AMC AMX
I was walking along blah blah blah LOOK AT THIS THING!
This is a 1968 American Motors Corporation AMX in Matador Red. This is the first year for this sporty offering from the independent automaker AMC, and it lasted only 3 years. AMX stands for American Motors eXperimental, and it was wholly unique in the domestic auto market while it was offered.
First of all this is a 2 seat car from the factory; the first all steel 2 seat performance car from the U.S. since the '50s Thunderbird. As big as it looks in this pic it was actually shorter than the Corvette!
Under the hood of this ride sits the original 4 barrel 390 V8 - the biggest engine available. The stripes suggest that this car has the high performance "Go Package". This car could leave the dealership and go 125 mph immediately as well as win most races it entered. This engine was rated at 315 horsepower but produced a mighty 425lbs of torque!
The image of AMC was greatly helped by the AMX as younger folks filled their dealerships for the first time. In 1969 a 4 seat, slightly longer version of this car debuted along side named the Javelin. Javelin production continued through 1974 in greater numbers due to being better suited for daily use than the AMX. Since these are so rare (*under 20,000 made of every combination in 3 years) I couldn't believe it when I encountered it a block from my house. Hopefully I'll see it again cruising around the hood!
*To put those sales figures into perspective the Edsel was also produced for 3 years. Even though the Edsel is haled as the biggest flop of all time they managed to make 116,000 of them.
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