The AMC AMX Is the Best-Kept Secret in Classic American Muscle Cars

Just as there was once an age of giant reptiles some 100-odd million years ago, there was once an age of American automotive giants. Although they may be dinosaurs today, the “Big Three”—General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler—virtually dominated the international automotive scene for nearly three decades following World War II. But there were other brands that, while smaller, aspired to greatness as well.

America’s number four carmaker at the time, AMC began in 1954 when Nash and Hudson came together in the largest corporate merger in American history to that point. The Wisconsin-based marque was still quite a distance behind Detroit’s triumvirate in terms of volume and revenue, but it found a niche with a lineup of smaller cars like the Nash Metropolitan and Rambler American. The company was not without its memorable models like the AMC Pacer, an expression of aesthetic oblivion that has since become a cult classic. (Squint your eyes and it’s a Porsche 928.) And for a few brief years, AMC made some truly exciting cars, including the AMX, Javelin, Hornet, and Gremlin X—a caricature of a car powered by AMC’s 5.0-liter V-8.

Of them all, the first-generation AMX has a serious collector following today. With pony cars like the Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang taking the lion’s share of the domestic performance-car market in the late 1960s, AMC jumped in with a daring model called the AMX. The original design, introduced in 1968 and made through 1970, was distinguished as the only American two-seat sports car available at the time, apart from the Chevrolet Corvette.

The model was also notable for its short wheelbase of 97 inches, which was one inch shorter than that of the ’Vette, and at around $3,500, the AMX was $1,000 less expensive. AMX refers to American Motors eXperimental, a name used for some radical concept cars shown a few years prior. The AMX moniker was also used on subsequent four-seat Javelins built from 1971 through 1974, as well as later models whose stature did not compare to the original. (Think of J.S. Bach and his sons.)

American Motors’ own V-8 mill powered the AMX, and customers had a choice of engines with displacements of either 290 cubic inches, 343 cubic inches, or 390 cubic inches (6.4 liters)—the latter making upward of 315 hp and 425 ft lbs of torque. The largest engine propelled the AMX from zero to 60 mph in about 6.5 seconds, a respectable time for the day. The model’s top speed in street dress was under 125 mph, but handling was the name of the game for the AMX. A Borg Warner four-speed transmission, front disc brakes, and traction bars were standard equipment. In 1969, “Big Bad” paint options were introduced in Green, Blue, and Orange, and these are the colors that make the first-generation AMX such a stand-out muscle car.

The unique design by AMC’s brilliant Dick Teague was advanced for the period, with a sharp profile whose truncated rear end accentuates the car’s short wheelbase. The lines are assertive without being exaggerated, and the AMX has a certain timeless character, considering it’s close to 60 years old.

Concours examples with the “Big Bad” package and a four-speed manual gearbox can be well north of $100,000, but excellent “Sunday show cars” without the crazy paint can be had in the $50,000 range. The AMX is uncommon on the market and at auction, but then, there were fewer than 20,000 examples made in total.

The most desirable of AMX configurations is also the most plentiful, with almost 7,400 examples equipped with the 390 cubic-inch V-8 engine and a four-speed manual transmission. Prospective owners will have a rare American muscle car, although replacement trim and other restoration tidbits are equally rare. “Buy the restoration and get the car for free,” is a well-known adage among collectors, and it certainly applies here. In other words, spend more for a well-turned-out example and don’t take on a charity case, as restoring even a “simple” muscle car is often a six-figure proposition.

Click here for more photos of this 1969 AMC AMX muscle car.