Topic: Hey, Mazda!

[Otto Puzzell]

The 1971 Javelin called - it wants its front fenders back!

[Ultra]

 

[ateball]

When AMC came out with the new styled 71 Javelin, it was a love'it or hate'it fender-well style. 

I attended many of the old SCCA Trans-American Sedan Pony Car races back in the 60's--early 70's, and was quite an AMC fan at the time.

The 71 styled fender-wells went beautifully with the Penske Trans-Am Javelins as the cars were lowered, and the rubber inside those fender-wells filled those fender humps nicely.

On the stock, "Joe Customer" side, the tires/wheels that came as standard and even optioned were I believe E-60 profiled bias belts, and were just too small for that size opening.

By far, I think that Dick Teague was one of the best automotive designer/stylist of his time for AMC......Never the less, the 71 through 74 Javelin/AMX fender-well needed bigger rubber to look the part. 

I still wouldn't mind getting my hands on a 1971-72 Javelin/AMX as the smog idiots in California and D.C. hadn't robbed those years of engine driveability and power.

I owned a 68 AMX with a 4xx production number on the glove box.  It had the full "Go Package" with the a 4 speed, and the very nice AMC 390 cid V8.  Only a little over 17,000 two seater AMX's were built from 1968-70.  I sold that car for $2,000.00 in 1983.
*******
If your gonna build big fender-wells, you gotta fill'em with lots of rubber or they look real lame, IMO.

[Otto Puzzell]

You had an AMX??

I rode in one once, in the non-back seat. I loved the look, the sound, the whole experience.

I agree with your assessment of Teague over the years he pulled off some pretty impressive work, given his often laughably small budget. This was true of his stay at Packard, as well as AMC.

[Bezor]

I don't get Mazda design with the fat fenders.  For some reason, they will not lower their cars to compensate for the aggro fenders.

They look like skateboards.

[MG]

It's like the current "silly grilles" competition. As cars start to look more and more alike (Saw a Hyundai sedan yesterday that looked for all the world like a Mercedes), manufacturers are falling all over themselves for some way, any way, to make their cars stand out from the other guy's cars. Mazda has chosen to accentuate the front fenders to accomplish this. Whether or not their cars look good as a result is a matter of taste. Myself, I think they look silly. But all new Mazda's do have this characteristic so at least the desire to make a Mazda look like a Mazda has been accomplished.

Whether or not that's a good thing?   I dunno........