The 1971 AMC Matador. The story of my first car...

We all remember our first car. It might have been a rust bucket. it may have been reliable yet plain, or some may have gotten financial support  (parents) and purchased a nice car.

But you know what? We all loved em, no matter what they were like. 

I bought my first car back in June of 2009. I always wanted an older car, so I could fix it up and learn how cars work. Never would I imagine what I was getting myself into buying this car...

So what is it?

It is a 1971 AMC Matador Sedan.

Why in the world would I buy something like this?

I thought it was pretty sweet looking, and honestly, it sounded like a podracer.  It rode smooth, handled well, the entire family could fit into it, and I had an apartment in the trunk if I needed a place to stay for the night. ;)

So, I paid paid $1500 cash for the car, after negotiating from the $2100 asking price. I drove it around for about 9 months. A couple things happened to the car in those 9 months...

1. The wheel fell off. Not kidding. I was at an intersection, and turned right... then *CLUNK*.
Mom "I think your... did it... AUSTIN your Wheel Fell off!!!"
Me; "no It didn't!"
*sccccrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaape*
Mom "there it goes down the street! STOP!"

So I pulled over and sure enough.... there was my wheel rolling down the street. I apologized to mom, and we had to have it towed....

That's what the fender looked like after the front end fell on it. :(

2. At my best friends house I was going to drive home and the car decided not to start... After taking the starter off and putting it back on... we finally got it to start to drive home. Still don't know why it wouldn't start to begin with...

3. Replaced the exhaust with a custom dual exhaust and got the front end repaired... cost me a bunch of $$$... but that's when I found Mr. Tony and the place I would restore this beast of a car.

So, after I talked to Mr. Tony about working at his shop with the intention of me restoring the car. He said it would be fine. And so I started working for him in the fall 2009.

In March of 2010... I pulled it in to begin the restoration process. I had no idea I would still be working on it a year and a half later.

So....
The next posts are going to be covering various parts and steps I take to restore my car. They probably won't be in the order I did it, but should give you a glimpse into what goes into the hundreds of hours I have spent on this thing.

Until next time,
Austin