Vehicle Description
1970 American Motors AMX. Finished in Red on Red, this AMX
underwent a recent RESTORATION. All newer interior, seats, carpet,
headliner, rubber seals and weather stripping throughout, door
panels, and restored dash with faux wood finish and new pad.
Factory correct AM radio works. Additional upgrades and features
include: Power steering, A/C, power disc brakes, new clutch, new
radiator and hoses, electronic ignition, and chrome air cleaner.
Chrome Magnum 500-style wheels with Uniroyal raised white lettered
radial tires. Driven (we estimate) only a few hundred miles since
the restoration. American Motors was formed in the 1954 merger of
Hudson Motors and Nash-Kelvinator. It was the brain child of George
Mason of Kelvinator and at the time was the largest corporate
merger ever attempted and was worth $198 million. In 1958 the Nash
and Hudson marques were dropped in favor of the single Rambler
marque. During these years AMC was known for various automotive
technology break throughs. The most notable was electronic fuel
injection. The feature was never adopted as electronic components
were not up to under hood duty in the 1950's and the technology was
sold to Bosch who introduced it many years later and is used today
in virtually every car. Some model names of note are Ambassador,
Classic, American, Rebel, Pacer, Javelin, and AMX. In the 1960's
the industry changed with massive leaps in horsepower as the Big
Three introduced both high horsepower big block and small block
V8's. The Javelin and AMX were introduced in 1968 to fill the
Muscle/Pony car niche controlled largely by GM (Chevelle, GTO,
Camaro, and Firebird) and Ford (Mustang, Cougar, Fairlane, and
Torino). Of the two, the AMX was the muscle car. It had a curb
weight of just 2,700 pounds, had just two seats and under the hood
you could get a 360 cu in four-barrel (290 hp P-code) as this
example is equipped with or the 390 V8 engine which generated
around 400hp although the advertised horsepower was 325 in an
effort to keep insurance rates low (a practice also followed by the
big three). In 1969 AMC changed its marque from Rambler to American
Motors. The change was made because Rambler had become synonymous
with small, low horsepower economy cars which were out of step with
the times. The AMX was built as a separate name plate in 1968, 1969
and 1970. When the Javelin was redesigned in 1971, AMX became an
option package for the Javelin eliminating the separate name plate.
Low production numbers in 1970 (only 2,500 were built) caused the
change. This very hard-to-come-by AMX is equipped with, we believe
to be the correct 360ci V8 engine, four-barrel carb, newly rebuilt
Borg Warner four speed manual transmission with Hurst Shifter (car
was born as an automatic, which is actually lower production than
4spd cars with a 390 engine). Before we took ownership, a previous
owner began an exhaustive restoration on this car. Included in the
restoration was engine, rebuilding the transmission, full body
work, paint, chrome, trim, glass, stainless steel, badging,
suspension, brakes, gas tank, fuel lines, drive line, exhaust,
coolant system, ignition system, and full interior. This beautiful
car looks great and only needs a little more attention to be a
complete turn key show piece quality driver. Items yet to function
are the instruments/gauges, horn, heat, A/C and wipers.
Occasionally the car will backfire when cold. The steering wheel
has some cracking and some minor interior trim pieces need
replacing and or adjusting. If you enjoy a little doing things
yourself, this rare AMX wont take much to be completely, show ready
and cruise night cruising.
