Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved AMC’s. They were always the black sheep of the American automobile industry. A plucky outsider whose offerings were a little quirky, and known for shaky build quality and being cheap.
My favorite was always the Pacer with its fishbowl body. I’ve dragged home a baker’s dozen of them over the years, nursing them back to health and then releasing them back into the wild like it was my mission. They get a bad rap for no good reason other than that they look a little weird. And, okay, the exhaust manifolds always cracked, and the power steering leaked right off the lot. But, they’re fun cars despite being a little underpowered and looking pudgy.
One AMC that never had any issues looking and performing like a badass was the Javelin. The Javelin was developed from the ‘66 AMX prototype which was a radical sports car with a rumble seat that was a big hit on the auto show circuit.
With its reception, AMC saw it as pony car to compete with the Mustang and immediately began work on a production version. The great Dick Teague did his Dick Teague thing and began massaging Charles Mashigan’s design into something meant for the masses that still retained the coolness of the concept car. AMC was desperate to appeal to a younger customer and shed its stodgy image.
The Javelin was released in 1968 in two iterations; the regular 4 seat car, and the AMX - a shortened two seat sports car much like the prototype except without the jumpseat. The cars instantly injected some life into little AMC. Their performance was comparable to other pony cars of the day and they looked great. With the “Go Package” that offered a 5.6 liter V8 and a four-barrel carb they were damn fast cars and unlike anything built by American Motors before.
In 1971, the Javelin was given an outrageous redesign. It was now longer, lower, heavier, and featured those amazing sculpted fender bulges that may have been Corvette inspired. Regardless, they give the car a menacing, animal like crouch. It looked ready to kill you and it always gave me goosebumps to see one on the road.
The two seater was dropped, but you could get a Javelin AMX that had all the performance upgrades.
This is a 1973 “Trans Am Victory Edition” by Greenlight in a lovely, but unusually subdued, light brown metallic. (philipilihp posted a good looking blue one the other day.) AMC won back to back SCCA Trans Am championships in 1971 and ‘72 and celebrated with this limited edition Javelin that was mostly a trim package. It got a sports steering wheel, rally wheels, and special tires plus a neat decal.
Everything is reproduced nicely on this 1:64. It’s the only Greenlight I have and I’m impressed. Cool rubber tires. All the badges and chrome look nice for a small model.
Some of the paint didn’t stick to the bumper guards, but what are you going do? The only complaint might be that the hood doesn’t open far enough to get a good look at that AMC V8.
Apparently that’s a Greenlight thing. It’s in there, though.
I also like the packaging a lot.
I’ve yet to own a Javelin. Maybe one day. I’d like a Pierre Cardin Edition, though, with the crazy interior. Those are really groovy.
