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 Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Oh my god: I need a woodgrain Concord wagon with a built 5.0. I’ve been cruising around thinking my 75-dollar sedan is pretty sweet, but I’ll be the first to admit that it doesn’t hold a candle to this monster. Bravo to Frank on an ultra-clean build–the attention to detail is amazing. See more at his ride page!

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 Chris Bicknell

Bick66

On Saturday I’ll be attending the 17th Annual Greenwood Car Show in North Seattle on Greenwood Avenue.  I’ve been entering my ’66 Impala each year since 2006 and I’m excited to show off all the hard work that went into it over the past year.  This will be Jen’s first Greenwood Show and she’s planning to enter her Concord. With 15 city blocks of all types of hot rods, customs, classics, muscle cars and stock models of all makes, you could imagine why the Greenwood Car Show has always proven to be one of my favorite days of the year. More information at www.greenwoodcarshow.com

By Dan Strohl

Hemmings

This past Sunday, the Wally Parks NHRA Museum at Pomona was host to the 3rd annual Socal AMC gathering, a show so big that we haven’t seen its like since there were still AMC dealerships (speak for yourself – DS). The bulk of the interest was around the AMX and Javelin models, but there were still Ramblers, Gremlins, a Concord, a Pacer, and the most gorgeous restored Hudson pickup we’ve ever seen. As a bonus, if you were part of the show and entered a car there, you got to go poke around the museum for free. Sweet! Read the rest of the story and check out a bunch more pictures over at Hemmings.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Well, it’s not like it’s summer yet on the West Coast, but we’ve had a few balmy days and enough sunshine to make anyone want to hit the road. Last week I did just that, since I was dying to put some miles on my Concord‘s new tires–so I took a quick trip up to Vancouver, BC. Not exactly a long haul–Vancouver’s just a couple of hours away from Seattle on the I5–but I hadn’t yet taken the Concord on any kind of out-of-town trip since I’ve owned it, and I was curious to see how it would behave on its new meats and all the upgraded suspension parts I’ve put on it over the last couple of weeks. As it turned out, the mini road trip was lovely and the Concord drove like a dream. And there’s nothing quite like getting out on the open highway to spend some quality time with a car you’ve put some work into.

How about you–has road trip season started for you yet? Where’ve you been so far this year, and what did you drive?

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Since I got new tires for my AMC Concord last week, I figured it was finally time to give my daily driver the thorough going-through that it had been going without. I replaced a passenger-side ball joint that was close to falling out, and I swapped out the clapped old shocks for new KYB’s all the way around. I threw in a set of platinum plugs, installed a new cap and rotor, and replaced the crusty old plug wires with 8mm Taylors. I changed the oil and swapped in my new K&N air filter. The Concord totally purrs now, and is a tight-sprung handling machine to boot. Tomorrow I’m taking it for alignment.

How about you? What did you do this weekend?

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

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

My 75-dollar Concord is a true little old lady car; it belonged to a woman who was married to an AMC dealer, and she drove it until she passed away in February 2007. I’ve learned a few things about that little old lady in the time I’ve owned the car. She was trained as a mechanic (probably in the service) and she did her own maintenance. She disconnected the A/C compressor to improve the Concord’s fuel mileage. And that car clearly meant something to her–I’ve found evidence that she waxed it religiously, even the door jambs.

The other day I was clearing out my Concord’s glove box for the first time since I’ve owned it (lazy, I know–for some reason I detail-cleaned the entire interior and dash before I thought to tackle the glove box)–and I found a startling thing. Neatly folded up to about the size of a cocktail napkin, it was one of those retro clear-vinyl lace-up bonnets that little old ladies wear when it rains to protect their styled hair. The trim was pink ribbon. It’s exactly the kind of ordinary thing an elderly lady would keep in her glove box, but for some reason, it struck a chord. I’ve already come to feel that the car, which I got for next to nothing, is somehow entrusted to me–that I owe a certain psychic debt to this little old lady, whom I of course never met, and who cared so meticulously for this car for its entire life so that I might someday receive it in the mint condition it’s in. I owe her, and I totally believe that whatever else I might keep in the glove box, the vinyl rain bonnet gets to stay. I realize that any ride you get second-hand is going to come with its share of ghosts, and that people have found some weird stuff in the cars they buy. At risk of sounding morbid–how about you? What ghosts did your car come with?