Anybody else have an AMC Eagle?

[Desolo]

Ive been looking around and Ive seen no mention of any of these, even with all the classic jeeps, and im kinda suprised!
I mean, its a 4wd station wagon with a tough as nails AMC 258 straight 6 thats even carburated! Id figure id see a few on here!

All I have available at the moment are some older pictures from before I got it cleaned up a bit, but for the moment they will do....





I love that car

One of these days im gonna snag a motor craft 2100 series carb conversion for it and possibly a nice 4.0 HO head from the local junkyard...

Anyone else have an Eagle they would like to share?

[MaconCJ7]

I don't have one, but I would own one.

[majorhavoc]

I drove one. In the early 1980s. They were a dog of a car back then, I doubt they've improved with age.

[Murgatroy]

Drove one for a while, was a girlfriend's car. Thing handled horribly, and didn't have enough power to get out of it's own way.

I am not sure if I would ever willingly drive one again.

[Stercutus]

I learned to drive one in drivers-ed in HS. I already knew how to drive you see. But keeping an AMC running in below freezing weather was an art form of rubbing the engine and slipping the automatic in and out of gear. The constant shudder and jarring at low speed, crappy breaks and the defrosters that did not defrost anything are all fond memories.

When we went on road trips for Driver's ed we never took any of the AMC's. Ever. The instructor had zero confidence in the vehicles being able to make it back from a trip around town. I should point out that they were all less than five years old at the time.

[Desolo]

Wow, Im kinda horrified about all the bad experiences, Although Ill admit mine does hate the cold just a bit... but after it warms up its fine. its cranky for a couple min though.

My AC doesnt work, but the heater is a full fledged fame thrower in winter, and defrosts fast when we do get frost in the winter. And full disclosure: It leaks oil. looking into fixing that either with a new valve cover or it becoming a moot point with a 4.0's head (since they have thier own valve cover that wasnt plastic-if I recall correctly)

Im kinda sad no one has any good memories of them, but oh well I guess thats life,

[Dawgboy]

My brother had one. I drove it a bunch and agree it was a dog. It did do pretty well in mud and ice though.

[offcamber]

My grandfather owned one when I was growing up.. not until later life did I realize that it was cool in its own right.

Not to put yours down by any means, but I think an older SUV has it beat on utility, cargo space, offroad ability, and fuel efficiency.

AMC made some ugly ass vehicles in that era. A good ugly, but ugly none the less, lol.

[congochris]

I showed it to my wife and told her we should get her one since her Focus wagon is too small. The response was akin to: Not only no, but Hell No!


Friend of mine had one a along time ago. My only real memory of it? Him using it to get to an SCA event in the boonies, Me driving a 72 Le Mans. (this was 99 or so) My Le Mans made it.. the Eagle had to be parked outside my house to save him towing fees (my place was closest to the event) for a week until he was able to come get it.

[raptor]

The off spring of the AMC Pacer. Gremlin and Hornet. They were POS in the 70's when new. I think it has a single BBL carb.

The fact it has not rusted away is amazing. The brown color was popular in the 70's.

The only reason these sold were because at the time to get 4 wheel drive you need to buy a truck or a jeep. No one had AWD then in anything else. It was kinda sorta the first cross over.

It is an orphan made by a car company that made very poor quality cars and went out of business because of this fact...caveat emptor.

Buy a Subaru instead.

[The Jinxmedic]

I had several of these. (Not related to the Pacer, by the way- but actually a direct descendant of the Hornet and the Concord.) I thought that these were great cars- pretty well bullet-proof and with a great engine- the AMC 258 straight six.

A word of warning on the Eagles, though- due to increasing CAFE standards, the full-time viscous-coupling transfer case from the 1980 and 81 models was replaced with a part-time selective case with vacuum controls. The original "sealed" version was pretty well industructable (and worked great), but in the later versions a vacuum leak had the tendency of disabling your drive train until the leak was found and patched. In short, I wouldn't trust an aging 1982-1989 Eagle as a BOV- but the 1980 and 81 models could warrant a second look as a project vehicle. (Back in the mid '80's, 125 horsepower was nothing to sneeze at.)

AMC's investment in the China market and it's partner ship with Renault is what ultimately killed the company.

Good luck!

[Desolo]

Well, I suppose the fact its my daily driver would be horrifying to most then Its got some rust spots on the doors if you look really hard, but none on the frame.
Its never left me stuck someplace and I can work on it myself, its by no means perfect, and terribly odd at time, but I love the obsolete bugger!

Oh and belive me, I understand the the vacum line frustrations you speak of Jinxmedic! Ive thought about tracking down either an 80 or 81 trans case for it, but ive also been considering snatching a hi-lo trans case off of a cherokee sport and setting it up so it can be used in low range if it was ever needed... Prolly snatch it out on the same trip to the junkyard to get a 4.0 head

[Dawgboy]

Nah... I've driven much worse...

