1979 AMC Spirit Is Junkyard Treasure
This Spirit has everything from an 8-track player to a real digital clock. Murilee Martin
The American Motors Corporation was on the ropes, financially speaking, in the late 1970s. Renault showed up with much-needed cash in 1979, but the modern AMC-Renault machinery produced by the merger was still a few years in the future. What AMC
did have that year was an all-new compact to replace the Gremlin: the Spirit. Here s one of those first-year Spirits, found in a Denver boneyard with just about every available option. Murilee Martin
See that big air-conditioning compressor? A/C was a $731 option on this car, which comes to around $2,790 in inflation-adjusted 2021 bones, or clams. This engine is the 258-cubic-inch (4.2-liter) AMC straight-six, second from the top of the 79 Spirit engine-choice pyramid and rated at 110 horsepower. That was a $130 option ($495 today); the 304-cubic-inch (5.0-liter) V8 made 125 hp and cost $250 ($953 today).