MID-ENGINE DUEL THAT NEVER WAS | THE 390 AMX/3 VS. THE 351 PANTERA

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The AMC AMX/3

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The Italians may have perfected the mid-engine super car, but it was British racing innovation that got us there.  The 1959 Formula One championship  marked the first time a mid-engine race car had ever claimed the ultimate victory.  Jack Brabham made racing history behind the wheel of a mid-engine Cooper T-51 race car, and the course of car design was forever altered, as mid-engine race cars began to dominate on the world’s racing circuits.  By 1961 the Italians, who were at first slow to adapt to the mid-engine design were fully in the game, and  all regular competitors in Formula One were driving mid-engine race cars. Other milestone victories for the mid-engine soon followed — the 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans won by Ludovico Scarfiotti and Lorenzo Bandini in a Ferrari 250P; and the 1965 Indianapolis 500 won by Jim Clark driving a Lotus 38.

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The De Tomaso Pantera

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All this got the attention of American automakers GM, Ford, and yes even AMC, who wanted to capitalize on the sizzle and success of the new mid-engine rage, and claim the first true “super car” produced on American soil.  Chevrolet proposed numerous mid-engined Corvette concepts–none of which ever actually made it down the assembly line. Ford partnered with the Italians, namely De Tomaso, providing powerplants for the Vallelunga and the Mangusta, and ultimately bought the company–including the development and distribution of the Pantera, sold here from 1971 to 1974.

AMC arguably took the most ambitious road — Richard Teague, in charge of AMC’s styling direction from 1961 until his retirement in 1986, led the design charge.  Teague’s concept, striking as it was, never made it past the fiberglass model stage. AMX execs organized a design face-off between Teague’s in-house studio and Italian master, Giorgetto Giugiaro — responsible for the De Tomaso Mangusta, Maserati Bora and Merak, and later the Lotus Esprit. Teague’s concept surprisingly won out. AMC staff designers Bob Nixon, Vince Geraci, and Chuck Mashigan worked with Teague on all the AMX projects, and this mid-engined secret stunner was dubbed the AMX/3.  It should have been the ultimate American super car — but fate would cruelly spoil AMC’s plans.  Plans that could have changed the future of AMC forever by bringing them the prestige and recognition they craved — and needed to survive.

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The AMX/3

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Designed from 1968 and well into 1969, the AMX/3’s exterior lines are arguably sexier and more refined than it’s mid-engined rival, the De Tomaso Pantera — and featured advanced features like a pop-up spoiler that would raise with speed much a Porsche Boxster, mounted at the trailing edge of the rear deck.  Like the Pantera, the AMX/3 was an Italian-American hybrid design. Giotto Bizzarrini led the chassis development and the construction of the first six prototypes in Turin. Having experience with numerous Ferrari and Iso designs, not to mention prestigious autoss he built and sold under his own nameplate, Bizzarrini certainly more than qualified for the job. The AMX/3 chassis was a semi-monocoque design rendered in steel, same with the body panels. All the underpinnings were standard Italian fare: upper and lower wishbone suspension front and rear, Teves four-wheel power disc brakes, Campagnolo alloy wheels, and a front-mounted radiator and cooling fans.  The transaxle was designed and built by Italian gear-maker OTO-Melara to standup to the strain of the brutish V-8. A four-speed might’ve seemed a damning handicap in the super car world dominated by five-speeds — but the 390ci V-8 (AMC’s best offering at the time), had enough torque–430 pound-feet at 3600 rpm–to more than make up for it. Aspirated through a four-barrel carburetor and equipped with headers and dual exhaust, the 390 cranked out 340 horsepower at 5100 rpms — eclipsing the 310-horsepower 351 Cleveland V-8 of the Pantera.

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The AMX/3

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Now the trouble begins.  AMC planned to build and sell AMX’s per month– at $10,000 a pop to test the car’s viability and demand in the market.  Production was ready to roll, orders were placed for necessary outside parts, and the AMX/3 was unveiled to the waiting world in April of 1970 — one day before the premiere of the Ford’s Pantera. The original press release was dated 4/1/70–April Fool’s Day–an ironic touch as the future the AMX/3 fell into a downward spiral.  Numerous factors kept the AMX/3 from ever making it to an actual AMC showroom floor. A huge and debiltating union strike brought AMC to its financial knees and soon several special projects — like a pet-project super car — were deemed irrelevant.  Further analytics revealed AMC would have to charge at least $12,000 for the AMX/3 — 20 percent more than the $10,000 Ford was selling their De Tomaso Pantera for.

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The De Tomaso Pantera

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The AMX/3 project was shuttered by the end of 1970. Four of the six prototypes were allowed to slip into private hands.  A seventh proto — reportedly built from spare parts and mildly restyled in the rear remained back in Italy.  Two of the protos remained at AMC’s headquarters and were left to spoil outside in the harsh Michigan winter weather.  The AMX/3 was officially over and done, before the rubber could even meet the road — with Ford’s out-classed Pantera winning the war by default.