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!

By Jim Brennan

UDMan

Welcome to the year end wrap-up of the Obscure Muscle Car Parking Lot. If you recall, this series was all about uncovering obscure makes, and redefining what a Muscle Car could be. We have discovered that Muscle originated during the 1950s, blossomed during the 1960s, and continued on through the 70s and 80s in a somewhat de-tuned state only to find a re-birth we are enjoying today. My focus was not to highlight the already established Muscle Cars like the Chevelle SS, the Pontiac GTO, or the Hemi Chryslers, but to find hidden gems that you may not have known about.

So during this week, it is now up to you, the Car Domain reader, to vote on your favorites. There will be specific categories, like today’s example, the 1970′s OPEC Cruisers. In the end, sometime after the New Years Holiday, there will be one car crowned as your favorite Obscure Muscle Car, and park it in the Parking Lot, with a few CarDomain Members rides highlighted.

So what is your favorite Muscle Car dominated by 2 OPEC Oil Embargos, as well as the Disco Era?
- The 1977 Pontiac LeMans Can Am. This was suppose to be the new GTO!
- The Mercury Marauder X-100, and this turned out to be one of the more popular posts in this series!
- The 1970 Chrysler 300 Hurst, one of the last of the Full Sized Muscle Cars.
- The 1970 Oldsmobile Rallye 350, or what it really was, the 442 Light!
- The 1971 AMC Hornet 360 S/C, a follow-up to the S/CRambler.
- The 1971 – 72 Plymouth Sport Fury GT. This was a full sized Muscle Car that sold in small numbers.
- The 1974 AMC Matador 401 Coupe. A New styling direction for AMC.
- The 1970 AMC Rabel Machine. Just as cartoonish as the S/CRambler, but even bigger!
- The 1977 – 79 AMC AMX. An anemic AMC, built off the Hornet platform.
- The 1974 Pontiac Ventura GTO, built off the Chevy Nova Platform. This would be the last domestic GTO.
- The 1973 – 74 Ford Grand Torino Cobra Jet, the very last CJ equipped Torino.
- The 1973 – 74 Chevrolet Laguna S-3, equipped with a 454 Big Block.
- The 1973 Chevrolet Chevelle SS Wagon, built in very limited numbers.
- The 1970 1/2 Ford Falcon with the 429 Cobra Jet!

By Dan Strohl

Hemmings

With all the photo shoots, shows and general running about this summer, I’ve hardly made any progress on Project HMX. In fact, looking back over my blog posts on the project, I see now that I’ve spent all summer trying to get the AMX rear suspension and rear axle ready to swap in place of the Spirit GT suspension and axle under there now. One last thing I wanted to do before that swap, though, was rebuild the AMX rear brakes. Continue reading at Hemmings

By Jim Brennan

UDMan

Welcome to another installment of the CarDomain Obscure Muscle Car Parking Lot, a regular feature which aims to expand the definition of what a muscle car is, and to get readers to exclaim “WTF” in the process. American Motors was once again in the middle of a financial meltdown, desperately trying to find the right product, while at the same time cutting development costs to stay afloat. One way of bringing in the showroom traffic the dealers so desperately needed was to offer a performance model built from an existing model. However, by the late 70′s, most of these performance models were merely tape stripe and wheel additions, and without any real enhancements to the engine, or the handling. AMC did manage to offer a pretty good V8 option for the Hornet, and the hatchback two-door Hornet body style was only three years old, and still looked sharp. But because of AMC’s financial situation, there were actually based on three different models. Let’s take a look at the 1977 through 1979 AMC AMX.

Continue reading after the jump!

Continue reading "CarDomain Obscure Muscle Car Parking Lot – The 1977 – 79 AMX by American Motors" »

By Dan Strohl

Hemmings

It’s a little-known fact that George Barris tried to capitalize on the two-seater AMX’s like-no-other-car look by offering mildly customized versions of the AMC sports car. That effort apparently went nowhere, but Barris did enjoy quite a bit more publicity with another AMX customization, what AMCers now refer to as the Banacek AMX or the AMX-400.

Built for one episode of the early 1970s TV detective show Banacek, in which the title character investigates the disappearance of Project Phoenix, a prototype automobile, Barris not only chopped the roof of the 390-powered 1969 AMX by four and a half inches, but also lengthened the schnoz 15 inches and added a louvered grille and matching rear strakes.

We mention all this because the Banacek AMX will head to Mecum’s St. Charles, Illinois, auction early next month, crossing the block on October 3. No pre-auction estimate is listed. See more pics at Hemmings

By Dan Strohl

Hemmings

Keep pecking away at the components for the rear suspension and rear axle swap. On the axle front, I spent a good part of the last three weeks scraping caked-on grease from the pumpkin, then went at it with some Simple Green and a scrub brush until I felt that primer and paint would actually stick to it. For a paint color, I was thinking bright yellow, just like the monster trucks of the 1980s. Continue reading at Hemmings

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

What’s better than a red, white and blue AMC for the 4th of July? Tony Lazzarini bought his AMX new in 1968 at age 22 and started racing it in SCCA A-Production Classs four years later. The car then sat in storage for over 20 years before he took it out and rebuilt it to run in the Vintage Series. Check out his ride page for more pics and details!

By Dan Strohl

Hemmings

It took all winter, but I finally freed up enough cash for a new carpet set from ACC recently. While the carpet sets normally come with the shredded rags-type backing glued to the carpet, a friend of mine recommended specifying that they not include any type of backing, especially with all the Dynamat I laid down.

Once it arrived, I spread it out to relieve the creases incurred while shipping. I probably should have chosen a warmer time of year for the installation so I could set the carpet out in the sun and let it loosen up, but here in Vermont, it usually rains for that one warm day out of the year, so I let the carpet rest on the hood of the AMX for a few days. Continue reading at Hemmings

By Dan Strohl

Hemmings

So a recent bout with the flu had me riding the couch for a few days. Bummer, yeah, but I was able to catch up on a couple forums I’ve been too busy to check lately, and on one of those forums, I came across something that should not be: a 401-powered 1978 Concord AMX.

As any student of AMC history knows, the one-year-only Concord AMX (nestled in between the 1977 Hornet AMX and the 1979-1980 Spirit AMX), had essentially two engine options: the 258-cu.in. straight-six and the 304-cu.in. V-8. So when forum member spf150 bought his Concord AMX (for $75!), he saw the V-8 and assumed he had the 304. But a ruptured oil pan led him to notice the 401 cast into the engine block.

Continue reading at Hemmings