Rambler Tarpon

The Rambler Tarpon was a concept car, a sporty youth-oriented 2 plus 2 hardtop coupé developed in 1963 by American Motors Corporation (AMC). The bright red with black roof design study made its public debut 1964 Chicago Auto Show and served to foretell the fastback design elements of the larger Rambler Marlin that was introduced in 1965.

The automobile marketplace was changing in the early 1960s "when many young, first-time drivers entered the market ... and bought cars with flair." Early in 1963, American Motors' management began development of “a new car with a sports flair” to modify its image. Richard A. Teague's styling team came up with an entirely new concept for AMC - a fastback design. He had a passion for pre-World War II automobiles and had a "passion for taking old styling and making it new again." He observed the 1963 Ford Galaxie Sports Hardtop, which outsold the notchback model. Teague knew that his design team had to work with considerably smaller budgets than their counterparts. The small automaker was not willing to undertake the large investment that would be required all-new tooling, so his design team made imaginative use of existing tooling and create spin-offs from existing products.

The Tarpon was made on the compact-sized Rambler American's new design and platform already set for the 1964 model year. A convertible chassis was used 106 inch wheelbase), but the Tarpon was slightly longer, 180 inches compared to 177¼ inches for the production Rambler American. The Tarpon's roof was lowered two inches making it only 52½ inches high for an even more dynamic look. The top section of the new Rambler Tarpon was made of reinforced plastic. The windshield was described as "bulbous" and the fastback roofline featuring a "skylight" rear window. The swept back, double-compound curved windshield further enhanced the Tarpon's low appearance. The Tarpon also featured polished 13-inch aluminum wheels. Production Ramblers rode on ordinary steel 14-inch versions, so the smaller wheels made the car lower. The interior had a complete set of dial-type gauges under a padded dash, a deep-dish aluminum steering wheel rimmed in walnut, and custom bucket seats.

The Tarpon seemed to take aim at Plymouth's new Valiant-based Barracuda and the soon to be announced Ford Mustang. Shown before the introduction of Ford's compact Falcon-based Mustang, AMC's Tarpon was "an instant success" with 60 percent of surveyed potential buyers stating they would buy one.

The Tarpon did not go into production. At that time, AMC was still developing its "GEN-2" light-weight V8 engine that would fit the small Rambler American chassis. If produced, the Tarpon would have been a competitor to the Plymouth Barracuda, a fastback derivative of the second-generation compact Valiant. Utilizing an existing compact platform would have paralleled the Mustang's design approach whose chassis, suspension, and drive train were derived from the Ford Falcon. However, AMC's market research indicated that offering only a six-cylinder power plant would not satisfy the intended target market segment. The new V8 engine was introduced in 1966 in the sporty hardtop model of the Rambler American called Rogue. Moreover, AMC's CEO, Roy Abernethy, wanted the company to move away from the marketing image of Ramblers as being only small, economical, and conservative automobiles and designs. According to Abernethy AMC's "main problem was its image lag — the fact that too many people still thought of American Motors as the builder of plain jane compacts."