Inventory Listings

Always the underdog, American Motors didn t have the advertising budget to go toe-to-toe with Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler. What it did have was a ton of chutzpah, and a belief that putting its products on the track and the strip was a cost-conscious way of proving to buyers that it could build something besides the fuel-stingy sedans it was known for. In 1969 alone, the automaker participated in no fewer than seven racing programs.

For 1970, the Independent pulled off one of the most storied coups in American motorsports, luring team owner Roger Penske and his star driver, Mark Donohue, away from Chevrolet to run its Javelin Trans-Am efforts. Introduced for 1968, the Javelin was AMC s entry into the pony car field, offering a variety of six- and eight-cylinder engines, handsome styling by Dick Teague, capable handling, and an affordable price tag. Like its rivals, AMC saved costs by basing its pony car on a production compact, in its case the Rambler American.

Donohue, recognizing the Javelin s potential for development, turned his attention to its aerodynamics. The holder of a bachelor s degree in engineering, he had designed a decklid spoiler for the Trans-Am Camaros that he felt hadn t been tall enough to be effective. Applying those lessons to the AMC, he created a tall ducktail spoiler that would help keep the Javelin s back end planted at speed.

Needing to homologate the spoiler for competition, AMC announced a special Mark Donohue edition, taking out full-page ads that focused as much on the new alliance as on the coupe itself. Mark Donohue and Roger Penske, the most successful driver-manager team in road racing, recently signed a three-year contract with American Motors, the ads announced. Together they ve won two straight Trans-Am championships. They ll go for a third with the Javelin.

Under SCCA rules, AMC needed to produce 2,500 Javelins with Donohue s spoiler. A special edition SST was created, loaded up with dual exhausts; power front disc brakes; E70 x 14 white-letter, wide-profile tires; 14 x 6 wheels; a handling package; and an AMX hood with a functional ram-air induction system. Buyers were given a choice of two four-barrel V-8s, a 360 and a 390, as well as a Borg-Warner three-speed automatic or a Hurst-shifted Borg-Warner T10 four-speed. The Donohue package added about $1,100 to a base V-8 SST, pushing sticker prices over the $4,000 line. By April 1970, AMC reported that precisely 2,501 examples had emerged from its Kenosha, Wisconsin, factory

VIN: AOC797Pxxxxxx
A = AMC
0 = 1970
C = Automatic on floor
7 = Javelin
9 = 2 door hardtop
7 = SST
P = 360 4-bbl
xxxxxx = Serial Number

Unit Body Plate
BODY R022288
MODEL 7079-7
TRIM 064F
PAINT 86A
E059059

7079-7: 2 door hardtop SST
064F: 0 = 70, 6 = Javelin, 4 = Green, F = Ventair (Ventilair)
86A = Mosport Green

Engine Tag 302P23

3 = 1970
02 = February
P = 360 4-bbl
23 = 23rd of month