| 1970 Mark Donohue Javelin Featured in Muscle Car Review, Muscle Car Enthusiast Magazines |
We bought the car in 1998 after locating it on the Internet. We had been looking for a 1970 Javelin that was optioned in a certain way. We wanted a 390 4-speed with
Go-Pak. It turns out we were able to locate, not only a 390 4-speed car, but also; Matador Red, red leather, go-pak, 3:90.1 Twin Grip, factory Ram Air, Adjust-O-Tilt
Steering column and non-A/C. The car was originally a Colorado car purchased new in Denver, which means it has NO rust at all. The car had 64k original on it, and must
have spent much of its life in a garage due to the condition of the interior. Typically Colorado cars have no rust on the exterior, but the interiors are baked. However, the
interior on this car was beautiful. The original leather was still in pretty good shape condidering it is 30 years old. Just before finding the car in Michigan, the car was
transported from Colorado to Zephyr Hills, Florida as part of the Kruse Collector car auction circuit. A small dealer bought the car in Florida, and transported it to his car
lot in Michigan, where we purchased it and brought it back home to Colorado.
Since finding the Javelin, we've slowly been spending the time to find correct parts to return it to the condition it left the factory. New paint (Matador Red) and reverse C
stripe bring the car back to it's original glory. We added a reproduction front underbody "Group 19" fiberglass spoiler. We rebuilt the engine with forged pistons and
balanced rotating assembly. We also rebuilt the front end, brakes and replaced all the bushings. We rebuilt the T-10 4-speed and replaced the clutch. We also
removed the aftermarket Mallory Unilite distributor and coil and replaced it with the factory coil and distributor. The gas tank was replaced with a NOS unit. Cosmetic
improvements include NOS simulated side exhaust rocker moldings, NOS tail light lenses, re-chromed bumpers, and 15X7 magnum 500 wheels (although we still have the
factory styled steel wheels in storage). On the interior we added a new headliner and replaced the woodgrain dash overlay with a NOS unit. We recently replaced the
original leather with Legendary leather. Although the original leather was still in pretty good shape, we decided that we would put the original seats in storage and
install the new leather. We also found the build sheet tucked away under the rear seat! We also recently located a NOS AM part numbered R4B aluminum intake
manifold. We also hunted down all of the original smog equipment to put the car back in its original state under the hood. Finding the correct backfire valve for the
smog pieces was the most difficult, but we were successful finding a NOS part.
The 1970 Javelin was the peak of AMC development and design. The car makes no excuses in a crowd of Boss Mustangs, Z-28 Camaros and Cudas. The Javelin has
beautiful lines and aggressive styling that competes in that crowd, but also has the racing heritage that some of them don't. This car is featured in the book Muscle
America's Legendary Performance by Motorbooks, in the 2008 American Muscle Cars calendar, and photographs of the car will appear in the soon-to-be-released
biography of Mark Donohue to be released in early 2009. It was also featured in Muscle Car Enthusiast and the March issue of Muscle Car Review.
Go-Pak. It turns out we were able to locate, not only a 390 4-speed car, but also; Matador Red, red leather, go-pak, 3:90.1 Twin Grip, factory Ram Air, Adjust-O-Tilt
Steering column and non-A/C. The car was originally a Colorado car purchased new in Denver, which means it has NO rust at all. The car had 64k original on it, and must
have spent much of its life in a garage due to the condition of the interior. Typically Colorado cars have no rust on the exterior, but the interiors are baked. However, the
interior on this car was beautiful. The original leather was still in pretty good shape condidering it is 30 years old. Just before finding the car in Michigan, the car was
transported from Colorado to Zephyr Hills, Florida as part of the Kruse Collector car auction circuit. A small dealer bought the car in Florida, and transported it to his car
lot in Michigan, where we purchased it and brought it back home to Colorado.
Since finding the Javelin, we've slowly been spending the time to find correct parts to return it to the condition it left the factory. New paint (Matador Red) and reverse C
stripe bring the car back to it's original glory. We added a reproduction front underbody "Group 19" fiberglass spoiler. We rebuilt the engine with forged pistons and
balanced rotating assembly. We also rebuilt the front end, brakes and replaced all the bushings. We rebuilt the T-10 4-speed and replaced the clutch. We also
removed the aftermarket Mallory Unilite distributor and coil and replaced it with the factory coil and distributor. The gas tank was replaced with a NOS unit. Cosmetic
improvements include NOS simulated side exhaust rocker moldings, NOS tail light lenses, re-chromed bumpers, and 15X7 magnum 500 wheels (although we still have the
factory styled steel wheels in storage). On the interior we added a new headliner and replaced the woodgrain dash overlay with a NOS unit. We recently replaced the
original leather with Legendary leather. Although the original leather was still in pretty good shape, we decided that we would put the original seats in storage and
install the new leather. We also found the build sheet tucked away under the rear seat! We also recently located a NOS AM part numbered R4B aluminum intake
manifold. We also hunted down all of the original smog equipment to put the car back in its original state under the hood. Finding the correct backfire valve for the
smog pieces was the most difficult, but we were successful finding a NOS part.
The 1970 Javelin was the peak of AMC development and design. The car makes no excuses in a crowd of Boss Mustangs, Z-28 Camaros and Cudas. The Javelin has
beautiful lines and aggressive styling that competes in that crowd, but also has the racing heritage that some of them don't. This car is featured in the book Muscle
America's Legendary Performance by Motorbooks, in the 2008 American Muscle Cars calendar, and photographs of the car will appear in the soon-to-be-released
biography of Mark Donohue to be released in early 2009. It was also featured in Muscle Car Enthusiast and the March issue of Muscle Car Review.
| click on this picture to see the engine being rebuilt |
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