American Motors Corporation's 1965 Marlin (Wikipedia entry here) might have been a sucessful early follow-on to Ford's epic Mustang that was launched in the Spring of 1964.
The problem with the Marlin was its size. AMC had two platforms available when the Marlin was developed. The Rambler American was closer to the Mustang's size than the larger Rambler Classic, and in retrospect it would have been the better choice. (The decision was made before the Mustang appeared, so perhaps its design and certainly its smash-hit popularity were not known to AMC at the time.) The Ramble Classic platform made the Marlin a six-passenger-size rather than a true four-passenger car, clearly pushing it away from the emerging "pony-car" market segment.
I should note that when Marlins were new, I too thought they seemed too bulky, not really sporty.
Marlins were redesigned for the 1967 model year, being based on the even-larger new Ambassador platform. Now it was essentially an attractive standard-size coupe, a placeholder for the much more successful Javelin that appeared for 1968.
Marlins never sold well, probably losing money for AMC.
The basis for the initial Marlin.
The door shape and A-pillar zone are those of the Rambler Classic, but the rest of the cladding is different. Side-view Marlin features are the (slightly too-high) fastback, the aft side window shape, and the dab of two-tone paint framing those windows.
The 1967 Ambassador, platform source for the '67 Marlin, was identical to this '68 model shown here, aside from the two side reflectors.
For 1967 the "Rambler" tag was replaced by "AMC." The fastback profile is more pleasing that the Classic-based design. Plus, that fussy two-tone aft window framing is gone.
The width of the passenger compartment is clear in this view. Bulky-looking.
Ambassadors were even wider than Rambler Classics, but the added width was mostly in the fenderline "shoulders." The result was reduced visual bulkiness of the passenger compartment greenhouse. Frontal styling was also improved,
Another signature Marlin feature is the two-tone segment flowing downstream from the backlight window.
That was retained in the 1967 redesign. Note the rear fender tips and taillight assemblies that seem to be carryovers from the previous design. AMC stylists had to work with tighter budgets than those in Big Three carmakers, so it's possible that some tooling was reused here.
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