With the NASCAR season coming to a close soon, you can add a piece of history to your garage to remind you of a time gone by. This 1971 AMC Javelin is said to be an experimental NASCAR vehicle. Sadly, there is no documentation to prove it though. They do have a VIN listed and a Texas title for the car. The Buy-It-Now price is $17,000 but you do have the ability to make an offer. It is located in Wylie, Texas. You can view more on eBay.
According to the listing, the car was used to test an engine developed by Penske and Donohue. It is apparently engine number five of only ten built. They were claimed to have 425 horsepower. A special feature of this car is the intake has been signed by Vic Edlebrock which is, in fact, the intake installed in February of 1970. There are 12,856 original miles on the odometer as well. The car will start, runs well and doesn’t smoke.
Only one quick mention of the interior is made in the listing, and it to note that it is clean and original. As you can see in a number of the photos, the floors and many other parts have surface rust, but nothing detrimental. Somewhere along the line, this car has collided with something and crunched the left front. While an attempt was made to fix the problem, it was given up on. It shouldn’t take much to get the car back in shape.
Even without documentation, the listing has a hefty amount of information about the car. Being an attempt at homologation, there were 10 built, and this is car number 6. It potentially was used as a pace car at some point. There are photos included showing a Poly Blue Javelin pacing a Trans Am field at Riverside, California. While the seller is interested in more information if you know it, remember, you can still buy it and bring it home.
To my knowledge this is a well known fake in the AMC community. while it has plenty of rare parts on it, its just another clapped out Javelin, nothing more and certainly not worth 17 grand.
17K is too high in my opinion as well. Remember when it was listed on here for $65k?
https://barnfinds.com/ad/1971-amc-javelin-nascar/
This car was verified and documented as real test car, used to test and break-in engines and other track mods. It was never raced. All test cars for engine break-in and oiling / cooling mods required automatic transmissions to prevent over revving mistakes. They broke in the engines under torque and not on engine stand.
So in summary, it was not the main race car for the team, but validated to have race team history.
LMAO. Funniest story I have ever read. Having worked in stock cars for decades- no dry sump on the motor,exhaust system with mufflers and small pipes, automatic transmission, stock type distributor, heater hoses,Carb too small, etc. And even in the 70’s they were way over 700 hp.Would love to see the paperwork on that car.
Don’t know about this one. Sure the engine may be an experimental and maybe they drove the car around with some different engines in it but where is the roll bar? Even the blue one in the pic has a roll cage of some sort in it.
and jesus look at that oil pan! Engine painted yellow then wedged into the car trashing denting and scraping the oil pan? even I, when I was 17 swapping engines made sure not to damage the damn oil pan.
Oh the tactics skimmers & scammers devise to try for top dollar on their rides. Goood luck to this seller with no documentation to prove his claim. All I see is $300. worth of tired junker.
Really,Penske installed a Briggs & Stratton air cleaner? Definitely a way to reduce air into the engine before restrictor plates.
Along with the chrome shock towers, oil filter canister, wiper motor … Oh, yeah, the rear deck speakers were the secret weapon! NASCAR. Too funny.
Yeah this one’s been around, the story is complete balderdash. AMC already had a going NASCAR program in the 60’s with the Matador.
Hmmm. 4 wheel drum brakes on a 425 HP car. Strange!
Maybe he meant Trans Am??? But I doubt that also.
Sure doesn’t look like an original steering wheel, shifter and radio, but other than that, the interior is original?
Ah, but the color of that dizzy is worth the price of admission alone!
I want to know why someone hasn’t tried the folklores story where someone see the picture of Jesus in the oaint chipping or glass 😂😏
Maybe this javelin has an experimental intake but they changed the engine denting the pan in transferring bodies 🤣
No safety equipment means not real in my book 📚
Claimed to have a B&M transmission in it, I had one of their ratchet mega shifters in a Chevelle and know they made all kinds of automatic transmission stuff, but did they make a racing transmission back then? It’s even stamped on that tag.
If it was cheap, like as in 80’s cheap, it could be a fun street machine, which to me this is(was). Only experimenting this car did was on the street, just my opinion of course.
B&M started with racing transmission in the early 60’s. Never heard of the B&M Hydro?
“Famous Hydro-Stick four-speed racing automatic based on GM’s Hydra-matic” for drag racing. This is not that, by a long shot, it’s a MOPAR 727 Torqueflite as AMC used during that time with a speed shop B&M shifter.
