Somebody loves them some compact AMC-mobiles. Runningonfumes found this driveway full of Hornet-based cars, and quite a variety at that. A rare Concord-based AMX, what appears to be a very rare Spirit Kammback on the far left, a Gremlin, and an Eagle SX-4. But that’s not all, as the daily driver is parked curbside out front. What will it be?
An Eagle Kammback (Series 50), a very rare car. I don’t know when I saw one last, but it’s obviously found a loving home here. If it isn’t obvious, this is an AWD version of the also quite rare Spirit Kammback. Both it and the relatively more common Spirit Liftback were an evolution of the infamous Gremlin.
A closer look at the other Spirit shows it to be an Eagle Kammback too. Is this person trying to corner the market on these?
Here’s a closer look at the SX/4. I did a CC on one, and as is commonly the case, folks took it way too seriously.
Here’s the front of the AMX.
And the rear quarter. That odd “hair band” did not exactly endear it to me, and is a rather pathetic devolution of the clean original AMX, as well as the clean plain Sportback. Oh well. Ed Stembridge covered the decline of the AMX here.
The only thing missing is a genuine Hornet, or Concord. But those are too common and ordinary. This guy goes for the real AMC exotica.
Related reading:
CC: 1971 AMC Gremlin   CC: 1981 AMC Eagle SX/4  CC: 1977 AMC AMX
I wonder what’s in the garage! The blue Eagle Kammback looks to be an extremely rare fleet model. Note the lack of integrated bumper trim.
I actually believe this may be a VERY early MY 1981 build. If you look at the fenders, it has the correct holes for the Krayton flares to be installed. 1980 Eagles did not have the integrated bumper trim; albeit Kammbacks were not introduced until 1981, it was not uncommon for AMC’s to be “not quite ready” for an introduction.
The Javelin, Gremlin and Pacer check all the right boxes for me. Unfortunately I was never able to own any of those. What I did own was a 1971 Hornet 2 door. It wasn’t really pretty (unless you compare it to today’s cars) but it was a tank. The body was a bank vault, and I don’t remember anything mechanical going wrong in the 4+ years I owned it. It’s too bad AMC didn’t make it, but if they had, I suppose they would be building the same garbage everyone else is today.
The Eagle Cammbacks are very cool looking and think how difference history could have been if Chrysler had continued to build a range of AWD passenger cars that were not Jeeps or SUVs.
At least the parts are interchangeable!!!
Those cars have aged amazingly well. Rugged little things.
Never seen one of those Kammbacks before! Truly strange. The little body on the big 4wd chassis approaches monster-truck proportions.
Without the obvious Washington context I would have guessed it was one of those AMC Mexican specialties like the Lerma.
I bet the garage is hiding a Lerma!
I think if anyone catches a Lerma, they will officially win CC.
It’s good to see someone who really knows what he likes. When it is not what everyone else likes and therefore costs hardly anything, more power to him/her!
In the garage, I would bet that we would find a 1972-73 Pierre Cardin Javelin, getting the privileged space out of the elements.
Or a Matador Barcelona? 🙂
What’s a Matador?
My money would be on another Eagle SX/4. He has two of the Kammbacks, so why not have two SX/4s? The Eagle wagon would be way to common.
No, I reckon that would be too mainstream for this guy.
Fabulous! Just fabulous! I owned several Concords and loved them, warts and all. Concord was a vast improvement over Hornet – too bad AMC hadn’t offered these 4-5 years earlier, when they had the compact wagon market all to themselves, might have made a difference in the log run. I really think the later Spirit/Eagle kammback versions are what the poor old Gremlin should have been from the first.
That Kammback is cool. My first thought on seeing that one: “If International Harvester had made cars.”
I think my fave is the orange Gremlin. I have no idea why, but Gremlins have always appealed to me on a certain level.
Gremlins have always appealed to me on a certain level.
Feast your eyes JP. Saw this beauty at the Packard Proving Grounds open house last Sunday.
I would drive this! Enthusiastically if it has the 304.
if it has the 304.
Nope, had a 258. iirc, it had a manual floor shift though.
Ah, I didn’t know that was happening last Sunday! I ended up at Gilmore to see the new Cadillac and Lincoln Museums (and the Model A Museum)…
I ended up at Gilmore to see the new Cadillac and Lincoln Museums (and the Model A Museum)…
You missed the grand openings when flox of owners brought their Caddies and Lincolns in?
Besides the cars at the PPG, there was one of Gar Wood’s racing boats.
..Packard powered of course.
Is that really 4 V-12 engines in that boat? Holy Moley!
Is that really 4 V-12 engines in that boat? Holy Moley!
Four supercharged 2500 cid V-12s. Those were the model of engine that was developed into the 4M-2500 that powered WWII PT boats. That boat set a speed record of 124.9mph.
Archival clip of Gar Wood at the helm of that boat during test runs in Algonac.
It is basically my goal to make my drive look like this…..
I’ll take that orange Gremlin just for its sheer goofiness.
That 1978 AMX is a rare beast. Did production even top 1,000 for the model year? I don’t remembering seeing any AMXs when the car was new, even though the Concord was actually somewhat popular.
