AMCAMX

01

Origins

AMC cut twelve inches out of the Javelin's wheelbase, deleted the rear seats, and created something Detroit was not offering in 1968: a genuine two-seat performance car at a working man's price. The AMX carried AMC's 390-cubic-inch V8 in its strongest form, and Craig Breedlove set a string of speed records with one at Goodyear's Texas track to launch it. The proportions did the selling — short, wide-stanced and aggressive, closer to a Corvette rival than a pony car, at thousands of dollars less. It stayed a three-year experiment: around 19,000 were built before the AMX badge retreated onto four-seat Javelins in 1971, and collectors have prized the genuine two-seaters since. For a company known for the Rambler, it was a startling thing to have made.