Serial restorer and collector John Arnel had long been a fan of the American Motor Corporation (AMC) Rambler line, having owned a Hornet in the past. However, he had never heard of an AMX until Robyn, his partner, alerted him to them.
“Why don’t we get one of these?” was the question.
But there was a catch. Just 25 had been brought into the country: One right-hand drive that was used as a local development mule, and 24 as CKD (complete knock-down) kits for local conversion from left-hand drive. Import rules of the day said you could get it across the docks duty-free, if there was 30 per cent or greater local content.
So what the Arnels were chasing was one of just 24 cars that were by then over 50 years old. A local AMC enthusiast group had gone to the trouble of tracking them down. One had been repatriated to the USA, two went to New Zealand, while another was destroyed. There was, however, mystery surrounding car number 21 – where was it?
Knowing all this, Robyn was alerted to one up for sale in South Australia and immediately got on the phone. Apparently he sounded a little reluctant, though Robyn pointed out they were serious cash buyers. The ad for the car disappeared that night and the seller stopped answering his phone. A couple of texts were sent. Nothing.
Then, a couple of weeks down the track, the seller was on the phone. He told Robyn of all the hassle he’d faced with various optimists and would-be rip-off merchants. However, since she was the nicest of the people who called, she had first refusal. A sizeable deposit was quickly sent across.
The catch was this happened during COVID lockdowns, so everyone had to bide their time. As the Arnels tell the story, the moment the Victoria-South Australia border re-opening was announced, they went in for tests and were on the road even before the results had come back.
They knew there was risk in buying the car without clapping eyes on it, however, they figured that there was sufficient interest out there to on-sell it if the project was bigger than they were prepared to tackle. So what had they bought? Yes, the missing car number 21! And the reason no-one had tracked it down was because it was parked in a shed for 27 years. Not even the seller’s neighbours knew of its existence.
With the AMX safely back in their shed in Victoria, it was time to assess what was involved in getting it back to its former glory. “I had the motor running in an hour,” said John, explaining he rigged up a temporary fuel feed. That was a promising sign.
Like most old cars, it had lived an interesting life. There was evidence it had copped a smack on the front right corner at some stage in its life, the bonnet had also been replaced with a Javelin unit, and the front seats weren’t original.
As John describes it, there was rust in the usual places, including around the rear quarter windows and in the aftermarket sunroof frame. The latter, he says, was very well made but he decided it was to go.
Meanwhile the paint was okay, but it was a non-original colour. When new, you could get them in white, red or, in this case, Safety Wattle Yellow. Apparently one of the 24 was painted green as a special order.
John tackled the body and paint himself. That involved cutting down a Javelin roof to supply the panel to fill in the sunroof – a delicate job. An original bonnet was sourced in Adelaide.
The car only had 50,000 miles on it, and so the engine turned out to be in very good shape. So it was reassembled with fresh seals and gaskets. AMC’s 343 V8 was the engine of choice for all 24 Australian cars, which at the time was the mid-range AMC offering.
That was matched to a three-speed Borg-Warner automatic, though manuals were available in the USA. A reconditioned transmission was fitted, feeding a tall-geared 2.87:1 limited-slip diff.
A four-barrel carburettor was standard on these cars and John has since put the original aside in favour of a newer Holley. Showroom-fresh, the 343 (5.6lt) claimed a healthy 280hp (209kW).
Conversion to right-hand drive involved the use of a fibreglass moulding for the dash and it appears likely there were some variations in the interior presentation. In any case, with the correct seats found, John and Robyn set about getting the vinyl re-coloured and sorting out the roof lining.
Launched in 1968 in the USA as a serious and strictly two-seater muscle car, the AMX enjoyed a significant price advantage over the rival Chevrolet Corvette. Launched in Australia in 1969 they were $7450, about double the cost of a well-specced Holden.
In America you got the choice of the base 290ci V8, the 343 and a 390. There was a minor update during its short production life and the second-gen saw the 290 dropped for the 343, a 360 and 390.
While it’s often mistaken for a cut-down Javelin, in fact the Javelin was an extended version of the AMX. The initials, by the way, stand for American Motors eXperimental.
Road tests of the day backed up what the basic specs suggest, these were lively cars with loads of performance and they had a bit of a reputation for being tail-happy if you were cheeky with the right pedal.
Robyn says the ride is good, while John notes the transmission is ultra-smooth. They’re both clearly happy with the decision to find and revive the AMX and apparently it’s not going anywhere in the foreseeable future. Well, not if their daughter has anything do to do with it, as she has laid claim to it…