The Car
What follows is a history of the AMX that Tom Benvie donated to get this project going:
The Charity AMX left my house last weekend to begin it's journey to be fixed and sold-all money will go to a Children's Charity. (And while I'm on the subject, I just saw the posting of all the shows for next year. Could this be the year the AMC hobby actually tries to help a charity? The New England Club will hopefully carry on the tradition of collecting coloring books, crayons, and videos for Children's Hospital, and I hope the Southeast Regionals under Jeff Barfield will do the same. How about everyone else?).
I found a black and white picture of the Charity car from the mid 70s the second owner sent me the day the restoration was to begin. Well, it was taken apart, but that was it until I bought it over 20 years later. I also think I may have a picture of the car somewhere with the original owner from our first show in 1975. I took a few pictures the day it left, so will scan them and get them posted.
A few more people deserve some mention here. Joe Fulton sent a generous check that was used to buy some parts for the car before it left, and Glen and Rita Allen of Georgia sent an awesome photo album to put pictures of the car and other documentation. I think I'll have everyone who helped with the car sign a page as the car moves around. The supervisor of each section of the Buick Reatta plant signed off on each car, so why not here?). I'll also put documentation I'm reproducing with the car, such as window sticker, build sheet, etc.
I also found the door data plate, and the numbers and decoding are as follows:
The VIN is A0M397P259459 and the Dash number is 20131
The VIN decodes as follows:
A-American Motors
0-1970
M-4 speed floor shift (A Borg Warner T-10 in this case)
397-the model and trim level for any 68-70 2 seater AMX
P-360 4 bbl engine
259459-the sequential order number. This is the 159,459th AMC auto that
was processed for 1970. The car was ordered the end of March, 1970.
Body: R028075-this is the 28,075th AMX or Javelin body made in 1970. It was made the week of April 25, which must have been a problem week for AMC as they only made 39 Javelins and only 4 AMXs-I'll have to look up what happened, but I bet it was a supply problem. It wasn't a strike at AMC because that happened in Nov 69 and closed the plant for almost 6 weeks!
Model-7039-7- 70=1970, 39-7= AMX 2 door hardtop
Trim-031F- 0=1970, 3=AMX, 1=Black, F=Vinyl
Paint-87A - Glen Green Metallic Acrylic Enamel
E085693. This is the 85,693rd car down the east assy line, which also includes Hornets and since Feb the new Gremlin. The car was completed the week of April 25th. There were 261 AMXs made in April, and 3,482 AMXs made so far in the 70 model year.
The car is a 360 4 speed. There were 1583 360 cars and 2468 4 speed cars, with a total of 836 360-4spds.
Some of the options and their production numbers:
AM Radio-2568
Power Steering-2869
Power Disc-3383
Tinted Windows-1696
Command Air (which I removed so it no longer has)-597
Twin Grip-3400
Clock-2268
Right Mirror-1108
Stripes-2566 (it was white)
Go Pak-2875
Bumper Guards-1726 (also removed)
Light Group-2071
There were 1206 cars with the black vinyl seats.
The cars first 2 owners were from Quincy, Mass (home of Articboy Bob Wilson) and may have been purchased at one of 2 AMC dealerships in town-C A Cox, which I have talked about before as being one of the all time performance AMC dealerships, or Hassan Bros AMC which is still a Jeep dealership and both Bob and I are friendly with the 3 Hassan Bros (though they make me uncomfortable. At 6'4" I don't often deal with people a whole lot taller than me. These 3 guys are all about 6'10"+ and make me feel small!). I bought the car off of owner #2 who owned the car since 1974 (It was his first car!).
So I hope that is more info than you needed to know, but that's the history of the car. Hope to get the pictures scanned soon.
Thomas M. Benvie
5 Sachem Rock Ave.
East Bridgewater, MA 02333
(508) 378-1423