Rare, never-titled 1979 AMC AMX has gone more than four decades without leaving its original dealership

In 1979, Bowen-Fischer Motors in Muskegon, Michigan, put two brand-new AMC AMXs on the lot. Amid a sea of Concords, Pacers, Jeep CJ-7s, and Jeep Wagoneers, the Spirit-based AMXs with their wild graphics, flared fenders, cast aluminum wheels, and short but sporty liftback bodystyle were meant to reel in customers in the days before inflatable tube men. One of the two, a black one, as Greg Fischer recalls, eventually sold. The other, finished in the rare - even for an AMX - Wedgwood Blue, didn't. Not in 1979, not the year after, not anytime in the 42 years since, making it certainly the only 1979 AMX and possibly the only American Motors product that remains untitled and still for sale on its Manufacturers Certificate of Origin.

"There was no big plan to keep the car," Greg said. "We just stashed it away in the pole barn and you know what they say, out of sight, out of mind."

More or less. As AMC dealerships in the late Seventies went, Bowen-Fischer was fairly typical. Started in 1938 to sell Studebakers and Packards by Greg Fischer's grandfather, George, it eventually moved out of downtown Muskegon to its longtime location on Airline Road, took on AMC products in 1966 when Studebaker stopped selling cars in the U.S., took on the Jeep line some years later, and passed down from George Fischer to his twin sons, Larry and Jerry.

When the 1979 AMX came along, it represented the third and final attempt on AMC's part to append the AMX name to its compact car line. The Hornet AMX and Concord AMX that preceded the Spirit AMX both set the pattern of small car, big flares, loud graphics, and modest drivetrains in a four-seat, two-door hatchback package. The Spirit AMX largely followed, with 258-cu.in. six-cylinder and 304-cu.in. V-8 engine options, four-speed manual and floor-shifted three-speed automatic transmission choices, and mileage-minder two-point-something gearing. Still, it had an excellent handling package for its day and a wheelbase an inch shorter than the two-seater AMX, making it a capable performer in SCCA racing and at the Nurburgring, where Amos Johnson's twin BFGoodrich-sponsored Team Highball AMXs took first and second in their class.

According to Greg, responsibility for this blue AMX falls squarely on the shoulders of his late uncle, Jerry, who special ordered the car from Kenosha in blue. Of the five colors that AMC offered for the 1979 AMX - Firecracker Red, Classic Black, Saxon Yellow, Olympic White, and Wedgwood Blue - blue was by far the least common then and is rarely seen now. AMC didn't keep records on how many cars it painted in the five colors, but with total AMX production of 3,657 in 1979 (plus another 865 in 1980 when, apparently, the AMX could be had in two additional colors: Cameo Tan and Navy Blue), it couldn't have been that many.

The AMX didn't just sit on the lot looking pretty. According to Greg, the dealership used it as a demonstrator and his father or uncle occasionally drove it into town on some errand or another. "I'm sure it was in a few parades too," he said. Not to mention one prom - Greg's cousin's.

Greg can't say why exactly his father and uncle didn't sell the AMX, though he noted that the two had a habit of buying back cars the dealership had sold new, including a 1968 AMX and a 1964 Studebaker Daytona that had accumulated less than 7,000 miles before the little old lady who owned it had her license taken away. "They got certain stuff they liked, and they just stashed it away," he said. Those cars had at least been titled when sold; the AMX hadn't.

All told, by 1987, the year that Lee Iacocca had Chrysler buy AMC, the little blue AMX had accumulated close to 30,000 miles, according to the service record still attached to the dashboard. Those were relatively easy miles, too: The Fischers have only ever had to replace the car's battery, and the AMX's original Goodyear GT Radial tires remain wrapped around its TurboCast II wheels. The original Wedgwood Blue paint remains untouched, the 258 has been maintained but never opened, and the matching blue interior still has its never-reproduced cloth seat covers.

Bowen-Fischer had sold AMCs through the end but, rather than become a Chrysler dealership, the Fischers eventually sold the Jeep franchise to another dealership in town. However, the company retained its licenses to sell both new and used cars and Greg still operates it out of the Airline Road location. He's not as attached to some of the cars as his father and uncle were, though. He does still have the 1979 CJ-7 that came out of Bowen-Fischer's inventory - titled in his name - but with Jerry dead and 82-year-old Larry driving less these days, Greg has started to sell off some of the collection through a nearby classic car dealership, Garage Kept Motors. "We'd talked about selling the AMX for the last few years, and now it's just time to let somebody else enjoy it," he said.

When it does sell, Greg will finally have to title it, closing a chapter on this car and possibly on AMC history. "I've never had to deal with something like this before," Greg said. Likely few, if any, people will ever have to deal with something like this again.