And now for something completely different. Feast your eyes on the Pierre Cardin Javelin from AMC, recently reported by Hooniverse.

AMC had to be very creative back in the day. Without the deep pockets of the Big 3, the little guy from Kenosha, Wisconsin had to be scrappy and resourceful.

With Mitt Romney’s dad running the show, AMC’s marketing gurus came up with the idea of “Designer” editions.  It was an easy (and cheap) way to drive traffic to the showrooms.

The first model to receive this treatment was the Gucci Hornet Sportabout, (you can’t make this stuff up,) followed by the Cardin Javelin. Sales of this special Javelin were estimated at 2500 units, but actual sales exceeded that figure with a total of 4152 cars built from ’72 to ’73.

All Cardin Javelins had unique fender badging and a retina searing interior consisting of a multi-colored pleated stripe pattern in tones of Chinese red, plum, white, and silver on a black background.

The Last Gen Javelin was bordering on hideous as well. Like all pony cars of this era, the Javelin suffered from weight creep and was now bordering on bloated.  The controversial fender bulges a la Corvette didn’t help either.

AMC ash canned the Javelin by 1974, but that didn’t stop one more designer edition from hatching. The Oleg Cassini Matador would be the swan song for this exercise.  As goofy as these cars were, this marketing trick was way ahead of its time and a harbinger of things to come. Can you say Eddie Bauer Explorer?