1980 AMC Spirit AMX

For 1980, the last year the AMX name was used on any car, the V8 option was dropped and the 258 six became the AMX's only engine. Wikipedia describes the Spirit AMX package as color-matched fender flares and an air dam switching to flat black that year, a Rally-Tuned suspension with larger sway bars and adjustable Gabriel Strider shocks, 14-inch wheels wearing ER60x14 raised-white-letter radials, a rear spoiler, stripes and decals, and a Rallye gauge package, though that description has not yet been checked against AMC's own 1979 or 1980 literature. AMX served as the Spirit's performance-image model for 1979 and 1980 before being replaced by the Eagle SX/4.^1,2

No Spirit AMX production figure was found in any primary source consulted; Wikipedia's Spirit production table combines every Spirit trim without a breakdown, and this record's own notes state plainly that missing is not zero. The one figure available comes from an unattributed secondary press account, which states AMC delivered "an additional 865 in 1980," a delivered rather than built count; a Barn Finds listing repeats the same 865 figure, likely drawing on the same lineage rather than corroborating it independently. The record identifies an AMC production report or the Standard Catalog of American Cars 1976-1999 as the sources most likely to establish a primary figure, but notes the relevant Standard Catalog volume is only available as a lending-only archive.org item that has not been read.^2,3

The AMX carried a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $5,653 effective July 1979. Its sole engine, the 4.2-liter (258 cubic inch) six, ran 8.3:1 compression with a 3.75 x 3.90-inch bore and stroke, backed by a standard 4-speed floor-shift manual (with a deep-tone exhaust exclusive to that transmission) or an optional 3-speed automatic. Axle ratio was 2.53:1 in 49 states and California, rising to 2.73:1 at high altitude with the automatic. Standard AMX equipment included the G.T. Rally-Tuned suspension, a tachometer, spoke-style wheels, DR70x14 outline-white-letter tires, black bumpers and guards, a front air dam, fender flares, a color-keyed rear spoiler, blackout grille and headlamp bezels, and AMX graphics.⁴

Options ran from an AMX Custom Interior package, adding reclining bucket seats in Sport Vinyl or Caberfae corduroy, custom door trim panels, a split rear seat, a day/night mirror, courtesy lights, and a premium headliner and sun visors, to an AMX hood decal, power steering, power disc brakes, power door locks, and a power liftback release. Audio choices ran from AM/FM stereo up through AM/FM/cassette or AM/FM/CB and a premium system with an amplifier, four high-fidelity speakers, and a fader. Convenience items included cruise control (automatic only), a tilt or leather-wrapped sport steering wheel, halogen headlamps, tinted glass, a rear defogger, and a pop-up moon roof, alongside visibility, light, and convenience equipment groups, several wheel-cover choices, a protection group, and heavy-duty options for shocks, the front sway bar, cooling, and the battery; air shocks were offered on Spirit generally but explicitly not on the AMX. ER60-14 Flexten radial outline-white-letter tires were available over the standard DR70x14s.

The data book lists six exterior colors for the 1980 AMX: Classic Black (with striping code H, dark orange AMX lettering and the upper bodyside decal deleted), and Olympic White, Navy Blue, Cardinal Red, Saxon Yellow, and Cameo Tan, all with striping code G and black lettering. A conflict in the record's own conflicts entry notes that AMC's general 1980 exterior color chart marks a seventh color, Cameo Blue (0C), as available "All Carlines," which would include the AMX, even though the data book's own AMX color section omits it; the record lists the six data-book colors as the primary answer while flagging that the customer color chart implies Cameo Blue was available too. Interior choices split evenly between three base Sport Vinyl buckets (black, blue, beige) and the same three colors again in the Custom Interior's Caberfae corduroy fabric.