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The AMX created excitment. Here at last was a two-place sports coupe American Motors could be proud to show off, and that's exactly what they did. The AMX sat on a 97 in. wheelbase, it had an overall length of 177.22 in., a width of 71.57 in. and a height of 51.73 in. The front tread measured 58.36 in., the rear 57 in. It weighed in at just over 3,000 lbs.
Even before it was introduced to the public at the Chicago Auto Show on February 23, 1968, the AMX broke 106 National and International speed records with Craig Breedlove behind the wheel. Breedlove would take the AMX to Bonneville and run an official 189 mph with an unofficial run of over 200 mph. 
On the streets the competition was finding that the little company from Kenosha had an underdog that would bite. Straight line was fine but when run hard through the corners the AMX really came alive! Mechanix Illustrated tested the car and had this to say: "In summing up, the AMX is the hottest thing to ever come out of Wisconsin and I forgot to tell you they have it suspended so that you can whip through corners and real hard bends better than with many out-and-out sports cars". To go along with the performance of the car AMC offered a number of luxury items. Air conditioning, automatic tranmission, tilt steering, power steering or quick-ratio manual steering, AM, AM-FM or AM 8 track stereo, tinted windows, remote outside mirror and power disc brakes were on the list with many other options. Reclining bucket seats were standard. The AMX was the only American steel bodied two seater of its time, the last being the '55-'57 Ford Thunderbird. The starting factory price for a 1968 AMX was $3,245.00, nearly $1,500.00 less than a Corvette. Hitting the show rooms in March of '68 resulted in only 6,725 AMXs being built, but the company's larger goal for the AMX was met, to bring younger customers into AMC showrooms and to show that AMC was finally serious about performance. Other happenings in 1968 1968 Top Songs:
1968 Prices:
President: LYNDON JOHNSON V.P.: HUBERT HUMPHREY
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Even
when standing still the AMX looked like it was travelling 100 mph. Performance was the
word, only V-8's were available, and those were all equipped with Carter four-barrels and
dual exhausts. The baseline 290 ci produced 225 hp at 4700 rpm, the optional 343 ci
produced 280 hp and the top-of-the-line 390 was rated at 315 hp with a tire smoking 425
ft.lbs of torque. (note: all AMC V-8s are smallblocks! the 290, 304, 343, 360, 390 and 401
engines are all based on the same block. This is NOT a Ford 390!) AMC advertised in its
factory literature and ads that "once the 390 was broken in, you could roll right
onto a race track and be ready to do 130 mph". If that wasn't enough there were the
Group 19 dealer-installed factory performance parts; Aluminum intake manifolds, hi-lift
cams, roller rockers, Detroit Locker rear-ends with gears as steep as 5.00: 1, side pipes,
and rear wheel disc brake kits, to name a few.