@jerry z, honestly, I actually remember reading about a drag race car in an old magazine which used a b&m transmission, knew nothing about it though and even thought it may have been a misprint. Odd stuff back in those days, as a child I remember our neighbors Galaxie drag car having an odd straight back and forth shifter with a four speed manual. Knew someone who used a clutch in place of the torque converter in their Chevy, different stuff. Thanks for the feedback.
To much about this story doesn’t add up!! The body looks to be solid but it’s not in my opinion worth the asking price!! The bottom line is with no paper work to prove your statement it’s not worth enough to buy a cup of coffee!!!
They tell some tall tales in Texas, YEEHAW ( firing pistols in the air) that’s ok, someone might fall for it, which seems what the old car hobby is based on today, it’s still a pretty cool car, regardless.
They’ve been trying to sell this car for years now. Is this some type of bet going on between Dennis and Richard as to see who can get the most out of this pile…seriously
I’d make an offer of psychiatric help if I was a doctor.
IF this is real, it would be no problem to document it. Maybe some footwork, but easily done. I wonder why he seller hasn’t done this research.
Counted 43 things that would not pass inspection even in the early 70’s. The track pictures are worth more than the car
Joke of the Week on Barn Finds
Ah…those Jeep guys are at it again…
Stop judging! I paid 65k and realized it would take another 65K to get it right dang it ! I think my offer of 17k is fair (wow…) Thanks for the reminder Ian !
https://barnfinds.com/ad/1971-amc-javelin-nascar/
so funny. Last time it was listed for 65,000 and they stated they had offers of 45-50,000 but felt it was worth more. Now its a s teal at 17K. Richards old buddie bought it for 5k so that’s pretty much all tis worth.
Guys guys guys, the owner made a simple spelling error.
It’s supposed to be TRASH AM
If the guy pays me $18CDN I’ll reduce it to wastebox size with an EX200.
This is the second Javelin I’ve seen with an AMC NASCAR ID plate.
The other one was actually in person at the AMC Kenosha Homecoming Car Show back about 5-7 years ago. I didn’t ask many questions about it because I had no interest at the time, but I did notice that it looked like a beefed up daily driver with some very serious test modifications, vacuum gauges, pressure gauges, dip switches in the interior, etc…and some sort of strange radio under the passenger foot well. That car was Blue and had a roll bar with Black interior.
I remember this car vividly because when I asked him how a NASCAR could get away with a 401 ci engine (and) Automatic transmission, he said it was an “Experimental Car” used for testing suspension, engine, fuel, aerodynamics, etc… and did not have to qualify for Cubic Inch Displacement or Transmissions, etc.. He said that’s why the AMC VIN TAG says “NASCAR EXPERIMENTAL” and not just “NASCAR”. The Chassis number of that car was not legally permitted to race.
The facts that “some” of you guys are making here are correct, but you are all stating the obvious. Everyone knows NASCAR race cars are required to have manual transmissions and roll bars, etc… so this is not ground breaking news.
The fact is that this car has an original AMC Embossed Identification TAG (Not Stamped so that it could be faked). If you pay careful attention to the photo of the AMC TAG, AMC appears to have removed “1” of the numbers when re-issuing the VIN number (Check the AMC VIN decode book, you’ll see that the number representing the trim option was removed and it is no longer a VALID & Legal VIN number – count the digits on the TAG). Someone faking this TAG would have at least used the correct number of digits on the TAG if they were going to risk going to Prison.
AMC and others often removed the original VIN tags for NASCAR race cars and they reissued an identification tag / chassis number when they pulled cars off the assembly line because they were not intended for street use.
This car has an original AMC NASCAR Identification TAG and some really other things that would have obviously been fixed if someone was trying to fake this car as a real NASCAR.
To me, it looks like it was assigned to AMC’s NASCAR Race Program, fitted with a 401 and Automatic Transmission for testing. Using Automatic Transmissions for test / break-in was common to help ensure RPMs are kept at relatively safe level….aka Rev Limiter. The Tranny Oil Pan cooling mod requires way too much work, effort and skill to fake just for a photo.
It also looks like this car was never destroyed like it should have been after its purpose was fulfilled and it was hobbled together with a few spare parts to put on the street and drive.
Besides, who would risk making their own cast aluminum VIN tag at the expense of going to prison when this can easily be verified by law enforcement.
Looks like the car moved on, but I would say the original NASCAR VIN Tag issued by AMC and the NASCAR Stamped Engine itself would make it worth 10x more than a typical Javelin Project currently listed on Ebay.
Heck, even a rusty, incomplete Charger Daytona with a VIN tag is worth $100k and look how many of those are for sale.
It would be interesting to see that other car again and do a few comparisons.