You AMX fans, have you seen this prototype car before?

[Charger_Fan]

I stumbled onto this while surfing & thought it interesting. It was taken at an Ohio show in '05.
It's a new one on me.

[Manfred318]

Nope never seen it before, but I think it looks pretty cool

[69CoronetRT]

That looks like the '66 prototype. Larry Mitchell covers it in his AMC Muscle Car book.

[Brock Samson]

thanks for posting that I'm a big fan of the AMXs designs...









http://www.amxfiles.com/amx/history.html





and BTW: there's this one...



 

[greatwn73]

I saw it in a museum in Cleveland about two years ago. I forget the name but was on a university campus. The AMX was a prototype and was pretty rough up close, the rumble seat looked tight. Those pictures were taken in the museum.

[Ghoste]

Dick Teague was quite a master at creating styling exercises that made a lot out of little (for want of a better way of putting it).  You have to wonder what we could have done somewhere with just a little more budget on hand to indulge him.

[Brock Samson]

he didn't design that one, at that time he was in charge of the studio,.. he actually had more to do with the AMX II and III mid engined car... which was a real stunner...



http://www.supercars.net/cars/2982.html
Some sources state that the Javelin was derived from the AMX; in fact, although the Javelin's styling owes much to various AMX prototypes, the production AMX was physically based on the Javelin. The original AMX (American Motors eXperimental) concept was developed beginning in October 1965 in AMC's advanced styling studios under the direction of Charles Mashigan. (A design study by AMC stylist Erich Kreigler, showing the "Ramble seat" idea that unfortunately never reached production, is shown at right.) Early in 1966 the AMX was folded into "Project IV," a touring show intended to incubate new ideas and generate some excitement for AMC. A steel-bodied, working AMX prototype was built by Italian coachbuilder Vignale in the spring of 1966 and added to the Project IV tour (replacing an engineless fiberglass "pushmobile"). Meanwhile, the Javelin program was well underway in anticipation of its production debut in the fall of 1967.



http://www.amxfiles.com/amx/history.html

[Ghoste]

He may not have laid pen to paper but I doubt that much happened in the AMC studios without his full over the shoulder participation.

[Brock Samson]

alot of time the studio head gets the credit for the designing but without ever sitting at a drawing board 
kind of like Pope IV getting credit for the cistern chaple... 

[Ghoste]

Agreed, but he's still the captain of the ship.  He's going to get veto powers over what other people submit and he's going to lay out the themes he wants followed.  It isn't until you see the individual stylists rejected drawings or items from their personal portfolios that you can begin to get a real sense of who did what.  I think in the case of the AMX in the late 60's, there is too much Teague into all of the concept cars (including this one) for anyone else to take too much credit.  Unless, of course he had nothing to do with any of them and just stole the limelight.

[Brock Samson]

Now you'r just being difficult. 

[Ghoste]

   Sorry man.  Hey, I like Teague that's all. 

[Brock Samson]

Eager to get back to designing automobiles, Teague joined American Motors Corporation (AMC) as a member of Edmund E. Anderson's design team in 1959. When Anderson left AMC in 1961, Teague was named principal designer. The first cars influenced by Teague's styling were the 1963 Rambler Classic and Ambassador, the first all-new cars from AMC since 1956.[2] Teague was promoted to the post of Vice President in 1964. He held that executive position until he retired from AMC in 1983.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_A._Teague

so he's given credit for every design up to the Eagle Premire 

[Ghoste]

I guess as much as Bill Brownlie getting credit for the Charger.    I still say the AMX was his baby though and I can't imagine him letting anyone mess with it too much.

[Spike]

Speaking of which..

[Brock Samson]

speaking of which....   

http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1134010027&channel=2621254 a video with George Barris who built the thing.
"Made by Barris from the 1970 American Motors AMX for 70's TV show "Banacek" starring George Peppard. "

I posted on this custom when it was on sale on E-Bay a couple years ago, i forget what it eventually sold for. 

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/amx-400-custom-car.htm

perhaps this would be also of intrest...
http://collectibles.search.ebay.com/George-Barris_Collectibles_W0QQsacatZ1   

here's the AMX R which i guess was supposed to be kind'a like a shelby only an AMC..

"After the 1968 models were introduced, the "Ramble" idea was revived for possible production. The concept car you see on these pages was built by well-known designer-customizer James Jeffords in 1968 using a regular production 1968 AMX. Working closely with famous industrial designer Brooks Stevens, who was often working under contract with American Motors, the plan was to re-introduce the Ramble idea.  In addition to political and liability hurdles, Ralph Nader put the final nails in the coffin when, after learning of its existence and the pending ideas, declared it unsafe."

[Charger_Fan]

Speaking of which..

Holy crap, that's the most rear window louvers I've ever seen used on a car!

[kab69440]

alot of time the studio head gets the credit for the designing but without ever sitting at a drawing board 
kind of like Pope IV getting credit for the cistern chaple... 

Cistern Chapel? That's just wrong, Strat. 

[Brock Samson]

here's the Dick T proposal for a '71 AMX two seater...


here's the actual prototype.. recently restored and displayed...

[Brock Samson]

Speaking of which..

Holy crap, that's the most rear window louvers I've ever seen used on a car!

actually,..  you gotta love Bertone the man was a true artiste.














then there's the Marzal...

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.oto6.free.fr/marzal/images/marzal5.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.oto6.free.fr/marzal/index.htm&h=383&w=750&sz=114&hl=en&start=44&tbnid=nfqk2Ve8_ReSiM:&tbnh=72&tbnw=141&prev=/images%3Fq%3DBertone%2Bmarzal%26start%3D40%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN




[/img]http://www.oto6.free.fr/marzal/images/lamborghini-112.jpg[/img]

[Kevin68N71]

here's the AMX R which i guess was supposed to be kind'a like a shelby only an AMC..

"After the 1968 models were introduced, the "Ramble" idea was revived for possible production. The concept car you see on these pages was built by well-known designer-customizer James Jeffords in 1968 using a regular production 1968 AMX. Working closely with famous industrial designer Brooks Stevens, who was often working under contract with American Motors, the plan was to re-introduce the Ramble idea.  In addition to political and liability hurdles, Ralph Nader put the final nails in the coffin when, after learning of its existence and the pending ideas, declared it unsafe."

Yes, good old Nader.  Tried to kill the Corvair (which he didn't, the car and various truck versions ran from 1960 to 1969, and probably saw diminishing returns due to the wildly selling Camaro, which was fine with GM) based on the swing axle "danger" (never mind they changed that design, whatever) which was essentially the same design as the VW and Porsche.   

I wonder what this useless man thought of the Subaru BRAT, with the passengers in plastic seats in essentialy the pickup bed. Couldn't have been more safe than the Jeffords.  No matter, picking on Subaru at that time probably would not have yielded the press that this guy has always been about--witness his continual threats to run for President without a glimmer of hope to even get a White House staff job.

[gtx6970]

cool thread, keep the pictures coming