Many American car manufacturers saw turbocharging, fuel injection, and front-wheel drive as means of re-introducing performance cars to the market as the era of sundown stripes gave way to that of pastel smears. American Motors, on the other hand, did not. Instead, it made one final attempt at the big-engine-in-small-car approach with the Spirit AMX, a low-mileage example of which will head to auction over Memorial Day weekend.

Like the Z28, the AMX nameplate disappeared from the AMC lineup in 1975 and 1976 as the country grappled with the 1973-1974 oil embargo. And like the Z28, the AMX nameplate returned in 1977, though not as a Javelin or in its original two-seater form. Instead, thanks to Jim Wangers, who founded his own auto consultancy/conversion shop, Motortown Corporation, after his tenure at Pontiac, the AMX became a sort of halo car on the Hornet platform. The Hornet AMX didn’t benefit from any performance upgrades to its 304-cu.in. V-8, but it did feature flares, eye-catching colors, and some stylized graphics.

The so-called “decal GT” was born.