Products
From its initial inception as Willys Mexicana in the late 1940s, the company manufactured Jeeps under license, and AMC vehicles after 1954. Most VAM cars mimicked domestic (U.S.) models but had significant differences in aesthetic design. In the sixties, VAM produced the Rambler American (in 2- and 4-door and wagon versions plus a limited single-year hardtop imodel in two generations), a version of the AMC Rebel called the "Rambler Classic" (in 2-door hardtop and 4-door sedan versions) and the AMC Javelin. In the seventies VAM produced a full line of AMC Hornets, called first "Rambler American" and since 1975 just "American," plus a sport version called "Rambler American Rally" (subsequently "American Rally"). The Concord hatchback was badged an "American Rally AMX." Rambler Classics, AMC Gremlins, Javelins, and Pacers were sold under their original U.S. names. The AMC Matador sedan models were badged as the "Classic DPL" since 1972 and the Matador Coupe was produced in a sport version called "Classic AMX" and a luxury "Classic Brougham".
In later years, VAM badged variants of the AMC Spirit as the sporty "Rally AMX", luxury "Rally SST" and high performance "Rally GT". The Mexican version of the AMC Concord kept the "American" name, in base and GFS, ECD and DL models. Some VAM models mixed and matched body components from U.S. cars. Examples of Mexican-only cars include a 1977 two-door "Hornet" with a 1977-1978 Gremlin front clip. Many of these carried slightly different engines, all-original interiors, and different model and designation names than their counterparts in the United States and Canada, but were all based on U.S. bodies and used the same parts. Most bodies used the same year parts as U.S. production cars, but sometimes years and models were mixed. VAM built 1974-1976 Gremlins, for example, used the AMC Hornet grille and front fenders, and the 1977 Hornet mentioned above.
VAM produced one original body not available in the U.S. or other markets, the VAM Lerma (named after the town the engine factory was in). The Lerma was a "cut and weld" built body. The rear hatchback portion of an AMC Spirit (or rather VAM Rally) was cut from the Spirit body and then grafted onto the longer wheelbase AMC Concord (VAM American) in two and four door versions. This idea was presented to AMC, but the labor cost to produce the car using the cut and weld method would have been cost prohibitive in the U.S., and sales of the aging Concord/Spirit (in production since 1970) were not up to adding a new body that would require unique panels to be pressed.
All VAM engines were of AMC design, but built in Mexico. Moreover, VAM added unique engineering features to deal with low octane fuel and high altitudes. This included a 282 cuin I6 engine (essentially a 258 block cast with a 0.16" larger bore) not available from AMC. The larger six helped counter high altitude/low octane fuel power loss and with the lack of a V8 engine option in VAM-produced vehicles.
In 1982, VAM's engineering department worked on a prototype Jeep Cherokee (XJ) and fitted VAM's straight six into it (in place of AMC's four-cylinder or optional V6 from General Motors). AMC was impressed by the project, which eventually developed into the 4.0-liter engine version introduced in the 1987 Jeep Cherokee (XJ).
