The AMC AMX debuted in 1968 as something of a companion to the company’s new pony car, the Javelin. But it was a GT-style 2-seater that may have tried to give the Chevy Corvette a run for its money. But, in typical AMC fashion, sales were not brisk and the AMX was no longer a separate car line after 1970 (although it would become the performance end of the Javelin through 1974). This ’70 edition is finished is its (mostly) original Big Bad Blue, one of only 114 cars built that way in the AMX’s final year. Out of storage after 40 years, this auto has been refreshed and is ready to do battle once again. Located in Westerville, Ohio, this Kool Kar from Kenosha is available here on eBay where the bidding has reached $18,101 (but not the reserve) and you can pass-go and take it home for $33,000. Thanks for your diligence in the tips department, T.J.!
American Motors was always good at taking a product and morphing it into another. The AMX is one such example. It basically was a Javelin with 12 inches taken out of the wheelbase (along with the rear seat). They would do the same thing a couple of years later with the Gremlin/Hornet. With V8 power as high as 390 cubic inches, the AMX could be a really hot car. Yet, they never really caught on, with just 19,134 copies built across three model years (far less than the ‘Vette). 1970 sales would be the lightest at 4,116 units with 747 of them having the 360 V8 and an automatic transmission (like this car). Just 114 AMXs overall would be painted Big Bad Blue that year.
As the story goes, this AMX was parked in a warehouse about 40 years ago, having reached an estimated 62,000 miles. Reasons for its early retirement aren’t’ reported, but the seller did rebuild the engine after it was released, so perhaps mechanical issues were the reason. It sounds like a couple of mods may have been done during the rework, and the front suspension and brakes (4-wheel drum) have been renewed. Also, score one for the fuel delivery system with a new gas tank and lines. While the exhaust is newer, the mufflers aren’t good (maybe a cheapie installation). While the Ram Air parts exist, that system is not hooked up.
This car sports most of its original paint which has been clear-coated. But a few little rust spots remain behind the driver’s side rear wheel well and the trunk lid. According to the seller, this machine looks wonderful from five feet, but as you get closer the imperfections become apparent. The interior is largely the same as it was when new and presents well. If you’re looking for a seldom-seen muscle car, this AMX could be a great driver while you decide what to do about the little minuses.
Great writeup on probably one of the most misunderstood cars. As far as we, in Wisconsin were concerned, the rest of the world could cram it with walnuts, we knew what we had. I thought all “Big Bad” renditions, green, orange and blue, had painted bumpers distinguishing them as “Big Bad”, but in 1970, I read, they went back to all chrome. Not sure why the lackluster sales, they certainly gave all the thrills any other muscle car did, and racing success helped some, but not to whine, but I truly believe it was still the “Rambler” thing we just couldn’t shake even until the bitter end. The AMX was MilwaukeKenoshas pride and joy, I’m proud to say, it was made in my hometown, by friends and neighbors. THAT, my friends, was what America was all about.
And, for the record, the “lost” AMX” commercial was recently found, I believe there were a couple, but this was the most famous. They were short lived, some never saw them at all, because they advocated street racing. Enjoy,,I think we can ALL relate to this commercial, look at the old mans face,,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RJLwJOnotI
Great video, thanks for sharing!
Pretty sure that’s a Javelin Howard, and not knocking them. They had great success when Trans Am racing was a very cool thing. Also a 390 AMX with the drag pack was no slouch, as I remember it was faster in the 1/4 mile than a 427 Corvette. AMC just was too small to compete with the big three in sales. Shame they did build some good cars. Those front bench seats that fully reclined in the 50’s though the 60’s were pretty cool too!
Oh, it is an AMX. Notice the short side windows in the back and the thicker rear quarter. I like your complimentary note, though!
Javelin had a back seat.
AMXs were 2 seaters.
This is definately a AMX these were limited in the Big Bad Colors. I owned a 70 AMX mine however wasn’t the Big Bad Colors it was Dark Gray with the Black Stripes and 4 Speed with the Borg Warner transmission .
I owned the car for 19 yrs and then sold it when I realized that it was just sitting there and not doing the vehicle any good and I didn’t have the funds to put into it so I sold it to a younger man that was anxious to bring it back to life which he did much to my enjoyment the car was with someone that could put the money it to bring it back to its Glory. I have many many Great Memories and experiences with this Muscle Car.
These were great cars which as has been stated many times were never recognized and valued where they should be like numerous other models . Great looking Car and worth the investment for the right person .
I beg to disagree Bob and Jim – not that I’m an expert as I have never seen one here in Australia.
To my eyes, the rear side windows on the car in the video are quite different to the ones on the subject car here.
Later AMXs did in fact grow and use the Javelin body which does confuse the issue a little.
