AMC Eagle

Johnskiismore · Oct 21, 2008

Girlfriend and I were taking a walk on Sunday, and in a driveway was an AMC Eagle. It was in great shape, no rust, no real visible wear and tear. Hadn't seen one of those in a long long time. Did any of you own one or knew someone who did?

I thought they were pretty cool when they were being produced

AMC Eagle

Marc · Oct 21, 2008

My uncle had a pretty sweet Rambler with a 2 x 4 in place of the right rear leaf spring...

bvibert · Oct 21, 2008

I never had one, but I always thought it would be a useful care to have.

Greg · Oct 21, 2008

I'm a bit partial to the Gremlin.

Glenn · Oct 21, 2008

Beefy cars IIRC. Pretty much a 4wd drivetrain in a semi car like chasis.

noski · Oct 21, 2008

Greg said:
I'm a bit partial to the Gremlin.

That was my first car, a red 1976 Gremlin.

bvibert · Oct 21, 2008

Glenn said:
Beefy cars IIRC. Pretty much a 4wd drivetrain in a semi car like chasis.

That's pretty much exactly what they are; a car body on a Jeep truck frame.

bvibert · Oct 21, 2008

Greg said:
I'm a bit partial to the Gremlin.

I wanted one of those when I was in HS (early 90's). Even cooler would have been to put one on a CJ frame.

Trekchick · Oct 21, 2008

Greg said:
I'm a bit partial to the Gremlin.

I had a 1977 Gremlin when I was in high school
It was totally cool with glass packs, and a drivers side window that was plexi glass duct taped in place.

Marc · Oct 21, 2008

Glenn said:
Beefy cars IIRC. Pretty much a 4wd drivetrain in a semi car like chasis.

AWD drivetrain. Used a viscous coupling for the center dif, like nearly all Subaru's today.

o3jeff · Oct 21, 2008

My first car was a hand me down 1972 Hornet with the 304 V8, thing would do a pretty good one legger down the street.

Glenn · Oct 21, 2008

Marc said:
AWD drivetrain. Used a viscous coupling for the center dif, like nearly all Subaru's today.

Really? I thought they used a selectable t-case. That's what I get for not reading the link.

bvibert,
Now you're talkin! Throw on a set of 33's..and some chrome side pipes for good measure. Might as well see if you could stuff a V8 under there keep those wheels spinning. :beer:

hardline · Oct 22, 2008

had buddy that has one he turned it into a rock crawler. thing is basically a jeep. o and a has a crate engine in it. funny stuff.

ComeBackMudPuddles · Oct 22, 2008

Pimp!!!

Never saw one of these.....

bvibert · Oct 22, 2008

Marc said:
AWD drivetrain. Used a viscous coupling for the center dif, like nearly all Subaru's today.

Good point. As I understand it they were the first to use such a system in a car.

IIRC they used the same Quadratrac transfer case that was available in some Jeep models since the 70's. A good solid unit as long as you put the right oil in it. I had one in my 79 J10 and have one in my 78 Cherokee WT (both with the low range option). You can also lock the coupler together to get true 4WD, I'm not sure if that was available in the cars though.

ckofer · Oct 23, 2008

It was a bizarre period of car styling:

ComeBackMudPuddles · Oct 23, 2008

ckofer said:

"Gremlin - The first American-built import."

:???:

I don't even know what that means.

billski · Oct 27, 2008

Johnskiismore said:
Girlfriend and I were taking a walk on Sunday, and in a driveway was an AMC Eagle. It was in great shape, no rust, no real visible wear and tear. Hadn't seen one of those in a long long time. Did any of you own one or knew someone who did?

I thought they were pretty cool when they were being produced

AMC Eagle

In '82 looking to buy my first new vehicle. It was to be my first reliable skimobile. Tossup between the AMC Eagle and the Subaru GL Wagon.

In my purchase decision, the AMC lost out on two fronts:
a) Reliability
b) meager rear headroom/cargo space - floor was quite high.

The rest is history. Sadly for AMC.

p.s., I thought the Gremlin was cute because my girlfriend drove one.

And.... My father had a propensity for buying deathtraps: Chevrolet Corvair, Ford Pinto, then giving them to my mother to drive....

bvibert · Oct 27, 2008

billski said:
In '82 looking to buy my first new vehicle. It was to be my first reliable skimobile. Tossup between the AMC Eagle and the Subaru GL Wagon.

In my purchase decision, the AMC lost out on two fronts:
a) Reliability
b) meager rear headroom/cargo space - floor was quite high.

The rest is history. Sadly for AMC.

p.s., I thought the Gremlin was cute because my girlfriend drove one.

And.... My father had a propensity for buying deathtraps: Chevrolet Corvair, Ford Pinto, then giving them to my mother to drive....

Maybe if you had bought that Eagle then AMC would still be around to this day... :smash:

billski · Oct 27, 2008

bvibert said:
Maybe if you had bought that Eagle then AMC would still be around to this day... :smash:

I really wanted to, but reliability and longevity of American cars was really in the toilet. I didn't want to buy problems.

AMC Eagle

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