1970 AMC AMX/3 Giotto Bizzarrini (1:18)

Product no.: MK002

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Presented at the 1963 Geneva Motor Show, the 240 km / h ATS 2500 GT was the world's first 'supercar' with a mid-engine that was suitable for road use. Please have a look, there is a 1:43 model of it from ABC Brianza (ABC 047). To revive its image, American Motors Corporation (AMC) introduced a two-seater AMX Coupé in 1968, a pure two-seater with a 315-hp V8 engine and a top speed of over 200 km / h. Enough power to get from zero to a hundred in 6.6 seconds and cover the quarter mile in 14.8 seconds. Quite respectable times, but far from the under-6-second sprints and under-14-second quarter miles that Pontiacs and Fords covered with the big engines.

 

So how did AMC get back into the spotlight and outperform larger competitors?

 

American Motors showed the exciting sports car prototype AMX / 2 at the 1968 Chicago Auto Show. This was not functional, but was designed as a mid-engined road or racing car with a V8 engine and independent suspension. BMW and Giotto Bizzarrini were hired to optimize (technology & design) this AMX / 2.

 

On March 24, 1970, the AMX / 3 was presented at the Cavalieri Hilton Hotel in Rome and caused astonishment. The AMX / 3 was a modern mid-engined sports coupé that was designed with a V8 engine for series production and was intended to compete against the super sports cars of the time.

 

The AMX / 3 was largely designed by Giotto Bizzarrini. A chassis made of square tubes and self-supporting elements was placed under a sheet steel body. The front wheels were individually suspended from wishbones. State-of-the-art at that time. At the rear, a sturdy construction made up of upper and lower wishbones, which were designed like a trapezoid, was mounted. Internally ventilated disc brakes were also used. The 4.46 meter long and 1.9 meter wide, but only 110.5 centimeter low Granturismo should only need 5.5 seconds to reach 100 km / h. The top was named more than 260 km / h. On April 4, 1970, the AMX / 3 celebrated its public premiere at the New York Motor Show.

 

While in Rome there was still talk of 300 AMX/3 for 1971, they are now talking about 1000 copies, all of which were to be produced by Karmann in Germany. Bizzarrini was already commissioned to build the first 20 cars when a phone call from the US ended all dreams. The project was stopped for no reason. All existing cars (prototypes) should be destroyed (this is very reminiscent of the Opel Regent from 1928). Fortunately, this did not happen. It can only be puzzled why AMC stopped the project so suddenly: Ford is said to have been behind it, the bodybuilder Karmann was suddenly no longer available, the money was missing, etc.

Today we speak of six built AMX / 3, plus the design model (AMX2), which was not drivable. All six cars survived, as did the non-motorized design prototype.

 

AMC was an American automobile manufacturer that emerged from the merger of Nash Motors and Hudson Motor Car Co. in 1954. In 1970 AMC took over the Kaiser-Jeep company (and with it the Jeep brand). In the spring of 1987, AMC was taken over by the Chrysler Corporation. The Jeep brand came to DaimlerChrysler after the merger with Daimler-Benz and has belonged to Fiat Chrysler since the merger with Fiat.

 

Automobili Bizzarrini S.p.A. was a manufacturer of high-performance sports cars from Livorno, Italy and was founded in late 1962 by Giotto Bizzarrini. In October 1968, Bizzarrini was insolvent. In the spring of 1969, Bizzarrini S.p.A. was dissolved again.

Browse these categories as well: MK_Miniatures, Bizzarrini, Scale 1:18, Bizzarrini