It’s a JAVELIN. Bigger 1/4 windows than AMX. And it’s a JAVELIN ad.
No, that is an AMX, not a Javelin.
That’s definitely NOT a Javelin better get your vision checked my friend… The 68-70 AMX and Javelin had different bodies.. Unlike the 71+ AMXs.
What a great car the AMX was. I owned one for a short period of time. It was 390 four speed with AC. It was funny the AC control stated Desert only for the highest setting. The other thing was I’m not sure if it was just my car or other AMXs? But the electrical system was unpredictable sometimes the gas gauge would stop working sometimes gauge lights would stop working. Same with turn signals. But other than that the AMX drove great had lots of power was fun to drive and got a lot of attention.
Lance – youtube/kandyonchrome
My Dad bought a 1970 AMC Ambassador in 73. The a/c on it had that dessert only setting too. It had the 360 in it and had all the power one needed for a family, and it was a 2 door HT red with black vinyl top and black interior.
The desert only leaves the compressor running constantly which gives the best benefit available in really hot weather but it can freeze up the system when you’re idling at stoplights, etc.
The electrical issues you had weren’t typical.
Terrific commercial.
Richard Martin and Gary J Lehman yes it’s a Javelin in the commercial and the bbb car for sale is clearly the two seater AMX. I’ve owned at least three of each model.
Yes, thanks for sharing , born and raised in montreal,canada , i dont think this was on our tv’s but i do love it …
Thanks for finding and posting the commercial Howard. It reminds me of a very similar situation that happened between my older brother and our father. Mike owned a Javelin that he added headers to while the rest of us had gone on a family vacation. When we returned home the Javelin with modified exhaust was blocking the driveway and big brother wasn’t home to move it. So dad found the keys and moved it himself. I can still remember dad’s reaction. Not quite as bad as the reaction in the commercial but just as funny to watch. Ahh the memories.
That chrome luggage rack on the boot would have to go surely.
I think it looks good…a period accessory
Better fasten your suitcases well to that luggage rack.
Great luggage 🧳 rack. This is a perfect little touring automobile. Plenty of hwy power. Automatic transmission, with a 2.87 open dif, indicating its purpose as a comfortable cruiser.
A Diamond not in the rough, this has a lot of work put into it (engine, front supension) and nice interior- looks like a really great AMX.
Always look to the quality of the owner to gauge what you are buying. I would go after this hard like the 40 other bids if I could.
Nice car.
Howard, lackluster sales affected all the independents in no small part by their being dogged by propaganda from the big boys. The propaganda I recall mainly from sales personnel include “you won’t be able to get parts and service when you travel out of the cities” and “it won’t hold its value at trade-in”. The latter was self-fufilling.
AMC built fine products and was a great company but, like Studebaker, was just to small to compete. Growing up our next door neighbor had his and hers DarkGreen/White Stripes 69 AMX’s. His was a four speed and hers was a auto.
Nobody back then considered AMC’s cool in the least. And in the hot rod, pony car market…..that was a big deal.
AMC sold more family type cars cause ‘cool’ wasn’t much of a consideration.
I loved the Hurst AMX I remember seeing the red white blue paint job and fell in love with the body lines I do believe it was the javelin
The 1970 Trans Am Javelin were the red white blue factory paint job. A beautiful and very rare car.
I owned a 1970 Trans Am Javelin for a few years. It came with super T-10 spilt-gear close ratio 4 speed, limited slip rear end with 3.91 gears and a 390. I Put on a better intake, better than factory cam and headers. It was a fun car. Sold it to a guy in Michigan who already had a ’70 Trans Am Javelin. It should be in showroom condition by now, because he started restoring the paint and some missing items like the rear wing and the components for the cold-air hood scoop, back in 1995.
Nice video, but the “old” man, really isn’t so old from my perspective. I like these cars, but they just didn’t get the girls like the big 3 muscle did. And a car was so important to that process back then, that the wrong car made a big difference.
I remember at least 3 commercials. Another one was shot as the car was driving( which may have been part of this commercial before he turned into the driveway,, but deleted) and another, that was similar to Davids story, the car was in the driveway, the father wanted to move it, and asked the kid for the keys, the kid saying “it might need some gas”, and the father is horrified once he gets in the car. I can’t find what agency did the ads for AMC, but like VW, they had some of the most memorable ads, I’m sure cost them a fortune. Whether it had the zing of “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday” regime the other car makers enjoyed, can be debated.
BTW, the father, in case some didn’t recognize him, was Chief Clancy O’Hara(Stafford Repp) in the original Batman series.
I’ve mentioned this before (once I believe) so if you recall reading it and ticked off that I repeated myself, please forgive me.
