Rediscovering AMC Muscle Cars

If there ever was a company least likely to build hot street machines in the 1960s, it had to be American Motors. Back in 1954, independent auto manufacturers Nash and Hudson merged to form American Motors Corporation (AMC), but soon the Hudson name was dropped. Rather than battle directly with the Big Three in Detroit, little AMC (based in Kenosha, Wisconsin) designed a line of smaller, economical sedans. These practical, albeit boring, vehicles were called Ramblers, and no serious driver paid them the slightest bit of attention. But all that was soon to change.


By the mid-1960s AMC was in trouble. Baby boomers were looking for fast, sporty transportation and the little Rambler was most emphatically not that. AMC even ran ads decreeing auto racing and street-car performance. But the bottom line was slipping at AMC and the directors were desperate to breathe some life into their moribund lineup. Then, in 1964, the radical new Ford Mustang rocked the automotive world. AMC knew which direction the future pointed.


In desperation, AMC shoehorned its new 290- and 343-inch V-8s into various existing Rambler models. These had performance potential but were still saddled with the styling charisma of a cereal box. They tried slapping a fastback top on the old Rambler Classic and called it the Marlin, but anyone who caught one threw it back.

The Javelin Strikes
In 1968 AMC finally got it right. Despite being late into the fight, with the Mustang, Camaro, Firebird, Barracuda and Cougar already competing for "pony car" buyers, the new Javelin was worth the wait. Penned by AMC head stylist Dick Teague, the Javelin wore a distinctive twin-opening grille and a graceful fastback top that looked as good as anything on the market.


The Javelin's base engine was an anemic six, but 290 and 343-inch V-8s provided serious performance. These new AMC V-8s were all based on the same basic block design, and it was soon stretched to 390 inches, and 315 horses by mid-1968. Buyers had the choice of a so-so Warner automatic transmission, 3-speeds (for smaller engines) or the excellent Borg-Warner T-10 4-speed manual with close-ratio gears.