AMX/3s sometimes cause confusion in inverse ratio to their number (even Dick
Teague resorted to a few tricks to ID each one...) so perhaps the following
may help maintain AMC "historical correctness." 

What I'll call "A" is the final Plymouth Road design studio mockup.

This is one of two oft-seen mid-'68 photos taken in the AMC styling
auditorium and shows the Di-Noced and foiled final full-size mockup.  I
believe it's a fiberglass model (as was the AMX/2) rather than a wood-
armature clay, but the 7- [?] spoke wheels (that never reached production)
were custom made in Italy to a design seen in the "final" rendering release
(See Main page artwork) and are likely fully weight-bearing castings rather 
than just Saffalloy or plated plastic for show. 

Car "A" was a refinement of the AMX/2 competition model unveiled in 1969
(within AMC early in February '69 and publicly at the Chicago show later
the same month), and its concept was Teague's with significant fleshing-
out by Fred Hudson and Bob Nixon (interesting names, huh?).  AMX/3 "A"
buck sizing was somewhat changed from AMX/2, it being wider and with
certain other proportions minimally-altered perhaps as a result of
influences derived from the Ital Design competition entry penned by
Giorgio Giugiaro, which was slightly lower [!] and longer than the AMC
studio design.  Guigiaro's car was Fome-Cor, not fiberglass, probably
to minimize construction costs and shipping weight from Italy to Detroit. 

"A" also usually served as the photographic model for AMX/3 detail and
image renderings used both in-house and for various media releases.

A contract with Karmann for construction of several working mid-engine
prototype vehicles (to be known as "AMX/K") nearly was signed but the
high build standards of that German carrossier necessitated unit costs
far exceeding AMC's budgetary projections so negotiations there ended.
Prototipi Bizzarrini had specialized in Italo-American V-8 hybrids from
1965-69 (various models, a few quite nice; check 'em out if interested)
and after Giotto Bizzarrini agreed to reopen his Livorno shop to build
a limited run of 1970 AMX/3s, AMC Detroit management gave approval for
construction of ten prototype cars, apparently contracted as two batches
of five cars each.  Cars #1-5 were fully completed before the project
came to a halt, and #6-10 existed as bodies-in-white.  #6 and likely #7
had partial mechanical/drivetrain installation but the remainder may have
only been bare shells.  Destruction of #6-10 was ordered though certainty
exists only that #9-10 were indeed chopped up.  Car #6 saw completion
after the AMC contract had expired, and suspicion remains that #7 plus
the 390/Melara set tagged for it exist still, if no longer in Italy, then
in other European hands.  Whether car #8 survived under similar conditions
is an unknown but tantalizing possibility.

Thus we account for an AMX/3 full-size model and six finished AMX/3 protos,
two having had, to further confuse matters, at times worn lower rear
fender stone panel "AMX III" identification.  Officially AMX III was the
Javelin/Sportabout-ish wagon styling study with two different "hardtop"
roof treatments shown first at Detroit in April of 1967, and it is hoped
that future AMX/3 restorations might model choices on the more accurate
of the surviving mid-engine cars.

AMX/3 #1 is stored at the Gilmore-CCCA Museum in Hickory Corners MI and
would require more of a "reconstruction" than just full restoration.
Significant errors in dimensional design drawing caused by faulty English/
Metric conversions meant that it never was driveable and though correct in
appearance and equipment, it has always functioned only as a prototype
showcar; in effect, a fully-outfitted steel-bodied pushmobile.  #1 appears
in the first of Rosa's "The four above shots could be..." photos on p. 5
It carried a different transmission (by the German firm ZF) than those
sourced for intended first-year production of 24 cars.  While plans for
5,000 unit production quickly vanished, as late as mid-1970 the AMC board
was agreeable to building two dozen image-boosting AMX/3 sportscars, so at
least 34 transaxles were custom-built to AMC specs.  At one point in the
early '80s Dick Teague owned 30 of them when, after his dire need to find
a unit (one car he bought from AMC lacked -any- tranny, its casing having
been whacked during a drive on public streets not far from AMC's Detroit
styling studio) led then-AMC CEO Gerald Meyers to locate and sell Teague
the entire Genoan cache of 28 for payment of AMC's accrued years of storage
costs.  Not a bad deal to get 28 specialized trannys for ~$4k!  Teague may
have used two, sold one, and donated a fourth to Gilmore for car #1, but
disposition of the remaining 24 is yet unknown (at least to me ).

