AMC muscle for sale

[Video 61]

hi everyone,

 

i owned as a kid a few AMC muscle cars. one of those rambler scramblers when i was a kid, was driven by someone who robbed the gas station i worked at as a kid in st. petersburg florida.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/collection-patriotic-amc-muscle-cars-110000511.html

and one of my professors in college had a rambler scrambler with a wheelie bar on the back, and used to pop wheelies in the college parking lot.

 

lance

www.atarisales.com

 

[Justin]

@Video 61 here's an episode of Jay Leno's YouTube show "Leno's Garage" (which has been in the news for a number of reasons lately). This episode is about the famous pink 1968 American Motors AMX with the current owner who restored it to its original condition. The car's history is a strange trip that involves a "playmate of the year" shooting and wounding her husband with Roman Polanski's gun, decades after Roman Polanski gave it to her for protection from retribution from The Manson Family. Weird, wild stuff!

AMC had hits and misses. They always went for a niche market and were willing to take risks to try something new. They had some oddly-received designs like the Pacer (Wayne's World) and the Gremlin (which I recently shared here) and yet they had genre-defining cars such as the four wheel drive AMC Eagle Wagon which pioneered the idea of a "crossover" vehicle, the Jeep Grand Wagoneer which was the first American luxury SUV with Cadillac-level craftsmanship and appointments inside, the popular Jeep Cherokee design which remained in production nearly 20 years after Chrysler bought out AMC, the first American built European cars, galvanized steel construction on all cars with a 5 year rust-through warranty, the first comprehensive Buyer Protection Plan on a car, and of course their government service's division AM General Hummer, which few people attribute to American Motors in the 1970s.

[Video 61]

21 hours ago, Justin said:

@Video 61 here's an episode of Jay Leno's YouTube show "Leno's Garage" (which has been in the news for a number of reasons lately). This episode is about the famous pink 1968 American Motors AMX with the current owner who restored it to its original condition. The car's history is a strange trip that involves a "playmate of the year" shooting and wounding her husband with Roman Polanski's gun, decades after Roman Polanski gave it to her for protection from retribution from The Manson Family. Weird, wild stuff!

AMC had hits and misses. They always went for a niche market and were willing to take risks to try something new. They had some oddly-received designs like the Pacer (Wayne's World) and the Gremlin (which I recently shared here) and yet they had genre-defining cars such as the four wheel drive AMC Eagle Wagon which pioneered the idea of a "crossover" vehicle, the Jeep Grand Wagoneer which was the first American luxury SUV with Cadillac-level craftsmanship and appointments inside, the popular Jeep Cherokee design which remained in production nearly 20 years after Chrysler bought out AMC, the first American built European cars, galvanized steel construction on all cars with a 5 year rust-through warranty, the first comprehensive Buyer Protection Plan on a car, and of course their government service's division AM General Hummer, which few people attribute to American Motors in the 1970s.

hi justin,

 

 cool car!

i bought this car brand new of the show room floor, same color, etc. in 1973.

 

 

lance

www.atarisales.com

 

[Sabertooth]

I had an '83 Concord. It was very reliable and easy to work on. Of course, it was just a slightly updated Hornet so the body styling was laughably dated by '83.

I've always wanted a Metropolitan. This started production under the Nash badge before the merger with Hudson and formation of AMC.  It was really America's first subcompact (although built by Austin in England).

I've also always wanted a Gremlin. I love ugly hatchbacks. It was easily the best of the American '70s small cars by a mile. No Pinto fires there!

Edited January 30, 2023 by Sabertooth

[RickR]

I had a friend in college that had a Pacer.  It was pretty old at that time, but what I remember most about that car is how dang big it was inside.  The car was super wide.  You could fit 4 normal-sized people in the rear bench seat. 

[Justin]

We had a member in the forums a few years ago who said their first car was an AMC Eagle 4x4 wagon. I remember being a little surprised to see that, and thought of Lance of course. 

[Video 61]

3 hours ago, Justin said:

We had a member in the forums a few years ago who said their first car was an AMC Eagle 4x4 wagon. I remember being a little surprised to see that, and thought of Lance of course. 

hi guys,

 

 i used to own one of these, this is the exact model. only mine was black with a white stripe. it was one of a typical amc car, you either loved it, or you hated it. it was very comfortable, had real good pick up and go. it was on the order of a impala S.S.

 

lance

www.atarisales.com

 

 

[Video 61]

4 hours ago, Sabertooth said:

I had an '83 Concord. It was very reliable and easy to work on. Of course, it was just a slightly updated Hornet so the body styling was laughably dated by '83.

I've always wanted a Metropolitan. This started production under the Nash badge before the merger with Hudson and formation of AMC.  It was really America's first subcompact (although built by Austin in England).

