AMC's Javelin adverts showed a Ford Mustang being smashed with sledgehammers
Car advertising in the 1960s politely ignored the competition. American Motors did the opposite. Its campaign for the new Javelin put the car side by side with the Ford Mustang, and one spot showed a Mustang being pounded to pieces with sledgehammers. The underdog pony car went on to win the Trans-Am series three times.
AMC wanted to shake off its image as a maker of sensible economy cars, and the Javelin was its answer to the Mustang. Short of money, the company could not offer separate fastback and notchback bodies like Ford and Plymouth, so Dick Teague's team drew a single semi-fastback shape. Teague joked that he had given it the wet T-shirt look, all curves and no fat, despite management demands for a decent boot and rear seat.
It went on sale in September 1967, priced from 2,743 dollars, and was roomier than both the Mustang and the Camaro. Motor Trend ranked it top of its sports-personal class, hailing it as the standout newcomer of the year, and Car and Driver praised its honest looks, free of fake vents and bulges. It also brought safety touches such as the industry's first fibreglass padding on the interior windscreen pillars and flush door handles. The advertising, by Mary Wells Lawrence's agency, hit its target: the first 1,000 buyers averaged 29 years old, ten years younger than typical AMC customers.
Performance options escalated quickly. The Go Package with a 343 cubic inch V8 managed 0 to 60 mph in 8 seconds, and a 390 arrived in mid-1968 that cut that to around seven. From 1969 buyers could pick loud Big Bad paint in neon blue, orange or green as AMC chased younger drivers.
On the track, Kaplan Engineering ran two Javelins in the 1968 Trans-Am season with little factory support; the so-called Cinderella team finished every race it entered. Titles followed in 1971, 1972 and 1976. The later AMX version also became the first pony car adopted by an American police force for regular highway patrol. First-year output reached 55,125 cars.
Source: AMC Javelin
