by Bill Holder .
photography by Phil Kunz

Same recipe, different ingredients. Making a sports car calls for a light body, snappy 
engine, exceptional handling and enthusiast packaging. While the above is all true of the 
AMX, it's probably stretching the definition of a sports car to make it fit. But that’s OK, 
we’d rather call it a musclecar anyway.

It's worth noting, however, that the pair of bucket seats in this American Motors musclecar 
put it in some pretty exclusive company. The Corvette is an obvious comparison, if you 
can get past the difference in body construction. ’Vettes were all fiberglass while the AMC 
is made from the pride of Pittsburgh-good ’ol American steel. American Motors didn’t 
think the comparison was too out of line though. A 1969 advertisement showed an AMX 
flanked by a Corvette and a T-Bird, not bad company to keep. The headline blared, "The 
first American sports car for under $3,500 since 1957". Say what you will about 
advertising, but that one makes you think.

The ’68 AMX was a mild sensation when introduced. It was a definite departure for AMC 
and actually unique among American musclecars; part sports car, part ponycar, part 
musclecar.

Lydia Boutwell wasn’t too happy when husband Blaine bought a whole ’68 AMX just so he 
could get the hood.

"I really started complaining about his spending $400.just for that hood. That’s when he 
told me that he had really bought the car for me. But this machine, in the condition it was, 
was certainly no present, that's for sure. It was in terrible shape. But the more I looked at 
it, the more I was deciding I was going to take it back to completely stock", she recalled.

The AMC enthusiast quickly realized that she had a very rare American Motors 
musclecar. "There were only 415 of these 343 cubic-inch cars with four-speeds built in 
1968. I knew that I had to bring it back", Lydia said. But the restoration was no cakewalk.

"In March 1986, we had the car in our barn all stripped down. We had the hoist hooked up 
ready to remove the engine and transmission. And then-would you believe-our barn 
caught on fire! We managed to get the car out without any damage, but we lost most of 
the parts we had collected for the restoration. It was bad enough, but it could have been a 
lot worse".

Undaunted, the restoration was restarted shortly thereafter. "I kept scrounging through 
every junk yard I could find looking for those hard-to-find parts. When I couldn’t find a part 
that I needed, I’d steal it off my husband’s car".

Completed in 1986, Boutwell’s AMX is one of the finest, consistently scoring among the 
top finishers in shows.

Lydia says the AMX really gets down the road with the 280 horses and 365 lb-ft of torque 
under the hood. Then there’s the Super T-10 four-speed and a 3.91 rear.

Like another AMC ad said, owning an AMX doesn't make you better, just luckier.