Car Spot: 81 AMC Concord Sundancer

Another swing for the fence for that plucky little car company

It happens only once every three years, the Kenosha Homecoming Car Show, and this year I had a chance to take it in. It was great seeing all kinds of American Motors cars built just down the road. The company also had a large operation up the road in Milwaukee, where the body plant was located, along with the National Parts Distribution Center, where my dad worked. This week’s spot, an ’81 Concord Sundancer, was one of the cars where AMC said, why not, lets give it a shot.

By the late 1970’s convertibles had pretty much run their course, and if you wanted one, you were out of luck. Jack Griffith, owner of the Griffith Co., got his start building Shelby Cobra-type race cars based on the English TVR sports car in a 200 Series and 400 Series, and saw an opportunity for the car companies to get back into the drop-top game without a lot of engineering expense. He already had significant experience converting Toyota Celicas, known as Sunchasers, and as it would turn out, American Motors was looking to increase foot traffic in its dealers’ showrooms.

RELATED Spot: AMC did hit a homer with the Levi’s Gremlin.

So in 1980, AMC entered into an agreement to convert its Concord and Eagle 2-door models into a Targa convertible named “Sundancer“. The cars were to be ordered by dealers through AMC, who would then build the cars in hardtop fashion and ship them to Florida for the conversion. Griffith would then return the finished product to Kenosha, Wisconsin, for final delivery to dealers. It could be ordered in any exterior color, but the interior had only one color option, “Nutmeg”. The conversion part (Targa band, vinyl roof, and convertible top) was also only available in a muddy brown color, which saved on production costs. All other AMC options were available.

The Sundancer wasn’t a true convertible; it was a targa, both to simplify the conversion and to help the structural rigidity that would be lost when the steel top disappeared. But compared to the popular T-roof options of the day, this was as close to a real drop-top you could get at the time. It was also the first AMC convertible since the 1968 Rambler Rebel nearly a decade and a half earlier.

Pricing started at $10,500, a 40-percent premium for a Concord. That’s a lot of money for a brand that promoted itself to be sensibly priced. The dealer cost on the conversion was $2,995 and was set to retail for $3,750, although later models saw the conversion add a cool $4,000 markup. Because of this, Sundancers were frequently used as showroom-traffic generators; thus, they were ordered by dealers rather than buyers.

AMC and Griffith had big plans for the project, eventually moving the conversion process to Kenosha, but when fewer than 200 were produced, that would be it. Why did it die? Lots of speculation. First, it was too expensive, and second, by 1982, Detroit was starting to get back into convertibles: Chrysler had K-car convertibles on the way, Ford had a Mustang convertible, and General Motors had the Chevrolet Cavalier and the Cadillac Eldorado covering both the low and high end customers. Suddenly, the niche was mainstream again.

So what are they worth now? Like most AMCs, not a lot, even though they are tougher and tougher to find. Recent auction sales show prices can range from approximately $5,300 to over $37,000 for a high-condition 1981 AMC Eagle Sundancer Limited. If I were to get one, I’d go for an Eagle, go anywhere in the winter, and top-down off-roading during the summer. What fun!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my latest spot. Check out my others from the Homecoming Event, and I’ll have a few more in the future. Have a great week, and I’ll see you next Sunday.