AMX 390

If AMC had done something as bright as the AMX five years ago, they'd be in a lot better shape today. 

The mechanics of how it got that way are easy. Everybody knows that you can take a 2-seater coupe with a 97-in. wheelbase, give it a good power-to-weight ratio, add decent brakes, steering, and suspension, and wind up with a very acceptable sports car, However, in spite of the fact that everybody seems to know it, hardly anybody ever builds one that way. And the last outfit in the world you'd have expected it from was stodgy old dumb-cars-for-dumb-people American Motors.... Right"? 

Well, for a start, it doesn't seem to be stodgy old dumb-cars-for-dumb-people American Motors anymore. Attending the press preview of the AMX gave the observer a nice, warm feeling that maybe the gentlemen from Kenosha have turned a philosophical corner. Listening to their executives and engineers talk, reading the comprehensive technical material they'd prepared for the introduction, driving their new sports machine, it began to look as though American Motors had stopped holding its pants up with both belt and suspenders and quit wearing. Mason Velvet-Eze shoes, American Motors might, be starting to swing! 

They actually didn't break any new ground, either with their car or their prepared remarks. But they did make one believe that they had a clearer view of their role in the car business than ever before - certainly within the last 10 years - and that they were finally beginning to break out of the fumbling, reactionary malaise that's hampered their movements and clouded their thinking for so long. If American Motors makes it, the AMX won't be what does it, but the change in attitude that made the AMX possible is just what the doctor ordered. 

The idea of a first-class American-style GT coupe from American Motors is pretty revolutionary, but in one sense it represents a return to a traditional - and viable AMC position, hat of supplying low-volume cars to suit the demands of special markets ordinarily ignored by the other big manufacturers. The AMX is only scheduled for production of between 10- and 20,000 units per year, but American Motors can make a fair chunk of money on that kind of volume-and all they really need to do to survive is make money. They don't have to be as big as General Motors. 

Every car is a "Walter Mitty Ferrari." And the Javelin is a nice enough version of the ubiquitous pony-car, but that's all it is, truthfully. The AMX, on the other hand, is good enough and unusual enough to do the real job, the big job, that AMC hopes it will do. They want it to sell well, certainly. They want to make money on it, of course. But what they're really banking on . . . the main reason that they built a car like this at all . . . is the hope that it will start to change the public's mind about their company. If it can do that, it can buy them the time they need to create a whole new line of products, designed-like the AMX-to seek out and exploit limited but potentially profitable segments of the American car market where the competition is either weak or dozing. 

So the AMX is more than just a sports coupe, it's sort of an advertising campaign. But if it's going to succeed at the latter occupation, it'll have to be pretty good at the former, so we examined it from that standpoint-we tried to imagine all the other sports and GT cars we'd known over the years, and mentally put them through the same kind of enthusiast's spot-check we gave the AMX for comparison. 

We weren't able to give the car a full road test, since announcement-time was still three months away and they didn't want any on the public roads. Instead, we drove three first-run production models on an improvised road circuit at the Orange County International Raceway (an improvised circuit, but one that may very well become a commercial reality), and spent a day climbing in and out, opening and closing things, and generally flogging hell out of them on the twisty little road course and the super Orange County drag strip. 

The three we drove were all fitted with AMC's new 390 cu. in., 315 horsepower V-8 engine, and two had Borg-Warner automatic transmissions while the third featured a B-W 4-speed manual. A heavy-duty suspension package is standard with the 390 engine, and all three cars had limited-slip differentials. Two had AMC's optional manual steering (19.3 overall ratio, 4.0 turns lock-to-lock) and one had power-assisted (18.1 overall, 3.8 turns). On the whole, we preferred the car with automatic transmission and manual steering. 

You won't be able to buy an AMX with a 6-cylinder engine, which will undoubtedly horrify all those hundreds of AMC dealers who haven't yet and probably never will get the message. Instead, it's being offered with a choice of their three V-8s: the 290 (225 hp @ 4700 rpm) is standard, the 343 (280 hp @ 4800 rpm) is the middle option, and the 390 is the top of the line. The 390 is definitely the one for all right-thinking American boys. With automatic, it propelled us through the quarter-mile at a brisk 14.80 ET and 95.03 mph terminal speed, and that was the first 15 seconds or 1320 feet we'd ever driven the little dear. We were shifting manually-holding it in gear-which led us to bounce the valves at 5200'rpm, but we still managed that respectable performance. Other editors with more straight-line experience were getting down into the lower 14s and the higher 90s with relative ease. It's a quick car. 

