When Subaru introduced the Outback (then a trim level of the Legacy) to the North American market for the 1995 model year, the automaker called it the world's first sport-utility wagon. The idea was that it combined the great ground clearance of a Jeep or a Toyota 4Runner with the more efficient packaging and lower stance of an estate. The idea breathed new life into Subaru, and over time, the Outback has become one of America's best-selling SUVs.
The thing is, as practical and capable as the Outback is, its marketing tagline was about 15 years late. The American Motors Corporation had the same bright idea in the mid- to late-1970s, bringing it to fruition with the 1980 AMC Eagle 4WD. It consisted of a whole family of coupes, sedans, and station wagons with way more ground clearance than almost any other passenger car. Full-time all-wheel drive put the additional elevation to good use. This is the world's actual first sport-utility wagon.
A Struggling Brand In Need
AMC was in trouble in the 1970s. Its compact cars, the Pacer and the Gremlin, were no match for the nimbler and more efficient Toyota Corolla and Datsun B210. At the same time, the larger Matador sedans and coupes couldn't keep up in the sales race with the Ford Torino and Chevrolet Chevelle.
Rather than trying to compete in those hotly contested vehicle segments, the company decided to invent one of its own. In 1972, engineer Roy Lunn tried mating a Jeep four-wheel-drive transfer case into the compact AMC Hornet to give the company a novel mix of its Jeep subsidiary's capability in a smaller package. However, its operation was too unrefined to be acceptable in a passenger car.
After a couple of years, however, Lunn tried again, this time using a full-time four-wheel-drive system with a viscous center coupling, which operated kind of like a limited-slip differential, only between the front and rear axles. This meant that in slick, slippery conditions, the drivetrain was able to vary torque split front to rear, sending power to the axle with the most available grip. Yet on dry roads, there was no binding or axle chatter like there was in Lunn's first attempt at all-wheel drive.
Finding A Simple Solution
The setup was the first of its kind in the auto industry, and unlike today's traction-control–based systems, it was almost entirely mechanical. Better still, it was reasonably easy to produce, fitting the viscous coupling behind the transmission, which then sent power to a chain-driven transfer case shared with some Jeep models. The new model also used the AMC Concord's body shell, itself an updated version of the old Hornet. The standard 4.2-liter inline-six was the base engine from the contemporary Wagoneer. AMC had all the ingredients, and it called the finished recipe the Eagle.
With three more inches of ground clearance compared to the Concord, the new-for-1980 AMC Eagle was positioned as an all-weather, all-terrain family car, and just as the formula helped save Subaru, it also gave American Motors some legs for a few years. Thanks to a reasonable $7,549 base price for the wagon ($29,580 adjusted for inflation), initial demand for the Eagle resulted in a six-month waiting list. The automaker couldn't build them fast enough and discontinued the slow-selling Pacer to free up more factory capacity.
The versatile station wagon body was the most popular throughout the Eagle's 1980–1987 production run – a few examples were also sold as 1988s. Standard power for the first model year was the aforementioned Jeep inline-six, which made 110 horsepower and 206 lb-ft in the Eagle, which was good enough for it to tow small trailers and boats. Later models offered a 2.5-liter inline-four and a five-speed manual transmission in addition to the six-cylinder/three-speed auto. Shift-on-the-fly two-wheel/four-wheel-drive was added to the options list in 1981 to improve dry-road fuel economy.
Sources: Hagerty, Car and Driver, Popular Science, New York Times, Subaru
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This article originally appeared on CarBuzz and is republished here with permission.
