The AMC Eagle is a compact four-wheel drive passenger vehicle manufactured and marketed in a single generation by American Motors Corporation (AMC) for model years 1980 through 1987 and continued by Chrysler Corporation following its acquisition of AMC in 1987, for the 1988 model year.
Introduced in August 1979 for the 1980 model year, the coupe, sedan, and station wagon body styles were based on the AMC Concord. In 1981, the two-door subcompact-sized AMC Spirit-based models, the SX/4 and Kammback, joined the Eagle line aimed at both first-time buyers and fleet sales.
A Sundancer convertible conversion for the larger Eagle two-door model was available during 1981 and 1982. By 1984, only sedan and station wagon versions were available. For 1988, its final model year, only a station wagon was offered, marketed as the "Eagle Wagon". However, the name continued to be used by Chrysler Corporation as the Eagle brand of cars through 1998.
The AMC Eagles were the only four-wheel drive passenger cars produced in the United States at the time. All models featured "passenger-car comfort, plus 4WD security for all-weather security." Marketing materials of the time refer to the Eagle as a "vehicle," "automobile," "car," or “sport machine.” Although the description was not in use at the time, the AMC Eagle is widely recognized as the first crossover vehicle.Padgett, pp. 242–243.
History
The concept Fuel-thirsty vehicles built for rugged off-road were on the market, but AMC "predicted that consumers would embrace a vehicle with the comfort of an automobile, but the ride height and foul-weather capabilities of a four-wheel drive utility vehicle." The objective was an affordable car with comfortable ride and handling on the road and superior traction in light off-road use.
The initial proposal for production of what would become the AMC Eagle came from Roy Lunn, the chief design engineer for AMC Jeep. "Project 8001 plus Four" was Lunn's code name for a new "line of four-wheel drive vehicles with the ride and handling conventions of a standard rear-wheel drive car" built on a unibody platform. In February 1977, AMC contracted FF Developments to build a prototype vehicle based on a production V8-powered AMC Hornet with drive torque split 33% front and 66% rear. Testing and further development proved the feasibility of a vehicle with greater ground clearance, larger 15-inch wheels, and a torque split closer to 50% – 50%, with Lunn recommending using the AMC straight-six engine coupled to an automatic transmission.
Thus, the AMC Eagle came about when Jeep's chief engineer joined a Concord body with a four-wheel drive system. Such a vehicle was a logical step for AMC, according to the CEO Gerald C. Meyers. A second energy crisis had hit in 1979. Sales of AMC's highly profitable truck-based Jeep line dropped due in part to their low fuel efficiency. This forced AMC into a precarious financial position. The Eagle provided a low-cost way of bridging the gap between AMC's solid and economical, but aging, passenger-car line and its well-regarded, but decidedly off-road focused, Jeep line, as the Eagle used the existing Concord (and later, Spirit) automobile platform.
The Eagle also bridged the sizable price gap between the low-end imported four-wheel drive (4WD) Subaru and the large-sized domestic 4WD vehicles such as the Jeep Wagoneer. The Eagle models provided the most significant new boost to the automaker's profit mix. Sales were brisk since Day One, with the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) for the basic two-door model starting at $6,999 (US$ in dollars) and the 4-door station wagon at $7,549 (US$ in dollars). The Eagle represented a "burst of AMC's genetic creativity...quickly captured the attention of many American drivers who found its unique union of four-wheel drive safety and security with the comfort of an automobile."
The early AMC Eagles had a full-time automatic system that operated in permanent all-wheel drive (AWD). The drivetrain added about to the Eagle's curb weight. The AMC Eagles were also the first mass-produced U.S. 4WD automobiles with an independent front suspension. The 1963 Jeep Wagoneer and Gladiator pickups featured an independent front suspension with 4WD as well as the revised for 1980 truck-based Ford Bronco and F-Series vehicles.
The AMC Eagle's central differential behind its TorqueFlite automatic transmission was a single-speed (without a low-range option). It featured a viscous fluid coupling for the quiet and smooth power transfer to the axle with the most traction on wet or dry pavement. The central unit consisted of closely spaced, wavy clutch plates operating in a "honey-like silicone fluid" performing a "limited-slip function" between the front and rear drives, as well as under adverse driving conditions sending torque to the axle with the most traction.
Designed as "reasonably size[d] passenger cars" offering a comfortable ride and handling on pavement, the AMC Eagles "behave more like mountain goats" when off the road. The value of 4WD in the AMC Eagle was apparent when driving in slippery conditions. They served in America's first ice-driving school. The Eagle models provided the comfort and appointments expected of passenger models, combined with off-road technology offering an extra margin of safety and traction. The Eagle was designed for customers who "must get through regardless of road or weather conditions (doctors, police, emergency personnel, and so on)" as well as those living in areas with bad weather or roads, and adventurous hunters and fishermen. The AMC Eagle did not compete with traditional, rudimentary 4WD vehicles. The company did not design the Eagle as an off-pavement recreation vehicle, but rather as a passenger car that offers added benefits. Not built for off-road performance as a Chevrolet Blazer or a Jeep Cherokee, the Eagle "will overcome mud, sand, snow, and obstacles that would stop ordinary sedans cold."
