AMCrazy!

Rare AMC barn find collection, including Spirit AMX and GT models.

- TOMMY LEE BYRD

American Motors Corporation, or AMC for short, was a company that made cars between 1954 and 1988, and it’s unusual to find an enthusiast who collects AMCs because they are particularly difficult to restore. Typically, if someone rebuilds an AMC vehicle it requires at least one parts car, as many restoration parts are not available. It’s even more rare to find a collector who concentrates on the not-so-glamorous AMCs built between 1979 and 1983, when the Spirit, Pacer, Eagle, and Concord were on dealer lots across America. These cars didn’t get much respect at the time, and they’re seldom seen and barely remembered these days—even seasoned car enthusiasts find themselves asking “What is that?” when they see one in the wild.

We recently had the chance to tour Jeffrey Smith’s estate, home to what must be one of the largest AMC collections in the world. Unfortunately, Jeffrey passed away in 2021 and his collection was put up for public auction. Up for sale was an assortment of rides that included a functional AMC Spirit drag car and a collection of other AMC models like Javelin, Spirit, and Eagle. Jeffrey certainly appreciated the performance value of the Spirit platform, as evidenced by his drag car, project cars, and parts cars in the yard. He also had several vans on the property that were crammed full of AMC parts. Additionally, he had a first-gen AMX and a few AMC Javelins, all of which featured very rough and incomplete bodies. Here are the highlights of some of the cars in the collection.