As CC’s resident biggest fan of the Audi Quattro Turbo Coupe of the early 1980s, I had a chunk of alternate reality hit me on a recent trip to the ‘yard. While well aware of AMC’s Eagle 4WD offerings which we’ve covered here many times I never really considered the two door coupe/hatchback version and its similarity conceptually to the famed Audi.
Interestingly, both cars were initially released for sale in their home markets in late 1980, have a similar layout, and both ended up on the rally circuit. To boot, the AMC vastly outsold the hand-built Audi by almost 3:1 although it was only offered for three years instead of the eleven of the Audi. Today, this variant of the AMC is largely forgotten with the Eagle wagon getting most of the remaining glory while the Audi is a genuine collector car trading for ever-increasing sums of money.
AMC introduced the Eagle sedan and wagon for the 1980 model year, this coupe/liftback version (that was based on the Spirit, itself with Gremlin roots) debuted a year later. This example is an early model (serial #3681) and obviously hasn’t been particularly cherished in many years. Available with a four cylinder or an inline six, it of course didn’t have quite the performance chops of the turbocharged 5-cylinder Audi but just like it came with fulltime AWD (later in the year a switch enabling 2WD was added to the AMC), enabling it to traverse most any adverse road conditions as well as off-road to an extent limited by ground clearance and maneuverability. Interestingly for competition use the Audi eventually spawned a shortened Sport model that reduced the wheelbase significantly, my writeup of my experience driving one spawned a comment likening its looks to a Gremlin…
In reality the Audi was aimed at the sort of upper crust Euro crowd and with a base price of well over $30k in US 1981 dollars was well out of reach of most shoppers, priced around what a Porsche 911 started at and quickly became a press darling, and of course the Group B rally pedigree didn’t hurt. The AMC on the other hand cost around $7,500, less than a quarter of that, and saw some success competed in SCCA Production Class rallying here in North America. Both cars did in fact compete against each other in several rallies although I am not aware of the AMC ever besting the Audi. Had I been of an age and means wherein I could afford an Audi Quattro in the early 1980s I surely would have purchased one. The AMC on the other hand was not even on my radar. Oh, the blinders of youth.
Of course they aren’t really comparable (or am I just being a bit elitist?), perhaps a better phrasing is that they didn’t compete in the marketplace. Still, the basic idea is astounding to have germinated with an ocean between them at right around the same time and with roughly the same engineering concepts put into play. Ferdinand Piëch of Audi is lauded for being the genius behind the Quattro (which frankly is responsible for much of Audi’s current success), but the name Roy Lunn would likely have many gearheads (certainly those outside of North America) asking “who?”; he was AMC’s chief engineer and put forward the in hindsight brilliant idea, while AMC as a company didn’t survive the decade.
The grille of this one is sadly gone (along with various other parts) but the four quad headlamps are the same size and placement as those of the Audi. The hood opens the same way. Many parts of the car are also shared with various other AMC models, just like many parts of the Audi were, with both being amalgamations of much existing on the shelf componentry. Let’s look a little closer under the hood, shall we?
That’s no rip-snorting turbocharged inline-5 like the Audi, but it is the inline-6 variant that was an option on this car with the I-4 being the standard. While the Audi initially produced 200hp in Euro trim, neutered to about 160hp for US consumption, the AMC engines produced either 87hp for the Iron Duke 4 (yes, still the GM engine in ’81) or 110hp for the I-6 example seen here. Note that the AMC six displaced 4.2 liters, exactly twice that of the Audi I-5, which then of course comes in over the top with a KKK turbocharger to produce a whole hill of beans.
Still, this engine managed to also produce 200lb-ft of torque compared to the Audi’s 170lb-ft. Although the Eagle’s 3200lb weight is about 150 more than that of the Audi, the Audi is still significantly faster to 60mph (7.8 vs a lethargic 12.9 seconds) as well as in terms of top speed (122 vs 97mph). Around town, while the Audi suffers from some lag issues and apparently atrocious gearing especially between second third gears, I’d guess the AMC is actually fairly tractable, especially being equipped with a four speed manual as this one is, just ride the torque in second or third.
The SX/4 is a true liftback whereas the Audi just looks like one (it has a trunk). Both cars have a fairly large spoiler although this one’s is mostly missing. Full width taillights are always a nice touch that please my aesthetic senses especially at night.
Opening that up displays a fairly shallow cargo area as opposed to the Audi’s capacious and deep trunk. Still, with folding rear seats this car has the edge in usability as far as carrying cargo is concerned.
The Audi has a large set of interlocking rings decaled behind its front door edge, the Eagles tend to have Eagle logos on the B-pillar. Interestingly while the Eagle wagon’s medallions are rectangular, the SX/4s are circular, curious that AMC would tool up for both variants.
I do love the AMC logo placed in the middle of the side reflectors, what a great touch.
