The story of American Motors can be summed up in one sentence: “God bless ’em, they tried.” From the moment Hudson and Nash were combined in 1954 until the day that Chrysler bought the company in 1987, American Motors did everything in their power to stay afloat. While Detroit fell in love with the longer-lower-wider themes, they stayed frugal with Ramblers. When power was the name of the game, they tried to build a supercar and nearly succeeded with the AMX/3. During the bad old days of the 1970s, AMC broke out the Hornet, a platform so versatile that it lasted up until Chrysler entered the fray, and then there was the four-wheel-drive stuff that predated crossovers by thirty-plus years. What the company could’ve done with a real budget would’ve been nothing short of spectacular, but today an AMC is an odd footnote in history. 
“All makes combined”, the joke goes, and it’s not too far from the truth. Glance over a later model AMC product and you’ll notice the cues, a lot of Ford and Chrysler pieces on a car that really isn’t either. Can’t blame American Motors, though…they didn’t have the budget to do it themselves. So seeing a GM key blank wouldn’t be out of the question. But seeing a very worked over Ford 429 stuffed into the nose of this 1979 Spirit is well out of the normal! The Spirit was the last real attempt at a sporty AMC product. Based upon the Gremlin layout, the Spirit was the last home of the AMX, and in four-wheel-drive guise became the Eagle SX/4, both of which were products of their time. Compared to the very neutered 304ci V8 that the AMX saw, this relatively light Spirit should be a handful the moment you drop the hammer and let the green meanie eat. Sometimes, collaboration is a good thing!
Craigslist Link: 1979 American Motors Spirit
Sweet holy joy!
Yet another example of what happens when a car builder actually has a functioning brain and spits on the LS in favour of a “shotgun wedding”.
Shoulda’ stuck an MG 4-holer in it… Geordie would be stewing in his too-tighty-whiteys right now!
Pretty sure that I love the teardrop hoodscoop on about anything.
Hey HotRodPop, I’ve got a MGB 4 banger Geordie can have (have a sbc in my MGB)
That isn’t the “Shotgun” 429, which has different heads & valve covers. Still, a big block Ford in that little car….. Oh yeah!