With that blast off the line as our introduction to the AMX, we really didn't have much chance to evaluate it until we were approaching the end of the strip at a speed which-if unknown, in the truly scientific sense-was at least clear -off the end of the 120 mph speedometer. At this speed, we discovered that we were bouncing the valves again, and we also discovered that wind noise at the side windows was very similar to what you might get if you were a wing-walker in an air show. 

It was an extremely windy day, and although this may have contributed materially to the really overwhelming wind noise, it didn't seem to affect the car's straight-line stability one whit. At the end of the strip, just past a fully-manned ambulance that was probably parked there as a psychological deterrent, was a very tight left-hander. This we took too slowly and on the wrong line. Then, annoyed with our desultory performance so far, we got steam up and charged like a maniac through the wiggly bits that led back to the start. The car really behaved very well through all this sadistic misuse, and on the next lap when we'd learned the way around the test circuit and were behaving a little better it went like gangbusters. 

The engine is responsive, up to its somewhat low rev limit of 5200 or so, and the Borg-Warner automatic box is much more flexible and use t an we'd ever ave believed possible. It's stil not as quick or crisp as, say, a 3-speed Turbo Hydra-Matic, but people like Jaguar and Aston Marton could profit by finding out what AMC did to the old slug. 

It's hard to come up with the name of a genuine GT car that might be comparable to the AMX. It's less expensive and less sophisticated than the latest Corvettes with IRS, but it's infinitely superior to the old solid-axle jobs in both ride and road-holding. It looks too American (but good, but good), and its acceleration and top speed are too great to compare it to any similarly-priced European sports car. It's really sort of all alone in a class of "pur sang 2-seaters costing less than $3500, with American-style power and European-style handling and ride." A NASCAR-style Fiat Dino, maybe? 

Anyway, it gets the job done. It's a car that wants some driving. It'll rump-rump along like any tough American sporty car in traffic or on the turnpike, but unlike most American cars, it really seems to enjoy being hazed over nasty little roads with lots of places for heavy braking, full throttle acceleration, and great sawings on the old steering wheel. 

The brakes are quite good, and we only know of two complaints in that areaone lad who was driving a bit too hard claimed that he was getting some braking hop at the rear, and we spun one of the cars making a hands-off, maximum-effort stop. However, with both hands on the wheel, and driving within the limits of sanity and sweet reason, we found the brakes to be more than powerful enough to match the car's potential, and generally well-behaved. 

The steering was good with both the optional "quicker" manual and the quickerstill power-assisted. We opted for the manual because it seemed quite quick enough, and at the same time featured remarkably low effort. Another notable feature was an absence of any really severe caster-return or kickback, unlike most of the American sporty cars when so-equipped. 

The car's interior is nice. For some reason, tightening up the interior dimensions and getting rid of the rear seat seem to make it sportier and more attractive than the Javelin, even though it shares most of its major components with its pony-car brother. The seats are comfortable, and they have the AMC recliner mechanism, which is a very real benefit. We found them easy to adjust to our requirements, and we liked the authentic leathery feel of the vinyl upholstery. 

The steering wheel is a little too high for most purist's tastes, and we'd have welcomed the addition of AMC's optional "Adjust-o-Tilt" (can you believe that name?) steering wheel. The wheel itself was a sporty device wrapped in leather, or vinyl, or something, and it was just the sort of thing you'd want for altering the course of the front wheels. 

Adding to the interior's overall impression of quality, we thought, was the fact that it's fully carpeted all the way from the firewall to the rear window. 

The trunk is not what you'd call huge, but it's ample for small- to medium-sized articles that you might prefer to have under lock and key. The real luggage space is behind the seats, and it's more than ample for two passenger's normal requirements on any typical automotive journey. 

The trunk also contains an inflatable B.F. Goodrich mini-spare, which is a good idea because the usual full-sized spare tire would have either been forced inside with the passengers-due to the sharply limited trunk space-or Mr. Teague and his styling boffins would have had to come up with a continental kit. The concept of the spare tire is about as contemporary as the starting crank, but if we must still carry one around, the mini-spare would certainly seem to be the answer. 

