(Photos by Dave Nutting) – (Editor’s note: It has been nearly exactly a year since we first ran this feature and since it has popped back up onto our radar we thought we would run it again. This car is seriously awesome and still being hammered today.)
Perhaps we should start out with an apology to southeastern Massachusetts for the tire smoke fog bank that Norm Sirois created during our feature shoot on this car. We have been hearing reports that some towns are still socked in. Our bad, we just couldn’t get enough of this thumping AMC powered brawler that runs 10s, gets driven daily during the summer months, and sounds like all hell is breaking loose every second that it is running. There’s not an LS engine, a turbo, fuel injection, or a computer within a mile of this thing. The 1979 AMC Spirit you see here is an old school ruffian of a car that we love for about 100 different points.
Heck, the whole reason this feature came together because Norm drives the thing so often. I had my wife and kids with me and we were rolling to a car show when all of a sudden I spotted Norm in traffic. Having never met the guy but announced and seen his car at New England Dragway over the years, I zipped through traffic to get a clear photo of the Spirit. I got close, whacked the photo and then as we drove by, Norm looked over, had no idea who I was and that was that until I tracked him down on Facebook and next thing you know we’re burning tires with him and Nutting is blasting photos. Technology, it is a beautiful thing!
Norm is an AMC guy because the first hot rod he got his mitts on was a Gremlin powered by the same 390 that’s making all the noise in this Spirit. The Gremlin belonged to a kid in the same town that Norm was in who was moving out of state and had to off load it quick. $2,800 later, Norm was terrorizing the streets in a 390 powered, T-10 shifted Gremmie and life was good. Making the body style switch into this car back in the 1990s, Norm has been beating on it ever since.
We’ll talk about lots of cool details about the car below but the engine is why we love it the most. The AMC 390 in this car originally lived in a Rebel Machine and it was about the meanest 390 that AMC produced. Rated at 340hp, it was a thumper on the street in the limited run Machine. If you can believe it, Norm runs the stock forged crank, stock factory steel rods, and even the stock factory iron heads! The 291C heads are good pieces and the lumpy Reed cam uses all of their breathing ability to the max. The car has gone 10.96/122 naturally aspirated and on the bottle it has gone 10.31/129 on a shot of nitrous. Norm told us that as the tach was hovering at 7,000 RPM just before he crossed the stripe he pedaled the car as to not kill it. The one concern that Norm has is causing some sort of catastrophic damage to the block as it is a pretty rare piece and we can understand that. The last time Norm had the bottom end apart was about five years ago even with all the street driving and lots of passes at New England Dragway running in the X275 class or just running for fun. That motor is build like an anvil and we love all of the factory parts and pieces involved in making it run so hard.
YOU KNOW HOW WE DO THIS – TO GET THE FULL STORY ON THIS SPIRIT SCROLL DOWN AND CHECK OUT THE GREAT PHOTOS ALONG WITH THE CAPTIONS FOR ALL THE DIRT –
Talk about timing.
I was just talking with a friend about how cool a Spirit would be with the wick turned way up, and Bangshift delivers!
Fantastic!
i have ALWAYS been impressed with that Spirit that I bugged Norm enough to take me for a ride…And he did WOW!! Is all I can say
Better with a SC/Rambler style hood scoop. What IS it with people and those hidious GM style cowl hoods? I guess they can only be so resourceful before the pack mentality kicks in…
First off FANTASTIC car! Like the hood scoop but I was thinking maybe a Machine scoop to give credit to the Machine engine under the hood.
This thing is bad ass! I love the looks and how it’s put together. This is just what I needed on a Monday morning and makes me forgive you for the Fairmont.
We need a video of this thing!
That’s a custom made amc hood scoop how do I know cus family car and if you search YouTube for normspirit you can find all of our videos
Awesome, thanks for the tip on where to look!
For the record, I like the scoop, it’s definitely less tall and “peacocky” than the GM ones.
https://www.youtube.com/user/normspirit?feature=mhee
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY4ylkJxYBk&list=UUb0zJUNEIFAkqi6pr8Yba8w
By far my favorite BS car feature of all time. I love the Spirit AMX. Hopefully people don’t figure out how cool they are before I can get my grubby mits on one cheap. Quick run a 69 Camaro story to distract the lemmings! Great photos and story. Keeping the AMC faithful happy.
Those Spirits make great little bracket cars…
I like this because he kept it all AMC, and I have a lot of respect for that, the fact that he runs 10’s and drives it on the street makes this one badass car.
thanks 75Duster we appreciate the kind words
Well Done Sir . Great feature on a well deserving ride.
Thanks guys we really appreciate the positive responses!
The hood is a piece from Frank’s custom fiberglass.
You can check out my videos on YouTube under the name normspirit there’s a bunch of in car footage and some my boys took from the starting line, check them out and enjoy!
Norm . Ive been looking for a cowl induction hood for my spirit.
is that a fiberglass hood or just a scoop to be mounted ?
Awesome car! I had the opportunity to buy a 401/4spd powered 79 AMX back in the mid-80’s but was sold it before I had all the money. Damn!
Proof that cars do not need a LS to be featured.
Proof that cars without a LS get better feedback….
“Let the Spirit Move You,” indeed (arcane reference to the AMC jingle in the commercials — If you’re in your mid 40s, you’ll get it.
great article for a great ride and a true blue gearhead, great seeing those obscure hotrods . Norm helped reseal the high school parking lot with tire rubber back in the day. buckle up and keep it straight,,,,, peace
HA HA HA HA HA you were right there beside me contributing your share of rubber buddy!
I remember the torino!
Another awesome feature car! We need more of this!!!
COOL!
One showed up for sale on my local craigslist yesterday, and then this feature article. http://columbiamo.craigslist.org/cto/4733576025.html
Awesome. Love the amc’s. Stuff like this makes me want to find one to hot rod! Yeah, I have two Chevys, but I like all the “off the beaten path” stuff.
where can i get a spool for my AMC 20 rear
Bob all I did was search “spool for AMC model 20″and then shopped for the best deal I could find, search jeep sights, even EBay, what I usually do on eBay is search for what I want then see if they have a store and check the store for a better price, sometimes you get lucky
AMC’s are street gangstas!! My favorite is a 65/66 Rambler American but this is just plain cool!! Great work guys!!
Very nice… its outside the box yet it makes you wonder why MORE people haven’t done this yeat.
Well done and it looks like a blast to drive. I like the hood scoop too!
Pure, insane AMC from front to rear. No LS pollution, just 390 CI of American Motors meanness. Deal me IN, Many thanks, Brian. Kenosha would be proud of you, ya whippersnapper.
Neglected to mention all manner of kudos and proper salutes to 1 BADAMC for 1 BADASS car.
Thanks bro!
You can rehash this feature every year, never get tired of it!
This may be the inspiration for my next street/strip vehicle!
Got a few updates with the car, did a little fine tuning and with some mine shaft conditions it recently went 10.92@122 N/A and with a 100 shot and running it out the back door it went 10.22@129.
Going to pull it out and check the bottom end over the winter, its been running flawlessly for 5 or 6 seasons, hundreds of passes and thousands of street miles.