AMC Eagle Classic Cars for Sale
The AMC Eagle was a four wheel drive car manufactured in coupe, sedan, convertible, estate and hatchback from 1979 until 1987 the same year in which Chrysler absorbed AMC as a business. The AMC Eagle was the only passenger car fitted with four wheel drive as standard produced in the US at the time.
The history of the AMC Eagle
The AMC Eagle was initially proposed as a new line in four wheel drive passenger vehicles to fill the considerable price gap between Subaru's low-end four wheel drive imported cars and America's home-grown large Jeeps. This would also fit well between AMC's aging passenger cars and their purely off road jeep range. Considered very innovative at the time the first Eagle's were fitted with an automatic transmission that worked in permanent four wheel drive mode and was America's first mass-production four wheel drive car to feature independent front suspension. Cleverly marketed as a "reasonably sized" passenger vehicle the AMC Eagle combined the smoothness of a road going sedan with the added benefit of a full four wheel drive system for use in ice, mud and snow. Never claiming to compete with full off road vehicles it soon gained a loyal following and was a success for AMC in a difficult time.
Development of the AMC Eagle
As standard Eagle's came equipped with a 4.2 litre straight 6 engine, power steering, whitewall tires, 5 year rust protection warranty and AMC's 12 month/12000 mile warranty (apart from the tires). In 1981 a 4 cylinder 2.5 litre engine became standard equipment with the 4.2 litre engine being an optional extra. The grill was changed on all models and later in the year an option to run in rear wheel drive mode via a dashboard switch was offered. Also in this year the Eagle Kammback, a small hatchback and the Eagle SX/4, a sporty liftback were introduced. In 1982, improved low-drag disk brakes became standard fitting across the range. In 1983 the Kammback was dropped from the model range due to low sales figures. In 1984 the SX/4 was dropped leaving only the sedan and estate in production. This deleting of less popular models enabled AMC to streamline production and save on production costs. In 1985, all models exterior were slightly revised with the 4.2 litre 6 cylinder engine becoming standard fitment again. Sales were reduced from 1985 as AMC no longer marketed the Eagle as aggressively as before and by 1987 no new variants were added. AMC were bought out in August 1987 though production continued through Chrysler for a limited time with the last car being produced in 1988.