The 60s was, without any doubt, the golden era of muscle cars. Every manufacturer had their take on what a good muscle car should be, and pretty much all of them had a following of some sort.At the time most people had disposable income, cars were getting more affordable, gas was cheap, it also had lead in it, and nobody realized or cared that that was a bad thing. There were several gas guzzlers to choose from, so it is little wonder some cars simply got forgotten along the way, one such example was the AMX. It had a short three-year production life right at the back end of the muscle car era. They were only able to ship 19,000 of these unusual muscle cars and they are now pretty rare classic cars. Ford incidentally sold more Mustangs at their launch event.
10 Two Seater Muscle Car
The most unique feature of the AMX might not be seen as a feature at all, in fact we suspect the fact that it only had two seats meant it found itself competing with sports cars of the era.
Only, it wasn’t a sports car, but rather a "personal muscle car", this fact alone was likely a big factor in their relatively low sales volume, with several potential buyers unsure of what exactly it was that they were looking at.
9 Embarrassment Of Riches
At the time, you would need to say no to several incredible muscle and pony cars from the big three if you were to purchase the AMX.
Cars like the Chevrolet Camaro, Ford Mustang and Dodge Charger were all on dealer floors. Like most AMC products, it was priced competitively, but adding any options would edge the price uncomfortably close to one of those fabled icons.
8 Totally Impractical
In retrospect, the idea of a personal muscle car is relatively bizarre, but the market for muscle cars was so vast, you can see why AMC thought it could work.
Unfortunately for them, like a lot of their plans, it didn’t work. It was a real little hot rod, but by not giving it a back seat, they simply limited their potential pool of buyers.
7 High Performance Options
Even though there were a few different engine options for the car, in an effort to keep costs down it was essentially the same engine that just got stroked, or got different internals. That means the 390 weighed about the same as the 290, but made significantly more power.
The most desirable of all the performance options was the Super Stock. That included a higher compression ratio and twin Holley carbs, power went up to a claimed 340 horsepower. That figure was a gross understatement, though, as it was found to make more than 400 horsepower when tested.
6 Victim Of Malaise
As if its obscure platform wasn’t enough, the oil crisis arrived, and that was pretty much that for the unusual AMX.
It was the death of the muscle car era too, the AMX was essentially just one of the many models that manufacturers had to phase out in the early 70s.
5 Missed Opportunity
As much as you can see why it was an easy decision to cull the AMX, we can’t help but think they missed a trick here.
If the Ford Mustang II proved anything at all, it was the fact that there was room for a faux-sports car on the market in the mid-70s, all AMC needed to do was find a way to put one of their lumpy inline 6s under the hood. Simply discarding a design as good as this was a shame.
4 Underappreciated
For decades the AMX has flown under the radar, it has long since been the car people were willing to drive into the dirt. Up until recently, its value allowed, or even encouraged people, to do just that.
It gave many enthusiasts an affordable muscle car option as a result, but all forms of muscle cars are now getting valuable, and the AMX is no exception.
3 Getting Rare
It certainly isn’t as desirable as some other American muscle, but it is now getting recognized as a true classic.
Their relative scarcity has also helped drive up the value of good examples. With several years of neglect, it is now theorized that only around 1,000 of the 19,000 they made remain on the road.
2 Beautiful AMX/3 Concept
Technically, at least 6 AMX/3 cars were made, and these were not muscle cars at all, but pure sports cars based on the AMX/Javelin platform.
As is the case with most bold AMC ideas, they just ended up running out of money. It might not have gone into actual production, but these AMXs will certainly go down in history as the most beautiful AMC cars ever made.
1 A Failed Experiment
The American Motors Experimental project ended up in failure, costing them way more than whatever they made from producing 19,000 cars.
The failure of this bold initiative would have contributed greatly to their ultra conservative approach in the 70s. Unfortunately, all that did was stave off their ultimate demise for a time, until they eventually ran out of luck.