I’ve been trying to contact Midwestern stock car racing great Tom Reffner to interview for The Complete Book of AMC Cars, and I had a feeling something was wrong. Tom passed away on October 22 at the age of 82. Tom and his childhood friend Dick Trickle shared a shop in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, during the 1970s, and Trickle, the greatest short track stock car racer of them all, won an astounding 67 races in 1972. Back then these racers could compete on the asphalt ovals of the Midwest four or five times a week, but Trickle’s performance that year was thought by many to never be duplicated again. Then in 1975 Tom Reffner won the same number of races, 67, while earning pole position in 81 of 116 races. But Tom (the “Blue Knight”) was racing an AMC Javelin on a Howe second-design chassis powered by a 380 AMC V8! The first time the Javelin turned a wheel he knew he was on to something, telling Stock Car Racing magazine: “ Yea, I came in from hot laps with a big smile on my face. I knew it would be a good season when I first stepped on the gas after warming up the engine.”

Reffner raced the Javelin again in 1976, then had Bill Bembinster’s Bemco Engineering built an AMC Hornet Hatchback for 1977. I took these photos of the Hornet at The Milwaukee Mile and Capital Speedway in 1979, still highly competitive though never approaching 67 victories in a season. Keep in mind the racing in this area was so competitive future NASCAR stars Dave Marcis, Dick Trickle, and Arkansas transplant Mark Martin, and NASCAR champions Alan Kulwicki and Matt Kenseth, would hone their talents there. Tom Reffner last won a stock car race in 1999 at the age of 58! But the cover story in Stock Car Racing magazine in 1978 said it all: “The Blue Knight Rides a Rambler.” RIP Tom!

Back in the 1960s the factories could build just about any combination of components — if you knew someone. The gentleman that ordered this one-of-a-kind 1966 Mercury Parklane Q-Code, powered by the Police Interceptor 428 V8, with a multitude of options including the rare factory Child seat, didn’t have that advantage. So when his order was rejected by Ford, he called headquarters in Dearborn, and eventually spoke to Lee Iacocca himself. Iacocca finally relented and made a phone call, order accepted. This Mercury was recently purchased from that original owner, has just 43,300.9 miles on the odometer, and is completely original, right down to the factory windshield washer fluid. It is now part of The Automobile Gallery museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and will be a future Photo Feature in Collectible Automobile magazine.

The 1974 AMC Matador Coupe looks like it was born for the race track. Instead, this sleek coupe was designed to compete with personal luxury cars like the Pontiac Grand Prix or Chevrolet Monte Carlo, although the slippery shape certainly benefitted Roger Penske’s NASCAR team. Unfortunately the coupe was launched just days before the first Arab Oil Crisis. The victim of bad timing and bad luck, the Matador had excellent first year sales but rapidly declined afterward. This 304 V8-powered Matador Coupe came from Wyoming and had just 9,123.9 miles when photographed!

“Introducing the American Eagle. Totally new, totally exciting and totally right for the 1980s!” Roy Lunn was the Technical Director of Engineering for Jeep after engineering the Ford GT40, GT Mark II and GT Mark IV that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966–69. Working with FF Developments and GKN Ltd. in his native England he created the revolutionary four-wheel-drive AMC Eagle. Based on the AMC Concord sedans and wagons, the 1980 Eagle was first mass-produced 4wd automobile. Later versions could be switched to two-wheel-drive, and were the official vehicle of the National Ski Patrol. They were also used by the California Highway Patrol and rural letter carriers due to their excellent traction. This immaculate 1987 Eagle Limited was one of just 5,203 Eagles built that year, and on March 10, 1987 AMC was sold to Chrysler, who then built the final 2,305 Eagles in ’88, the last AMC vehicles. We just photographed this Eagle for our upcoming book, The Complete Book of AMC Cars.