Many of you reading this have likely never seen an AMC product in person. The company folded in 1987. American Motors Corporation was the next biggest brand outside of Ford, GM and Chrysler (AKA "The Big Three") from the mid-fifties through the end of the Reagan administration.
And boy was AMC an odd duck of a car maker. Some of their cars were mindbogglingly terrible. But for every lackluster Hornet or Pacer - a car designed so poorly that it was voted "worst ever" in a 2007 survey - there was a pavement-melting Javelin Trans-Am or Rebel Machine.
American Motors is the muscle car place for a select few individuals with, shall we say, refined palettes. But some of their models have aged rather well and have rightly re-earned a place in many of our four-barrel hearts. Here are ten absolutely sick restored AMC muscle cars we would take over a Mustang any day.
10 1969 AMC Hurst SC/Rambler
Take a run-of-the-mill Rambler and throw in a 390-cu.in. OHV V-8 with a Hurst-shifted Borg-Warner T-10 manual transmission. Add a 3.54 Twin-Grip rear end, large hood scoop and outrageous patriotic color scheme, and you've got the coveted 1969 AMC Hurst SC/Rambler. How coveted? They only made 1,512 of the things because nobody wanted to drive around in a clown car. This particular vehicle was one of the first 10 off the assembly line.
9 1970 AMC Javelin Trans-Am
One of 100 built, this stunning example of a 1970 AMC muscle car is top-shelf all the way. Along with a winning racing pedigree, the Javelin Trans-Am has only 36,000 miles and has all of its original sheet metal. The completely rebuilt 390 cu. in. motor has less than 500 miles on it, for goodness sakes. This amazing car once sat at a dealership for 3 years because nobody wanted it. Now, you can have it for $200,000, which is roughly equivalent to seven Mustangs.
8 1971 AMC Matador Go Machine
The rarest AMC muscle car is the 1971 Matador with "The Machine Go Package" option. Only 60 of the two-door hardtops were known to be produced. And those 60 people got dual exhaust heavy-duty suspension but had to choose between, "a 360-V8 at 290 horses or the preferred 401-inch V8 with 330-horsepower," according to the Hannibal Courier-Post. Hopefully, they chose wisely as Fastest Laps has the 330hp version clocking 0-60 times of 6.2 seconds.
RELATED: 15 Things You Never Knew About AMC’s Muscle Cars
7 1968 AMC AMX
OK, to be fair, this shining example is a little more than "restored." But how can anyone resist that body, which is just bursting at the seams with crushing power. Seriously, good luck finding another 1968 AMC AMX as beefy-looking as this silvery bullet. A spied roll cage and larger-than-life tires in the back tell us this long daddy is made for shredding quarter mile times at the track. The AMX is 12 inches shorter than its cousin the Javelin.
6 1974 AMC Javelin
Turn heads driving this badass banana down the street blaring Whitesnake's "Bad Boys" out of a speaker box that takes up the entire back seat. And make sure the music sounds harsh and tinny because you don't understand how an EQ works. Sure, a new, off-the-showroom-floor Mustang has all kinds of incredible performance stats, built-in safety features, and is loaded with exciting new technology, but it isn't a 1974 Javelin, now is it. Just look at this car's lines, some of the most unique in the industry.
5 1970 Rebel Machine
AMC's flagship pavement destroyer The Rebel Machine was a solid muscle-car citizen, boasting 340 horses under a stout hood. The first 1,000 lead foots to buy a Rebel Machine were forced to go with the red, white and blue scheme. The Rebel Machine is also a rare beast, with only 2,326 built in 1970, the car's only year in production. Dealers charged $3,450 for a new model - today, in excellent condition, they are worth approximately $50,000.
4 1968 AMC Ambassador SST
You definitely don't see one of these every day. Out of Aurora, Illinois, comes this incredible 1968 Ambassador SST two-door hardtop. A while it may look like something your grandpa used to drive, it does have a few "secrets." Under the hood is a Typhoon 343 high compression engine married to an automatic. Add to that an Edelbrock carburetor and intake, a performance lift cam, MSD ignition and a performance exhaust. The paint looks showroom quality.
3 1971 AMC Hornet SC/360
AMC produced Hornets from 1969-77, in both two- and four-door versions. Only 784 of this special rodded up version version of the Hornet - the SC/300 - were made, and all in 1971. That makes this car a very rare collectible and a definite conversation starter at cars and coffee events. The SC/300 had decent power too, pulling a somewhat surprising 285 hp from its 360 cu. in. V8 engine. Other unique package items included a hood scoop, special wheels and decals.
2 1969 AMC AMX Go Pack
What you are gazing at here is a 56,922-mile, 1969 AMC AMX with the legendary "Go Pack" option, which includes such goodies as positraction, dual-piston disc brakes, sport-tuned suspension and a heavy duty cooling system. The owner claims that there were only 2,183 of this configuration in 1969 and that the vehicle has "no rust ever ... will pass the magnet test" and that the "doors line up perfectly." Apparently, the car also has torque for days. It better, he's asking $40,000.
1 1963 AMC American 440H Sports Hardtop
This is one of the earliest examples of an attempt at a muscle car. This taupe over cream'63 AMC American hardtop with the 440H Sports Special Edition package features a 198 cu.in. straight-six with a two-carrel carburetor that pushes 138 hp through a manual 3-speed. Not exactly ripping up the pavement but you get the idea. This rust-free example has been lovingly restored to original spec with an all-new interior (granted, a few modern goodies like air conditioning have been added).
Sources: Hemmings, Napa Online, Fastest Laps, Hannibal Courier-Post