Given sufficient funds, a firm like RM could probably succeed in rebuilding
car #1 (they did so not long ago with an incinerated Packard aero coupe that
had languished as "hopeless" for nearly 50 years...), and folks like Joe
Bortz have orchestrated similar miracles for several "lost cause" one-offs
showcars maybe more basket-case than the Gilmore AMX/3.  Whether that car
could then do anything more than straight-line self-propel from trailer to
show berth is debatable (and Teague believed it might not be massaged even
to do that much), but at least it ought to be able to turn over, roll, and
-look- as good as it did at the European press unveiling (3/23/70 in Rome),
to US media eyes (at the Waldorf on 4/3/70), and to the motoring public on
Petersen Publishing's "Wonderful World..." stand at the NY Auto show which
opened the following day.

#2 was fully operational with Italian (La Spezia)-built OTO Melara transaxle
properly-mated to AMC's Machine 390, and -most likely- (though questions on
this point remain, and it's possible that #5 really was the initially blue-
painted "BMW" car...) was the car tested by Bizzarrini and Italian engineers
from the Turin Polytechnic Institute on various public Alpine roads, by BMW
staff members in the Munich labs, test track, and on the Nurburgring, where
ex-race car driver Bizzarrini reportedly got the AMX/3 to a lift-threatening
145 mph (certain sources claim the car briefly saw a 160 mph top), as shown
above Rosa's text "This picture could be of '#2' prior..."  After shipment
to the US, #2 went from AMC to an owner in MI, disappeared, and resurfaced
near Indianapolis.  It was offered for sale some years back for ~$200k.
#2 is reportedly in less-than prime physical condition, lacks numerous
original parts, and has been somewhat incorrectly modified.

Since I can't call up his big color photos, I'm unsure if some of Rosa's
pics depict this car at different points in its life (at one time -two-
AMX/3s were owned by collectors in Indiana, to confuse me more), but Jack
Cohen of Plainfield IN did own the car shown with Torque-Thrust wheels,
raised wing, and unique badging that Rosa sites after "been seen with."  

#3 was Teague's favorite AMX/3 and likely should be considered a benchmark
of the breed.  It has always worn Campagnolo wheels (with both RWL and BSW
tires over the years), has consistently had "correct" badging (some large
variations and several small details identify the six completed cars but
medallion placement on #3 is as intended for production...), and underwent
a major restoration by Teague himself in the early-to-mid 1980s.  It appears
in Rosa's 23 penultimate photos (some taken on Teague's Fallbrook driveway)
and was documented by AMC Javelin designer Guy Hadsall and by Jerry Garns in
a fully-authentic fresh state of restoration late in '89 and early in 1990.
#3 was donated by Marian Teague to the San Diego Automotive Museum in Balboa
Park at 2080 Pan American Plaza SD CA 92101 (619 231-2886) where what is
without doubt the world's finest AMX/3 can be studied today.  I believe #3
was also the 1971 "Assault" car, and it may have been the car beside which
Mark Donohue was photographed twice (front breather trim could be a clue).

#4 was another of the three AMX/3s Teague bought from AMC and after sale
by him to interim owner(s?) in IN and ?, eventually appeared in the fine
AMC collection of Georgian Jim Mimbs.  He sold #4 to the Prisma Collection
proprietors in AL who've been soliciting interest in both it at ~$225k and
the AMX/2 pushmobile at ~$25k for several years now via general hobby pubs,
and perhaps also at auction.

#5 was not built to be DOT-legal and, in fact may never have been expected
to revert to AMC in the US.  Upon purchase, Teague decided rounded Fiat [?]
taillights wouldn't do, so he replaced them with second-gen (likely even
second-hand!) Firebird units slightly trimmed and installed upside down.  As
some of you may know, he regularly cruised auto swap-meets and the vendor
display areas at old car shows with an eye out for design inspiration and
-parts- needed for personal restoration projects.  During the 19 years as
AMC Design VP in Detroit, much of his after-hours relaxation came from
spending (as do some here I've even met ) evenings in his garage "hands-
on" accomplishing as much of his own work as he could.  In addition to the
tailights, #5 and #6 have rear fascias distinctly different from all the
other cars, and barring reconstruction to match the "norm" will always be
easily identifiable.

#6 was completed by Salvatore Diamonte in Turin and has a rear end treatment
different from #1-4 -and- from #5 (making the car about 2.7" longer overall
with deeper modesty coverage), was provisioned for European-size rear license
plate, had wipers concealed by a '68 Corvette-inspired [vacuum? electric?]
operable cowl flap, and may have worn different mirrors than the two [three?]
styles fitted to earlier AMX/3s.  Details in exterior paint, trim, badging,
lighting, ducting, plate recess, exhaust tip shape, size, and cutout, and
mirrors help answer nagging questions of "Just which AMX/3 is that anyway?" 

