Morocco Buff is an exotic color name for “tan”, which is the color of this 1979 AMC Spirit DL Liftback. It’s posted here on craigslist in Belle Harbor, on the Rockaway Peninsula, in Queens, New York, about as choice a place to live on Long Island as there is. Was that confusing enough? They’re asking just $3,200 or best offer, a heck of a deal. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Mitchell G. for the tip!
For anyone saying there aren’t any deals in vintage vehicles anymore, here you go. $3,200 isn’t the $1,000 that some of us may have paid for a used AMC Spirit a couple of decades ago, but in 2025 money, this is nothing, especially for such a nice-looking car. It isn’t perfect; they say that there’s some tinkering to do, the AC evaporator needs to be installed, and whatever else to make it perfect. It looks great to me for three grand.
Speaking of perfect, the design of that rear bumper is perfection! Ok, enough of that. It is what it is, unless you’re hiring Chip Foose to redo the bumpers. American Motors made the Spirit from 1978 for the 1979 model year until the end of 1983. A reworked Gremlin, the Spirit came in the Gremlin shape, and also this sloping rear liftback body style. I can’t get over how nice this car looks, and those color-matched wheel covers kick it up a notch or three. The seller gives the body and interior a B+, and I agree, if maybe not giving it an A-.
The corduroy fabric seats seen here look perfect in front, and they were standard in the Spirit DL, but buyers could also choose “sport vinyl”. Make mine fabric every time, thank you very much. The back seat looks perfect, but the rear cargo area is showing some wear and tear. There is a bit of surface rust visible in the cracks and crevices, and this area on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean isn’t exactly the desert southwest, so that’s probably normal.
The engine is a six-cylinder, according to the listing, but is this the 232 or the 258? I’m guessing the 232-cu.in. OHV inline-six, which had 90 horsepower and 168 lb-ft of torque. Backed by a TorqueFlite three-speed automatic sending power to the rear wheels, this one is said to run well. A 304 V8 would have been available in ’79, and that would have been great, but I love this car the way it is now. If it weren’t for an $1,800 shipping fee, it would be worth considering this Spirit DL. Or, I could fly in and drive it home, better yet…
Fun write-up Scotty. I agree, this AMC isn’t bad at all. And for a measly amount of money, you could have a now-rarely-seen car to run around town, take on local cruises, take to Cars and Coffee, etc.
I wonder what it was like in the Design group back in the day, specifically when giving names to colors. For example…. at this week’s Staff meeting, the department manager announces “I’ve been informed we have three new colors for next year’s model, including a very normal shade of tan. Bill and Joan, how about you two get together and come up with some possible exciting-sounding names? We will review them at next week’s staff meeting.” And that’s how you end up with a classic name like Morocco Buff.
I’m laughing to myself reading all this feom Scotty and Bob about the colors. Bill and Joan at AMC did a bit better job at the name than Ralph did at GM.Chevy called it Buckskin……. I’m going with the Moroccan Buff . Way classier in my opinion. Great write up Scotty, this one looks like an honest bargain!!! – Dave
For Corvettes of certain years, tan was called camel – another (non) exciting name.
Never saw a brochure but worked at a place that made interior trim.. like the sunvisors. AMC vinyl had some nice colors… this interior vinyl is called Buff…. another nice choice would have been the very 70’s Cinnamon…
Around 1980 there was a store in Lansing Michigan that specialized in interiors and art supplies called the Silver Lead & Paint Co. They had a comical radio spot where a client walks in asking for paint. The salesman explains that they have renamed all the colors. For example, blue is now, Bob. They had various shades of light bob to dark bob and that their most beautiful shade of bob was called, Robert.
What a great find and buy! Looks to be heavily optioned for a Spirit.
What a great find and buy! Looks to be heavily optioned for a Spirit.
Nice AMC 👍
Craigslist link is to a `52 Ford.
Yep, like the link to a Chevy Caprice Classic farther down, and I think I saw a similar thing yesterday on a third vehicle. This seems to be a thing on CL now–if the original ad is gone, redirect to a different, unrelated vehicle.
What’s weird to me is that, in both cases, the seller is the same: location, number, name…maybe I don’t put up multiple listings simultaneously, so maybe there’s some kind of commonality in the link address? but…odd.
Maybe the seller is a cheapskate and found a way around paying the $5 Craigs List listing fee: they edit an existing ad to advertise a completely different car.
David and all, that’s why I always make the “archive” screenshot for craigslist ads so you can at least see the original listing.
Great find. Love the late 70’s into the 80’s AMC line up. A steal at that price even if you have a few things to to. Being old one of the things i always loved was a sprinkling of chrome and hood ornaments. Of course to the young designers and youthfull market those are cliches of the past and todays modern body line just would not benefit but it was classy back then.
Rockaway?! Keep your head on a pivot and gird your wallet. Nice car if legit.
…always liked the colored wheel covers… heavy vinyl or something… like the first Cordobas had…. This is a nice looking car… in great shape…
A friend of mine ordered a 1980 Spirit Limited with leather a 4 speed but the 4 cyl engine. Was a really nice looking car. By the way all AMC’s with A/C had the 258 six if I remember correctly.
Good looking, well taken care of, reasonably priced car. What’s not to like? ing
Had most of the parts to build my AMX, but gone after 3 days. Too late again!
Nelson C, that’s funny! I thought that the punchline was going to be Bobette. My wife is a quilter and is in the process of painting her new 500 square foot sewing room. The walls are patchwork paint.teal, orange, red, green, tan purple, etc. I try not to go in there. It offends my conservative outlook!
My mom bought one of these brand new. An absolute garbage of a car.
I miss AMC.