I've also always wanted a Gremlin. I love ugly hatchbacks. It was easily the best of the American '70s small cars by a mile. No Pinto fires there!

hi Sabertooth,

 

i owned a exact one of these, only it was fire engine red. and the bog six with a four three speed on the floor. i could get second gear rubber with it, and almost 30 mpg to boot.

 

also had a concord. it was loaded. got to find a pic of one.

 

lance

www.atarisales.com

 

[Video 61]

4 hours ago, Sabertooth said:

I had an '83 Concord. It was very reliable and easy to work on. Of course, it was just a slightly updated Hornet so the body styling was laughably dated by '83.

I've always wanted a Metropolitan. This started production under the Nash badge before the merger with Hudson and formation of AMC.  It was really America's first subcompact (although built by Austin in England).

I've also always wanted a Gremlin. I love ugly hatchbacks. It was easily the best of the American '70s small cars by a mile. No Pinto fires there!

hi Sabertooth,

 

 here is a pic of a exact concord i owned, except it was a darker brown. it was loaded, but with a 4 cylinder engine, and a automatic transmission, it was terribly under powered.

one time took my family to duluth minnesota to get away from the heat in the twin cities, sometimes its much cooler that, but not that weekend. when you enter duluth you have to go up a steep long grade before you get to the top of the mountain to enter duluth.

with the air on, two adults and two children in the car with cruise on, the pedal went all the way to the floor, even then we had to move into the slow going truck lane not to get run over.

i had to turn off the air to stay at least 40 mph!

but i filled up in duluth right away to check millage, i had gotten even with climbing the mountain, 41 mpg!

 

lance

www.atarisales.com

 

[Video 61]

3 hours ago, Justin said:

We had a member in the forums a few years ago who said their first car was an AMC Eagle 4x4 wagon. I remember being a little surprised to see that, and thought of Lance of course. 

hi justin,

 

 

here is a exact pic of the one i owned. wore it out doing computer shows around the upper midwest.

 

lance

www.atarisales.com

 

[- Ω -]

9 hours ago, Video 61 said:

It's a beautiful car, but it has two major things wrong with it.  #1 Some parts are a total bitch to come by.  #2 That 390 under the hood only gets 10 MPG.

[Atari 5200 Guy]

My hometown old AMC dealership had small white cars that never sold.  They were still there when I left in 08.  I often times wanted to ask how much those cars were.  I still don't know what model but they were small white cars.  2 of them. Both the same.  Looked like early 80s.

[Justin]

15 minutes ago, Atari 5200 Guy said:

My hometown old AMC dealership had small white cars that never sold.  They were still there when I left in 08.  I often times wanted to ask how much those cars were.  I still don't know what model but they were small white cars.  2 of them. Both the same.  Looked like early 80s.

They still had cars after 30 years? Were the small white cars AMCs or Renaults? Maybe they should've offered a rebate ☺️

[Justin]

6 hours ago, Justin said:

We had a member in the forums a few years ago who said their first car was an AMC Eagle 4x4 wagon. I remember being a little surprised to see that, and thought of Lance of course. 

 

3 hours ago, Video 61 said:

here is a exact pic of the one i owned. wore it out doing computer shows around the upper midwest.

 

I found it! @Yo-Yo is/was an Atari I/O member who started a new topic years ago asking everybody to post about their first car. Yo-Yo said he owned an AMC Eagle wagon as his first car:

 

[Video 61]

2 hours ago, - Ω - said:

It's a beautiful car, but it has two major things wrong with it.  #1 Some parts are a total bitch to come by.  #2 That 390 under the hood only gets 10 MPG.

hi,

 

but boy it flew and turned heads. in downtown st. paul we used to have whats called the loop. we raced all night long. going down the streets between sky scrapers and the pipes really roared.

 

lance

www.atarisales.com

 

[Video 61]

52 minutes ago, Atari 5200 Guy said:

My hometown old AMC dealership had small white cars that never sold.  They were still there when I left in 08.  I often times wanted to ask how much those cars were.  I still don't know what model but they were small white cars.  2 of them. Both the same.  Looked like early 80s.

hi 5200 guy,

 

perhaps gremlins?

 

lance

www.atarisales.com

 

[Video 61]

28 minutes ago, Justin said:

 

 

I found it! @Yo-Yo is/was an Atari I/O member who started a new topic years ago asking everybody to post about their first car. Yo-Yo said he owned an AMC Eagle wagon as his first car:

 

hi justin,

 

nice looking car for sure!

 

lance

www.atarisales.com

 

[Video 61]

30 minutes ago, Justin said:

 

 

I found it! @Yo-Yo is/was an Atari I/O member who started a new topic years ago asking everybody to post about their first car. Yo-Yo said he owned an AMC Eagle wagon as his first car:

 

hi justin,

 

this version i tried to track down for years, never got one.

