Don’t Get The Gremlin Wet: 1979 AMC Spirit AMX
The AMC Spirit was the successor to the outgoing Gremlin subcompact and was essentially a Gremlin without the funky styling…which when you get down to it is a pretty miserable formula for a car. A surprising quantity of Gremlins have avoided crusher because of style, but the Spirit was crushed en masse, like…well…spirits being crushed in the 4th quarter of any Bears home games in the past 30 years. Find this 1979 AMC Spirit AMX offered for $8,500 in Duncan, OK via craigslist. Tip from FuelTruck.
The AMX version of the Spirit added a muscular set of fender flares, a front air dam, “Rally-Tuned” suspension, a rear spoiler, decals, and a bunch of interior gauges. The AMX was also available with an optional 304 cubic inch V8, which might have been restricted with smog equipment, but it was a potent little machine for its time.
This AMX is powered by a 360 cubic inch AMC V8 with what the seller describes as “evthing the law allows been put in it lol“. You will indeed be the last person LOLing as this thing has the potential to be quite a rocket ship with its minimalist approach to speed.
On of the funnier parts of this listing is that the seller has a MOPAR paper plate on the front and Ford floormats on the inside — but you should be able to head down to your local AMC dealer and pickup appropriate stuff…right?
See another oddball speedy subcompact from the past? tips@dailyturismo.com
Check out this video of an AMC Spirit racing on the Nordschliefe in 1979. James Brolin was one of the drivers. Video and audio quality starts out bad but improves as it goes on. (read the youtube comments if you want to buy a copy of the original dvd) Best part for me was the one armed ex Panzer tank Captain that showed the racers around the track at high speed while waving his one arm around and steering with his knee. This is part one – part two is also on Youtube.
youtube.com/watch?v=bQqysjI9gM4&feature
Looks like this one is a bit better quality.
The guy who commented on the other video about selling DVDs is here
Looks like one could have had the #2 team car for less than this seller's asking for his slapper-bar special.
An AMX Spirit is the American Motors answer to a Carrol Shelby Mustang II.. They both…ummm…are….um….ridiculous.
It might have seemed that way at the time.
But, in retrospect…the Spirit shares the same platform as the rest of the AMC compacts back into the '60s, has the same 401-compliant hole under the hood (so I'm guessing a late-model Mopar hemi would fit just fine too, or an LS-anything), all the big transmissions and axles fit without surgery, so for a 21st century restomod it's AMC FTW.
Personally, I'd prefer an early flat-nose Hornet Sportabout, those were gorgeous.
That's a Chrysler 360, not an AMC 360. Distributor's in the wrong place for the AMC.