Teague joined American Motors Corporation (AMC) as a member of Edmund E. Anderson's design team in 1959, and became principal designer when Anderson left in 1961. Teague's first assignment, according to designer James W. (Jim) Alexander, was to re-do the front sheetmetal on the 1961 Ambassador. The first cars influenced by Teague's styling were the 1963 Rambler Classic and Ambassador, AMC's first all-new models since 1956. With the ascendancy of Teague in the early 1960s, "AMC Styling began to be written of in a more positive manner" within the industry and automotive press.