JAMES TAYLOR
AMX & JAVELIN GOLD PORTFOLIO 1968-1974
The Ford Mustang opened up a new market in the 1960s, and one of the makers which soon tried for a piece of the action was American Motors. AMCs first Mustang contender, the Marlin, was not an unqualified success; but its second - the 1968 Javelin - sold like hot cakes. Although the entry-level models were lukewarm sixes, the Javelin could also be bought with performance options which made it a very much more interesting piece of machinery. Capitalising on the Javelins success, AMC followed through in mid-1968 with the AMX, which was essentially a Javelin chopped in half and shortened to make a unique and attractive two-seater coupé. It deserved to be more successful than it was, particularly as AMC offered some worthy high perform-ance packages, but the AMX was dropped in 1970 when sales failed to match expectations. The Javelin remainFrameed available through 1974 (and the hot version confusingly picked up the AMX tag), but sales were affected by the general disenchantment with performance cars which blighted the early 1970s, and its makers never saw fit to replace it. If these two models were victims of their times, their intrinsic appeal has nevertheless increased as the memory of those difficult times fades into the distance. The high-performance Javelin and AMX variants have now established themselves as enthusiasts' cars, and those who appreciate them will certainly appreciate this collection of material about them which appeared in the motoring press when the cars were new. James Taylor
