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Shirley Shahan’s Experimental Hurst/AMX


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Hey All, While I’m working on the Strickler Impala, which I was going to use the Gardner 62 amt kit, I found the Strickler kit on eBay. So, I decided to start work on another kit that’s been waiting too long. Shirley Shahan’s Hurst/AMX experimental. I found some good pics of the car but they’re black and white. I had to piece the decals together and I used dry transfer letters for the door glass. 

FC365B75-D569-4F8D-85BA-C05E65F7F6CF.jpeg

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Shirley Shahan's Hurst / AMX , c.1975 . Back lot of Ricker Motors Nash-Rambler-AMC ---- literally 2 blocks away from where I grew up !

( photo courtesy of the internet , unknown credit )

EDIT : This is c.1980 . I last saw the car on Ricker's lot around that time .

EDIT 2 : My mistake regarding the Hurst / AMX in the photo ---- it is NOT Shirley's after all , but rather a dealership-sponsored car (again , Ricker Motors) :

http://www.ssamx.com/29.htm

 

My apologies for the oversite . Shahan's car was # 35 :

http://www.superstockamx.com/page48.php

5cfd95fdf0362_RickerMotorsSSAMXcolour.jpg.0f3297cc7448a252a74b246f1f3b6a50.jpg

 

Edited by 1972coronet
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1 hour ago, afx said:

Great start Steve.  Not familiar with the car what was "experimental" about it?

That term as applied to the car could mean :

- American Motors "eXperimental" ( AMX -- the car's namesake )

- Test vehicle for the Hurst S/S AMX programme ( I believe that the car was modified similarly to the 1968 Hemi Barracuda --- take a car from the motor pool and modify it for product development purposes )

I believe that AMC did the latter ; took a 390-powered '69 AMX , built it for racing use , then let Shirley Shahan test it . I seem to recall some photos from O.C.I.R. ( Orange County Int'l Raceway ) from late '68 or early '69 with Shahan piloting the test mule .

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15 hours ago, 1972coronet said:

That term as applied to the car could mean :

- American Motors "eXperimental" ( AMX -- the car's namesake )

- Test vehicle for the Hurst S/S AMX programme ( I believe that the car was modified similarly to the 1968 Hemi Barracuda --- take a car from the motor pool and modify it for product development purposes )

I believe that AMC did the latter ; took a 390-powered '69 AMX , built it for racing use , then let Shirley Shahan test it . I seem to recall some photos from O.C.I.R. ( Orange County Int'l Raceway ) from late '68 or early '69 with Shahan piloting the test mule .

My cousin was a street racer and ran an AMX in the day. He explained to me that the "X" stood for experimental. The AMX was American Motors test platform for factory & aftermarket speed equipment.

Edited by 69NovaYenko
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I believe the Hurst AMXs were set up to run in NHRA SS/E. But I seem to recall that also in 1969, AHRA was running an SS/E class that was Super Stock Experimental for the run-whatcha-brungers and match racers like Jenkins, Sox, Landy, Nicholson, et al, who were blazing the trail for 1970's Pro Stock. Maybe that's what this is? :huh:

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Shirley was the only woman ( at the time ) to win a major drag racing championship,  which she then switched to American Motors and drove the Hurst prepped ‘69 AMX that was wrenched  by her husband, H L Shahan. The website superstock AMX.com has some great photos and history on the car.    The kit scoop is wrong, nothing like the prototype, but I couldn’t find any good photos showing it so I went with the kit scoop.  I cant figure out what color the interior is. The pics are B&W, in one of them it almost looks like it could be blue, and I’m guessing the car was white, then they added the red and blue. I did replicate her prototype paint job, which looked like it was a metallic blue, not Big Bad Blue. I just guessed...

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9 hours ago, Snake45 said:

 I seem to recall that also in 1969, AHRA was running an SS/E class that was Super Stock Experimental 

There was a S/SE class ( Super / Stock Eliminator ) ---- I believe that the class you're referring to was "S/SX" or "SS/X" . 

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54 minutes ago, dragmodels44 said:

I cant figure out what color the interior is. The pics are B&W, in one of them it almost looks like it could be blue, and I’m guessing the car was white, then they added the red and blue. 

I think all the Hurst-built cars had charcoal gray interiors. At least the restored one that I based my own build on did, so that's how I did mine. 

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11 hours ago, 1972coronet said:

There was a S/SE class ( Super / Stock Eliminator ) ---- I believe that the class you're referring to was "S/SX" or "SS/X" . 

https://books.google.com/books?id=RdeqDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA61&lpg=PA61&dq=AHRA+SS/E&source=bl&ots=NXN3litw-c&sig=ACfU3U0zWO503cn-uxwZYRonJgFR02yUeA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiSx-qFteHiAhUKm1kKHfhZAsMQ6AEwAHoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=AHRA SS%2FE&f=false

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23 hours ago, Oldschool4x4 said:

If anyone is interested, find a copy of Muscle Car Review March 2015, its an AMC issue, and there is a good article on these cars.

Found the article!!

https://www.hotrod.com/muscle-car-review/

This is a wonderful stroll down memory lane for any AMC connoisseur and a treasure trove of info & pictures for one of an AMC builds I`m planning. Thanks for the lead.

Edited by 69NovaYenko
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Update. Just wanted to post some pics of the progress. I did a little engine detail adding fuel lines. The rest is mostly paint detail, and I added the American Motors on the rear fenders. The dry transfer letters were a nightmare, with most of them being old and wouldn’t stick or one off the transfer. But I tried to get it as correct as possible. Thanks for looking!

F96EF0C9-60C9-4197-ACB7-2EEAB2F962F8.jpeg

C337B748-DA35-4C3C-B261-660D9B037900.jpeg

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