A big move by plucky little AMC gets them on an exclusive list
Since my dad worked there, I was a bit closer to hearing the stories how American Motors always had to improvise to bring its products to market because it never had the funds available that the Big Three did. It needed big ways to get the public to take notice and a great example is this week’s spot, the 74 Matador, one of the stars of the James Bond flick The Man with the Golden Gun.
Looking to expand into foreign markets, things were going well for the company and they were able to scrape together 5 Million bucks ($32M in 2025 dollars) and pulled off one of the biggest PR coops in automotive history by getting its cars placed in the newest Bond film, The Man with the Golden Gun. It all went down in Bangkok, Thailand where Bond (Roger Moore) is chasing his arch-enemy Scaramanga (Christopher Lee) who is driving the Matador. Bond commandeers an AMC Hornet X Hatchback from a car showroom, drives it through the showroom window, and after the Matador driven by the villain. The local police meanwhile join the chase driving Matador sedans.
The Hornet’s big moment comes as the two AMCs exit the city and Bond jumps the car 40 feet over a Thai river, the car performing a barrel turn in mid-air, before landing on the other side…on one take!
RELATED Spot: See the other star of the movie, the AMC Hornet.
The chase sequence ends when the villains pull into a hangar where the Matador transforms into an airplane. A wing attachment, complete with a jet engine, snaps onto the car while an aircraft instrument panel flips down into the dashboard. Bond, who has been collared by the local police, then watches on in frustration as the Matador soars into the sky. See the entire sequence here.
The Matador Coupe was new for 74. AMC designer Dick Teague and his styling department shaped the sheet metal with a flamboyance never before at AMC. And, in but one body style—a fixed-pillar coupe. There was no plan in case the new car didn’t meet sales projections by sharing fenders with a bread-and-butter four-door version.
AMC provided 15 cars for the film. A couple of Hornets, 4-door Matadors used by the cops, which sort of looked comical compared to the smaller cars found there, and one bronze and black 1974 AMC Matador Brougham Coupé, Oleg Cassini edition, 2-door fastback with a 360 V8 engine producing 175bhp. The Matador was “Plan B” for producers. There was a flying car developed by American aeronautical engineers Henry Smolinski and Harold Blake but was scrapped after both Smolinski and Blake were killed during a test flight on 11th September 1973.
The actual Matador couldn’t actually fly more than 1,640 ft, so a meter-long 39 inch remote controlled scale model built by John Stears was used for the film’s aerial sequences. One of these models is on display at the Designing 007 exhibitions around the world. The “flying AMC Matador” machine was exhibited at auto shows. It was part of AMC’s marketing efforts for the aerodynamically designed coupe, as well as publicity exposure for the concept of unique flying machines.
One of my other time-sucking hobbies is building and flying radio-controlled airplanes. I love the unusual and this fits the bill plus I’m an AMC geek. Blogging partner Mark Savage took these pictures while he was visiting family in Vegas and I asked him to take lots of them because I plan on building my own radio control flying Matador. I have a plan. I’ve found 3D files where I can print out the Matador in any size. I’m not sure how big, but probably at least 1/12th scale which would make it about 18 inches long, and then scale the wing accordingly. The propulsion will come from an EDF (electric ducted fan), kind of like a little jet engine. It’s all designed in my head, sometimes a scary place to be, so I just need to figure out how to get it built. Stay tuned.
Thanks for stopping by and checking out my latest spot. It was a fun one. Come back next Sunday for another one of my finds, along with some of its history. Have a great rest of your weekend and a great week ahead.
Savage On Wheels 
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