Originally Posted by IowaEagle
Hi, first post here so here goes.
Mick shared this was going on over at the Nest and I kind of got a chuckle out of it. One thing I guess I will share, whether or not folks think of the AMC Eagle and the AMC Jeeps related or not, is this:
Roy C. Lunn, vice-president of AMC's Jeep division created/engineered the following noteworthy vehicles: AMC Eagle, AMC Jeep Cherokee; AMC Jeep CJ7 and the AMG Humvee. The AMC Eagle was the test platform for the later Cherokee to demonstrate 4WD was feasilbe on a unit body vehicle. The first prototype Eagle (really a Hornet ca. 1974) used off the shelf Jeep parts but Mr. Lunn felt the components at that time were too crude for to use in a car based 4WD. It was about 3 years later when he had fitted in, what he called at the time, QTII. That is a viscous coupled transfer case in lieu of the QTI set up he used before.
Is the AMC Eagle an AMC Jeep? Technically, "no". However, the AMC Eagle was sold and "EPA'd"as a light truck, never a car, Jeep products of the time used a lot of AMC car parts (yes, even Pacer parts). So what was the AMC Eagle -- IMO a Hybrid between AMC 2WD passenger car with some AMC Jeep components and a few components unique to the AMC Eagle. And, admittedly by AMC execs a test bed for future Jeeps.
But wait, maybe they are Jeeps. European AMC Eagles, according to our European members were sold and registered over there as "Jeep Eagles".
There is a lot more history I could share as Mr. Lunn did send me a few years ago much of his original design and concept information for continued safe keeping as he was moving back to Europe and his wife made him get rid of it. Some really neat and interesting stuff. One plaque he sent was his 4X4 of the year award (1980) for, you guessed it, the AMC Eagle.