AMC AMX
The AMC AMX was a car which was produced between early 1968 and late 1970 by the American Motors Corporation ( AMC).
The AMX was a shorter, two-seat version of the Pony Cars AMC Javelin. The car had a powerful mechanism and a powerful engine in the Gran Turismo (GT ) tradition, but an affordable price.
Origin of the AMX
AMX name means " American Motors Experimental", a code which has been used for some early prototypes developed by AMC. They were part of the trials of the company, its image, to build just economic vehicles to operate in a more performance-oriented and youthful image. The original, large AMX models were developed in 1965 by the styling studios AMC in Charles Mashigan. 1966 a concept car was designed by a non-company consultants and " AMX II" named. This was a car with a plastic body, which was part of the "Project IV". The CEO of AMC, Roy Abernethy was the Italian designer Vignale in Turin commissioned to construct a real car. This delivered in only 78 days a functioning car with steel body. It was " AMX Vignale " and called 1966 " New York International Auto Show " exhibited in the.
American Motors had the same two development programs: ( 1 ) to build a production racer, which was derived from the Javelin, and ( 2 ) to develop a completely new car from plastic. The first solution used already existing technologies of AMC and their experience in the construction of welded body designs, and was therefore selected. By fairly inexpensive modifications to the Javelin the production racer could be approximated to the styling and proportions of the prototype. The AMX was put on the market only a good four months after the Javelin.
He was the first American production racer with steel body since the 1957 Ford Thunderbird. The only other two -seater sports car from domestic production was at that time the Chevrolet Corvette with a wheelbase of 2489.2 mm, while the distance between the front and rear axle when AMX was 2463.8 mm. AMC to achieve the reputation of a powerful race car for the AMX, as the racer Craig Breedlove and Lee Breedlove lined up 106 speed records with the car succeeded. The Motor Presse, the new model introduced at the Daytona International Speedway. Even the Playboy helped to market the new AMX.
An American two-seater
The two-seater AMX was a limited edition, which was built after his performance on February 15, 1968 for almost three years. The sales figures were: 6725 piece 1968 8293 piece 1969 4116 piece 1970 of these vehicles are the 52 rebuilt by Hurst SS / AMX Drag Racer perhaps the most sought-after by collectors..
The AMX was awarded a prize as Best Engineered Car of the Year in 1969 and 1970 by the SAE. One of the reasons for these prices were in the first for safety injection molded in one piece dashboard of American industry.
All built by the end of 1970 there were AMX with a V8 engine with 290, 343, 360 and 390 cu.in. (4.75 ltr. , 5.6 ltr. , 5.9 ltr. 6.4 ltr. Capacity) and four -barrel carburetor, all descended from the same block. The cars had a standard manual-shift T-10 four-speed transmission, special torsion bars, dual exhaust pipes and larger tires for better traction. The performance with the largest machine were appealing, and so the AMX had his greatest success on the dragstrip, where he "Champion Superstock " was for many years the. As AMC AMX brought to the market, left to itself on the advice of Craig Breedlove to achieve the national and international speed records. More than 100 records were broken, some of them by far, eg the 24-hour period at 130 mph ( 208.26 km / h ), the (165 km / h) was previously at 103 mph.
In early 1971, transferred the name AMC AMX on a more powerful version of the Javelin, which was produced until 1974. (1977 ), Concord (1978) and Spirit (1979 /80) Do the same was in the models Hornet.
2005 drove the " Speed Channel show American Muscle Car" an AMX 390 in a comparison test to crown the greatest ever built muscle car. Although the AMX had significantly less power than its competitors (eg, Pontiac GTO Judge, Ford Mustang Cobra Jet and Dodge Hemi Challenger), enabled him to be light weight, to be competitive and take its place in front of some much larger and more powerful vehicles.
There are many AMC clubs that take care of this car, and also spare parts can still be found in large quantity at reasonable prices.
Concept cars and show cars
AMX GT
The AMX GT was a AMC Javelin with comb - tail and was developed for the auto show circuit in 1968 as a concept car.
AMX -400
George Barris a 1969 AMX built around. It was built for the second episode of the TV series Banacek. The car was lowered and changed his body clearly. Its roof beams were reduced by almost 25 cm and the whole car has been extended by 46 cm. He became known as the AMX -400.
AMX / 1 and AMX / 2
A first fully operational AMX prototype was presented as part of the AMX project by AMC in 1966 and was issued in good condition for many years at the Museum of the Talladega Speedway. The second derivative, the AMX / 2, was a non-functional design study. Only two rolling prototypes were produced. ( An AMX / 2 spent many years neglected as advertising on a mast of a used car trade).
AMX / 3
The AMX / 3 of 1970 was a high-performance sports car with mid- engine, which was to be sold in the U.S.. Its design had been developed by the AMC itself, hinwegen the landing gear had Giotto Bizzarrini constructed. It has been completely redesigned by BMW. The AMX / 3 had an AMC V8 engine with 6,383 cc (390 cui ), the 340 hp SAE (254 kW) at 5.100/min. developed, and individual vehicles had a specially prepared OTO Melara five-speed transmission in a transaxle design. AMC planned to allow the vehicle to be produced in series by Karmann in Germany; but the project failed in 1970.
A single copy of the AMX / 3 was introduced in 1971 as a Bizzarrini Sciabola. Again, a series production could not be developed.
Performance
The TV show "Car and Track" In 1969, the following values according to test runs with a AMC 390 with four -barrel carburetor and a compression ratio of 10.5: 1 fixed:
- Acceleration 0-60 mph (equivalent to approximately 0-100 km / h): 6.5 sec
- Time for ¼ mile ( 400 m standing start ): 14.1 seconds