AMC AMX/3

Vehicle Overview

The AMC AMX/3 is a mid-engine sports car made by the United States Automobile manufacturer American Motors Corporation (AMC), which was presented in March 1970 and was to be mass-produced in Germany by Karmann from 1971. With this car, AMC wanted to counter the similarly designed De Tomaso Pantera with a competitor. The AMX III body design and drivetrain came from AMC, the chassis and suspension were developed in Europe. The design was generally attributed to Giotto Bizzarrini. However, only individual components such as the suspension come from him. In addition to Bizzarrini, Italdesign, Autocostruzioni S.D. and BMW were also involved in the development. Shortly after the presentation, AMC abandoned the project without giving any reason, after about half a dozen cars had been created. Several attempts to revive the design without AMC involvement under the Bizzarrini brand name – including as the Bizzarrini Sciabola – were unsuccessful. An AMX III chassis formed the technical basis for the Iso Varedo concept car in 1972. Because AMC had only front-engine, rear-wheel-drive production cars in its 1960s lineup, the AMX/3, designed as a mid-engine car, could not build on existing production technology. “For lack of own know-how” AMC looked for a possibility to have the technology of the mid-engine sports car constructed by an external specialist company, using European service providers mainly for cost reasons. In the early planning phase, AMC considered having the AMX/3 constructed entirely by BMW, but this failed due to a lack of capacity at BMW. On Pininfarinas or Karmanns AMC then entered into an association in November 1968 with the engineer Giotto Bizzarrini, who had been building racing and sports cars for Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, A.T.S., Lamborghini, Iso and had designed his own brand and had the reputation of being one of the best automotive engineers in Italy. Bizzarrini, who had lost his business to bankruptcy a month earlier, then worked as a freelance designer for AMC. He produced the first drawings for chassis parts as early as December 1968. AMC then promoted the AMX III as a Bizzarrini design. In fact, however, Bizzarrini’s contributions are limited to individual components of the car. Giotto Bizzarrini later stated that AMC had asked him for “a chassis and suspension”. However, only the suspension is proven to be a Bizzarrini design. The frame, on the other hand, was developed by Giorgietto Giugiaro’s company Italdesign, which saw itself not only as a design studio but also as a construction service provider. On whose initiative Italdesign became involved and how exactly the division of labour with Bizzarrini was is not clear. Italdesign’s involvement lasted from December 1968 to June 1969; however, AMC did not make it public.