Javillac
In an era where SUVs are the cars that accumulate the most sales year after year, it is worth stopping to think about what supposed function these vehicles fulfill. to make them so popular. In theory these cars are passenger cars with off-road capabilities, but often they are just slightly taller cars that convey a false sense of security to their owners.
Faced with this bleak panorama in the industry, we look back more than forty years, a time in which the American company AMC introduces a new range of vehicles that they call the Eagle and that have characteristics more typical of an SUV.
AMC EAGLE, THE SWAN SONG OF A DIFFERENT BRAND
AMC, or American Motors Corporation, was born in 1954 from the merger of two large American companies that were fighting to survive after World War II; Nash y Hudson. Always occupying fourth place in America behind the giants GM, Ford and Chrysler, This company did not have the financial resources of the largest companies, so they often broke schemes with ingenious ideas.
Without going any further they presented in 1970 el AMC Gremlin, a compact that was born from cutting the third volume of a sedan. This car became a great success that managed to compete with imported utility vehicles. The same thing also happened in 1975 with the presentation of the AMC Pacer, another vehicle with a very particular aesthetic but that managed to sell in large numbers.
At the end of 1979 the brand set out to revolutionize the market again, this time setting its sights on off-road vehicles, a type of vehicle that at that time was famous for its excessive fuel consumption and poor comfort. AMC's idea was to create a cheaper and more comfortable alternative to this segment in which there was very little innovation.
This was helped by AMC was the owner at that time of Jeep, a company dedicated solely to the manufacture of off-road vehicles and which kept the group afloat., but with the arrival of the second oil crisis in 1979, they saw their sales falter. The initial plans were to create a permanent 4X4 drive version of the AMC Concord with a V8 engine, but the situation meant that they had to use a 4,2-liter inline six-cylinder block.
In this way, in August 1979, the AMC Eagle was born, a model that would be marketed for the 1980 season. Initially it was available in three bodies; sedan and coupe (which had convertible versions), based on the AMC Concord, and station wagon, which was based on the family version of the AMC Hornet, presented in 1970. The Eagle intended to create an intermediate price range between affordable 4X4 family models. Subaru and the exclusive Jeep Wagoneer.
FIVE BODYWORKS FOR AN OFF-ROAD
In 1981 AMC diversified the Eagle range with two new bodies; a sporty version of three doors based on the AMC Spirit liftback, called Eagle SX/4, and a more compact one, Eagle Kammback, based on the Spirit Sedan, which despite what its name may suggest was based on the old Gremlin.
For that year the brand introduces a new entry engine to the range, the “Iron Duke” four-cylinder in-line General Motors engine with 2,5 liters of displacement, while the six-cylinder would be an optional engine. Another great novelty for the Eagle catalog that year is that for the first time the
The Kammback and Coupé variants, also called Series 30, of the Eagle were the least popular, and for this reason production ceased in 1983. In 1984 the end also came for the SX/4, leaving only the sedan and station wagon versions on the market, the latter being the one that had an older design, but was also the most popular thanks to its versatility.
In 1987, Chrysler acquired AMC, and 1988 was the last year of production of the car, which would be marketed as the Eagle Wagon, since production of the sedan had ended a year earlier. In total, 197.449 units of the Eagle were manufactured, ending AMC's history that disappeared with an innovation in the market, that of crossovers.
Images: AMC
