By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

It looks like now is the time to snap up an inexpensive 70′s car if you’ve been wanting one, or to hang onto the one you have for a few more years, because the Barrett-Jackson crowd is beginning to get wind of the fact that they’re awesome. At the auction in Vegas this week, the expected pony- and muscle cars fetched the big bucks, like a ’72 Camaro for $30,250 (no big surprise there). But even big-boat sedans are creeping up there: a ’78 Eldorado went for $8,470 and a ’74 Caprice convertible for $7,425. This 1970 Rebel Machine, pretty collectible for an AMC, hit right in the middle with a closing price of $19,800. Meanwhile, regular AMC Rebels are currently listed on eBay for between $1,000 and $12K, and I found this running convertible on craigslist for $2,500 and this gorgeous ’69 SST for $5,500. If you’re looking to get one of the more obscure or less desirable 60s or 70s cars, it’s probably a good idea to move on it while the prices are still within the realm of sanity. See more on the 70′s cars of Barret-Jackson on SPEED.

Continue reading "70′s Cars At Barrett-Jackson" »

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

If this isn’t ultimate 70′s hotness, I don’t know what is. It very much reminds me of those wood-slab clocks that once adorned the walls of countless trailers and pea-green living rooms. The earthy gauge is off this AMC Matador Barcelona coupe, currently on eBay. Via Brown Car Appreciation Society.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

The question is simple, but the answer is potentially infinitely variable: how long do you have to own a car before it becomes permanently yours? Rob figures that ten is the magic number–once you’ve had a car for a decade or more, it becomes pretty unlikely that you’ll ever sell it. I realize I’m an extreme case, but I find myself in it for the long haul with a car in a matter of a few months–I had to strip even my diesel Escort parts car as fast as I could and get rid of the shell promptly, because if a vehicle is in my possession for more than 90 days, it tends to “stick” whether I want it to or not. The pic is of me with my AMC Concord on the day I got it, and I’m coming up on two years with that car this month–and although I acquired it pretty much by accident, I’m having a hard time ever seeing it anywhere else but with me.

How about you? At what point does a vehicle become yours for keeps?

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Brown with a brown vinyl top: I think I’m in love. And with barely 30,000 miles on the AMC 304–’79 was the last year for V8′s in the Concords–you can bet it still gets up and moves a little bit. See more views at Hemmings Classifieds. Via Brown Car Appreciation Society.

By Dan Strohl

Hemmings

The Matador coupe is one of those 1970s love-it-or-hate-it designs, perhaps even more polarizing than the Gremlin, Pacer, Vega and Pinto. It’s, of course, the bug-eyed Colonnade-like design that makes it so: After all, the coupe generates way more comments than the more conservative Matador sedan. This 1977 AMC Matador coupe, one of the desirable Barcelona editions, looks from the photos to be a well-preserved example. From the seller’s description:

Only 45,737 miles on this rare AMC!! – An exceptionally clean, well cared for luxury Matador – Equipped with the 360 V8 – Automatic Transmission – Power Steering – Power Disc Brakes – Cold Factory A/C – AM/FM Radio – Cruise Control – Vinyl Top – Twin Grip Differential, and Turbine Styled Wheels – Classic Black w/ Pillow Tufted Camel interior – A real Head Turner!

See more at Hemmings.

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

We got a ton of comments on the list of “Top Ten Vehicles That Need to Come Back”. I didn’t include any of the cars below cause they are all from dead brands. But if we lived in an alternate universe, then yes, all of these rides would need to come back! See the rest of the list after the jump!

Pontiac Trans Am

Duh.

Continue reading "Top Ten Vehicles That Need to Come Back But Can’t Because Their Brands No Longer Exist" »

By Brian Lohnes

BangShift.com

If you happen to be itching for an AMC project vehicle or just want to own some Kenosha iron, get your bad self down to Fate, Texas, and try to scoop up one of the remaining pieces of the Ed Hooper collection. Ed liked to buy decent AMC examples when he could find them and bring them back to his place in Texas. It seems from there, nothing much happened with them.

What’s very interesting in the notes about Hooper’s buying habits is that he often bought stuff and let it sit at the seller’s home for months before taking it home to Texas. According to the website talking about the collection and the sale, Hooper may have bought, but not picked up, more than 100 cars, leaving them with the sellers. That’s speculation but amazing speculation indeed.

Since we already have our own forlorn AMC project at home, we’ll encourage others to pick up the phone, hit the road, or shoot an e-mail to find out what’s left for sale out of this pretty awesome collection of stuff.

We want a Rebel Machine!

Thanks to MSD’s Robert Martin for the tip on this crazy sale!

Click here to see the amazing Ed Hooper collection sale website

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

If you’ve had a rocky financial year due to the recession but came out of it basically in one piece, you’re grateful for the little things. Still, and especially if your ride had to bear the brunt of your economic turmoil, there’s some seriously ouch expenses you just wish you could just claim. For example, during the darkest days of ’09, I had to take a job at a tire shop north of Seattle while circumstances forced me to move way south–suddenly inflicting a 50-mile round-trip commute on my 29-year-old Eagle. For an older, hard-driven car, a daily run like that will bring out gremlins (no pun intended) you never knew you had. For my Eagle, at nearly 200K on the original drivetrain, that meant worn-out carrier bearings that nearly caused the the front differential to come apart on me.

Faced with a burly disassembly project, I decided, hell, why not just get both front and rear diffs rebuilt with steeper gears for better acceleration (I went from the stock 2:73′s to 3:22′s), and ended up dropping a hefty sum to have the job done right at Randy’s Ring and Pinion. I still kind of feel like Uncle Sam ought to chip in–I incurred that catastrophic repair bill because I was doing my part to stay gainfully employed, dammit!–but somehow, I get the feeling I’m not going to catch a break.

How about you? Any vehicle expenses that you think you should get to write off?

By Mike Bumbeck

Clunkbucket

Made largely of fiberglass. Engine in front with drive wheels out back. Not just one, but two flip-up fuel fill caps. Styling that hatches theories of Richard Teague getting a call from MI5 with a request to report to Norwich, UK in secret with the original plans for his 1968 AMC AMX GT concept. This is the Lotus Elite in all its 1974 splendor. Only about 2600 or so fiberglass-bodied Elites were made over the four year production run. This one belongs to one Dag Midtskog, who picked up the car in less than elite condition from a pal who had already parted the Lotus of a few spares for his own Elite. What Dag got was a transmissionless Elite missing more than a few parts. He’s spent the last five years locating a set of factory aluminum wheels, trim bits, missing glass, and a new-to-him transmission that’s currently bolted up to the original engine with only 38K miles of use. More Lotus Elite and a fiberglass tub full of photos over at Clunkbucket.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Flywheel401 has a number of awesome pics on his page. I really liked the one of his AMX all apart with the red-painted wheel spindles in front, but ultimately, I think this older scanned-looking shot with the chopper in the background takes the cake. The whole scene seems very Vietnam Era. Check out his page!