Innovation in automotive engineering has brought us some interesting creations over the years. One car company broke ground in the 1980s with a unique family sedan (and wagon) equipped with a 4×4 drivetrain to deliver passenger-car comfort, better fuel economy than trucks or sport utility vehicles, and all-weather capability.
It’s been more than 30 years since AMC – which stood for American Motors Corporation – went defunct in 1988. What started as a merger of Nash-Kelvinator and the Hudson Motor Company in 1954 evolved through a series of organizational changes and had a diverse product lineup with some unusual entries over the course of its lifetime.
One such oddball creation was the “lifted” four-wheel-drive sedan and station wagon called the Eagle. It’s a car that’s hard to miss, if not a little awkward on the eyes.
The Pick of the Day is a 1984 AMC Eagle sedan that could very well be among the last-remaining, and best-kept, Eagles still on the road. The car was owned by an AMC executive for the first part of its life, spending most of those early years in Arizona, according to the dealership in Jefferson, Wisconsin, advertising the Eagle on ClassicCars.com. There is supporting documentation available to validate this car’s unique ownership history, the dealer adds.
The AMC is powered by a 258 cid inline-6 engine and equipped with AMC’s “select drive” four-wheel drive, which was improved in 1984 to allow for shift-on-the-fly.
The seller states that the Eagle has recently received work to the suspension, exhaust, brakes and tires.
“This car has been given every opportunity to survive,” the seller states. “It was undercoated when new, it was executive driven, and it spent many years in Arizona. It is completely original and in great condition.”
The interior looks nice in the photos, and even the vinyl roof has withstood the test of time.
Just four years after this Eagle hit the marketplace, AMC was renamed in 1988 as the Jeep Eagle Corporation, and the organization in 1990 became part of the Chrysler Corporation. According to the Eagle Enthusiast site “Eagle’s Den,” just 4,241 four-door sedans like this one were produced for the 1984 model year.
The dealership is asking $7,995 for this rare bird.
To view this listing on ClassicCars.com, see Pick of the Day.
There’s gotta be a warehouse full of those door handles somewhere. They used them on just about everything.
I have been outside door handles for my 1984 Eagle wagon. No luck anywhere so far.
Yes, those door handles are even on my 70 Javelin…they showed up in clay form in 1966. They were the first type of door handle deemed to be ‘safe’ as they predated the Washington prohibitions against exposed outside handles, which could do real damage to any pedestrian clipped by one at more than walking speed.
I remember these cars well. In fact I remember my father had an AMC Eagle (or the 2wd Concorde) as a company car for a brief time in the 1980’s. As a mid-level manager with Hertz he changed company cars often so as not to rack up too many miles on any one of them.
With that old 258 straight-6 that was derived from the CJ-series they would run virtually forever! But only if one could prevent the body from rusting away. Rust was the Achilles heel of AMC’s and took many of them off the road in the northern states within only a few years.
I had an ’84 AMC Eagle station wagon, given to me by my mom and stepfather when they bought a Subaru. I loved the car, but it always had water pump and front end problems. I also remember the “rotten egg” smell of the catalytic converter (I think)! I sold it in 1993 for $1200.00, I wish I had kept it now!
i love the car a lot
My rust free, 87K mi, ’84 wagon will soon be on the road