AMX History

Origins of the AMX

Some sources state that the Javelin was derived from the AMX; in fact, although the Javelin's styling owes much to various AMX prototypes, the production AMX was physically based on the Javelin. The original AMX (American Motors eXperimental) concept was developed beginning in October 1965 in AMC's advanced styling studios under the direction of Charles Mashigan. (A design study by AMC stylist Erich Kreigler, showing the "Ramble seat" idea that unfortunately never reached production, is shown at right.) Early in 1966 the AMX was folded into "Project IV," a touring show intended to incubate new ideas and generate some excitement for AMC. A steel-bodied, working AMX prototype was built by Italian coachbuilder Vignale in the spring of 1966 and added to the Project IV tour (replacing an engineless fiberglass "pushmobile"). Meanwhile, the Javelin program was well underway in anticipation of its production debut in the fall of 1967.

Favorable public reaction to the Vignale AMX convinced American Motors to translate the concept into reality (or as close as possible given the company's perennially tight budgets). AMC's designers and enginers were able to approximate the prototype's styling and proportions by making fairly inexpensive modifications to the Javelin, and the AMX was introduced to the public on February 15, 1968 -- a mere 4-1/2 months after the Javelin went on sale. The late Richard Teague, AMC's head of styling from 1962 until 1984, had this to say about the Javelin and AMX in a 1986 interview published in Special Interest Autos:

SIA: Which concept came first, the Javelin or the AMX?

Teague: The Javelin came first, absolutely. And then the thing that inspired the AMX -- the two-passenger version -- was the car that was built by Vignale for something we called "Project IV." We did four cars, and we showed them around the country.

SIA: Wasn't that about the time that Robert Evans became chairman of the board?

Teague: That's right. In fact, Evans was the guy who made the AMX and Project IV happen! He really did; he made it work. In fact, he was really the one who made the AMX come off the Javelin, because he liked the Vignale job so well. He said, "We've got to make that car happen!" And I said, "Well, maybe we could get a version of it that wouldn't be too bad! We could shorten the Javelin wheelbase 12 inches."

The Javelin was in play then, and it was pretty well designed. And by taking the concept of the Vignale AMX and making it work off the Javelin, we saved enormous tooling costs. You're talking about a shortened under-body, you're talking about sail panels, you're talking about a roof. We even used the backlight and the trunk lid off the Javelin -- and the bumper -- which were heavy items to tool. We used the same front fenders and front bumper, but we used a new hood and a new grille.

So we very quickly derived the AMX from the Javelin. In fact, at one time it was to have been called the Javelin II, which would have been kind of confusing. I wanted to call it the "AMX." It turned out to be a damn good name, and it really stuck to the car. It fit well, and we could do a lot of things with it.

Craig Breedlove Just before the AMX's introduction, AMC hired world land speed record-holder Craig Breedlove to put the car through its paces. He and his team set 106 speed records in Class B and Class C versions of the AMX including, in the class C car, every American Closed Car record for distances from 25 up to 5,000 kilometers and 4 times up to 24 hours. Remarkably, Breedlove had only six weeks to prepare the cars, which were certified as stock by USAC. AMC got plenty of publicity mileage out of the records, featuring Breedlove in ads and sending him and his wife, Lee, on a tour across the U.S. AMO Newsletter article on Breedlove and the AMX Shell web page on Craig Breedlove and the "Spirit of America" car

Later AMX Models

The true AMX 2-seater went out of production after the 1970 model year, but from 1971 to 1974 American Motors used the "AMX" name on the top-of-the-line Javelins. In later years the name was used on variants of the Hornet, Concord and Spirit models. Management's decision to cancel the 2-seater AMX was a big disappointment to Dick Teague:

SIA: By the time these cars came to market, Roy Chapin was chairman and William Luneburg was president, as we recall.

Teague: Yes. Luneburg, unfortunately, was the guy who finally killed the two-passenger AMX, because the sales weren't doing what they wanted them to do.

SIA: Granted, the AMX was never a volume seller. But we've always regretted that they killed it after only three seasons.

Teague: I made a hell of a run for keeping it in for 1971 by putting the blister-type fenders on it. In fact, I built up my own car to make the prototype, and I did my damndest to sell it to Bill Luneburg -- who was a dear guy, by the way. But he was a manufacturing man and he said, "Well, it's cluttering up the line. It's a lot of work to build that car, and it's not selling well." So he killed it.

I feel bad to this day that we didn't at least do one more AMX. Because with that longer front on it, and the blistered fenders, it really went well. It looked right! We had a different grille on the one I did, and we put some gutsy wheels on it. It was quite a neat arrangement!

I feel very strongly that the AMX could have kept going as a two-passenger car. It just needed a little bit more development. As it was, it gave the Corvettes a really hard time in some of the local races! If it had just had a little more development time, and had been kept in the picture for another year or two, I think sales would have started back up and it could have hung in there. Because the Corvette didn't do so well the first couple, three years, either! It takes time to develop these things. It's like a business. It may not do too well at first, but you've got to stay with it!

SIA: Maybe the AMX was like Cadillac's V-16. They never made any money on it, but it did wonders for Cadillac's prestige!

Teague: That's right! That's what I've always regretted -- that they didn't keep the AMX as an image-builder. Because we were getting the younger people at that time. And I don't know where they are today!