Colorful trio or "Big Bad"
05/17/2026
We have a certain soft spot for the AMX from American Motors. It was a bit of an "underdog" compared to its competitors from the "Big Three". Even back then, you had to come up with something if you wanted to sell special cars, and one idea that became popular at the time was to offer special colors.
For 1969, AMC opted for the "Big Bad" colors, namely "neon blue", "bright orange" and "brilliant green". You could order these colors, which were also exploited in advertising, for USD 34, regardless of which AMX variant it was. And you also got bumpers in body color, an exclusive feature at the time.
In 1969, 8239 AMXs left the factory, 762 of which were painted in one of the three Big Bad colors. For 17 years, a collector was on the road to track down and buy the three colors in combination with the AMX 390/315 HP V8 engine.
Two days ago, these three cars were offered together as lot F207.1 at Mecum in Indianapolis , but could not be sold despite a bid of USD 172,500.
This really would have been a bargain, because when do you get such rare examples - the blue AMX, for example, is one of only 11 built according to the AMX register - for an average of just over USD 50,000?
However, it would of course be a shame to tear the trio apart and this might deter one or two bidders who only have a garage space available from buying. Will they come on the market again in this combination?
