Super rare AMC/AMX3 mid engine

[hyena429]

What a legend AMC and the AMX would have been had they actually produced this car...Wild looking machine..hehe

Quoted from Wikipedia: "Widely considered as the best AMC design of all time,[citation needed] a third-generation AMX concept car, the AMX/3, debuted at the 1970 Chicago Auto Show. Engine-less and fashioned in fiberglass, the original AMC/3 prototype was a show car only.

American Motors placed an order for 30 operational cars.[83] The AMX/3 body mold was sent to Italian GT maker Giotto Bizzarrini, whose Turin facility hand made drivable mid-engined, steel bodied cars. Built on a 105.3-inch (2,675 mm) wheelbase, the Bizzarrini prototypes used the AMC 390 cu in (6.4 L) V8 and an Italian OTO Melara four-speed transaxle. Road testing was done by BMW, which declared the AMX/3's chassis one of the stiffest and most neutral handling they had ever tested.[citation needed]

The steel Italian cars differed from the original AMC design in having fewer but functional rear decklid louvers, louvered hoods, and, in some cases, hood scoops to direct fresh air into the heating-A/C system.

Five completed cars were produced before the US$2,000,000 program was cancelled. Escalating costs and pending bumper regulations put a stop to the mid-engined AMX/3.[83] The remaining extra parts were used to assemble a sixth car.[

 

[will e]

I swear if I ever got my hands on that car I would paint it white and put a giant '5' on the side. Great looking car, I have seen pictures of it before. Reminds me of a Pantera

 

[MechEng]

I swear if I ever got my hands on that car I would paint it white and put a giant '5' on the side....

You're officially my hero for the day, just for that.

 

[bkdunha]

I grew up in AMC's home town. Kenosha, WI. My Dad started working at the plant when he was 17 sweeping floors and worked his way up into management before retiring from Chrysler in 1999. The AMC stories I can tell you.

One story regarded the prototype rumble seat AMX. A gentleman was the security guard at the proving grounds outside of town. Several engineers took one of the rumble seat prototypes out to the test track and were thrashing on the car pretty hard. Enough that it cracked the fiberglass body in several places. The guard called into the corporate office downtown and spoke with one of the executives who immediatly called the engineers back to the office with the now beaten up prototype. The car was left parked for several years out at the proving grounds at which time Dominick (the guard) asked if he could buy the car. They sold him the car with the condition he could never license or sell the car. Back in the early 80's he would take it to the local cruise-in drive in every now and then. He had the car repainted in a heavy metal flake orange and this may be that car. The bad thing was he stored it with piles of moth balls on the floor of the car. When you went to lean in and look at the car you would almost pass out from the smell. Dominick suffered a stoke in the late 80's and I never heard of what happened to the car. He was married, but did not have any kids. He had rented a vacant store downtown for several years where he stored the AMX, Rambler Scrambler and a Rebel Machine he had acquired over the years. For those who are not familiar with this car here is a picture of one. I think??? they made three prototypes in this style. That is from a foggy memory though.

 

[hyena429]

I swear if I ever got my hands on that car I would paint it white and put a giant '5' on the side. Great looking car, I have seen pictures of it before. Reminds me of a Pantera

That would be a neat color for it...And maybe a euro stripe down the middle along with the race number

I grew up in AMC's home town. Kenosha, WI. My Dad started working at the plant when he was 17 sweeping floors and worked his way up into management before retiring from Chrysler in 1999. The AMC stories I can tell you.

One story regarded the prototype rumble seat AMX. A gentleman was the security guard at the proving grounds outside of town. Several engineers took one of the rumble seat prototypes out to the test track and were thrashing on the car pretty hard. Enough that it cracked the fiberglass body in several places. The guard called into the corporate office downtown and spoke with one of the executives who immediatly called the engineers back to the office with the now beaten up prototype. The car was left parked for several years out at the proving grounds at which time Dominick (the guard) asked if he could buy the car. They sold him the car with the condition he could never license or sell the car. Back in the early 80's he would take it to the local cruise-in drive in every now and then. He had the car repainted in a heavy metal flake orange and this may be that car. The bad thing was he stored it with piles of moth balls on the floor of the car. When you went to lean in and look at the car you would almost pass out from the smell. Dominick suffered a stoke in the late 80's and I never heard of what happened to the car. He was married, but did not have any kids. He had rented a vacant store downtown for several years where he stored the AMX, Rambler Scrambler and a Rebel Machine he had acquired over the years. For those who are not familiar with this car here is a picture of one. I think??? they made three prototypes in this style. That is from a foggy memory though.

That is a wild looking machine..and great story!! Thanks for sharing...wonder what happend too it? mite show up in a mag as a big find some day..AMC sure made some odd rigs...I liked the AMX alot thou..lol

 

[caspianwendell]

I had never heard of it before...Cool car

 

[luxstang]

I had never heard of this either. Nice car! And the body side actually reminds me of a Pantera too.

I love the front edge with that sharp curved line.