AMC AMX II Accessory

1985 AMC Eagle - Soaring Ahead of Its Time

Despite light steering, the Eagle is an easy car to drive and one that literally goes where it’s pointed. Stopping is another story, or at least seems that way. The pedal is soft with considerable travel—a disconcerting combination—but the braking itself is fine. The car stops like it should, and controlling speed on a steep hill isn’t a problem, it just feels like one.

If there is a handling secret, it’s remembering this is no quattro, not even an old quattro. AMC shared Audi’s belief in 4wd, but it didn’t aim for Audi-level performance.

Yadouga has had to rewire switches, but the only significant mechanical work was replacing an intake manifold and vacuum control on the 4wd system. That’s tolerable for a car of the Eagle’s age and mileage.

Last-ditch efforts come and go quickly, with companies’ final cars interesting, controversial, and sometimes both. Peerless died in 1932 with its Murphy-bodied V16, a single car built after production ceased. Hupmo-bile and Graham disappeared with the 1941 Skylark and Hollywood, respectively, nearly identical cars based on Cord bodies. Packard faded out after its Studebaker-like 1958 models. The Eagle may not completely belong in this group, as it ran for nine years and looked as if it might succeed.

Every car that doesn’t make it has defenders who ascribe the failure to a design ahead of its time, but that’s probably quite true of the Eagle’s fate. Not enough people appreciated it in the 1980s and American Motors had the bad luck to run out of money before civilized 4wd became the next big thing.

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