Auto Trends

1979 AMC AMX

While the AMX may not be seen as cool these days, at one time it was. Flashback to the 1960’s, when the AMX was built much like some of the fiery Australian muscle cars, which were simple, small, and compact. Packing a powerful V-8 (390 cubic inch, 340 horsepower, 430 ft-lbs torque) between its fenders, the AMX could pull its happy customers from zero to wow in no time flat.

Fast forward a decade, and much like the Mustang King Cobra, the 1979 AMC AMX was simply made to look fast, and perform well sitting in your driveway. You would have to park the 79′ AMX in the parking lot a day prior to every Saturday night cruise, so that you would not embarrass yourself on the way there.

While the 60’s AMX was capable of low 7 second runs from 0 to 60, the 1979 was probably much closer to 13 seconds. Quarter mile times of the 60’s AMX was in the 15 second range… but the 79′? Well, it was lucky to catch the mid-17’s with a good driver and a strong tail wind.

The AMX was actually designed to capture the spirit of the macho late seventies Pontiac Trans Am… Yes, they both had lots of decals, fender flares and sexy advertising, but the AMX and its slovenly 304 cubic inch V-8 was an embarrassment to the AMC heritage.

1972 Mercury Montego GT

Anytime you are talking a sizable engine, say 351 to 429 cubic inches, and its peak performance can’t excel much beyond 200 horsepower… you might as well be riding a tricycle while burning dollar bills. This was the story of the late and not so great 1972 Mercury Montego GT.

200 horsepower is being kind to the Montego, as a few of its models had even worse performance potential, such as the base 250 cubic inch straight six-cylinder, which couldn’t even muster 100 horsepower.

Mercury then took the popular Windsor 302, slapped a 2 barrel carburetor on it, and barely squeezed out 140 horsepower. If you opted for the “Big Dog” 351 Cleveland, with a 4-barrel and Cobra Jet package, 266 horsepower became a reality, which was still barely enough power to set these behemoth luxury cruiseliners off to sail at a reasonable pace.

But the most disgraceful element of the Montego GT would have to be its two barrel 400 cubic inch V-8 with 172 horsepower, which could barely hold up to its base model 302 Windsor, considering its weight disadvantage.

If you really felt cool, you could splurge on the 4-barrel 400 cubic inch version (once known as the mighty “N-code 429”), but the two extra barrels were only good for an extra 33 horsepower, bringing the embarrassment level down to 9.9 out of 10 with its 205 horsepower max performance potential,

These are actually considered somewhat of classics today, but more out of its shear interest factor, rather than performance factor. Don’t expect to have buyers beating down your door if you happen to have one of these pristine babies sitting in your garage… there has never been a big calling for a Mercury Montego’s of any flavor…