The AMC Eagle was one of the first production cars to use an AWD system. Other 4WD automobile-type vehicles – the Subaru DL/GL (1972 for the Japanese domestic market and two years later in the U.S.), and much later the Toyota Tercel SR5 Wagon (1983) - only had part-time 4WD systems that could not be engaged on dry pavement. The Eagle was also years ahead of Subaru's simplistic, part-time front-drive/4WD system, due to Roy Lunn's creativity and Jeep's experience producing 4WD vehicles. Another feature was the Eagle's independent front suspension, accomplished by mounting the front differential to the engine block with universal joints and half shafts to drive the front wheels.
Automotive industry analysts were surprised by the fact that AMC, a company most had deemed past its ability to produce competitive vehicles, used their limited resources to create a novel and all-around competent vehicle. In doing so, the small American manufacturer was seen as having pioneered a new market segment – one that would grow wildly over the next 25 years and beyond, as evinced by Four Wheeler magazine's conclusion in 1980 that the new AMC Eagle was, indeed, "The beginning of a new generation of cars." Even as the automaker was struggling financially, "AMC's reputation for developing vehicles on the cheap is only exceeded by its legacy of midwifing the SUV", including the Eagle to be the precursor to one of the most popular vehicle types on the market. Indeed, the Eagle's basic concept - that of a station wagon with AWD, raised ground clearance, full range of power options, and automatic transmissions, as well as the rough-road capability - has inspired vehicles such as the Subaru Outback and Forester lines, the Audi Allroad, the Volkswagen Passat Alltrack, the Volvo XC range, and many others. Similarly, motoring journalist Marty Padgett described AMC's car-based 1980 Eagle, combining all-weather capability with better gas mileage, as "the first crossover," that was succeeded by whole generations of Subaru vehicles and other models.
A long-term road test conducted in 2009 of a new Suzuki crossover vehicle described the original AMC Eagle as "combined two disparate personalities – rugged, childlike playfulness and staunch paternal responsibility – in a way that few thought possible in 1980. And for all the Eagle's lowly heritage, it has set a lasting standard for utility and a friendly, innovative spirit that has eluded most of the compact crossovers on the market today." An article in a series about innovations and icons, the BBC wrote, "the Eagle was, in essence, the kind of segment-busting product that engineers and marketers spend entire careers trying to create."
Model years
1980
Based on the AMC Concord, the 1980 AMC Eagle was introduced in August 1979 and available as a four-door sedan and station wagon, as well as a coupe. Standard equipment included power steering and power front disc and rear drum brakes, as well as 15-inch road wheels with fiberglass-belted radial whitewall tires. The Eagle came base and upscale Limited trims, both of which carried the same features as the Concord DL and Limited, respectively. A sports package was available only on the two-door and wagon models featuring in addition to "Sport" emblems the following items: Durham Plaid fabric seat trim, leather-wrapped sport steering wheel, P195/75R15 Goodyear Tiempo steel-belted radial tires (which were the first tires made to meet standards for winter tires but intended for year-round use), sport fog lamps, halogen high beam headlamps, dual black remote mirrors, 4X4 sport graphics, black bumpers with nerf strips, black lower body moldings, blackout grille, taillamp paint treatment, side tape stripes, and black moldings on the windshield, rear window, door frames, and B-pillar.
All Eagles came with "Ziebart Factory Rust Protection" that included a five-year "No Rust Thru" transferable warranty. The cars were built using aluminized trim screws, plastic inner fender liners, and galvanized steel in every exterior body panel, and the body went through an epoxy-based primer bath (up to the window line). Eagles were backed by the AMC Buyer Protection Plan, a 12-month/ warranty on everything except the tires.
The drivetrain consisted of one engine, the straight-six, in conjunction with a three-speed automatic transmission (a version of Chrysler's A998), with Dana 30 and Dana 35 differentials. All 1980 Eagles came standard with a permanent 4WD system that employed a New Process 119 transfer case with a viscous fluid coupling that allowed the drive system to operate on wet or dry pavement without causing undue suspension and drivetrain wear. Due to its rugged undercarriage, two trailer-towing packages were available for handling trailers weighing up to . The top package included a weight distributing (equalizing) tow hitch, seven-connector wiring harness, wiring, auxiliary transmission oil cooler, 3.54 axle ratio, and also required both the optional heavy-duty battery and automatic load-leveling air shocks.