It would be fair to say that Stan Barlow is a dedicated fan of vintage vehicles because he has invested heavily in them, particularly if they wear American Motors badges.
One of his favorites is his 1969 AMX road rocket that pays homage to the pony car’s Super Stock versions, along with its time as a track car with its former owner.
Jim Sutherland
American Motors was a small domestic car maker with big ambitions to compete with the Big Three (GM, Ford and Chrysler) during a bygone automotive era. AMC was forced to cope with a small budget and had to rely upon their creative approach to cars, including its two-seater AMX models built between 1968 and 1970.
The first-generation AMX was, for all purposes, a shorter version of the Javelin and essentially gave AMC a two-seater sports car iteration of the four-seater Javelin built to compete against the Corvette. The rarest model of the first-gen AMX was its Super Stock edition, a car built for the track and sold in very limited numbers.
The Super Stock AMX was a killer machine that stood out in a crowd with its unique red-white-and blue paint scheme and gave away its identity as a ¼ mile monster. Stan’s AMX has the same paint job, but may even be a stronger performance car, even though he made the car street legal after he became its latest owner.
The previous owner used it as a race car and did not drive the AMX on the street. Unfortunately, he became seriously ill and offered the car to Stan, with an agreement to give the former owner an opportunity to buy back the AMX from Stan.
Unfortunately, he passed away and was never able exercise that option. Stan left the car in its current state for the next 3 ½ years until the former owner’s death before he moved ahead with his own game plan: bring the ’69 AMX back to street-legal status.
Stan wanted his car to reflect the Super Stock AMX legacy while recognizing its history as a legitimate drag strip car with its late owner. The process to get the ideal combination of former track car and current street legal car was not an easy path for Stan, but the result is an AMX with plenty of history in its bones.
Stan refers to his ’69 AMX as “dangerously powered”; an apt description for his old school build that features a worked-over AMC 401 delivering massive horsepower for the car. Stan’s AMX corrals all the engine’s power into a Chevy Turbo 400, along with a Ford 9-inch rear end. The beefy powertrain provides all the muscle Stan needs for his AMX road rocket.
The 1969 AMX may be retired from track events, but Stan intends to use it for car shows and answer many questions about his flashy American Motors pony car from a bygone era.
The car has made an easy transition from a track star to a rock star at car shows and Stan is its understandably proud owner.
Jim Sutherland
BY: Jim Sutherland
Jim Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer whose work has been published by many major print and online publications. The list includes Calgary Herald, The Truth About Cars, Red Deer Advocate, RPM Magazine, Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette, Windsor Star, Vancouver Province, and Post Media Wheels Section.
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