AMC Eagle

[Andrew1972]

My mum bought one of these in 1986 in maroon with contact paper wood grain when I was 13. It had lots of fiberglass cladding and that contact paper to cover up maybe rust underneath.

My parents drove it 260k miles without engine or transmission work. Weird things like door hinges, heater blower, wiper, defroster, radio all failed. But car kept going.

I drove at college in 1991 but finally it would not start at Logan airport remote parking(3 weeks) so I pulled plates and left it.

 

[Yah-Tah-Hey]

AMC on life support trying desperately to stay in business. The Eagle two door with fwd was even uglier than the Aztec. Only word I can think of is COBBED.G&T I worked for in northwestern Colorado had several of these and they were junk.

 

[gman2304]

Flat head engines into the sixties, frumpy styling, low profit basic transportation was their niche. AMX in 1968, and the higher end Ambassador, were just a few of the too few bright spots for the company. Then came the Gremlin, Pacer, Matador and even Chrysler couldn't save them. A High School friend had a factory Supercharged R2 Lark, 289ci 4 speed with bucket seats. It and the Avanti was one of a very few cool cars from an independent.

 

[L_Sludger]

AMC cars are cool. Unfortunately the only exposure I get to them are people sharing their memories of prior ownership or the like. Almost none of them are on the road today.

 

[SevenBizzos]

I lived in Kenosha, WI for years and there are plenty of them, and a lof of other AMC's, sitting in people's garages. I assume rarely, if ever driven. While I was too young to remember them new, I still would see a few of them on the roads.

 

[DweezilAZ]

Originally Posted By: Camprunner
Ya know looking at the AMC Eagle they really don't look that old I think that car has aged well frankly it looks sort of like a lifted Subaru.


The original from which the Eagle body derived, was introduced in 1970 as the AMC Hornet. The "wagon" was introduced in 71 as the Hornet Sportabout. Those still look good too.

Not bad for a body design laid down in the late 60s !

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: addyguy
Agreed...AMC Eagles were WAY ahead of their time.

Look at how popular 'slightly taller' small SUV's are now, and how many have AWD.

People just weren't ready for it back then.

AMC is one of the BIG LOSSES in the auto world - reliability, a good warranty...they did things 'right'.


+1 That's one car company I miss. The Rambler Scrambler, AMX, Javelin, Marlin, Eagle even the weird Matador with a V8 in it could have all been game changers, they had some good engines.

 

[dlundblad]

Originally Posted By: AirgunSavant
Thanks for the intro

I remember them well. As a young buck I bought one new in 1981. I think it was called the SX4 model Sport.
I remember it stickered at $9595.00. I still have that WS. and the contract. Interest then on the contract was 18.01%
Yeah they had to get in that .01%

That is my niece who is now 39 years old.
Thanks for the memories my friend!


Awesome car. Even more complete with those SEV Marchals.

 

[BironDanmum]

I remember going around 1980/81 to take a look at the Eagle. It seemed like a nice vehicle and I was in the market for a 4x4. I ended up getting a Brono mainly due to the price. A moderately equipped Eagle was a couple of grand more than a fully loaded Bronco, so I went with the Bronco. I got 22 years out of the Bronco, wondering if that would have been possible with the AMC.