Remington Auto-Home Shaver and AMX

Playboy Jan. 1969

     I found this one right after I showed you this last week.  I've been giving American Motors a hard time, so here's a pretty harmless ad for an odd pairing of razors and sportscars.

     What is interesting is the razor pictured above was apparently printed in several positions, and you won the car by comparing that picture to one in an AMC dealership.  I'd be curious to see what the winning ads looked like.  Anyone out there have a similar copy of this ad we could compare this one to?

American Motors AMX

Playboy Jan. 1969

     This ad is another in the same series as this one I showed a while back.  It follows the formula of comparing one of American's offerings to it's competitors.  Last time, I bashed the Javelin for being compared to the Mustang, which history proved to be the better (or at least more popular) car.  This time, I don't know what to say.  There isn't a car to compare the AMX to.  I'm sure the ad is trying to say "the AMX is like no other car out there!" but I'm really getting a "we didn't want to bother finding a car to compare it to" vibe here.  As I recall (readers feel free to correct me), the AMX was intended as a competitor for the souped-up Mustangs and Camaros that Ford and Chevy were putting out in those days.  Again, it lost the war as time saw American Motors bellyup and Ford and Chevy still chugging along.

AMC Javelin

Playboy Nov. 1967

Here we see the classic American muscle car.  It's got a timeless shape, and a reputation for performance to back up that mean facade.  It's one of the most sought-after cars amongst hot-rodders and gearheads, but is equally well known by non-car-folk.  It's been the car of choice for both movie stars and the characters they play.  It is the feature car in one of the greatest car chases in film history.  Your dad tells stories of his college buddies that drove this car.  Heads turn when one drives by.  In fact, it looks so good that when the fifth redesign came out, they tried to make it look like the old one. It's as much a part of American culture as baseball and apple pie.

The Ford Mustang.

Also shown is a competitor's vehicle that was only sold for 8 years, with a redesign in the middle.  The company that built it went on to go out of business.  Yeah.  Hot stuff.

To be fair, the Javelin is pretty collectible, and a lot of people do seek them out and restore them.  You do get a lot of people reminiscing about them.  There were Javelins in Hollywood flicks. They're not terrible looking cars.  I don't personally dislike the Javelin; it's rather attractive.  But one of those cars is still for sale, in one form or another.  And it's not AMC's offering.