Looks kinda like my dad’s driveway many years back 🙂 . I believe the most AMC’s he had at one time were 2 V8/stick ’79 Spirits, 1 ’81 6/stick Spirit, 1 ’82 4/stick Spirit, 1 ’81 4/stick Concord, and a V8/auto ’74 Hornet hatch. He never had any desire to buy an Eagle.
If they were still making them I might still be driving them. Hard to shake a Nissan and Toyota diet. Especially with factories here.
I think I might go with a Gremlin. Drove one that belonged to a friend when he went out to sea.
My only gripe is the owner’s affection for the Hornet platform, rather than the senior platform.
Right now, I’m doing an impersonation of Ulysses tied to the mast as a collection is going on the block in Dearborn tomorrow. There is a 65 Rambler Ambassador offered for $600, but I have no place to put it.
Whew! That was close. Just received a reply from the President of the local AMO chapter. They discussed it at the board meeting last night. One guy went for a look see. It’s a rust bucket. I can sleep in tomorrow morning.
Where is the woody Eagle wagon?
A woody Eagle wagon in Limited trim fully loaded – yes!!!!!
Outside of photos in magazines, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of those Kammbacks. They don’t even seem to show up on Craigslist. Did the original owners just junk them? I’ve seen several hatchbacks over the years, usually a pastel color like blue or yellow/creme.
Only some 6,000 were ever made (IIRC). They are very rare.
A couple of these cars have dealer plates. When I first saw that Eagle Kammback I thought it was a 4WD Gremlin. Nice to see these rare oddball cars being saved from the wrecking yard. I had a friend that had a used and abused purple strippo 70 Gremlin. That car was shown no love at all but kept on going well over 100k miles, though the interior was falling apart everywhere. Lost of rare CC’s have been showing themselves recently, great finds.
Those are collector plates, not dealer plates. Washington lets you license a car with no annual renewal if the vehicle is:
More than 30 years old.
Capable of operating on the highway.
Owned and operated as collector vehicles. (whatever that means)
I’ll get a set in 2016 for the Jetta if it eliminates yearly tag and every 7 year plate purchase.
For some reason I like the SX4s. There was a rust free one in a Denver junkyard on TTAC the other day, which seems a shame for what must also be a rare car that would have had ranks thinned severely from winter salt.
I would love to take that AMX and restore it. I know it’s not a favored car, but I do like the body style.
Not just a gremlin, but 2 ultra rare Eagle Kammbacks as well! What a find. As an AMC fan, this is definitely my kind of driveway. Just add an early Pacer and it
would be perfect.
I grew up right next to Kenosha, so seeing driveways (or backyards) like this used to be a semi-common experience. And as far as the 304 Gremlin, all AMC V-8’s used the same block, so you could turn one of those (or a Pacer) into a 401 very easily and clean up at the drags. A friend of my Dad had several crazy AMC hot-rods (including an orange AMX just like the one above) that he did the 401-treatment to. Just stupid fast. His last car that I saw was a Spirit with the full drag-race treatment. It’s nice to see somebody saving these interesting vehicles, though.
I’ve seen the Kammback that’s parked on the street drive by my girlfriend’s house once or twice. When I chanced to walk past his driveway I was surprised to see his AMC “goldmine”. I hope to bump into him sometime and talk to him about his problem, I mean passion. Maybe he’ll tell me what’s in the garage.
My pick would be that SX/4. A 2 door fast-hatch with 4×4 deserves a truly nasty V8 under the hood. A flex fuel 4.7 HO V8 out of a 5spd Dakota would work nicely in such a light chassis. Oh, it’d take some doing to get it to work but I think the results would be worth it. The Spirit bodystyle in theory COULD have done for AMC what the Fox Mustang did for Ford…but only if theyd have stepped up to the plate with a V8 that was up to par.
That Hornet AMX is the same song but 2nd verse. With a 360, it could’ve been a worthy 2nd gen Javelin, in the context of its time.
I forgot how nice looking the AMX was. Love the lines and that classic 70s look.
Did anyone else spot the other CC in the driveway of the next door neighbor? It appears to be an early 70’s full size Chevy. A Caprice perhaps?
Looks like a 72
That is what I was thinking. Is it a Caprice or just an Impala? I’m not a big enough Chevy guy to be able to tell for certain.
I’d say Impala. Caprice had chrome trim along the lower part of the front quarter panels that’s not showing here.
Good eye!
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2745/4426852481_8f66923e6d_z.jpg?zz=1
Not good enough. Blackout grille now makes me think its a Belair.
I really, really wish that were my driveway.
Wow. That is a truly impressive AMC collection! The guy needs to donate them to some museum when he can no longer drive…maybe the “forgotten AMC wing” could be named after him!
I only know of the Eagle Kammback from the internet…don’t recall ever seeing one in person. I do like them though, and I think they’re actually better-looking than the SX/4. Probably in the minority there. I also don’t think I’ve ever seen an AMX like this in person; in fact I didn’t even know they existed. Other than the odd “hair band” mentioned, it’s an interesting shape. The proportions make the roof look very short or the wheelbase very long, one of the two, and yet I do think it’s a definite stylistic cousin to the Javelin. Was that roofline used on anything else?
Great find overall!