Vintage AMX ready to roar

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/06/2006 (7140 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

DURING the horsepower race in the 1960s, manufacturers were constantly upping the ante with every new model, always managing to find those few extra ponies more than the competition. While all this was going on the American Motors Corporation concentrated on building practical and largely affordable cars for the average buyer. With everyone else involved in factory-backed racing programs, AMC even took the opportunity to distance themselves from the hoopla and advertise, “The only race we are interested in is the human race.” By the fall of 1967 all that changed as AMC couldn’t ignore the performance market any longer and continue missing prospective sales. The introduction of the Javelin pony car was swiftly followed by the new two-seat AMX sports car and AMC was knee deep in everything from racing in the Trans Am series to National Hot Rod Association drag racing. Suddenly the ads read, “We just haven’t been the same since we discovered racing.”

To further their efforts in 1969, AMC subcontracted with Hurst Performance Centre to supply 53 specially prepared SS/AMX 390 V8 cars to compete in the N.H.R.A. Super Stock drag racing class. What resulted were several record-setting AMX racers. Originally only two of those specially built AMXs came to Canada, one reportedly to the Montreal area and the other delivered to a small Winnipeg AMC dealership called Leonard & McLaughlin Motors. The dealership raced the car for a short time with Ken Mac Kenzie driving, then it was sold to Brock Philips and Jim L’Esperance. Racing the car over the next six years with the help of Crew Chief Tom Matthes and engine builder Brian Wheatley, “The AMXpress” won several eliminator titles and points championships competing in Division 5 of the N.H.R.A.

In 1975 the SS/AMX and several other vehicles were lost when a fire ripped through a storage facility. “With the car gone it ended my racing career, so I took up fishing,” says L’Esperance. When L’Esperance retired from CP Rail in 1997 he and his wife Linda started looking for an AMX they could enjoy driving and take to the various show and shines around Winnipeg. After spending the next six years searching for a rust free AMX, including several trips to the U.S., the result was L’Esperance ran into one rust-bucket after another. “All I managed to find were poor cars with rust hidden by bondo, (body filler), so I gave up.”

Layers of dust

A while later, L’Esperance mentioned to a fellow at an auto parts store that he was looking to purchase an AMX for restoration. The fellow said his father collected cars and had an AMX, and that he would pass on L’Esperance’s phone number. After a few weeks the phone rang and L’Esperance was invited to look over the AMX.

Driving out to Oakbank, L’Esperance had his friends and seasoned car restorers Gerry Saunders and Colin Hillyard accompany him. Along the way, Hillyard commented that his wife had owned a red 1968 AMX so he took along one of her old vehicle registrations to compare serial numbers.

The 1968 AMX was sitting in a garage under several layers of dust and the trio began looking the car over. A serial number check quickly revealed it was Hillyard’s wife’s old car. Stored away for years the car was in unbelievable condition and L’Esperance purchased it on the spot. Back in Winnipeg, the car was cleaned up to reveal an almost perfect paint finish. Beginning with a solid platform, L’Esperance tuned up the engine, rebuilt the brake system and even had his old Crew Chief Mattes out to help cure a leaky carburetor and stubborn brake light. Next came a trip over to Rappit Upholstery where they installed a new red carpet, headliner and red vinyl seat upholstery.

The exterior was next with the installation of a fibreglass hood scoop and blue, white and red paint scheme applied by Curtis at Johnston Auto Body in Dugald. The paint matches L’Esperances original SS/AMX racecar. A new set of chrome slotted wheels wrapped in Goodyear radial tires were installed to keep the car planted to the road.

Racing

The AMX features power steering, power brakes, rear bumper guards, centre console, M12 Borg Warner automatic transmission and a rare factory installed AM/FM radio. Originally powered by a 290 V8, by press time, L’Esperance will be installing a fully rebuilt 390 V8 fitted with .030″ overbore pistons, high performance camshaft, Holley four-barrel carburetor, aluminum intake manifold and exhaust headers. L’Esperance says, “When I’m done I’ll own a replica of my original Hurst AMX that was lost to fire years ago.”

Sold only for racing purposes the original SS/AMX cars were never intended for street use. Today 39 of the 53 are reported to still exist and while few are ever offered for sale, you’d need pretty deep pockets to afford one. Just how potent were these SS AMX cars on the track? Well back in the early 1970s when the Matthes / L’Esperance car was a regular performer out at Keystone/Bison Dragways, it ripped off an elapsed time of 11.06 seconds at 126.95 m.p.h. Anyway you slice it, that’s one fast AMC!

This weekend it’s “Cruzin’ Club Regent” presented by the AMC Manitoba Car Club. Show runs June 10 and June 11 at Club Regent Casino located at 1425 Regent Avenue, in the North parking lot. Open to all makes and models of special interest vehicles, there is a $5 registration fee for participants, with all net proceeds from the show going to the Muscular Distrophy Association. Registration opens at 9 a.m. Saturday and admission to the public is free.