We don’t often see vehicles for sale that are actually being used as they were intended. Pickups are rarely hauling anything, station wagons rarely have families in them, and SUVs or other 4x4s are rarely shown off of paved roads. This 1981 AMC Eagle Kammback 4×4 is one of the exceptions. It can be found here on eBay in Benson, Arizona with an unmet opening bid price of $4,900 and no reserve after that.
It’s either a bummer or a blessing that the body cladding on the sides of the car, on the doors mainly, is missing. There’s sort of an awkward transition between the cladding still on the front fenders and where it’s missing behind that. Other than that, this car looks incredible compared to a lot of them that are left. Maybe once a year or so we’ll run across one here on Barn Finds. Our own Jeff Lavery showed us possibly the nicest one on the globe last August.
Yes, the Eagle Kammback is based on the AMC Gremlin, just to get that out of the way. Or, actually, it was based on the Spirit which was based on the Gremlin. 1981 was the first year for the Eagle Kammback and also the SX/4 which were both based on the AMC Spirit but the SX/4 was based on the liftback model. If you’re going to go all oddball on life, you want a Kammback, there’s no question about it. You can see what the Arizona heat does and most likely did to the aforementioned plastic body cladding in this underside photo.
The seller has owned this rare Kammback for a dozen years and they say that it’s been off of the road for the last two years but has been maintained in running and driving condition. I have never seen a Kammback, meant to be an entry-level car, with power and/or leather seats before. Could these have been a factory option on Kammbacks? The Limited trim level wasn’t available on the Kammback. The interior looks great both front and rear and in the cargo area.
The engine is AMC’s 258 cubic-inch inline-six with 110 hp. This car has the Chrysler TorqueFlite automatic transmission and the seller says that it runs and works well. Are there any fans of these unusual Eagle Kammbacks out there?
Like the Pontiac Aztec the Kammback was ahead of its time. They just missed the mark by 35 plus years on the SUV sport coupe. I always liked the Eagle wagon. It would be easy to modernize the drivetrain with a 4.0 HO and a 4-speed auto with lock up. At least make it drive better.
Aztec was not ahead of its time. It was grotesque then and remains so today, IMO.
Heck yes! I would look for a rolled over wrangler TJ as a donor as they were available with the 4.0 and a manual 6 speed trans!
I think a 4.2 crank in a 4.0 block makes a 4.5 or 4.6 stroker. Seems like a fun idea for this one.
You know, kind of funny, I told my nephew I might want to trade the GMC for some kind of 4×4, the more classic, the better. Oddly, he suggested an AMC Eagle, of some sort. There is a rust free wagon I ride past on my morning bike ride. Judging by the “sink-o-meter” ( how far the wheels are sunk in the dirt) it’s been there a while. This is a great find, I had a friend with a SX4, and aside from the troublesome 5 speed, it was a great car. Cool find.
AMC pulled a rabbit out of it’s hat when it made an entire new lineup with body panels and tooling adapting Jeep 4X4 to a passenger car.
This is really a 79 Spirit or technically a Gremlin with four wheel drive. At the time was revolutionary. The big three didn’t see it coming. These were very capable off roaders limited only to their height.
I’ve only ever seen one of these “in the wild” – AMC was still an entity at the time. I thought these were neat then, still think so now. Hope she gets to an owner who’ll cherish her.
I had an SX4 that was awesome. It had full time 4 wheel drive and hugged the road better than any foreign sports car. I also got it up to 90 on the interstate, got 25 mpg, and could carry a ton of cargo. It would go where others feared to tread.
Way ahead of their time! I wish I could walk into an AMC dealer and buy one now. Seats are from a Matador or Ambassador; def. not original to an Eagle/Spirit/Gremlin.
Someone stuffed Eagle (30- sedan or wagon) Limited (81-84) Seats in there. The SX-4’s and Cambacks only came with the narrow Spirit style seats.
Another effect of the Arizona sun; the only time I’ve ever seen that unintentional two-tone effect was on a ’78-9 Lincoln Town Coupe with ragtop conversion. Leather, it seems, fades. Vinyl does not.
No vinyl doesn’t fade but it cracks and shrinks like crazy. And fabric doesn’t do much better with the fading and fiber breakdown.
A definite fun retro ride of a unique nature.
I would keep it as is for a long time and enjoy.
A friend of mine had one of these years ago equipped with the 4-cylinder GM “Iron Duke” engine and a 4-speed manual trans. Unfortunately the tinworm finally got the better of it. Those seats definitely do not look like original issue. Possibly from a well-equipped Eagle wagon? Due to the hump over the transfer case it would be difficult to adapt other AMC seats.
I see it’s in Benson, Arizona – the featured town in a science fiction movie theme, which is also the the only C&W song I know of that’s about the effects of relativistic time dilation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTa2vXL7FI8
never get it…if QudraTrac, Y the full time 4 WD? A viscus coupling means “drop when not needed” to me. Anyway, everything else is great to me.
“Dark Star (& the town) are a treat ! Spent some good times in Tuc son…
Wonder if AMC would have sold even MORE Gremlins from 1970 onward with those larger rear side windows above.
I’m SURE this interation in 1981 did not go for prices like this!! —>
http://oldcaradvertising.com/AMC%20Ads/1970%20Gremlin/1970%20Gremlin%20Ad-01.jpg
& i hope younger buyers are not reading this or just saw that ad! lol
Imagine the complaints TODAY tho, about the liftover height on the Gremlin to load groceries in back, with all the sissy-down-to-the-bumper trunklids, even on all 3 pony cars today!!
Just shaking my head everytime i see a trunk lid open today.
A 4WD Gremlin. What more could you ask for.
We have all had one.
Mine was silver.
Sold at the opening amount with only one bid,
$4900
I had a 1982 SX4 Kammback with the 258 for several years. it was black with orange lettering. When the 4 spd trans went bad, I swapped it out for a T-5. With the car in two wheel drive mode, I was getting 35 mpg on the highway.
Not exactly real easy to put a 4.0 high output in it. Because the front axle hangs off of the engine on specialized mounts that are tapped into the block and the 4.0’s don’t have those areas tapped. It can probably be done but it’s going to be a lot of work. What I have seen is a head swap putting the 4.0 fuel injected head on the 258-6cyl engine and all your four-wheel drive hangers are still there.
That’s the same reason you can’t put a V8 in the four-wheel drive versions of these cars.