Car of the Week: 1970 AMC Javelin SST

[dodgechargerfan]

He’ll never know for sure, but Dave Labar can probably claim to have the “most painted” AMC Javelin remaining on the globe.

At last count, the Mountain Home, Idaho, resident had painted his beloved 1970 Javelin SST six times. The car is in fantastic condition now and looks great, so Labar has no plans to ever paint it again.

But you never know.

“It’s been a great car. I’ve never really restored it, just repaired it as necessary over the years,” Labar says. “The last time I had it painted, I had to have it blasted down to the bare metal. With five coats on there, the paint was getting kind of thick!”

As a collector vehicle, Labar’s Javelin is unique in several ways. First, there aren’t a ton of ’70 Javelins of any variety still remaining. Only 19,714 of the SSTs were built — plus about 100 SST “Trans Am” editions and another 2,500 Mark Donohue signature models — and nice examples are not overly plentiful these days.

Read more.

 

[Not A Duster]

Always liked these cars. I would be happy to own one...

Kind of unique being a six I think.

 

[68R/T]

It is a nice looking car, especially for never having a full-on resto. Sporty looking, six banger economy and a stir-stick on the floor, what more could you want.

 

[Stretch]

what more could you want.

Two more cylinders, three more bbls. and two less trunnions. Other than that, it's pretty sweet!

 

[Dr.Jass]

I like this car just the way it is. After spending a couple of months driving The Turquoise Terror (a '67 Dodge D100) while my Ram Air III was being built, then owning my '80 Aspen Slant Six 4-speed, there's a certain charm to manual-transmission, inline-six powered rigs. And, truth be known, that Aspen never lost a race to the other side of an intersection. With the deep first gear of the overdrive trans and a 3.21:1 rear gear, that thing was a monster--for about 40 feet.

 

[68R/T]

With the deep first gear of the overdrive trans and a 3.21:1 rear gear, that thing was a monster--for about 40 feet.

That made me recall an old wrecker owned by an old friend of mine. It was a '58 chevy 3/4 ton with an antique boom mounted on it. It was powered by a 'power-pac' 283, (220 hp) mated to a rare chevy bolt patterned 4 spd hydra-matic. This thing would jump off the line and suck your eyeballs in all the way to 30 mph. Which was usually about 30 ft..