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Due to the declining sales of the Javelin in 1969, AMC made some dramatic changes for the 1970 model year. The nose was made longer, and there were small changes in the front grille and bumper, and the tail lights were modified some. The interior went through some major changes as well. The dashboard was revised, with a machined silver overlay with a matching glove box. The SST had the wood grain overlay replacing the standard silver. Corduroy and leather were new options for seat materials. The Big Bad colors were one again available, but chrome bumpers were now an option on these. Also optional were the 1970 Rebel Machine silver Rally wheels.
Go Package
The Go Package was revised for the 1970 Javelin, making it stand out even more from the standard model. The engine options were the new 360 replacing the 343, or the same 390, similar to the previous years. The big news for the Go Package was that the ram air hood scoops were functional, and the late 1969 Handling Package was standard with this package.
Due to the major changes in the 1970 Javelin, AMC had to homologate the Javelin all over again. This meant they needed to build at least 100 production models of a car for sale, to be able to use that model in the Trans Am races. The Trans Am races were very popular in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, somewhat like how Nascar is popular today.
All 100 Trans-Am Javelin models were painted striped colors of Hash Red, white, and blue. The color scheme matched the actual 1968 and 1969 Javelin race cars, but the 100 cars that were produced were a hard sell on the showroom floors. They were eye catching, but they were definitely a red flag for the police, and for street racers. The Trans-Am Javelin was a respectable street racer, but it could not hold up against big block muscle cars being offered by other car manufacturers, and the paint scheme was an easy target to find.
It’s not known how many of these 100 Trans-Am Replica Javelin’s still exist, but the ones that do exist have mostly been painted over. This is one of the rarest and most collectible Javelin models ever produced.
Mark Donohue Javelin SST
Mark Donohue was a very successful racer, winning three Trans Am championships between 1967 and 1971. He raced AMC cars in the Trans Am series races, and this new Javelin was designed for him to race. In January 1970, the Trans Am race rules changed from needing 100 cars to 2,500 street models to be able to race that year. This left AMC scrambling to reach the goal. They knew instantly that they would not reach that goal with the current paint scheme, so they decided to use Donohue’s name on a Javelin that could be ordered in any paint color, including the Big Bad colors. Donohue himself helped with some design considerations, such as the rear spoiler.
The new Donohue Javelin model line was a bit odd. All models were supposed to be the same, other than the interior and exterior colors; The only visible sign that it was a Donohue Javelin was to be the rear Donohue logo on the spoiler, and the special 360 engine. The Donohue model was to include the 360 four carb engine which was designed just for the Donohue (See the engine details below for more details), have the SST and Go Package, be a four speed or automatic floor shift, and feature the functional ram air. The only option that was supposed to be available was air conditioning, which was rare. However, some models got the 390, and two models even got the 304 engine. Others did not have the SST or Go Package, meaning the ram air was not functional. Some even had column shifters.
Donohue even bought a model for his mom to drive. There are probably more than 2,501 Donohue Javelin's around today, due to the fact that they are easy to counterfeit. The only visible differences are the rear spoiler and the Donohue label on it. You were able to purchase this spoiler over the counter at any AMC dealership, which many did. The main ailment over this is that there is no verifiable way to determine whether a Donohue Javelin is legit or not. There is no way to determine it through the VIN or body tag codes. The only real way to determine it is with the original window sticker.
