The Pinto family AMC cars photo thread

Nice stuff!

The AMX funny car turned out really nice. Gramps added a pseudo-door to the driver's side for emergencies and a 70 Javelin spoiler to the tail for downforce, which helped a lot.

He won the 1992 NAMDRA NAtionals (the Super Bowl of AMC racing) in both his class and the overall shootout with the funny car.

It was not, however, easy to drive. The short wheelbase made for very tricky launches. Gramps ate the Christmas Tree once.

That wasn't the worst one, though. He bit the wall, hard, one time. They put it back together and raced it a little more, but he did end up selling it. It's in the midwest somewhere now, and I think it's still Red/White/Blue.

This is the third AMX involved in that trade. Don't be fooled, it's not a real S/S. Even though it looked rough, it was a nice start underneath. Good cage, quality back-halfing, it was done right. That's a very fat early-teens me in the driver's seat.

Here's a shot out back of the family home. On the left is a Big Bad Orange 69 AMX (it might be my Dad's buddy Todd's car, but I'm not sure), my Dad's Scarab Gold 68 AMX, Uncle Dave's Hunter Green 69 AMX, Gramp's Rally Green 68 AMX, Grandma's Calcutta Russet 68 AMX, and an unknown 70 Javelin, possibly in Mosport Green. All of the AMX's are factory 390/4-Speeds except Grandma's, which I was told was a 290/4-Speed.

Speaking of Grandma, here's her car in the pits at Orlando Speed World in front of an unknown Frost White AMX. Grams won a few races in her day, and not just in the powder-puff classes. The last time she raced was with the Starion I linked to earlier when I was maybe 8 or 9, again at SlipWorld. She made it to the final 8 IIRC, did better than Gramps that day!

Javelin wrote: (Paging JoeyM) - Can I get the title amended to say "AMC" somehow? Thanks!

just saw this. Yes, I'll change it now

Edit: the title should now be changed. I'm also adding a photo of my parents' AMX]

In reply to JoeyM:

Dude, you are an awesome person. You're parents have good tastes, too.

That Turbo AMX is so damn awesome. If they actually made it, I would have one for sure. Wow...

Keep the pics coming! Very cool.

Here's my Uncle Dave's Hunter Green 1969 AMX with my cousin many years ago. Uncle Dave became quite the AMC restorer and the cars he built won a lot. He died way too early last year at 50. RIP Uncle Dave.

His son and daughter have the car, no fighting. That was nice.

Another of Gramp's Rally Green 68:

AMC has a history with my family.

In the early 70's, my father bought a metallic green '68 390 SST (with Go Pack) and ran it in autocross races in the Ft. Hood, Texas area with good results. Stored it when he was deployed to Germany where he purchased a Gremlin, running it with the Kaiserslautern Slalom Club winning a trophy for "Best American Car" over a Vette. Got a pic of him conering a cone and lifting a wheel.

After returning from Germany, dad's focus turned to euro sports cars so he sold the Javelin to the oldest brother who tweaked the 390 with the usual bolt on's, i.e. carb, intake, header. Didn't last long before the block gave way while racing friends up the local mountain highway. As a stop gap measure, he transfered whatever parts would swap over to a 260 block with suprising results - almost as fast/higher reving/better handling. Meanwhile a plot was hatched. . .

Purchased a factory replaced motor out of a wrecked Donahue, which I guess is stronger (was supposed to get hood too, but seller reneged) and a 401 from a Jeep out of a junkyard. Bored the 390 .020, raised compression, lumpy cam and mixed and matched parts from the old 390, AMX 390 and the 401. In hindsight, the only dissapointment was the swap from the stick to auto, but his focus at the time was straight line street racing.

Only car he sold because it scared him. Also, middle brother always bothered him for the motor as he had a Gremlin X at the time.

The 1970 "Donohue" 360s had provisions for 4-bolt mains in the block castings. Was a regular 360 otherwise. The 390s and the 401s had all forged internals. All AMC V8 blocks were cast with a high nickle content in the iron, which made them very hard--like steel.

Woot! I found a lot more pictures! I thought I only had the one of the red AMX with the Lenco, but I have a ton, and a bunch of other older and newer ones. Here's Gramp's Big Bad Blue 69 again:

This car runs 10's with an N/A 401 AMC with iron heads and a single 4 barrel! It's for sale BTW. And yes, it's titled and tagged in Florida and totally street legal and drivable. He takes it out for ice cream sometimes because he's cool like that.

pilotbraden wrote: Very nice. Is it just me or does the Pace Car remind anyone of a Mitsubishi Starion at first glance?

That's what I though it was.

stroker wrote:

pilotbraden wrote: Very nice. Is it just me or does the Pace Car remind anyone of a Mitsubishi Starion at first glance?

That's what I though it was.

I say they grafted the roof from a Gen I RX7.

phaze1todd wrote:

stroker wrote:

pilotbraden wrote: Very nice. Is it just me or does the Pace Car remind anyone of a Mitsubishi Starion at first glance?

That's what I though it was.

I say they grafted the roof from a Gen I RX7.

Sorry fellas, it's a stock Spirit AMX roof. The rear window is a 1-piece lexan unit and doesn't open. The rest of the car is fiberglass.

Here it is pacing Daytona's Spring Spectacular show:

Here's Gramp's Green AMX at the old KSC Visitor Center back when the Saturn V was out in the open and they had other cool stuff, like the hyperjet! This was a photo shoot and filming for Autoweek.

Here's the front of APP again. The Green AMX in the front, the Ramblin' Nash in the back with Gramps, and an unidentified S/S AMX in the right (I don't know if it was a Hurst car or not, but it was running is SS at the time).

All sorts of interesting AMC's would show up. Including Craig Breedlove's Spirit of America Javelin funny car:

What an awesome history! Love this thread. I once owned an AMC Hornet AMX and being my first car, loved it. Had a 304 with denim interior.

Spirit Pace Car For Sale

Does OP's family still own the Pace Car (that is for sale???)

This is an amazing thread. I love the home-grown vintage photos. Too cool. Fantastic cars. That pace car is nuts--never knew something like that existed. It was definitely a glimpse of the future designs that were in the works at that time. They knew what was coming in the mid-to-late 80s', which is pretty sweet.

Old funny cars with magnesium wheels will always do it for me.

Great thread! A funny car on an open trailer, never see stuff like that anymore.

Hi Mike, I really enjoyed this thread and the work that you put into it.

I race a tube chassis 68-69 AMX that I purchased 10 years ago but I know the two previous owners who raced this car for an additional 15 years. Anywho, apparently this car was built and raced in Florida in the mid-70's (?) and then worked its way west where it now resides (Idaho). We three owners have always heard, with no proof, that your gramps was the one who had this car built. It has fiberglass doors, hood, front bumper, and deck lid. It has been painted many times but I believe the original color was bittersweet orange.

Any chance that gramps could have owned this car?

John Hull Lewiston, Idaho

In reply to amxerhull:

John, he very well could have. The Silver "Ramblin' Nash" was a mostly fiberglass car IIRC. I'll ask Gramps about the past AMX race cars the next time I call.