I’ll be somewhat snobby and declare the Audi to have a more modern interior, but realistically it was just as plasticky as this with perhaps even less warmth. The Audis with cloth (velour) interiors featured a sort of zebra-stripe patterning, but over here most were leather-clad – albeit still with a diagonal stripe pattern for funkiness’ sake. The steering wheel here is aftermarket and I don’t think hails from Momo or Nardi. Perhaps the Boys of Pep or the Zone of Auto are responsible for it, I don’t know. The Audi had zero wood trim inside, real or faux. Just hard plastic.
It’s hard to see through the filth but 1980s velour-clad seats are usually quite cossetting as it probably was with these. A little more bolstering would perhaps be welcome, however at least they have high backs.
There’s what remains of the stick shift, the knob absconded probably decades ago, no center console so lots of room to manspread, and the parcel shelf under the glovebox is handy. And look, it’s my old friend, the glovebox knob featured in everything from Chevrolet to Cadillac which I love to harp on in the latter’s case and making a guest appearance here on the AMC channel!
The gauge cluster is reasonably complete and actually bests the high-falutin’ Audi in one respect in that it features a water temperature gauge. The Audi’s was actually replaced by a boost gauge in the spot formerly occupied by it and added an idiot light for the temperature. This here isn’t at all terrible for the era, certainly better than the efforts of many other domestics of the time.
I doubt any Audi ever had a set of “Cruisin'” graphics across its flanks but perhaps somewhere deep in Hungary or one of the former Soviet republics an equivalent exists, Europe is just as guilty as America in terms of questionable graphics at times. No box fenders here as on the Audi, but a healthy set of fender flares work almost as well.
For $7,500 in 1981, I can perhaps see the appeal, back then it was much more likely for someone to need to actually experience the benefits of AWD on gravel, wet or snowy tarmac rather than just being sold on it as a matter of course. The raised ride height of the Eagle lineup likely did as much as anything else to convince people of the capability, of course nowadays such a thing is de rigueur for most anything to move out of a showroom, and this isn’t that different from the current Subaru Crosstrek for example.
While the SX/4 got off to a very strong start with over 17,000 sold its first year, that tailed off rather quickly. With only a little over 10,000 seeing owners in 1982 and just over 2,000 for 1983 it was quietly taken out behind the shed while the Eagle wagon variant especially kept on soldiering along. With a rallying pedigree/history (albeit something virtually nobody in North America followed in the early 1980s) this could have been a bigger success had it been marketed more, but it was not to be, whereas the Audi has achieved automotive immortality. A continent apart, but curiously similar, two brothers from different mothers.
Related Reading:
Eric703 found a 1981 on the street
Joe Dennis also found a 1981 on the street
Joe Dennis then struck gold again with another 1981 on the street
Paul N found a 1982 on one of his streets
Tatra87 found an Audi Quattro in Tokyo
James Tenneson found a 1987 Audi Quattro in the UK
Jim Klein drives the 1984 Audi Sport Quattro
The Subaru Crosstrek seems to be the closest modern (and far more successful) equivalent to the AMC Eagle SX/4. A longitudinal-engine AWD compact hatchback on stilts.
The SX/4 was an idea well ahead of its time.
I think you could also make an argument for the Honda Crosstour being a spiritual cousin to this Eagle.
The huge difference with those two is that they have a genuine rear seat with leg room. The SX/4 didn’t. It was essentially a two-passenger car. Which undoubtedly impacted its sales potential.
It seems a terrible shame that Chrysler didn’t use the 4.0 liter port-injected engine during the Eagle’s last two years of production. Mercedes-Benz 300E-rivaling straight line speed couldn’t have hurt the appeal of a pricey station wagon aimed at the landed gentry. An SX/4.0 would have been even better.
I’ve always liked the look of these. They somehow look fresher and newer than their 1970 roots would suggest, probably in part due to their hitting an entirely different market niche by going to 4wd.
I can’t speak for everyone, but by the time AMC converted the Corcord/Hornet to 4WD in the 1980 MY, I considered AMC (but not the Jeep part) to be a dead brand walking.
Anybody with eyes could see that the entire AMC lineup by 1980 mostly consisted of cars that were direct descendants of the 1970 Hornet. That, and the last vestiges of the running joke called Pacer.
If anyone suggested that I buy an AMC in 1980, my response would have been, “okay, but where am I going to buy parts when they go out of business, which has to be soon?”
Nice, in more ways than one.
But you missed one more Audi connection (albeit a bit removed): The Spirit, which this SX/4 was based on, used the ex-Audi EA831 engine for a few years (1977-1979) before switching to the Iron Duke. Now if they had kept that engine and turbocharged it, the connection would have been really close.
One more thing: the trunk area may have looked somewhat reasonably sized (barely, given its high load floor), but the real problem on all these Gremlin-based cars was the rear seat: essentially no leg room whatsoever unless you pushed the front seat way up. They were 2+2s, at best. That rather limited their market and was very unlike the Audi Coupe, which had a capacious back seat (not the Sport, obviously).
