AMC (American Motors Corporation) needed a kick up the rear in the mid 1960s to get it out of the doldrums and also gear the company up now its bread and butter cars were given tough competition from new compact General Motors cars. Robert Beverly Evans bought into AMC and 1966 had earned a seat on the board, and he supported projects to build a 'Pony Car' AMC model, although the misguided Rambler Marlin was NOT the answer. A prototype AMX coupe, built up for show by Vignale, was more attractive and an internal team developed a similar car led by Dick Teague. In August 1967 the new car was launched as the Rambler Javelin and was only offered as a 2-door fastback coupe. The base model was given a 3.8-litre inline six or a 4.8-litre V8, with a much more powerful 5.6-litre V8 in several states of tune. AMC added a 6.4-litre with tuning up to 315bhp for 1968. In 1968 AMC took the Javelin Drag Racing and Trans-Am Racing with notable successes. AMC restyled the Javelin for 1971, but the Javelin model was dropped in 1974.