It’s funny the things you’ll remember from your school days. My late calculus teacher shared an anecdote with me, knowing I was into cars, about his younger days when he was ignored at the Chevy dealership while shopping for a new Corvette Stingray. Thus, he got into his car, drove to the local AMC dealership, and bought a new AMX instead. I think about that story almost every time I see an AMX, such as this very nice, well-documented 1968 model with a 390 and the “Go Package.” Barn Finder PRA4SNW found it here on Hemmings Marketplace, where the bidding has been active, with the current high bid of $29,500 not yet meeting the reserve.
I have to give it to the owner; the listing is exactly what you want to see when you’re buying a car online: the documentation is complete, the pictures are plentiful, and the ad copy is thorough enough that I suggest you click over to Hemmings when you’re done looking around here. The car has had five owners, all of whom have taken good care of the car. Here, we can see that the AMX is originally from Long Beach, California, and was factory-equipped with the “Go” Package, which included a Sure Grip differential, power front disc brakes, a heavy-duty handling package, heavy-duty cooling, and the “over-the-top racing stripe.” And that black stripe looks great on this car’s “Hialeah Yellow” paint, which was redone in 2001.
The 315-horsepower 390 is equipped with the Shift-Command automatic with 3.15:1 rear gears. You can see that this car has air conditioning, which has been refurbished and recharged with R12 by the current owner, but since it isn’t listed on the reproduction window sticker, we have to assume it was added at a later date. There’s too much maintenance to mention, but the engine, which has never been rebuilt, “does not smoke or burn oil.” The seller believes that the 92,254-mile odometer reading is original.
When the car was repainted in 2001 (and the lower quarters and “sections of the floor” were replaced), the AMX got a new carpet and headliner, while the upholstery was repaired rather than being replaced (the seat foam, however, was new in 2001). The door weatherstripping is new as well.
The undercarriage looks very solid, and it appears that whoever did the body repairs painted the undercarriage a uniform black. Maybe AMC restorers can let us know what the original finish looked like in the comments.
Perhaps the thing I like best about this AMX is that it’s wearing steel wheels with basic wheel covers, a combination I’ve only seen in period photographs. How many AMX owners popped a set of Magnum 500s on their cars and cast these covers to the four winds? I know I might be in the minority, but that alone makes me love this pale yellow two-seater from the good folks of Kenosha, Wisconsin. With nice paint, rechromed bumpers, and a lot of documentation, it’s a beauty. I know my calculus teacher would have approved.
Another hats off to BF’s, for posting something from another car site.
I agree. There are so many great auctions on Hemmings and Hagerty that are great to watch, and the listings are always well written. Many No Reserve vehicles sold at great prices. I’m not sure why they are considered any different than EBay, which are featured here all of the time.
I agree Aaron about the wheel covers. In my younger days that would’ve been the first thing changed but as I have gotten older I appreciate the bare bones look so much more. As much as I love Rallye type or Magnum wheels, they’re so ubiquitous nowadays that seeing a classic muscle car with wheel covers is just kinda refreshing.
Sweet car .. Love that Go package value. The Shift-Command autoloader was only a $95 option ?
That low price is because the AMX came standard with the 4 speed, which was normally a $184 option. So choosing the automatic was discounted.
Now THIS,,is what the “kid” started with before he BUTCHERED the car, in the recently surfaced Javelin commercial, “It’s a great car, dad, I just made it better”, no wonder the old man was upset. Nobody took us seriously until the AMX. Oh sure, there were V8 grandpa Ramblers that did okay, did wicked burnouts, if you wanted to be seen in it, but this was all new, thanks to Dick Teague and represented a huge performance milestone for the company. Even though, it WAS a glorified Rambler American, the public( I) never knew that, similar to Falcon/Mustang. It was short lived, by the mid 70s they were gone, but a heck of a toboggan ride while it lasted. This was our cool car.
Ramblers always , ALWAYS looked a bit ….off . as if Mr. Exner had a hand in their quirky , unpopularness . Ramblers being built with the cheapest of parts and materials did NOT help at all .
Back in my youth (10 year old) my neighbors had two green with white stripes AMXs. His was a four speed, hers was a auto. They kept them until around 1980 and traded them off. Nice cars. I also know a guy that had a 440 powered AMX.
My best friend in high school had a ’68 with a 343. White, red stripes and interior, with ET mags and redline tires. Beautiful. Hit 140 mph and the wipers blew up off the windshield and scared us to death.
I like virtually everything about this AMX. Almost a nit that it doesn’t have a 4 speed. I would take it over a Corvette any day and I’m a die hard GM guy.
Wow!
nice amx done in good color. love the hubcaps
I used to own a ’67 Ambassador DPL convertible that had that same Hialeah Yellow paint color. And it had a black top and black vinyl seats. There’s no forgetting the scorching hot interior on sunny days. Ouch!
Pretty darn NICE!!
The mention of the snubbed potential Corvette buyer going to the AMC dealership and buying an AMX reminds me of the alignment guy at the Buick-GMC place where I worked. He had ordered a new GMC 1 ton crew cab with a trailer towing package and all the bells and whistles. When his new truck was delivered to the dealership the Powers That Be sold his truck out from under him to seal a deal with a customer who was looking for the exact same truck.
Our guy didn’t take it lying down. He drove over to the Dodge dealership across town and picked out an equivalent brand new Dodge Ram truck with the Cummins 5.9L Diesel engine.
The looks on the faces of the sales staff and the dealer principal at our workplace were unforgettable.
I HAVE ONE JUST LIKE THIS ONE Same color in all but with more options no rust orig. 60k miles it is fast and drives like a dream, took it to a car of a couple hundred cars was the only amc amx .
The memories are coming back. I had a 1970 with the 390 go package. It was ordered from the dealer I worked for by someone who wanted to drag race it, so it had no air, no power steering or brakes and a 4:11 rear axle. They traded it back with about 2k on it. I bought it and installed power steering and brakes and drove it to Florida. The “no AC” didn’t sit well with the weather, so I drove it back to Michigan and sold it. As I remember, it got about 7 or 8 miles per gallon on the highway! But it sure was fast.
This one ended at $32000.
Reserve Not Met.
It is now listed at an asking price of $39,900.
Asking price now lowered to $37,500.
They’ll eventually find out what it’s worth then. It is a nice piece, but where are the buyers in this mid-range no-man’s land? They’ve vanished. Wise people see where this is all headed and don’t want to be the guy holding the bag.
Hopefully this guy is into it for a lot less than his asking prices.
Since it sold for over 39K (buyer’s fees included), there are still buyers out there. Maybe not as many, but good pieces will sell.
Sold for $39,375 including buyers fee.
I’d call that great news for the owner. This is a very nice car.