The Gremlin had no leg room. The SX/4 had no legroom and no headroom. Might as well delete the rear bench to save some weight (and rename it “AMX/4”)
I never looked much at these back when they were new but am really liking this one now. I wonder if anyone has kept one of these and swapped in the newer revamped version of that six as was used in Jeep Cherokees. That powerplant in this lighter car might give your Audi a run for its money. The Audi on its turbo would be impressive, but as you say, riding the torque would be a heckuva ride with the newer engine.
I have missed your junkyard jaunts, and this one was a perfect dive back in.
With the hatchback part of the spoiler missing it looks like this car came with tail fins.
“The steering wheel here is aftermarket and I don’t think hails from Momo or Nardi. Perhaps the Boys of Pep or the Zone of Auto are responsible for it, I don’t know.”
As the attached brochure image shows, the wheel was an AMC option. I’m not sure the folks in Kenosha appreciate your Pep Boys comparison, but someone paid a premium to get it mounted at the factory.
Oh, interesting! The wheel hub on the posted car says ProComp, I was assuming it’s the same ProComp that makes Jeep accessories (such as wheels) these days. Something somehow went a little haywire with my pictures when posting so it’s not as readable as usual.
FWIW, I’m pretty sure that wheel shown in the comment above is from later than 1981. The optional leather covered sport wheel in 1981 didn’t have holes in the spokes and had a different hub.
I assume that ProComp likely supplied that later optional wheel, or it’s a hell of a coincidence.
I’m not sure what brochure Dave’s image came from, but there’s a good chance that it’s from before 1981.
I have a 1980 AMC brochure, and that steering wheel is shown as the “Sport Steering Wheel” standard in the 1980 Spirit GT Liftback, with a woodgrain AMC hub. Image is below (sorry for the cellphone image, but I don’t have access to my scanner right now).
It seems that AMC’s sport steering wheels changed subtly every year, and it wouldn’t completely surprise me if this one popped up again at some other time.
Aha. That doesn’t surprise me. The one I found for 1981 looked like the optional wheel we had in our 1985 Cherokee.
But this one looked familiar as a factory wheel as soon as I saw it, which is what led me down this little rabbit hole.
Great find! I like these cars a lot, though I can’t think of any stage in my life when I would have been tempted to buy one. An actual Eagle sedan or wagon… yes. But the SX/4 probably fell through the cracks of a lot of folks’ wish lists.
The Cruisin sticker seems… awfully random here. It doesn’t look like it was accompanied by any other graphic like tape stripes, etc., and it’s the kind of graphic I more associate with a 1991-era compact pickup rather than an ’81 AMC. I wonder what color it was?
The buyers of these and compact 4×4 pickups were highly likely to be from the same demographic. Meaning that practical concerns like interior space utilization and such were not a priority.
One could say that the SX/4 was the intersection between GM’s F-Bodies and 4×4 pickups/SUVs. A genuine crossover, in other words.
The proportions on these are actually pretty good; I can imagine one on a European rally (in looks anyway), not that AMC had any predilection for racing in the early ’80s.
Given Renault’s investment in AMC in 1978, I can see where that might have been a remote possibility. But then there were two obstacles: it would have needed a hot engine and some rear leg room. Europeans were not going to buy a car this big and heavy without any real usable rear leg room.
Anyway, Renault had some wild hot little cars back then, like the mid-engine R5 Turbo, which was in little monster.
I wonder if we’ll ever get anyone who actually drove one of these in the snow to comment .
I grew up in snow country and remembered how poorly the average American 2WD vehicle did in the snow .
-Nate
I haven’t driven one, but have been a passenger in an Eagle wagon. Very competent and capable… probably more so than a contemporary Subaru. Would imagine that the shorter wheelbase model would be comparable, if slightly more choppy. My neighbor had an SX/4 when I was growing up, and I think she was pretty fond of it.
I owned a couple of Eagles and they were
Fantastic in the snow. Solid vehicles that really
Kind of split the difference (in feel) of a Jeep
And a passenger car.
Thank you Gentlemen ! .
I remember riding (and freezing my butt off) in old 4X4 trucks and Pops bought a new Jeepster in 1969, it had the Buick V6 and was O.K., I always thought the good folks in the Mid West would buy the heck out of the Eagles and Toyota Tercel 4X’s but no…..
-Nate
Eagles must have been pretty popular, on a relative basis, in the Mid-Atlantic region.
There were stIll a fairly large number of them around when I lived in southern PA at the turn of the millennium. The galvanized body panels obviously helped with survivability, as they generally showed much less rust than other vehicles of comparable age.
Thanx Jon ! .
-Nate
Great find. I never considered these back in the day, primarily because I thought they were way overpriced. They were certainly a niche product.
I bought a AMC Eagle SX/4 Sport when it was a few years old. It was handy in the Colorado winters. We liked it.