#7 may exist.  If it does, I'll be glad to offer it a very loving home .

#8 may or may not exist.  Ditto.

#9 purportedly was destroyed.

#10 likely was also destroyed.

Hope this is of interest - happy editing, Mr. R. 

So all said, the AMX/3 was not only a year ahead of its Big-3 competition
(the Pantera built for Mercury by Alejandro de Tomaso was not introduced
until about that long -after- AMC's Euro/American bombshell), and with its
shorter [98.3"], traditional wheelbase it offered less-advanced sportster
profile proportions and lesser handling capability too.  AMX/3 was more
powerful (the output of Ford's 351 Cleveland in Pantera trim made 310-bhp
vs. 340 for AMX/3's 390), but it was -years- (like 20-30 of 'em!) ahead of
anything Detroit's finest have marketed to this date.  If those 24 cars AMC
planned for sale in summer 1970 had been available at your friendly Nash/
Hudson/Rambler/AMC dealer, American automotive history may have been writ
quite differently.  A production version of GM's Astro Vette (developed from
the '67 Astro II XP-880 design of Winchell and Nies; with backbone chassis
and mid-mount Mk IV 396 generating 390-hp) would likely have been marketed
and state-of-the-art sports cars today might not wear mostly import badging.

As actually transpired though, first steps toward putting cars like that
into domestic mass production fumbled around with the ill-fated '80s Fiero,
came closer, if only -stylistically- (teaching the new profile proportions
to our comfortable-with-the-old eyes) with Cafaro's '93.5 "F" bodies, and
took a geniune stride forward when '97 C5 gave us both a mid-look wheelbase
stretch (if still cloaking traditional, albeit balance-split mechanicals),
and a genuine [hydraformed] backbone chassis.  Unless Chrysler beats GM to
it, we'll still be lucky to see the full scope of 1969 AMX/3 engineering
not in the ~2010 [?] C6, but more likely in the ~2020 [?] C7.  How 'bout
that, just in time for the golden anniversary of lil' old AMC's AMX/3!!!

As one known for his wild car comparisons across oceans and decades (once
mocked up a same-shot comparo of Matt Polk's Testarossa and Dick Teague's
AMX/3 #5 to engender chuckles and hoots like, "Where's that mirror flying
off to?", "Who left their suitcase on the rear deck?", and "Why's the nose
cutline sniffing at the ground?" - Teague had a very quick and sharp sense
of humor...), I'll leave you with a few curious stats that might prove
interesting to someone other than just me.

        '99 C5 hatch    '69 AMX/3

wb      104.5           105.3
ol      179.7           175.6
w        73.6            74.9
h        47.7            43.5
ft       62.0            60.6
rt       62.1            61.2
#        3245            3090
cid       346             390
hp      345n@5600       340g@5100 (=~264n@4600?)
tq      350n@4400       430g@3600 (=~344n@3300?)
cr      10.1:1          10.0:1
red     6000rpm         5200rpm
bal     51.5/48.5       43/57
gal     19.1            24.0
rak     62deg           66deg
whl     8.5/9.5         6.5/9.0
Ft      245/45-17       205/70-15
Rr      275/40-18       225/70-15
tran       6M              4M
rear    3.42:1          3.54:1 (3.45:1 also listed) [?]
0-60    4.72sec         5.5sec (advertised)
0-60    4.8-.9sec          ?   (tested)
1/4     13.4@108           ?   (tested)
top     172mph          160mph (advertised)
top     162mph          145mph (tested; drag/lift limited)
MSRP    $38,591         37,423 ($12,000 adjusted to 1999)

Both cars were engineered -first- as convertibles, and plans were made
for AMX/3 eventually to be offered, like C5, in fixed-roof coupe, targa,
and roadster models.  AMX/3, like C5, was styled to permit easy front and
rear facelifts over an extended (10 or more years) model lifespan, and both
cars surely could set heads a-spinnin' and hearts a-pinin' yesterday, today,
and tomorrow.

Conclusion?  Only that AMC definitely was an "Advanced Maker of Cars" (if
allowed to build 'em...), as many here will agree, most of all in regard
to prime examples of the "coulda woulda shoulda" model we'd all love to
own.  It's my favorite "almost-production" AMC, so thanks for allowing me
to sing a few of its worthy praises.