Eighth Time is a Charm

You are 19 years old, and you want to buy your first new car. You go to the local AMC dealer and order… a 1967 Ambassador DPL two-door hardtop? (Queue the sound of a needle being dragged across a record.) That’s not the typical choice you’d expect a young man to make during the muscle-car era. George Watts, the buyer, had recently taken a job with IBM as a technician, and he had no predisposition to any brand. Several of his peers had large cars. His mom and dad had a 1964 Lincoln Continental, and his previous car was a 1964 Oldsmobile Jetstar 88. To George, big cars were the norm.

George grew up in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. “Cherry Hill Rambler (later Cherry Hill Motors) had a burgundy with white-vinyl-top Ambassador DPL in its showroom window,” George says. “I drove by one night and said, ‘What is that?’ I really liked the way it looked, and I liked the size,” he adds. The Ambassador, despite being considered a full-size car, was a bit trimmer