It almost seems incongruous to think of American Motors – that company so immersed in the red, white and blue that it adopted the color scheme for its race cars and for its logo – as exporting its products all over the globe, but Kenosha did indeed pursue export programs beyond North America, including to Australia, South Africa and Germany, often using partner companies to assemble knock-down versions of its cars. Indeed, that’s the case with the above right-hand drive 1968 Ambassador SST, photos of which Eddie Stakes forwarded to us from owner Greg Lees in New Zealand.
This 1973 Pierre Cardin Javelin that Eddie alerted us to, however, took a different route to a foreign land. While Eddie noted that AMC offered generous discounts to U.S. military personnel and often placed dealership close to military bases, owner Hasim Selçuk of Kayseri, Turkey, said its original owner, an engineer, actually imported the Javelin from the U.S. or Canada to Iraq when it was just a year old. Its second owner brought took it to Iraq and then sold it last year to Hasim, who recently finished a four-month restoration, using the Javelin’s original interior, original 401-cu.in. V-8, and repainting it in the stock F3 Fresh Plum.
Hats off to both Greg and Hasim, for taking on restorations of cars that are hard enough to get parts for here in the United States!