[Badlands]

Change the head, install a cam with an offenhauser 4bbl intake manifold and a 380 to 500 cfm edelbrock 4bbl carburetor and maybe some headers, put a lift and some nice tires and wheels on it and drive it! The Jeep 258 is a proven motor and it will get you good mileage and you can sleep in the back! if the axles are to weak put in some dana 44 axles out of a wagoneer and see if you can retrofit a T18 4 speed into it, jeep parts are readily available at pick a part wrecking yards for cheap so if your not afraid of wrenching I say go for it and build your dream bug out vehicle! I alway thought they were the coolest. A 4 door 4x4 that you can sleep in.
Here's the Ford 300 six cyl I built, it turnd out nice and ran like a raped ape and everyone thought I had a V8 in my truck till I lifted the hood!

[majorhavoc]

[With much appreciation to Badlands for inspiring this post]

Change the head, install a cam with an offenhauser 4bbl intake manifold and a 380 to 500 cfm edelbrock 4bbl carburetor and maybe some headers, put a lift and some nice tires and wheels on it and drive it! The Jeep 258 is a proven motor and it will get you good mileage and you can sleep in the back! if the axles are to weak put in some dana 44 axles out of a wagoneer and see if you can retrofit a T18 4 speed into it, jeep parts are readily available at pick a part wrecking yards for cheap so if your not afraid of wrenching. The frame will be rusting out so you'll want to replace that too. You'll probably have to weld on some new body panels and rebuild the rockers with some 410 stainless. The upholstery will be shot, but after market front seats are available and I'd just remove the rear seats and build up something with plywood. The gaskets around the window glass of cars this age are basically rubber dust at this point and there'll be significant rust all around the frames as a result. So remove all glass, grind down to bare metal, treat and reinstall new gaskets. Wiring is likewise going to be punky so do a complete rewire as well. The lug bolt pattern matches certain jeep models, so this is a good time to swap out those road wheels for some off road rims and rubber with a bit more capability. While the wheels are off, you'll want to give this vehicle the suspension it always deserved, lifts on all four corners of course, some springs appropriated from a donor CJ and beefier control arms up front.

I say go for it and build your dream bug out vehicle! It will no longer actually be the same car, but it will occupy approximately the same volume of space in your driveway! Sure, you could haunt the AZ and NV Craigslist sites and get a real Jeep, Landrover or Toyota FJ with twice the capability at a fraction of the cost, but where's the fun in that? Follow you dream!

[Desolo]

I have no intention of going THAT crazy... Its an Eagle, not a jeep. I may tinker with it a BIT, but making it into something its not isnt my goal.

[Viper shtf]

I would love to have an Eagle, just because.

[The Jinxmedic]

...ive also been considering snatching a hi-lo trans case off of a cherokee sport and setting it up so it can be used in low range if it was ever needed... Prolly snatch it out on the same trip to the junkyard to get a 4.0 head

That sounds like a great idea, actually- I love the idea of an Eagle wagon with low-range!

Let me know how that works out!

[Desolo]

For sure, once I can get the time and money to do it

[nyarlotep]

I would love to have an Eagle, just because.

As would I. I have a soft spot for old AMCs, especially Pacers and Gremlins. They're so hideous they become cool.

[Viper shtf]

No one else made a 4-wheel drive coupe.

[Murgatroy]

No one else made a 4-wheel drive coupe.

Depending on what your definition of 4-wheel drive is, uh, yeah, lots of manufacturers have.

During the late eighties and early nineties, Toyota offered nearly their entire lineup with optional AWD. The Celica however was the only coupe.

Subaru has offered nearly anything with their name on it in AWD and part time 4-wheel drive. Including several high performance coupes such as the SVX and Impreza models.

The DSMs were available with turbo and again, AWD. Plymouth, Mitsubishi and the Eagle Talon. There was also the Mistubishi GTO/3000GT Dodge Stealth, yup, you guessed it, turbo and AWD.

Nissan has made some of the most prolific AWD sports cars, such as the Skyline, which is in the states now as the GT-R.

Audi named it quattro and put it on several coupes through the years, still do.

Then there are numerous exotics from Lamborghini, Porsche and the like that offer AWD on their top end cars.

It is arguable that no domestic manufacturer offered an AWD/4-wheel drive coupe, since the DSMs were a rebadged Mitsubishi.

Some might argue that AWD and 4-wheel drive aren't the same. Now, if you are using the difference of selective 4-wheel drive, Subaru is the only one. Most AWD cars have a bias. Some however, such as the Celica have a 50/50 split there is a detent on the transmission to enable FWD only. By today's vernacular, AWD and 4-wheel drive are interchangeable. Sure, the purpose of said vehicle differs, but the car that started this, the Eagle, was not intended to be an off road vehicle, but more of an all weather/terrain vehicle. The Eagle was also more of an AWD vehicle in the vein of my examples, than a 4-wheel drive in the vein of a Jeep or 4x4 Truck.

[ausher]

I had an 80's amx. Badass lil car but those cars rust out everywhere. They literally rust from the inside out. Leaf spring are soo weak they break in half. I'd like to get the two door 4wd eagle. Don't hardly see any in good enough shape anywhere. They are always rusted out. Those 258 i6 are indestructible tho..

[Viper shtf]

Don't listen to me guys, I don't know what I'm talking about.