Even though American Motors Corporation has been gone for over 30 years, many of its cars still retain a significant following. The AMX is one of those cars, and a very nice example has recently come up for sale in Wichita, Kansa. You can find it here on eBay, with current bidding over $16,000 and the reserve not yet met.
AMX Stands for American Motors Experimental. Produced from 1968-1970, it was intended to draw young, first-time car buyers into AMC showrooms. A short car (the wheelbase was 97 inches) with only 2 seats, its most direct competitor was the Corvette. Even though it was a sporty, capable car, AMC simply didn’t have the same sales volume as the Big Three, and produced just over 19,000 examples during the three-year run. It’s estimated that only around 900 still exist. The body on this car looks to be in excellent shape. There’s no word on whether this is the original paint or not – it kind of looks like Alamosa Aqua, but could easily be a respray. Hopefully someone with a good eye for that can comment below. Regardless, the paint, bumpers, and trim look to be free of rust and damage. Underneath the car looks to be good as well.
This example supposedly comes with the “Go Package,” which would have included special redline tires, upgraded handling, heavy duty cooling, and a high-output 390 engine with 4 barrel carburetor. This example has been bored to become a 406 cubic inch engine, and includes a nice list of performance upgrades. From the factory, the 390 produced 325 hp and 420 lb-ft of torque, and I’m sure those numbers are even higher now with the modifications done. As a bonus, we can see a manually-shifted 4 speed transmission.
The interior of this car is my favorite part – I really like the color and unique styling of AMC. The seller mentions new upholstery being installed in the car. With a claimed 23,000 miles and not much info from the seller on the car’s history, it’s hard to tell if this was just an extremely well-maintained car with repairs and upgrades made as needed, or if it has undergone at least a basic restoration. What do you think? Either way, it appears that nothing is needed to enjoy this car. It’s a unique American muscle car that doesn’t look like anything else on the streets, and it’s ready to cruise this summer with a new owner.
Or, buy this already finished one instead of the other one just recently posted.
It will be interesting to see where this one ends up.
23k miles and it needed to be reupholstered and bored .060 over already?
No one is fooled. 123k at best
Why continue with these mythical low mileage barn finds?
I agree. But I also NEVER believe these low-mileage claims unless the owner has rock-solid proof.
Always remember and never forget; don’t believe anything the owner says.
It’s definitely had some restoration work. Based on what’s under the hood, the paint is hunter green. The respray appears to be a bad mix that has a touch more blue than it should. Inside, the seats are original, but the upholstery is not. Again, the color is just a touch off, and the embroidery on the headrests is a nice, custom touch. There also appears to be a custom-upholstered pad in the center of the dash. The steering wheel is an obvious deviation from stock.
None of that takes away from the fact that this is a very nice car.
The performance modifications done to this car suggest some time in the past it has seen some hard driving, if not competition. A scatter shield, that oil pan, extended wheel studs on all corners, trunk mounted battery and rear mounted electric fuel pump along with a canister style fuel filter are not typical modifications you see on cars only driven to the local show. Based on the parts selection, I’d say many of those modifications date back to the 1990’s to early-2000’s. A .030 390 is going to be somewhere around 396-397cid, not 406, if it has been bored that much it suggests multiple rebuilds. It’s nice, but as with any car needs careful inspection.
Steve R
According to this:
http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplay.cgi?model=AMX&year=1969&rows=50
Alamosa Aqua had wheels in the same color. So either these are not the original wheels, or, this isn’t Alamosa Aqua.
The wheels are Weld Drag Stars.
Steve R
Steve R, I’ve been Interested in Weld Wheels for quite some time. I state that because I have an MGB LE sporting a set of Weld bolt-on chrome wire wheels. They’re beautiful, high quality of very stout construction. Know any more about this company?
I’ve never seen nor heard of this Weld wheels making a wire wheel. I did a Google search using the words “Weld wire wheel“ and it came up with one result, a Cragar Star wire, for a period of time in the 1990’s Cragar owned weld. You might get lucky pursuing a search in that direction.
Steve R
That table is not accurate. Factory steel wheels were Alamosa Aqua and i have never seen a factory steel wheel any other color except perhaps black. Magnum 500 wheels were all chrome in 1968 and had black speckle finish from 1969 forward. Space Saver wheels were orange.
I bought a javelin in 82 for $100
A couple had finished installing a transmission in it
It would raise the front wheels
And with drum brakes seemed like it was never going to stop
I swapped it and the guy wrecked it in a week
Bullsh#t on all counts
Long and hard usage but beautifully done restoration. No mention of any leaks, always a dead give-away.
1/4 mile at a time maybe
Don’t Like It, Don’t Buy It…..
$19,300 now, but reserve still not met.
390’s in any AMC except The Machine were 315 HP. Machine 390 was 325 HP.
390 HP ratings: 1968 & 1969: 315
1970 : 325 for all AMCs
340 only for Rebel machine
1969: S/S AMX had a nominal factory rating of
340 HP
I would think the reserve is set at the high 20’s to 30K. I like the 390 4-speed over my friends 343 with the auto. Seems like a good number of the AMX cars had leather. Maybe the AMX was pitched to a older demographic as a gentleman’s muscle car. Works for me:)
AMC was ahead of the trends in many instances, it appears they were ahead of Eddie Bauer, too!
Failed to meet reserve at $26700 after 51 bids.
390 HP ratings: 1968 & 1969: 315
1970 : 325 for all AMCs
340 only for Rebel machine
1969: S/S AMX had a nominal factory rating of
340 HP