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American Motors AMX/3 - the giant killer that wasn't allowed to run

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Created on December 15, 2016

Text:

Bruno von Rotz

Photos:

Mathieu Heurtault - Courtesy Gooding & Co

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Bruno von Rotz

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Kimball Studios / Courtesy of Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance

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Jürgen M. Wilms

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AMX

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Archiv

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Mathieu Heurtault - Courtesy Gooding & Co

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Bruno von Rotz

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Kimball Studios / Courtesy of Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance

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Jürgen M. Wilms

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AMX

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Archiv

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AMC AMX/3 (1969) - the design came from the company itself, Dick Teague was the chief designer at AMC

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AMC AMX/3 (1969) - at that time the rear hood was also in the color of the car

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AMC AMX/3 (1969) - 1.9 meters wide, which was certainly very wide back then

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AMC AMX/3 (1969) - beautifully distributed curves

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AMC AMX/3 (1969) - short rear overhang, most of the weight rested on the rear axle

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AMC AMX/3 (1969) - breathtaking design

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AMC AMX/3 (1969) - strictly for two people

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AMC AMX/3 (1969) - the car was originally red

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AMC AMX/3 (1969) - the 6383 cm3 V8 engine sits in front of the rear axle

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AMC AMX/3 (1969) - also attractive in terms of supervision

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AMC AMX/3 (1969) - sporty, but not uncomfortable cockpit

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AMC AMX/3 (1969) - fully instrumented

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AMC AMX/3 (1969) - AMC lettering on the steering wheel

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AMC AMX/3 (1969) - speedometer up to 320 km/h, Veglia and Bizzarrini lettering

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AMC AMX/3 (1969) - the V8 is said to have produced around 345 SAE horsepower at the time

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AMC AMX/3 (1969) - Folding headlights allowed a low front end

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AMC AMX/3 (1969) - View of the pointed front end

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AMC AMX/3 (1969) - trunk and large water cooler in the front

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AMC AMX/3 (1969) - the light alloy wheels from Campagnolo

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AMC AMX/3 (1969) - Bleeding the engine

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AMC AMX/3 (1969) - beautifully designed rear lights

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AMX 2 (1969) - Mid-engined coupé design study intended for the Chicago Motor Show

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AMX 2 (1969) - The coupé was painted in copper orange

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AMX 390 (1968) - the eight-cylinder engine impressed with 315 hp and was intended for the AMX sports car and the Javelin SST

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American Motors AMX/3 (1970) - mid-engined sports car with V8 power - built by Bizzarrini

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AMC AMX/3 (1970) - impressive design from behind

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AMC AMX/3 (1970) - Cockpit and engine compartment

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AMC AMX/3 (1970) - Transparency drawing

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Bizzarrini Scabiola (1971) - alias AMC AMX/3 - photographed at the 1971 Turin Motor Show (?)

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Bizzarrini Scabiola (1971) - alias AMC AMX/3 - photographed at the 1971 Turin Motor Show (?)

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Bizzarrini Sciabola (1976) - the Bizzarrini variant of the discontinued AMC AMX/3 project at the 1976 Turin Motor Show

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AMC AMX/3 (1969) - recorded in 2014

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AMC AMX/3 (1969) - on the occasion of the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este 2015

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AMC AMX/3 (1970) - at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este 2015 in class H 'How fast is fast enough'

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AMC AMX/3 (1970) - at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este 2015 in class H 'How fast is fast enough'

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AMC AMX/3 (1970) - at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este 2015 in class H 'How fast is fast enough'

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AMC AMX/3 (1970) - at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este 2015 in class H 'How fast is fast enough'

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AMC AMX/3 (1970) - at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este 2015 in class H 'How fast is fast enough'

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American Motors AMX/3 (1969) - first place in the Bizzarrini category

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Summary

Perhaps the AMC AMX/3 could have given the competition a run for their money, it certainly had what it took when it was launched in 1970. With a huge American mid-engine, Italian chassis technology, an exciting design and a comparatively low price, it could have been a smash hit. But it never went into series production. For various reasons. This report portrays one of the six AMX/3s built and still in existence and tells the exciting story of the mid-engined sports car.

This article contains the following chapters

Not out of nowhere
With the help of BMW and Bizzarrini
345 hp for 1400 kg
A lot of optimism
Difficulties and political intrigue
And yet a successor?
Six plus one
Further information

Estimated reading time: 6min

Preview (beginning of the article)

On March 24, 1970, a new sports car caused quite a stir at the Cavalieri Hilton Hotel in Rome. The AMX/3, as it was succinctly called, was a modern mid-engined sports coupé designed with V8 power for mass production and was intended to compete against the well-known European and semi-American super sports cars of the time, i.e. Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini, Aston Martin and De Tomaso. In 1968, the American Motors Company, now under the command of Roy Chapin, had already presented the AMX, a pure two-seater with large V8 engines. The car was well received, after all it was capable of over 200 km/h and not even expensive.

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