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Robert B. Evans at American Motors during the 1960s

Robert Beverley Evans (1907 - ) was an industrialist, socialite, and sportsman who served for a time as Chairman of American Motors Corporation (AMC). ^[1]

Evans bought 200,000 shares of AMC stock (worth US$3 million) and became the firm's largest shareholder. ^[2] As sales of automobiles were weak industry-wide in 1966 and AMC was facing major losses, Evans was named chairman of the board. He replaced Richard E. Cross, who continued as a director and chairman of the executive committee.

Evans is credited with turning the company around from the strategy of matching the Big Three American automakers nearly model for model that was promoted by Roy Abernethy. It was Evans who brought on the major changes by handpicking Roy D. Chapin Jr. as AMC's general manager. Evans was always encouraging the styling and engineering staffs do things differently - to try new ideas and find new ways to design and build cars. ^[3] He is also credited as the champion for AMC to build a production version of the AMX concept car that was part of the Project IV showings.

In January 1967, a contentious AMC board of directors meeting resulted in the firing or "early retirement" of Abernethy, as well as with the "resignation" of Evans. They were replaced by William V. Luneburg (President) and Chapin as the new Chairman. ^[4]

1. ^ [1] American Motors' New Gospel, Time Magazine, June 17, 1966. Retrieved: March 12, 2007.
2. ^ [2] A Long Way to Turn, Time Magazine, December 2, 1966. Retrieved: March 22, 2007.
3. ^ [3] Dave Brownell, "1968 AMX 390" Hemmings Motor News Archives. Retrieved: March 22, 2007.
4. ^ [4] Quick Wash, Time Magazine, January 20, 1967. Retrieved: March 22, 2007.

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