American Motors AMX, the GT That Could Have Been

Filed in archive American Independents , As We See Things on August 24, 2009

Old Cars Weekly has a lovely tale of an American Motors 1970 AMX in its weekly newsletter, which I highly recommend reading. But first some personal recollections. The AMX was an American Motors attempt to get the jump on its pony car competitors by creating a short-wheelbase 2-seat GT tourer vs. the Mustang-Camaro-Firebird-Cougar-Barracuda-Challenger 4-seat long-wheelbase cars. I was one of several American and Canadian journalists flown to Daytona to attend a press preview. The AMX was every bit as handsome as its British and European competitors and if less agile in handling made up in corner-to-corner squirts with good old V-8 power.

But ask a bunch of international journalists to behave themselves and what you get is a race! Yours truly finished first in lap times though the prize went to the most consistent, as it should.

Later at a motel celebration, I asked the waiter for a Corvoisier, a famous orange-flavoured and branded cognac. He said if I could wait a few minutes he'd make me one. I declined. On the way back my seat-mate was none other than designer Dick Teague. I asked him to predict the car of the future. No doubt accustomed to foolish questions from press gangs, Teague sketched something similar to a Model T. I was disappointed and after keeping his drawing for a few years, tossed it in the waste bin. What a fool, me, for failing to appreciate the presence of the industry's great designers. Perhaps it is easier to see things in the context of history than in one's humble presence.