AMC AMX 1969 images

AMC built the AMX to shake off its economy car reputation, and the two seat sports car delivered, running with Corvettes at the dragstrip while also winning back to back engineering awards most muscle cars never came close to earning. Here is how a company known for sensible cars pulled it off.

The American Motors eXpersmental car or the AMX is a GT type sports car,Â with room for two and on a short wheel base, one inch shorter than the Corvette. The car is a revolutionary twistÂ for the conservative manufacturerÂ built to get young automobile buyers into American Motors show rooms and to help shed its image as an economy car company. The AMX is the first steel bodied car made in the USA since the ’56 T bird and the media and buying public of the time compare it to the fiberglass bodiedÂ Corvette. The entry level powerÂ for the AMX is a 290 cu in ( 4.75 L) with a four barrel, with five larger V8 engines also on the table, but the ultimate power choice is the high compression 390 cu in (6.4 L)Â engine with your choice of a Â four speed standard or a three speed automatic transmission.

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Thanks to Gateway Classic Cars for these great images.

American Motors had a reputation problem in the late 1960s, and it was not the kind that horsepower alone could fix. The company was widely seen as the economy brand, the sensible choice for buyers who were not chasing thrills, and that image was actively driving young car shoppers straight past AMC showrooms toward Ford, Chevrolet, and Pontiac. So AMC did something almost nobody expected from the conservative Kenosha automaker, it built a two seat sports car with a name assembled letter by letter from its own engineering ambition. What happened next surprised even AMC’s harshest critics.

A Sales Pitch Measured in Seconds and Dollars

With the optional 390 cubic inch V8, an AMX could hit 60 miles per hour in roughly 6.6 seconds and cover the quarter mile in about 14.6 seconds, numbers that put it in direct company with far more expensive sports cars of the era, including the Corvette it was constantly compared against. AMC built just over 8,000 of these two seat AMXs for the 1969 model year, a genuinely small run for a car meant to change public perception of the entire brand rather than turn a huge profit on its own.

An Engineering Award Most Muscle Cars Never Won

The Society of Automotive Engineers named the AMX the best engineered car of the year for both 1969 and 1970, an honor rarely handed to a muscle car built around straight line speed. Judges specifically pointed to details like the dashboard, injection molded in one continuous piece for safety, an industry first at the time. It was proof that AMC’s engineers were solving real problems, not just chasing bigger numbers on a spec sheet.

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