey’s Motor Sales in Ellington, CT

For today, we’ll revisit AMC dealers in the 1970s. Unlike previous tours, this one will focus on images from only two dealers, but each with enough AMC content for those who enjoy the company’s products of this era.

A man in a striped sports coat leaning against the hood of an AMC Matador Barcelona in front of of Bill Rodekopf AMC

Above is a Matador coupe at Bill Rodekopf AMC, in Independence, MO. The Matador looks the very epitome of 1970s Brougham in its 1977 Barcelona edition. The man leaning on the hood in that photo looks to be Mr. Rodekopf himself, who was quite a character. He started out as a Packard and Nash dealer, and stuck it out with AMC after the merger. He lived to be 94 and died in 2017. (By the way, because some people were asking about the street addresses of these dealers, Bill Rodekopf AMC was at 10812 Winner Road in Independence.)

OK, I know I said this set is from the 1970s, but allow me to backtrack a bit with this somewhat blurry shot of 1967 AMCs at Mickey’s Motor Sales in Ellington, CT, taken in late 1966.  It complements a set seen a few weeks ago, when this Matador wagon was part of a gallery of Rambler buyers. For a view of those, you can check in HERE. (Public records show that Mickey’s Motor Sales was originally located at 2019 Chamberlayne Parkway, with a garage at 2504 Chamberlayne Ave. built later, and moved to West Road in Rockville in later years.)

Next, we return to Mickey’s in the proper 1970s timeframe:

Here’s the view from the showroom. Some of these images seem to be part of a previous batch from Mickey’s that I posted a couple of years ago. 

Hornets being serviced at Mickey’s.

Back in Missouri:

That’s famed drag racer Shirley Shahan, the “Drag-On Lady,” standing between the Hornet and the Gremlin. Bill Rodekopf gained a lot of notoriety with his dealership’s involvement in racing, starting with a drag-prepped Javelin he sponsored in 1968:

Newspaper clipping from The Examiner, 1968, showing Bill Rodekopf standing next to a race-prepared AMC Javelin with a helmet and trophy on the hood

He later bought a special AMX SS.

Rodekopf’s son Brian said they liked to run their cars at Kansas City International Raceway for maximum exposure.

We’ll close with the men of Mickey’s Motor Sales:

Those hairdos leave little doubt about the likely timeframe for these shots.

 

More Vintage Photos Here