The mechanics of the AMX, starting at the front, center around that 390 engine. It's the biggest engine ever offered by AMC, and more than likely the best. It's a descendant of the base 290 V-8, bored and stroked, with a beefed-up block, forged crank and rods (instead of the cast components of other AMC engines), larger, better bearings, larger diameter crankpins, and much improved cylinder heads and manifolds. "We were," said the chief engineer with a modest blush, "probably guilty of over-designing." 

Most of the changes were for greater strength, although a lot of the development work stemmed from the need to get compatible reciprocating weights. A lot of time and effort, for instance, went into the new smaller, shorter pistons for the 390. 

Bore and stroke are 4.17 by 3.57 in., and the compression ratio is the same as that of the older 343 V-8, 10.2:1. Smog stuff on the 390 will consist of an "engine mod" system with changes in carburetor and distributor, plus a new "thermostatically-controlled" air cleaner, for the automatic transmission version, and an air pump for the cars with the 4-speed manual. 

Suspension is pretty much pure AMC, but beefier. The standard AMX will have what amounts to stock Javelin suspension with a big old anti-sway bar at the front and radius rods at the rear. Cars equipped with the 343 or 390 "Go" packages will have the heavy-duty suspension as a mandatory option, which consists of stiffer springs, and larger capacity shocks. It's not exactly a Rover 2000, but it's a suspension system that'll get you down the road and around the corners in admirable fashion, and get all the necessary going and stopping power properly spread around. 

All told, it's a damned nice little car. "Little," of course, is used in the American sense of the word. They've taken 12 in. out of the Javelin structure to give the AMX a wheelbase one inch shorter than the Corvette's, but it still weighs some 3200 pounds ready to go, and that is not exactly petite. However, the styling job is one of those good ones that makes it very difficult to tell exactly how large or small the car is without some standard reference to go by. After observing the reaction of 25 or 30 magazine and newspaper people who first saw the AMX at Orange County, then showing the pictures to all the cynics and doomsday-criers back at the office, we'd hazard an opinion the public will receive its appearance very favorably. 

We aren't too keen on the stripes that go with the "Go" package, feeling that stripes - at least that kind of stripes - were out-of-date about five years ago. Since then, Ford's done the side-stripe thing, and the Z-28 Camaro has appeared with its fresh approach to the problem, and it would seem that American Motors could have done something a little more unusual with the AMX. As a total car, however, the AMX looks fine. It's a well-integrated design, and it's clean. 

Judging from the sales of Corvettes, Triumphs, MGs, Jaguars, etc., we'd guess that there is a market for a car like the AMX in this country. The only question, really, is whether or not there's a market for any kind of a car from American Motors. Every representative of AMC management who spoke at the AMX preview touched on the need for an image change, and how this car and the Javelin had been produced for that express purpose. 

They're all pretty bullish about the immediate future though, vowing to be in the black in 1968, and telling tales of growing sales success with the Javelin and the Ambassador, though volunteering very little information about the sales of the Rebel and the American. 

In spite of everything though, it was encouraging. It looks like a braver, healthier company than it did a few months ago. The AMX helps that impression, but even more reassuring is the feeling that-in having a go at the AMX-they'd finally done something that had a ring of confidence and style about it. Their top guy, Roy Chapin, has done a terrific job as a national spokesman for the company, in some ways doing with words and gestures what they're all hoping the AMX will do with neat styling and 14-second quarter-miles. 

Group vice president Vic Raviolo is a different kind of reassuring factor. In a company traditionally staffed by the nicest, dullest, most invisible un-persons in the automobile business, Vic Raviolo is a tough guy. He has pale blonde hair and bifocal glasses, but he is built like a No. 4 Chapman Valve Fire Hydrant and you wouldn't want to go more than maybe a couple of rounds with him unless you were very fast and had hands like concrete watermelons. 

He growls that there are too many nice guys at American Motors, and he says that based on his experience and knowledge of the competition in the automobile business nice guys will be lucky to finish last-that they are more apt not to finish at all. And you get the feeling that he is likely to have a couple of nice guys on pumpernickel for an afternoon snack. 

When he says things like this, you're glad you're not some poor dim-bulb Rambler dealer who has just ordered a dozen 6-cylinder Javelins with air conditioning and no radios. But at the same time, you figure that maybe if American Motors had done something as bright as the AMX five years ago, and maybe if they'd gone out and hired a couple of other guys who talk tough and look like police inspectors, they'd be in a lot better shape today. But we're betting that they'll be in better shape this time next year.