According to You: The Best AMC to Celebrate the Brand’s 70th Anniversary

In May of 1954, a new car maker emerged with the blessings of both Hudson and Nash-Kelvinator stockholders. It was called the American Motors Corporation (AMC), and it created iconic vehicles that became beloved by legions of customers and fans. While AMC’s fire was officially extinguished in 1990 via merger with Chrysler, we recently asked members of the Hagerty Community about the perfect AMC vehicle to celebrate the company’s founding, a full 70 years ago as of 2024.

The answers did not disappoint, but before we get to their suggestions, let’s dive into the responses to my suggestion, which fell shockingly flat with the community: the Jeep brand.

Jeepers Creepers

@hyperv6: The Jeep is not really AMC. Jeep was really a Willys, not originally an AMC. Then it was a Chrysler and now Stellantis. Jeep is a brand of its own and never really represented the true AMC line. To use Jeep is like someone getting credit for a paper someone else wrote.

@J. Michael: Agree with @hyperv6 completely. The AMX is my pick, and Jeep ain’t AMC.

@Mike: Every company that has ever owned Jeep has went out of business. It will happen again—they’ve overpriced everything. Javelin and AMX represent the brand! Listen to a Wisconsin guy who repaired many a Hornet and Matador owned by the college and state in my work-study job at UW-Eau Claire in the late ’70s. Those cars were not the ideal, but they ran forever.

Jeepers Keepers?

@Dave: I had 2 “AMC” Jeeps, an ’81 CJ5 and an ’86 Cherokee Pioneer. Both were awesome vehicles.

@Paul: I have an 1983 Jeep Renegade. Mechanically a great 4×4, but on a quiet night you can hear it rusting away!

@DUB6: I’m a long-time Jeep guy, but honestly, I never owned one made by AMC. However, to be fair, when AMC bought Jeep, I think they saved that brand—or at least they kept it alive until Chrysler came along with the money.

Kaiser was losing ground drastically and it quite possibly could have killed Jeep had it stayed there. Of course, it could be argued that the Jeep purchase saved AMC. Either way, it was a big deal at the time, and quite controversial. I distinctly remember the Jeep crowd I hung with being all up-in-arms. (“What? Rambler is gonna build Jeeps?”) I’m giving some credit to American Motors for Jeep, but it’s perhaps not the “best” AMC to celebrate.

AMC AMX

@DUB6: If I just sit here and think, “What AMC vehicle made a big impression on me and that I think of as being connected to the brand,” I honestly come up with the AMX—followed CLOSELY by the Pacer! I reject the suggestion that the Pacer was ugly: It was a bit weird, yes, but it had some wonderfully advanced ideas designed into it. I only put it behind the AMX because back in the day, I was a performance-car guy.

@Loving AMC: The two-seat AMX, hands down.

@Joenumeruno: The AMX and Javelin were my favorites, but the American convertible and Ambassador with seats reclinable into beds (and with “Instant Overtake”) should get votes, too.

@Stuart: For me, hands down the AMX.

@Northern Rambler: 1972–73 Javelin AMX—401-cubic-inch, four-speed Hurst factory shifter, Fresh Plum metallic paint, and the Pierre Cardin interior. This low-production model boldly just screamed the ’70s in the waning days of the muscle-car era, and was the last of a limited production series of powerful and bold designs by AMC as it tried to compete with the Big Three. It showed AMC’s design versatility, and it was perhaps the most radical of the cars that they produced as alternatives to the more conservative—and economical—production cars that they had become known for.

@hyperv6: I would choose the AMX. This was the best car they ever did, and it represents AMC.

@Billy: For me it’s a toss-up between the Javelin and the AMX. My first car was an AM (American Motors before the C) Ambassador: two-door with a 343 four-barrel. It could fly! Not the prettiest, had a few girls turn me down because of the car. 

“You’re taking me out in that?”

Their loss. I wish I had that Ambassador back!

The Last Nashes

@keeton: No one is mentioning the early-mid ’50s Nash line, where the styling was done by Pininfarina. From 1954, you could have the Weather Eye air conditioning, which was the first modern in-dash integrated system (and not one of those clunky trunk-mounted systems everyone else was using).

The 1956 Ambassador could be had with the Packard V-8 and Ultramatic. These were quite distinctive in their day, but if you liked the Pacer, you would love these!

AMC Rebel + The Machine

@Jim: The Rebel Machine. I had one, and it was a true unicorn. And it was very rarely beaten in a street race, much to the chagrin of all the Big Three muscle-car drivers.

@Glenn: I never had one but was going to nominate it. This is a great-looking car with really clean lines and it had the performance to match. I would love to have one but these things are out of my reach.

AMC Javelin

@Cavedave: I owned a 1969 390 Javelin. I surprised a lot of GTOs, Mustangs, Cameras, and Chevelles. The car was very quick for its size and engine. I put my guardian angel through some real scares in there.

@Tom: My brother had a ’68 Javelin automatic with the 343 four-barrel. He bought a ’69 with a four-speed for $200 and put the manual tranny into the ’68 in our parent’s driveway. Man, that car flew!

@AS29: I have loved AMC since I was a little kid. Growing up and still living in Wisconsin I always felt more of a connection to the brand. I would go to car shows with my brother and dad and would always point out the AMC vehicles. My dad (a diehard Chevy guy) would always say I was crazy. He would say, “They made refrigerators!” I own a 69 AMX and it’s my one of my dream cars and I absolutely love it.

Since owning it I have converted my brother, who now owns a ’70 Javelin, and my dad, Mr. Chevy, wants a Rambler Rouge! Took them a while to come around! To answer the question the true unicorn and IMO the best AMC was the Javelin Trans Am.

AMC Rambler

Ronnie Schreiber: The 1961 Rambler, or any of the compact Ramblers, for the matter. They kept AMC alive long enough to make the Javelin, AMX, Rebel Machine, and other cars mentioned above.

@TeutonicScot: Both the Rebel Machine and the AMX would have to be at the front of this conversation, not to mention the SC/Rambler, but I think you can go back even further and mention the original 1957 Rebel and/or the 1955 Rambler as both being great examples of what AMC was capable of on an always tight budget. The Rebel was one of, if not the first, American car with a large-block V-8 in a mid-size car which would become the thing to do seven to 10 years later for everyone else, it was capable of 0–60 speeds in under 8 seconds which would be considered quick even 30 years later.

Arguments can be made that it was the first “muscle car” and included many features considered “de rigueur” for later performance cars.

AMC Pacer

@snailish: Pacer. Is this just real life? Is this just fantasy???

AMC Spirit

@Jake: I bought a brand-new AMC Spirit in 1980. I worked at Ford. For the same price I could have bought a Pinto—no thank you! The Spirit was a far better car. If AMC was still around, I would not hesitate to buy another one.

AMC Gremlin

@Michael: I grew up an AMC kid in Kenosha County. MydDad worked there from 1958 to 1988. My vote is for the Gremlin, there was nothing like it. (I’d also like to add the entire 1967 line. Redesigned cars with new V-8 engines.)

AMX/2 and AMX/3

@Don: Best by far was the AMX/3, a mid-engine Italian design that puts all others to shame. I have actually drove #1 many times—it was like driving a Ferrari!

@Jim: Rather than dwell on the models that fill their failed portfolio, while acknowledging the continued success of Jeep, I agree with Don and cast my vote for the lovely AMX III of 1970. A genuinely interesting beauty that could have been oh-so-special from the little guys in Kenosha. Alas, it was not to be.

@Woodrow: Don and Jim were close, but for my money it’s the AMX/2 of 1969. 

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