J.W. Magner sent us this awesome tribute to AMC history. The Tarpon was originally a styling exercise of AMC.
In 1964 American Motors VP of styling created a Tarpon concept car. The Tarpon was created from the American platform to compete with the new Mustang pony car. The Tarpon made a splash at the New York Auto-show. The Tarpon never went into production for two main reasons. AMC president decided he wanted the car bigger & the current AMC’s V-8’s would not fit under the hood. AMC brass decided to build the Marlin instead on the bigger Classic platform. The Tarpon show car was destroyed.
Two brothers in New York area created a tribute of the original 1964 Tarpon concept car from a 1966 American Rogue convertible and a 1965 Marlin parts cars. The 1966 American was chosen due to the current AMC V-8 would fit. This 1966 Tarpon Concept is equipped with a 343, 4 barrel engine and a 4-speed manual transmission and painted in the same red/black combination as the original Tarpon Concept.
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