Posts Tagged: AMC Javelin
Mark Donohue built his reputation on spotting a bad race car in seconds, and by his own account, AMC’s first Trans-Am Javelin nearly failed that test completely. This 1970 AMC Javelin SST Trans Am, one of just 100 street versions built to homologate the race car for SCCA competition, carries the 325-horsepower 390 V8 and 4-speed manual that made it road-legal. Its story includes an owner who kept it for thirty years and a debate over what SST even stands for. Watch to see how a car once dismissed as a mess helped AMC finish second in points.
JD and his mentor Dalton already tried once to build JD’s first muscle car, and it didn’t go as planned. Now they’re back with a 1973 AMC Javelin that’s sat completely untouched for 34 years — no one has so much as turned the key in over three decades. Between the mechanical uncertainty and a mentorship dynamic viewers can’t stop talking about, this build is about a lot more than just getting an old AMC running again. Watch to see if three and a half decades of silence finally ends.
Brothers Mike and Jim Ring, already known for a 4,700-hour build on a 1969 Dodge Charger, turned their attention to AMC’s most overlooked muscle car — a 1972 AMX Javelin once dismissed by Mustang and Camaro owners as an ‘ugly duckling.’ A year and roughly half a million dollars later, Ridiculous Rides documents exactly what that obsessive effort bought. Watch to see whether the Javelin finally earns the respect it never got the first time around.
Ultimate Muscle Car walked the field at Spring Carlisle 2026 to prove affordable classics still exist, and came back with everything from a second-generation AMC Javelin to a 1962 Plymouth Belvedere that multiple commenters now call the deal they wish they’d made. Not every car in the lineup gets a pass — a Ford Galaxie 500 convertible draws real skepticism over its asking price. Which of these swap-meet finds would you have walked away with?
American Motors never had Detroit’s budget, but for a few years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, its Javelin and two-seat AMX spinoff went toe-to-toe with the Mustang and Camaro on both the street and the Trans-Am track — with Roger Penske and Mark Donohue behind the wheel of a purpose-built 5.0-liter version. Watch to see why this overlooked underdog still deserves a second look.
Six V8 muscle cars share one thing in common: real pedigree, and a price tag that still starts with a one. While Hemi Cudas and Boss Mustangs keep climbing past six figures, these cars have been quietly overlooked — including one viewer’s own 1973 Nova, bought new for ninety-nine dollars a month. See which cars the collector market hasn’t caught up to yet, and why that window may not stay open much longer.
JD paid for this decades-abandoned 1973 AMC Javelin with his own money, making it his first muscle car — and Pole Barn Garage’s build faces a scarcer parts supply than a Camaro or Charger project would. Between a running joke about losing the shop and an O’Reilly’s employee who stuck around to help for hours, this restoration pulls the whole community in. Watch to see if the engine turns over.