SG stopped by to comment on our story, “1968-70 AMX was American Motors’ answer to a question nobody asked.”
AMX was not a sectioned Javelin. It was designed first and was supposed to be a fibreglass body on a new chassis. That was too expensive and risky, so the AMX was put on a shelf. Then the CEO, Robert Evans, ordered the engineers to make the AMX on the Rambler American chassis, similar to the Javelin. Shared parts were necessary to cut costs. It worked because much of the Javelin’s style had come from the AMX prototype.
It is clear to me that nobody here has actually driven an AMX, so I will explain that Mario Andretti test drove an AMX and really liked it. Or, as a person from Detroit once said, with tears in his eyes: “the most d*G awful fast car i have ever been in.”
— SG
Indie Auto invites your comments (see below) or letters to the editor (go here). Letters may be lightly edited for style.
I’ve only seen an AMX up close at a car show and yes, I’d like to drive one. My supposition is that it’d remind me of my first wife’s 71 Hornet in how it would ride, steer & brake, only it’d be five times as fast as her Slushbox 232 and yes, that’d be terrifying. I won’t rehash the usual tropes about AMC but I’m not sure AMC could have afforded to make the AMX a Halo Car. Them’s costly.
Had one in 1982 just out of high school
Loved that car but it had a ton of electrical problems
Mine was bronze with black stripes
Would love to find another
Ray stopped by to say: “As to the AMX being a Javelin and NO it wasn’t chopped like the Hornet/Gremlin they share the A PILLAR/B PILLAR. CPillar to the trunk is all Dick Teagues and Co End of discussion.”
Ray might want to reread the base story (go here), which criticized the styling changes: “In an effort to better distinguish the AMX from the Javelin, designers further undercut the car’s styling. Convex, flying-buttress C-pillars had a tacked-on quality compared to the Javelin’s lovely concave shape.”
After my brother Mike crashed my dad’s Cortina up in Mulholland my dad bought a ’69 or ’70 AMC Javelin, it was a beautiful car (6 cylinder).he had it all
Redone before he actually begun to drive it. I’ve never seen in person a AMX but in pictures and all I can say it looked like a Javelin. My father ordered from California and we picked up from the factory in Kenosha a 1976 Matador wagon brougham with the go package. I’m sure there weren’t very many of those made. Leather plush interior power windows, cruz control, am/fm cassette etc etc. powered by a 360ci w\ a 4 barrel, dual exhaust, front and rear sway bars, traction bars. The car had balls, and it had no issues to the day we sold it. I can’t say anything bad of AMC because I never experienced a problem. Great memories in that car. My father being Italian coming from Kenosha being born and raised 2 blocks away from the AMC plant/factory on 25th ave. I have a uncle and aunt that work for AMC until the the last day of that place being owned by AMC. We flew back in ’83 and my dad bought a ’82 AMC Concord limited with 15,000 miles and was built for the chairman of AMC. Super plush car. Again nothing bad to say of AMC only to bad they folded. Thank you-
I drove both the AMX and the Javelin in 1968. I could not afford the AMX at the dealership (long since gone by I-65 and I-70 on Indianapolis’ near-eastside) as it was loaded with almost every option available. (Too much money for a two-seater !) The Javelin was equipped with the 232-six and automatic and very nice for the money. The only fault I could find with both cars were the interior door locks located inside the door armrests…chintzy and cheap, and otherwise convinced me that if A.M.C. shortchanged on the interior door locks, where else did the company skimp on the details ?
That said, I cannot understand why A.M.C. manufactured the AMX. A waste of resources at a time the company needed to invest in its core product.