Strangely Appalling: 1983 AMC Concord DL Sedan

The AMC Concord is not a movie theater in North Carolina, nor is it a supersonic transatlantic plane powered by a 258 cubic inch inline-6.  Simply put, the Concord was the AMCs answer to the Cavalier, Tempo, Fairmont, & Malibu — a task that a restyled Hornet brought to market by an engineering team the size of the average space shuttle crew couldn’t achieve.  Find this 1983 AMC Concord DL here on eBay bidding for $510 reserve-not-met with 4 days to go.

If you buy this car and don’t work at a regional  AMC repairshop/mecca, you are going to have a few conversations that go like this:

Dude: Hey, wow, what is that?

Car Guy: It’s an AMC Concord.

Dude: A what?

Car Guy: AMC. American Motors Corp.  Concord, a replacement for the Hornet.

Dude: And you bought it?

Car Guy: Yeah, it only has 80,000 original miles on it, and it was only $500.

Dude: Oh. What are you going to do with it?

Car Guy: Drive it around, work on it when you are at the beach or a bar…probably lose money on it when I sell.

Dude: Cool.  I’m gonna go now…

Car Guy: But you didn’t see the way the reach hatch opens…and the faux wood trim…

I get that “what are you going to do with it” question a lot from non-car folks or fringe car folks — the kind of people who buy a new Prius every few years and maybe their uncle owned a Corvette — and it is a totally loaded question.  Yes.  I just purchased an ’83 AMC and added it as my fifth car, I will drive it around the street, the same way you drive around in a Ford Edge, except I will be cool…well not actually cool because the AC runs on Freon and has long ago dried into a worthless pile of bracketry but that isn’t the point.  Hang on, I just read the ad text, this car does have functioning AC converted to R134a — SCORE 1.0 FOR THE MALAISE CAR GUYS 0.0 FOR THE HATERS.

Seriously, have you ever seen a cooler C-pillar window? tips@dailyturismo.com