THE EAGLE PAGE 2
Real Four Wheel Drive
The little monster was first produced during the 1980 model year. AMC didn't have a whole lotta dough to play around with so the Eagle was kind of a mix of Jeep and Concord. AMC reached deap into its parts bin to come up with a totally different car. The Concord body was used and plastic wheel flares were put on to lessen the jacked up look of the car. Plastic body molding was used elsewhere as well. The Eagle had intergrated bumpers as well to futher differate the Eagle from the Concord. Still it was often mistaken for the Concord, some people called it the Concord 4x4 (like Car Talk's Tom and Ray). Even worse the car was mistaken to be a Hornet 4x4 by a few non car people. But all this aside the car still was different from anything else on the road.
Some interior high lights were the awsome plaid and vinyl seats (from the Pacer no less), way cool wood paneling on the dash, and a tray under the dash. The quart clock was another nifty design touch by AMC. Many things have been said about AMC's design but cheap isn't one of them. The whole car was heavily built and everything was a much higher grade than in AMC's small cars (Spirit, AMX).
Looking under the hood reveals several things. First, vacuum hoses and emission controls are not user friendly. Second, the little light for the engine compartment is very handy. Last but not least, the Carter BBD carb sucks. No way around it nothing is worse than stomping on the accelerator only to find a unsatisfying flat spot in the rev range. The only good thing about the BBD is that it works at just about any angle short of upside down. I have had the Eagle on bumpy trails and never had leaning out or cutting out like some other carbs. It has never stalled on any incline I have gotten the car onto.
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