The Ambassador is an automobile manufactured and marketed by American Motors Corporation (AMC) from 1957 through 1974 over eight generations, available in two- and four-door sedan, two-door hardtop, four-door station wagon as well as two-door convertible body styles. It was classified as a full-size car from 1957 through 1961, mid-size from 1962 until 1966, and again full-size from 1967 through 1974 model years. When discontinued, the Ambassador nameplate had been used from 1927 until 1974, the longest continuously-used car nameplate until then. The Ambassador nameplate was used variously as the Ambassador V-8 by Rambler, Rambler Ambassador, and finally AMC Ambassador. Previously, the nameplate Ambassador applied to Nash's full-size cars. The nameplate referred to a trim level between 1927 and 1931. Ambassadors were continuously manufactured at AMC's Lake Front plant in Kenosha, Wisconsin until 1974, as well as at AMC's Brampton Assembly in Brampton, Ontario between 1963 and 1966. Australian Motor Industries (AMI) assembled Ambassadors from knock-down kits with right-hand drive from 1961 until 1963. The U.S. fifth-generation Ambassadors were manufactured by Industrias Kaiser Argentina (IKA) in Córdoba, Argentina from 1965 until 1972, as well as assembled by ECASA in Costa Rica from 1965 through 1970. Planta REO assembled first-generation Ambassadors in Mexico at its Monterrey, Nuevo León plant. Fifth- and seventh-generation Ambassadors were modified into custom stretch limousines in Argentina and the U.S. Development Following George W. Mason's unexpected death in the fall of 1954, George Romney (whom Mason had been grooming as his eventual successor), succeeded him as president and CEO of the newly formed American Motors. Romney recognized that to be successful in the postwar marketplace, an automobile manufacturer would have to be able to produce and sell cars in sufficient volume to amortize the high cost of tooling. Toward that end, he set out to increase AMC's market share with its Rambler models that were selling in market segment in which the domestic Big Three (General Motors, Ford Motor Company, and Chrysler) automakers did not yet compete. While the development of a redesigned 1958 Nash Ambassador, based on a stretched and reskinned 1956 Rambler body was almost complete, AMC's designers were also working on a retrimmed Hudson equivalent, called Rebel, to offer Hudson dealers. However, as sales of the large-sized Nash Ambassador and Hudson Hornet models slowed, it became clear to Romney that consumer confidence in the historic Nash and Hudson nameplates had collapsed. Reluctantly, he decided