I hope none of you have high hopes for a second serving of Marlins in the real world. There just aren’t many photos of these out there, as the Marlin was a notorious sales dud. I’m honestly surprised I managed to find these few at all. But even if they’re a scant four images, I thought it was a good enough amount to share.
They all highlight the car’s most distinctive styling feature, the fastback. Ungainly as that feature was to most, it appears to have had its fans. A family happily poses next to one in this gallery, and that’s no fake love. Prove that even the oddest of birds can find some acceptance if given enough time.
Related CC reading:
I would say that these shots make it apparent the fastback roof was a little too humback-y in styling. Had it been a little lower it might have helped. In addition, had they made the grille a bit more sporty, a few more buyers may have shown up.
That one parked on the uphill on a snowy day is holding its own absent any apparent traction assistance in snow tires.
Fastbacks are always a temporary fad ~ they sell then they’re car lot poison .
-Nate
It’s an ugly car. Not even a reasonably attractive fastback.
I find/found them quite attractive.
And the thing is with the possible exception of the Mustang(and even that’s debatable) fastbacks don’t necessarily look better than the three box hardtop when sold side by side. The Marlin vs a Classic hardtop is the greatest example of this, the Classic is hardly 1965s beauty queen but it’s still leagues more attractive than the Marlin. If AMCs 327 was more like Chevy 327 that’s what the company needed if they wanted in on the youth market, not a goofy fastback
I think an exception is the 67-69 Barracuda. I always found the fastback far more attractive than the regular coupe, which always had far too long of a rear deck for my tastes.
Count me as a fan! I love my ’66.
That’s a great shot of your Marlin.
Thank you!
The Marlin with a ham radio license plate, parked in front of a radio transmission tower, is a nice juxtaposition.
I think in the original days of the California yellow on black plates, the only personalized plates one could get were for a ham radio license. I remember seeing them occasionally. I’m pretty sure the state only realized the opportunity to get extra revenue by charging for personalized plates only started at large with the yellow on blue plates that came after the black ones, and maybe even then only after using up the 6 character combinations and switching to a more compressed font which allows up to 7 characters in the ‘80’s (??). Now, new retro yellow on black plates are available again, for extra cost, or even more if they’re personalized. But with the compressed font they don’t look anything like the originals to an old guy like me.
As for the Marlin, I don’t think the basic shape is bad. I like fastbacks. And if it had a hatch it would have beeen an Audi A7 decades ahead of its time. What brought the Marlin down in my eyes was the typical two tone paint job demarcated by lines that just didn’t work for the shape. Plus, it was a Rambler. Ramblers just weren’t cool.
I’m sure it was a reaction to the Mustang and up coming Camaro and done on the cheap.
I was more enamored by the Barracuda with the fish bowl rear window. That was something else.
Shot #2 shows that the Marlin’s raised roof for added headroom was very suitable for a family with three big teens that just had to have a fastback. AMC had identified a very under-served market niche.
Let’s face it, at the time this car was up against some very intense, market owning competition. Were it another time, the same results wouldn’t be surprising.
Jerry’s Chevrolet Auto Show in Baltimore Md
I like it. Maybe not when it was new, and there was a lot of competition in the market. But now it is different and interesting. I even like the long sloper fastbacks of late 60’s Pontiacs.
The design was supposed to go on a larger mid-size chassis , as it was in the last year, but the addle brained big wigs insisted it be put on the smaller chasis which made it look awkward.
At that the similar first Dodge Charger design tanked also.
You’ve got it reversed, it was originally meant to be based on the smaller American, to go mono a mono against the Mustang and Barracuda, in the concept stage this precursor to the Marlin was called the Tarpon. The American chassis wouldn’t fit the Rambler V8 though so it was moved to the intermediate Classic chassis.
You’ve got it backwards; the fastback roof was first shown as the Tarpon show car, which was based on the smaller American. But since the American’s engine compartment wouldn’t accept the physically large AMC V8, the fastback was then grafted on the mid-sized Classic.
Exactly. And the shift to the larger platform totally blew the intended dynamic of this car. It’s more awkward than the first Barracuda.
The first two shots / angles show the Marlin the most flatteringly (is that a word?). I think the larger ’67 is genuinely attractive.
Or least unflatteringly.
Four shots of these is still four times as many as you would find. I remember finding one of these in a wrecking yard as a teen, spent a few minutes looking it over. As I recall it was awkward on the outside, quite nice on the inside, and rusty in the rocker panels.
My inspection guy had two Marlins, rare car in NZ one got rebuilt the other became parts.
The 1st Gen Charger and this Marlin are not that different from each other. Forget the grille part but the side lines are similar. The roof line, while not exactly the same, could be said to come from the same pencil. The end of the top body line, on the rear quarter, is similar. I would have never used a two tone paint job for one. Two, I would have contoured the roof lines at the back a little better and eliminate that chrome surround trim.
Now looking at the Marlin front seems to make this stick in my mind.
One thing that separates the Charger and 65-66 Marlin in side profile is the short stubby nose of the Classic. The 67 based on the longer nosed Ambassador is more like the Charger in proportion, and in my opinion a decent looking car but by then the damage was done, sort of like Edsel.
I have a hunch the Marlin in the snow is a factory photo at AMC’s wonderful proving grounds at Burlington, WI. The car is well-decked out, and has a plate that looks like a dealer plate or factory plate. And the proving ground has those kinds of hills!
and it’s “spotless”.
Given some of the exciting, iconic cars available for around the same price as the Marlin you had to be a pretty dedicated AMC fan to commit to buy one of these.
Chollas Heights Naval Radio Station in San Diego with Mount Helix in background
I’m from London UK I had a model car Marlin as a kid and loved it still have it in original box! I’ve only seen one in uk a long time ago! I think Rambler was making a really brave move in 65 as fastback had only just been conceived really and ‘ fad’ was gonna be game changer in next few years so rambler was ahead of the game DONT KNOCK THIS AMERICAN BRAVE ICON!!! PS.. I never got Corvettes apart from ‘ 63 split window beautiful design! Love to ALL car fans we are the people!!! Dave in London x
When I was a boy, it was cool to have a transistor radio. Our neighbor had a Marlin. I left my radio on the rear quarter panel leaning against the c-pillar (sail panel). The neighbors drove to town and when they returned home, the radio was still sitting on the Marlin.
I read where AMC built a Tarpon, an American 2 door hardtop with the same style roofline as the Marlin for the new car show circuit in 1964 to test the appeal of a car like this. They should have stuck with that instead of building this hideous design. I saw pictures of the Tarpon and it came off much better than the Marlin. Maybe it would have been competition for the Ford Mustang.