1979 AMC Spirit AMX 304 V8 Project Completion? First Start! From Lucore Automotive

It's been just over 6 months since the purchase of this 1979 AMC Spirit AMX and it's come a long LONG way over those months! What was originally a "get it running" project very quickly after purchase became a "get it racing" project so with that in mind we took the long way round on getting this thing done!

So for those unfamiliar with this project, a quick summary. What you have here is the LAST of the American Motor Corporation's attempts at a rear wheel drive stick shift v8 sports car. With a 304 v8 under the hood and a 4 speed transmission behind it this car was actually a pretty capable sportscar... when you take into account almost everything built in 1979 was terrible. Unfortunately for our AMC AMX this guy hadn't seen the road in well over a decade changing hands as a "project car" that just unfortunately never got around to being built.

When I purchased the car originally it was to be a cheap budget rebuild, something I could take on the 25002500RoadTrip in July so I had to stay under $2500! That goal was close to happening, all the steering, suspension, brakes, and almost all the NECESSARY bits we got within our budget. Unfortunately as everyone knows, travel plans for late summer changed for pretty much everyone and we out this car on the back burner.

With all new goodies underneath we dropped the used AMC 304 into the engine bay and hoped for the best, having done literally nothing besides throw a little bit of paint on it. As you'll see, things didn't go QUITE as well as we had hoped!

This has been an awesome experience and a lot of people have chipped in over the past 6 months to get this car to where it is today. One of the best parts about a project car is getting community involvement and the laughter shared with friends over hard work. Thank you to each and every person who donated their time or energy, their knowledge and knowhow to this project so far! Without all of you, this thing would still be sitting in the back lot as a "We'll get to it someday" project!

With all that said, this project isn't over! As I said this car is destined to life on track and that most likely means sourcing a new motor for it! It will for sure stay AMC powered, but not sure if that will be an AMC 304, AMC 360, AMC 390, or the epic AMC 401 ... it really comes down to what I can find and make solid and still keep this a "budget" project! So... stay tuned!

Lucore Automotive is a small independent american small business located just outside Columbus Ohio. While we are a full service shop that maintains and repairs countless daily drivers we are also well known for our work on classics, race cars, and collector cars.

We would like to thank all of our friends, fans, follower, supporters, subscribers, and most importantly customers for being here with us! Without the wonderful people who let us work on their toys, and help their dreams come true we wouldn't be in business!