You always remember your first, right? Back in the late sixties my older brother had a buddy who had just bought himself a big bad green AMX with (I think) the 390 V8, definitely with the 4-spd.
He came over to our house on our quiet side-street.Being late teens my brother and his other friends egged the new vehicle owner into acting a little foolishly (new car, new engine, not broken in yet). Sure enough he laid a patch right in front of our house. It was the first time this (then) 13 or 14 year old had seen anything like it. I was hooked immediately. Sadly though, by the time I was old enough to be as irresponsible, the muscle car era had ended. My first car? A brand new 1977 2.3 Ford Pinto. Yes it had a 4-spd, but the only way to spin the tires, with any success, was on ice.
I had a 1970 AMX 390 when I was a broke, dumb teenager in the mid 80’s. I have a lot of good memories with that car. I tired of the is that a Ford or Chrysler engine in that?, question or being pulled over for having a 1970 AMC license plate on it. No one really seemed to know much about these cool cars back then. This was back in the 5 liter Mustang era, and beat those up with ease. Other friends had a 402 Camaro, 383 Cuda and a 340 Dart. No one had anything for that old AMX. I’m not saying it was the fastest thing on earth, but that red headed step child from AMC could hold its own anytime. To this day, I still would like another one, of course a 1970, its my favorite.
$24,100 now and reserve still not met. I also like the luggage rack, if you were to take it off then you would have the screw holes there.
Javelin had a back seat.
AMXs were 2 seaters.
Big bad paint was available on other 1970 AMC cars and they had chrome bumpers. By 1970, AMC was the only independent left manufacturing cars. Kaiser still made Jeeps, but that ended in 1971 when AMC purchased Jeep. The death knell for the independent car makers occurred in the early fifties when Ford & Chevy had a price war. This caused permanent damage to Hudson, Studebaker & Kaiser. Packard was a high end car in trouble because Cadillac dominated the upper end market and the merger with Studebaker was the last nail. Kaiser was already in trouble because of overly optimistic management & the price war crushed them in the car market.
Too bad it’s an auto. That trans was very crude. Love these cars
This was a little hot rod….that most people didn’t even know was on the market. Don’t remember if there was much of a marketing campaign on tv or radio for these.
Never ran against one of these on the highways….as you saw a few Javelins but I can’t remember ever seeing one of these AMX’s.
And I saw a lot of cars in 2 car based jobs I had in this era.
if I tought a bet (“I’ll wear anchle hi bell bottoms”) could get me the car (1st thing I might do is a different color) I’d bet it…
For a whopping $34 you could get the Big Bad Paint job. My how times have changed in the devaluing of the currency.
A “Big Bad” paint option for $34 became available starting in mid-1969. The neon brilliant blue (BBB), orange (BBO), and green (BBG) exteriors included color-matched front and rear bumpers, as well as a special slim bright lower grille molding for the front bumper and two vertical rubber-faced painted bumper guards for the rear.
GARY J…..
Nope it’s a AMX.
AMX is plastered all over the interior.
Has the “AMX” EMBLEM other rear sail panels.
Once again, JAVELINS had a back seat.
ALL the AMXs from 68-70 were 2 SEATERS.
My Aunt was a Executive Secretary at the AMC World Headquarters on Plymouth Rd in DETROIT was about 2 miles from my house.
Motorcityman: He is talking about the car in the ad that Howard A. posted, not the subject car. That is plainly an AMX.
Hard to believe so few people chose this color.
Oh, ok…thanks.
I’m not surprised about the color, I’m not a fan.
The Javelin was an AMX, stretched, with an added back seat. The AMX was designed before the Javelin. Why does everyone tell the story backward?
Javelin came out with 1968 announcement. AMX came along the next spring.
They tell it backwards simply because the Javelin was brought out on the market a few months before the AMX. Yes, they finished the AMX design first.
100 per cent.
I grew up near the Illinois/Wisconsin boarder and would tear up Kenosha when they had the annual AMC meet on Lake Michigan.
Kenosha Cops were extremely lenient with ALL of us during those days, and Street Races we’re common place needless to say… I currently own a 70 AMX 390 4 SPEED, but started in 1979 with a 69 AMX 4 SPEED with a RADICAL built 343 after my older brother seized the original 390!
I went 8 year’s without an AMX, and the only thing that kept me from going after one during those years was that I was selling Harleys, and really got my adrenaline fix on a Daily basis thru my job!
Now I’m in my 60’s, and my only regret is the parts I pretty much GAVE AWAY during the 8 year’s of not having one anymore.
I drive my 70 AMX daily, and I get more People inquiring as to “what is it?” than I ever did when I was a teenager tearing up the streets in the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago!
Whoever gets that AMX is in for some WONDERFUL MEMORIES!