The Eagle was AMC's late '70s answer to the OPEC oil embargo and high
gas prices that followed. Sales of traditional pickup trucks and SUVs
were down. AMC needed a way to pad their
bottom line with more sales of profitable 4WD-equipped vehicles -- so they took a chance with a gussied up version of the Concorde (formerly the Hornet, which started production in
1969) equipped with a full-time 4WD system, creating the first
true crossover and "sport utility wagon" before anybody else. Find this 1984 AMC Eagle Sport offered for $2,000 in Pollock Pines, CA via craigslist. Tip from RockOn.
The AMC Eagle was a strange looking 4X4 compact crossover-car thing that defined traditional labeling -- technically the sedan/wagon/coupe versions were built on the AMC Concord chassis, but the 2-door SX/4, Kammback, & Sundancer models were built on the AMC Spirit subcompact chassis.
Under the hood is a 4.2 liter inline-6 that pushes out some unremarkable amount of horsepower into a 5-speed manual gearbox, which will make driving this thing more like piloting a semi-truck instead of a delivery van.
See a better car for skiing/camping/dirtdays? tips@dailyturismo.com
a couple decades early to the crossover party. i dream of something like this for "minimum maintenance" gravel road exploration.
ReplyDeleteOnly one on your cul-de-sac, almost certainly.
ReplyDeleteThese always had a sort of don't-call-me-a-hipster-I-just-appreciate-quirky-old-crap kind of ironic chicness to them. Didn't some of these have faux wood sides? And I hear those are worth at least a one-time wave-through on the road into Sag Harbor, so long as the appliqué is afixed to something American and malaisy.
pretty beat but honestly presented; no a/c makes this a mountain community or New England car only but I doubt anyone in the city wants it anyway
ReplyDelete