Jeff Castelaz, 49, of Los Angeles, founder and CEO of Cast Management, musical events manager, at his 1970 AMC AMX, he told AJ Baime.
Growing up in Milwaukee, I had in my block a group of older kids who always worked together in their cars. They really liked American Motors [or AMC as it was called, short for American Motors Corp.]. We were very proud of these cars because American Motors had factories in Milwaukee and Kenosha, Washington. When I was older, American Motors was a big car manufacturer. They were known for the Pacer, Gremlin and AMX and Javelin muscle cars, and AMC also owned the Jeep brand at the time. But for us it was a local company.
These guys on my blog taught me to work in cars, from the age of 10 onwards. They gave me small jobs and let me ask questions and I fell in love with them. I loved the smell of the engine oil. I loved problem solving. And, I loved listening to music while we worked, because listening to music and working in cars goes hand in hand.
As soon as I had some money, when I was about twenty, I bought a 1970 AMC AMX. At the time, the Internet fueled an increase in the enthusiasm of vintage muscle cars. The most famous muscle cars (Mustangs, Camaros, Challengers, Chargers, GTO) saw prices sometimes go up to hundreds of thousands. Smaller production cars, such as the AMC AMX, also saw their prices rise accordingly. I bought my AMX for $ 2,500 and then sold it for $ 30,000.
Just before the pandemic, I bought my second AMC AMX from a vintage dealer in Sioux City, Iowa. I bought it for $ 40,000 and probably put a lot into it. At the beginning of the pandemic, I started rebuilding this car. We are living in a time of such tremendous uncertainty, and finding time to focus on the car has been a blessing.