Some of My Old Cars

You can't keep them all! A lot of cars have come and gone over the past 30 years. Here are photos of some interesting AMC's that I have owned in the past.

1969 AMX, Big Bad Blue, 390, automatic, GO Package, saddle leather, tilt wheel. In 1986 I traded a 6-cylinder Hornet AMX even up for this car! Although it was a little rough around the edges, it ran and drove fine and was very complete and original. The problem was that I found it just one year after investing in the bodywork and paint for another AMX, so I didn't want to start over with this one. What was I thinking?! I now consider this AMX to be "the one that got away".

1977 Levi's Pacer X, 258, 4-speed, two tone blue. A lot of people don't even realize that AMC built a Levi's Pacer. It was only offered for one year, and since it was not well publicized it didn't sell in large numbers. When's the last time you saw one? I had planned on a full restoration until another car came along that I couldn't live without, so off it went to The Rambler Ranch in Colorado.

1973 Javelin Trans Am Victory Edition, 360, automatic. A single magazine advertisement was used to promote the T/A Victory package, which consisted of fender shields (badly faded here), 8-slot rally wheels and a couple other extras all for no charge. I've only seen a few of these Javelins over the years, and this one was a non-running project that I owned for a short time in 2005. It had to look great when it was new wearing its Fresh Plum Metallic paint with black interior!

1979 AMX, Team Highball / BFGoodrich car #2. This was the first American car to win its class at the famed 24 Hours of Nurburgring race in Germany. Driven by Lyn St. James and others while it was there, the AMX eventually made its way back to the USA where it was wrecked while serving as a pace car. Rebuilt to IMSA GT specs it changed hands several times before being left outside to rot, its racing history forgotten. I added the correct AMC Turbocast II wheels before selling it as a rolling project.

1970 Javelin SST, 360 Ram Air parts car. Looking back I scratch my head a bit on this one, because what I did was sacrifice a rust-free '70 Javelin SST to repair a 1974 304 Javelin! But the thing is, I was paying for the repairs myself after being hit by an uninsured driver, and the rolling '70 SST parts car was only $75, including a functional ram air hood! Back in 1981 it seemed like a no-brainer.

1969 Hurst SC/Rambler. You read a lot about "barn finds" these days, but back in 1995 this actually was one. Unfortunately the underbody was badly rusted and the original drivetrain was missing, but an eventual restoration was planned anyway, that is until I traded it for another AMC project.