At $5,500, Would You Conquer The World In This 1981 AMC Concord?

According to the seller, today’s Nice Price or No Dice AMC Concord has only 3,600 miles on the clock. That’s a mere 81 miles per year, meaning this car really needs to get out and see the world. Let’s see if it’s priced to do just that.

In modern parlance, to be “in a pickle” commonly means to be stuck in a jam, a tough predicament. That may not have always been the case, as when Shakespeare used the phrase in “The Tempest,” in which King Alonso asks of the jester Trinculo, “How camest thou in this pickle?” the reference was to the latter’s being drunk, not being in a bind.

Porsche was in a pickle in the modern sense, back in the 1980s, as sales dwindled and costs rose. Fortunately, the company revised its production methods and introduced a series of money-making cars and crossovers that brought it back from the brink. Money matters and Porsches seem to go hand in hand, as evidenced by the 1989 Porsche 944 S2 we considered last Friday. With its large-displacement four under the hood, that coupe should prove quite speedy. The $17,800 asking price proved it to be pretty spendy as well. Many of you commented that better options are out there for entry into the Porsche clan, a consideration that was reflected in the 60% No Dice vote the car received.

If you are now, or at any time in your life have been employed by a company of any size, you’ve no doubt heard the phrases “do more with less” and “work smarter, not harder.” These are managerial mantras that drive workforces to unionize and individuals to write resumes.

It’s not always a bad thing, however, and in the automotive world, there is no better example of a company that did more with less than the tale of American Motors.

An amalgamation of marques that arose in the 1960s, AMC was never going to compete at the same level as the “Big Three” U.S. automakers. It did seem to find its own niche, however, especially with the company’s Jeep products. Its car line, on the other hand, was severely limited. By the middle of the 1970s, it was comprised of the large Matador, oddball Pacer, mid-sized Hornet, and the Hornet-derived Gremlin, most of which originated in the late 1960s. With little money to spend on new designs and engineering, AMC instead followed a course of sprucing up and re-naming its existing models in the hopes of making them seem fresh to keep luring buyers through dealers’ doors.

This 1981 AMC Concord is an example of that practice. While branded as a Concord, this is little more than a fancy-pants version of the earlier Hornet with some better sound and harshness mitigation and minor styling tweaks. That, along with an innovative but otherwise equally old design 4WD version called the Eagle, seemed to be enough to keep the company’s lights on for several years until the whole shebang was sold to France’s Renault.

AMC’s financial straits at the time are also evident in this car’s drivetrain. Debuting during the second global oil crisis (thanks, OPEC), this Concord has a four-cylinder engine and four-speed manual transmission. As AMC didn’t have a pot to piddle in, much less the cash to develop its own fuel-efficient four, the company bought the Concord’s Iron Duke 2.5 liter engine from General Motors. According to the EPA, in the Concord, that combo could achieve 34 miles per gallon on the highway. That’s probably fanciful, but anything over 30 mpg in a car of this size from that era would be impressive.

More impressive is this Concord’s condition. Per the seller and the picture of the instrument cluster, this car has only ever done 3,574 and a half miles. Now, that may very well be because the underpowered (82-horsepower) Iron Duke engine makes this a wholly unpleasant car to drive. Alternatively, someone may have bought this Concord, squirreled it away for decades, only driving it occasionally to keep it in the game, with the intention of selling it once it reached classic status and making bank.

Either way, what we have here is what is probably the nicest four-cylinder, four-speed Concord sedan on the planet. It also seems to have a clean title and current plates. For anyone seeking to build out their AMC museum—or are just kind of a weirdo—this is your car.

As stated in the ad, there is not a speck of rust on the car, a remarkable feat as it is offered in the middle of the rust belt. It also presents as complete and without issue in the bodywork or vinyl top. A color-coordinated velour interior completes the ’80s aesthetic, and that is full of dryer sheets, so it probably smells as nice as it looks. There is some bubbling in the headliner—some fights with time are unwinnable—but otherwise it all seems to be complete and ready to rock. 

Anyone interested in rocking this peach of a Concord grape will need to come up with either $5,500 or an interesting trade. The seller muses that they might consider “hunting boats, fishing boats, hunting/ fishing equipment, other vehicles, inclose trailers, motorcycles” for that trade.

I don’t believe that we have any of those lying around—but do check your pockets—so we’ll have to stick with the cash offer.

What’s your take on this underused AMC and that $5,500 asking? Is it really worth that much? Or, crazy-low mileage or not, does this poverty spec car require an equally parsimonious price?

You decide!

Nice Price or No Dice:

Facebook Marketplace out of Rockford, Iowa, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T Glemon for the hookup!

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