 

 

lance

www.atarisales.com

 

 

[Justin]

I loved the commercials with Sam Groom (soap opera actor / AMC spokesperson) walking through the AMC's Kenosha, WI factory. In a world of snazzy advertising, there was something very authentic about these TV commercials, and Sam Groom was the perfect spokesperson for AMC, and even better for JEEP:

Think about how many Atari games and systems came home from Sears and Kmart in these cars 

[Justin]

12 hours ago, Video 61 said:

i bought this car brand new of the show room floor, same color, etc. in 1973.

 

1968 AMC Javelin commercial featuring the incomparable Richard Dreyfuss

 

[Atari 5200 Guy]

Those might have been Renault's.  Here...the cars are still there.

[RickR]

Those are Renaults!  Wow.  You think they are still new?  That's pretty incredible.  Pristine old Renaults...are they worth anything?  Maybe to a very specific collector I guess. 

I had a friend in high school whose very first car was a yellow Javelin similar to the Dreyfuss commercial.  It had been handed down from several older siblings and was in terrible shape.  On the other hand, it was pretty incredible that it lasted so many years/miles/drivers with very limited funding for maintenance. 

 

 

[Justin]

11 hours ago, Atari 5200 Guy said:

Those might have been Renault's.  Here...the cars are still there.

Yes those are the American-built Renault Alliance, better known as the Renault 9 in the rest of the world, just as the AMC Renault Encore was the Renault 11. They were built on the AMC assembly line in Kenosha, WI and had mostly AMC interior with AMC colors. They were an AMC product in North America. It won Motor Trend Car of the Year 1983 and sold well in the first few years. They ran into an issue with the dealer network being able to service the cars properly as they were a unique French design quite different from what the AMC / JEEP / Rambler / Nash / Hudson dealers were accustom to, and once Chrysler bought out AMC they wanted nothing to do with the Renault line and most Chrysler dealers refused service the Renault cars after 1989, which is why the cars disappeared from American roads shortly thereafter.

@Atari 5200 Guy Those cars are missing trim along the sides, but I suppose that's going to happen after 40 years. Have they been sitting there "new" the entire time, or are they just someones cars that are parked there? The tires look inflated. The second white one and the copper one look like 1986 models, as distinguished by their redesigned slim nose.

If you look in the distance you will also see another AMC product - the JEEP Cherokee, which was designed by AMC with input from Renault. If you look at the Renault Alliance parked next to the Cherokee you will see similar lines from the side, including the belt line, doors and window treatments, as though they are from the same "family". They follow a similar design philosophy. 

[Justin]

Here is a terrific look at the American Motors Kenosha, WI assembly line in 1974. In production you'll see the: AMC Hornet sedan and fastback coupe, Sportabout Wagon, and Gremlin, all of which share most of the same components and are essentially variants of the same car. Despite the name of this movie, this was filmed a year before the Pacer was introduced and I don't think the Pacer, Matador or Ambassador are shown here. Enjoy:

 

[Atari 5200 Guy]

On 1/31/2023 at 12:32 PM, Justin said:

Yes those are the American-built Renault Alliance, better known as the Renault 9 in the rest of the world, just as the AMC Renault Encore was the Renault 11. They were built on the AMC assembly line in Kenosha, WI and had mostly AMC interior with AMC colors. They were an AMC product in North America. It won Motor Trend Car of the Year 1983 and sold well in the first few years. They ran into an issue with the dealer network being able to service the cars properly as they were a unique French design quite different from what the AMC / JEEP / Rambler / Nash / Hudson dealers were accustom to, and once Chrysler bought out AMC they wanted nothing to do with the Renault line and most Chrysler dealers refused service the Renault cars after 1989, which is why the cars disappeared from American roads shortly thereafter.

@Atari 5200 Guy Those cars are missing trim along the sides, but I suppose that's going to happen after 40 years. Have they been sitting there "new" the entire time, or are they just someones cars that are parked there? The tires look inflated. The second white one and the copper one look like 1986 models, as distinguished by their redesigned slim nose.

If you look in the distance you will also see another AMC product - the JEEP Cherokee, which was designed by AMC with input from Renault. If you look at the Renault Alliance parked next to the Cherokee you will see similar lines from the side, including the belt line, doors and window treatments, as though they are from the same "family". They follow a similar design philosophy. 

I live in Harrison all my life until I moved in 2009.  As far back as I can remember those two white cars have been there in those spots.  It is possible those are loaners when someone brings in a car to be fixed.  That dealership used to be called Jones AMC Jeep but is now just Jones Auto Sales.  It use to look abandoned before I left.  It has had a change since I left.  The old building looks pretty good now.  

I did not notice the trim missing.  Those use to be in immaculate condition, full trim.  I never asked if those were for sale or not but I always thought those two cars looked really cool.