AMC’s mid-engine experiment proved too far ahead of its time, showing what could have been if Detroit backed radical ideas.

Produced from 1968 to 1970, the AMC AMX was the only American two-seater aside from the Corvette. It was nowhere near as successful.

Just as there was once an age of giant reptiles some 100-odd million years ago, there was once an age of American automotive giants. Although they may be dinosaurs today, the “Big Three”—General ...